Long Live the King

Bacharach, Germany



We just got back from seeing a very special movie - "The King's Speech". It was so well done, with many tender moments, many of joy, many of pain. I thought all the actors did a superb job. I would really highly recommend it. The director wanted to do this about 25 years ago, but the Queen Mum asked him to wait until after her death, as she didn't think she could go through such awful pain again.





When I was tidying my tea drawer, I realized I have an awful lot of green teas that I need to report one, so for the next few days, that is just what I am going to do. I chose Ito En's Dragonwell for today. I got this from from friend Stephanie way out in Washington. This is one of the "Famous Teas" of China, a list of the top 10. Except it isn't really as there are about 15-20 that are on the list, many of them changing places as to whether they are on it or not. This one, however, seems to make the list all the time. It comes from Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province, plucked in the spring and panfired in a wok..








I brewed the Dragonwell for about 2 minutes, with water about 180 degrees. The dry leaves smelled a bit like stone fruits and asparagus, but over all there was what I can only describe as a winter smell, with something of a metallic edge to it. As it brewed there was a scent of floral, along with the winter smell - a herald of spring? The tea tasted somewhat grassy, somewhat of asparagus, somewhat of citrus. Altogether a light, warming brew, carrying with it hints of spring weather. Much needed, as we appear to be in for some snow and freezing rain.

By the way, Ito En is considered to be an excellent source of good green teas.

Chocolate Mint or Mint Chocolate

An Austrian farmstead.



Ah, more snow. It is so quiet, I can hear the snow falling and the cats running in it. They are chasing themselves up and down trees and all around the yard. It is quite pretty, with all the branches and pine needles outlined in white. However, it is supposed to go to -11 tonight, so if I want to walk, I had best go soon. I finally bought myself a ski mask so I can face the wind without pain. It is a pretty bright pink, but it still looks kind of freaky. I guess I have seen too many pictures of bad guys in ski masks.











I am really on a chocolate kick with my teas, as the one I am having today is Decaf Chocolate Mint Black from The Tea Table. The ingredients are decaf black tea, peppermint, chocolate pieces and natural flavoring. My Canadian friend Elizbeth sent this to me. As I opened the packet, the mint was the first scent out of it, with chocolate a very distant second. This continued to be the case as it brewed and in the cup as well. I used extra tea, but the cup was still weak and peppermint was the predominant flavor, although the chocolate was trying hard to make its presence felt. Peppermint is so hard to use well, as it can be overpowering. I think with less mint, this would've been better.







Oh sigh, I just used up the last of one of my favorite teas from Aura Teas - Formosa Natural Wuhe Honey Black. It really has a honey flavor on top of its lovely blackness and you can get at least two and sometimes three infusions from it, even if you make it in a big pot. I did a much fuller review back on Oct 25, if you want to read it.

Cha, Cha, Chai

I apologize for the paragraphing, Blogger is misbehaving again.


Another gray day in the neighborhood, but I see on the weather map we are about to have snow. It smells like it and the fur persons have been running in and out. There's an air of waiting outside and in spite of the gray, it is very bright.

We are in that awful period between ordering the plants and seeds for the spring and when you can start some seeds inside. It is always so heartening to see their little leaves poke up through the ground and amazing that these tiny 2 inch plants will become an 8 foot tomato vine. However, I have to wait until the end of February.

Today I am having a lovely tisane, sent from my friend Elizabeth in Canada. She is a fellow chocoholic and the tisane is President's Choice Chocolatey Chai. It has chicory, carob, spices, natural flavorings, cocoa shells, ginger, licorice root, stevia and cocoa, all packed in one small teabag. The bag comes in a wrapper, which has tiny pictures and written directions on how to brew this tea. It smells exactly like one of my favorite cookies - chocolate jumbles, which are thin, frosted chocolate spice cookies. It has a rich, deep aroma, which is pretty much how it tastes, with the chocolate, carob and chicory giving great depth and the spices rounding out a very tasty cup. My husband says it is very flowery and aromatic. This would be an excellent dessert tisane with some sugar cookies or pound cake.

I am making a sad comparison of this this with Golden Moon's Kahmiri Chai, made from black and green tea, cardamom, clove, cinnamon and spice oil. It smells very spicey and floral in the packet, with lemony hints from the cardamom. Unfortunately, it is very weak. The cardamom is the most forward spice, followed by the cinnamon. The flavor is well rounded and tasty. Perhaps if the sample had been larger, so the brew was stronger, I would have given it a higher rank. Compared to the other chai, this is a mere weakling. This comes from Golden Moon's sample pack of 30 different teas. My only complaint about the sampler is the samples are one cup only and kind of on the small side. However, I have had some truly excellent teas from them.

In spite of my quote a few days ago from MFK Fisher, I want no nasty comments about "boiled mice" and I am not drying this mouse to reuse it.

