Tea Ramblings

While it's rainy on the west coast for Karen, it's still scorching hot on the east coast for me. I'm beyond ready for autumn and the cooler temperatures that it brings.

I have been drinking a variety of tea. Yesterday I enjoyed some hot tea at the soft opening of my friend Niraj's new Tea Bar, Leaf: Himalayan Imperial Second Flush. When I returned home I had some of the iced tea I had made the other day: Raspberry Rendezvous by London Fruit & Herb Company. It's actually a tisane of hibiscus, apple pomace, blackberry leaves, raspberry juice, raspberries, rosehips and more. Today I went for dinner with a friend and had the house made iced tea. I'm not sure what it was other than unsweetened black tea, but it was cold and tasty. And now I think I'm going to have a tea popsicle. I got another variety of the Brewla tea popsicles. This time I found The Hero: cherry pomegranate and red tea. This is another tisane and tastes more of cherry than anything else, but tasty and only 45 calories, so a nice snack, especially on a hot day.

What about you? Do you mix up your teas, or tend to stick with one type for a period of time? What have you been drinking lately?

Mad Hatter Tea From The White Heather Tea Room In Victoria BC

Karen here and today I am sharing a tea review of a blend of black tea from The White Heather Tea room in Victoria BC. My friend Daniela brought this tea back for me from her trip to Victoria. Victoria is located on picturesque Vancouver Island and is a 90 min ferry ride from my home.

This blend is their Mad Hatter Tea. A black tea scented with vanilla, grenadine, passion fruit and papaya. This is one of their most popular blends and is a lovely smooth and even flavored black tea.
This was light and slightly fruity, good for a summer afternoon tea party for sure.

For a complete list of the teas offered by the White Heather Tea Room In Victoria BC please click here. 
If you happen to be traveling to Vancouver Island on the West Coast of Canada and would like to learn more about visiting the White Heather Tea Room Please click here. 

I would love to have you for tea daily over at www.acupofteaandacozymystery.com 

Summer? Yes, please.

I live in the northeast US. We see snow. Lots of snow. We are legendary for snow. So when warm weather finally arrives, we make the most of it.

As much as I love hot tea of all kinds, I’m not exactly enthusiastic about a steaming cup of Constant Comment on a 90-degree day. Call me picky; I don’t mind.

Fortunately, there is a lovely concoction called sun tea. 

Plain tea will always be my favorite. Look at that deep, rich color. Nothing beats the tinkling of ice cubes in a tall glass as tea is poured over them. Add a sprig of mint or a lemon slice and you have heaven. Okay, half of heaven. For the other half, I recommend cookies. Or pie. Or Ice cream. 

Ice cream and summer. Mmm.

Where was I? *looks up at masthead* Oh, yes. Tea.

Now sometimes I want a drink with more substance than regular iced tea. Hello, blender! Because I’m all about the cooking, here are a few of my go-to tea smoothies.

First, brew a cup of tea the night before: black, green, peppermint, whatever you like, and let it cool in the fridge.

When you’re ready to kick back on the porch or deck or lawn, assemble your ingredients. I use vanilla ice cream because I don’t touch yogurt no way no how. But if you’re a yogurt fan, substitute it for the ice cream below and add a few ice cubes for heft.  

Morning tea smoothie:

Black tea

Vanilla ice cream

Peach or banana

A dash of ginger

1/3 cup milk

Sugar to taste

Anytime tea smoothie:

Green or black tea

Vanilla ice cream

Strawberries, raspberries, a peach, a mango, a plum—use blueberries for the healthiest choice!

1/3 cup milk

Sugar to taste

The Marriage of Tea and Orange Julius for the Sophisticated Palate:

Constant Comment tea

Vanilla ice cream

Orange sherbet

1/3 cup milk

Sugar to taste

Mojito tea smoothie for hot summer nights:

White tea

Vanilla ice cream

Fresh mint leaves

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp lime juice plus a bit of grated peel

1/2 oz of rum (or to taste)

Bonus tea anecdote: People often ask me how much my ex-nun sleuth is like me, her creator. I can tell you one way she is definitely not like me: Now that she’s pregnant and her coffee intake is limited, she’s trying herbal tea as a substitute. She hates every flavor she’s tried. I don’t understand that woman.

Yard Sale Finds And A Review Of Capilano Warm Grey, A Black Tea From A Local Canadian Tea Company

Karen here, today I am sharing some of my recent tea themed fun finds from yard sales in my area over the last month as well as a tea review from The Capilano Tea House, a local tea company that started in my own neighborhood!

 I love a good treasure hunt and I have a few good partners, my sister in law Janeen and my son Oli, both love the hunt as much as I do and we help each other find the things we are interested in, Oli loves his vintage video games, my sister in law china and tea cups and me all things tea related. We are up early Saturday mornings for some fun finds and most weekend we do well and then there are weekends that are a total bust. The good weather has encouraged people to have yard sales that have netted some truly great finds recently. Though my own tea cabinet is currently over flowing with cups and saucers that I use regularly, my tea themed book shelves are now stuffed with what I liked to call research books. All about tea, tea parties and self care.  I love to find books that have so much relevant information about the history of tea and ones that are now out of print. The 4 shown in the first photo above cost me a total of $4 at three different sales and I have loved going through them this last week.

Above two of my recent fun finds, I do love books with great quotes and this lovely 1940's hand painted German teacup and saucer. I can not help but think of the stories it could tell.

This beauty filled with a lovely Warm Grey a  Lavender Earl Grey, from the Capilano Tea House, cost me $5 and is now one of my most favorite cups to use.

It is stunning empty and beautiful full.

I admit I own mostly English sets so I know almost nothing about German tea sets but I thought it was important to share the stamp on the bottom with you.  Some people collect tea cups and saucers for their worth, I choose tea cups I love and use them. I think that is the secret to really enjoying them. Each cup of tea is a journey and the set used an important vessel.
I look forward to spring and the start of yard sale season here. I am already looking forward to Saturday morning.

Last year I discovered Warm Grey from The Capilano Tea House, a local company that was started just a few streets away from where I currently live.  This company combines the most wonderful teas with locally grown ingredients.  Warm Grey is a black bergamot tea with lavender that I have enjoyed this entire week, I have now actually run out!

" A West Coast, post-colonial twist on an absolute favorite, lavender warms this fine Assam and turns up the bergamot tones. Lean in and be free.

“The subject is sky, starting lavender beneath the trees and rising into a smoother hollow air space, greenish in tone, merging into laced clouds and then into deep, bottomless blue, not flat and smooth like the centre part of the sky, but loose, coming forward.” 

Emily Carr on painting the West Coast in Hundreds and Thousands, February 8, 1935"

 You can learn more about this rich and delicious tea as well as order on line by clicking here.

I look forward to sharing more fun tea themed finds as well as more tea reviews with you next week, until then....

I would love to have you for tea daily over at www.acupofteaandacozymystery.com

Black, Green, White, & Red

Black, green, white, and red. They're all types of tea, but what makes them different? And how are they the same.? As I started my study of tea, I was amazed to learn that black tea, green tea, and white tea all start the same! One tea bush can create all types of those teas!  All true teas come from the Camellia Sinensis plant. The leaf is the same, how it's processed makes the differences.

 Tea Bushes at the Jun Chiyabari Tea Garden

So what makes a tea black, green, or white? It's the oxidation of the leaf. Oxidation is the chemical reaction in a plant when exposed to oxygen. For example, when you cut an apple and it browns, that browning is evidence of oxidation! Oxidation begins in tea leaves when the leaves are "damaged", in other words after they are picked and are rolled and withered.

Black teas have the most processing done to them and are the most oxidized. Some will say that black tea is "fully oxidized", but that's not quite true. Black tea has reached the optimum oxidation, if it was fully oxidized it would be stale!


Pictured: Lapsang Souchong Black Tea

Green teas have no oxidation. The process is prevented by pan frying or steaming.


Pictured: Jade Mountain Green Tea

White teas are the least processed but have minimal oxidation.


Pictured: Himalayan White Tea.












 

What about red teas? Red tea is what they call Black tea in China! So red and black teas are the same thing!

 So, what do you think about oxidation? Do you have a preference for black, green, or white teas?

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I'd like to thank my friend, Niraj Lama, for verifying some of my information and also for the use of his pictures! I also used the following websites as references:

http://www.worldoftea.org/tea-leaves-oxidation/
http://www.eliteabar.com/blogs/tea-education/7564628-tea-oxidation
http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/26002/what-is-the-difference-between-green-white-and-black-tea

The Story of Lapsang Souchong

Today I'd like to share the story behind my favorite tea, Lapsang Souchong. This tea has a distinctive smoky aroma and taste that people generally either love or hate. I love this tea which is smoky because the tea leaves are actually dried over smoking pinewood!