A Wondrous Little Bowl

Nice Dobbins, I think. The white hats keep the flies out of their
eyes and ears.

On this very gray and damp day I have finally conquered enough inertia to taste a new tea.



This one comes from Life in Teacup and was a small gift with my last order. The tea is in the form of a toucha, which looks like a small thick-walled bowl or bird's nest, about the size of a thumb nail. Generally these are Pu-erh teas, which I expect this to be. There wasn't any scent from the dry tea, but as the tea began to brew it first smelled like cherries, then tobacco, then a more earthy aroma with a sweet overlay. All that and I haven't even tasted it! It is a rich, deep amber and the little toucha, after only 2 minutes, is no more. As far as I can tell from Gingko's website, this is a Shu Pu-erh, meaning ripe, and is from 2007, Yunnan Province, China





As I begin to sip the tea, there is the unmistakable scent of white kindergarten paste, along with some cinnamon and maybe a bit of mint. At first there is a taste of banana, of all things, then white paste, dark cherries, earth. What a super interesting tea this is. You could be charmed for hours, drinking this. I let some brew for nearly 5 minutes and the color is much deeper, as is the taste, which has become more earthy, but a clear, clean earthiness. This is most definitely a good tea and well worth the money, which is only $4.50 for ten of the little goodies, enough for many small pots of interest.





Not that I have great experience,with Pu-erhs, which I do not, but this is really a good tea.





American Tea Room is having a 20% off sale until Jan 31. Their web site is http://www.americantearoom.com/ I haven't had any of their teas, but other bloggers generally rate them highly.





There are some very cute kangaroo teacups over at http://teaandcompany.wordpress.com/ . The site is in Spanish, but pictures are multi-lingual.

The Case of the Lazy Tea lady

More of that Roman ruin in mid-town Vienna.

Lazy, lazy, lazy. That's me and tea this week. For some reason I have not quite woken up any day this week and the thought of having to think about my tea is just too excruciating. I did clean up and organize my tea drawers, if that counts.

However, I will tell you that Norwood Pratt is going to be in NY city at the SoHo location of Harney and Sons Tea this Saturday and Sunday and at their Millerton, NY shop on Monday. He will be doing tea tastings and sharing some of his vast knowledge of tea. If you live near either of these places, it would be worth your while to go and partake! He is said to be a witty raconteur, so I am sure it will be an interesting and fun time.

No Mice in My Tea!

One of the tea books I got for Christmas, "Tea Lover's Treasury", was written by James Norwood Pratt in 1983 - back when we were all a lot younger. The introduction was written by MFK Fisher, a food writer whom I have always enjoyed. Part of it really cracked me up:

"My grandmother died before tea bags. I am thankful. My mother never admitted their existence. A friend has described them as boiled mice, and he is right, too, but I have some teas in little white bags for people who have never known anything else, and who are adept enough to leave the wee tail hanging over the edge of the cup. I am told that these mice are often dried out and used again..." I don't know if I can ever look a teabag in the face again.

Roses in the Sunshine

The monastery porch at Kloster Arnstein, in Germany. The abbot was
sent to die in the prison camps in Hitler's war, and there is a memorial to
him in the garden on the other side of this passage.


Woo wee, yesterday's mail was a treasure trove. I got some money for Christmas and spent it on tea books and some Swiss cookbooks at www.alibris.com I got about 6 of the tea books yesterday, as well as an old mystery from the 1930's - "The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy". How could you possibly go wrong with that for a title? I love classic mysteries, especially the English ones, with manor houses, afternoon tea, a lord or 2. I also think many of the classics were better written - they relied on stories rather than violence.

I shall have to have some tea while reading my new whodunnit, before I go on to the more serious business of tea books. I am having Culinary Teas' Rose Congou Emperor Tea. It is a pretty tea, with quite black, small leaves with a bit of a sheen to them. They are offset by tiny rosebuds and rose petals. The tea smells just like tea roses, which have a slight lemon scent, overlying the rose aroma. This a a very nicely done tea, as the rose holds throughout the 3.5 minute brewing process and by the time I was sipping, it still smelled of roses, as well as the taste being accented by them. I thought a bit more of the lemon came out in the cup, but this is definitely a rose tea. I really appreciated the fact that neither the scent nor the flavor disappeared upon brewing. If you go to their site - www.culinaryteas.com - you'll find they are having some sales this week. Culinary Teas is also one of those companies that lets you buy 1 ounce samples for a small amount.

Never go for a cold walk with a cat who thinks he is a prince of the Orient and should, therefore, be carried. Bertie Baby threw himself at my feet about every other step, so it was either carry him or fall on my face! Once in his perch, he was quite happy, and I am sure I benefited aerobically from carrying his hefty little self.