One day the villagers of Tongu in the Wuyi region of China were drying their tea leaves near the forest. During the night soldiers marched through the area and, not seeing the leaves, trampled them. When the villagers awoke they saw their tea leaves ruined. The villagers decided to try to save the leaves by drying them over an open wood fire. They then took the tea to sell, without much hope, so they sold it cheaply. Imagine their surprise when they returned to the market the following year. Instead of their regular teas, people were clamoring for their special smoked tea! Not only that, they were willing to pay more than they ever had for tea from the Tongu Village! Thus the tradition of Lapsang Souchong began.

I'd like to thank my friend, Niraj Lama, who not only introduced me to Lapsang Souchong, but told me its story as well.

The photograph is the Wuyi Mountains copied from http://silverneedleteaco.com/wuyi-mountain-china/.

Pippin's Lady Grey Black Tea

Karen here, my birthday was yesterday and a dear friend sent the most wonderful tea themed birthday gift (and most perfect card! I love the Witches tea party/Welsh Woman's Tea photo! )  The adorable tea party to go set in the photo above  fits in the tin is one of the sweetest tea accessories I have ever seen! Worth mentioning this Tea Party In A tin has four cups and saucers, a table cloth, 4 teaspoons and tea pot. You can find one for yourself by clicking here.  A selection of Pippin's tea that included the tea I am reviewing today called Lady Grey.

Lady Grey tea is a black tea that is lightly scented with bergmot oil and lemon and orange peel. This blend by Pippins includes rose petals . Lady Grey tea gets it's name from the wife of the most famous Charles Grey (the 2nd Earl Grey). Mary Elizabeth Grey was born in march of 1776 and married Charles at age 18  in 1794. Mary Elizabeth Grey went on to have 16 children! Truly someone I can lift my teacup too, having only had three children myself!

Pippins blend has a lovely color, a light and bright citrus flavor with a heavenly floral scent.
It is fruity and perfect for an afternoon spring tea.
You can learn more about Pippins Tea by visiting their website by clicking here. 
Learn more about Lady Grey and her life by clicking here. 

I would love to have you join me for tea daily by visiting me at www.acupofteaandacozymystery.com 

Happy Birthday Month To Me! A Pretty Vintage Tea Cup and Connemara Tea

Karen here. It is my birthday month. In a few weeks I will be 41. Last year My husband asked me what I wanted for my birthday and what I really wanted was to know where I came from. My mother was adopted at age 5, in the French speaking part of Canada where I am from, and where not only are adoption records difficult to have unsealed but getting information when your mother has passed away is even more daunting, as a family we searched for years to help my mother solve her own adoption mystery to no avail, she passed away before this type of testing as available and affordable.  I had heard many things about DNA testing and went with a company called 23 & Me. You may be wondering what the heck this has to do with tea but you need the back story to understand just how important to me this information has been on my tea journey. Longish story short (You can read the full story on my blog by clicking here) This is the first birthday I will celebrate with the knowledge that I am of Irish heritage!  On my table and in my cup I now proudly have a cup or two of Irish Breakfast Tea in a nod to those who came before me, so that I could be here today, it is a connection to my past and future.

  Fast forward to now and upon my table this week my sister in law gave me an early birthday gift. This beautiful fluted edge Shamrock Salisbury Fine Bone China Tea Cup. I have wanted an Irish themed tea cup and saucer set ever since I found out I was Irish. She bought this one for me at an auction and I could not love it more!

In my cup this morning is The Connemara Kitchen Irish Breakfast Tea that was sent to me by a friend in Ireland, whom I can not thank enough for introducing me to this lovely tea. It is rich, creamy and slightly malty tea which I do take black. It is truly a delight to have on my table and in my cup.
My sister in law shared the following quote from C. E. Murphy on her Tanglewood Tea Shop Instagram this week:

“In Ireland, you go to someone's house, and she asks you if you want a cup of tea. You say no, thank you, you're really just fine. She asks if you're sure. You say of course you're sure, really, you don't need a thing. Except they pronounce it ting. You don't need a ting. Well, she says then, I was going to get myself some anyway, so it would be no trouble. Ah, you say, well, if you were going to get yourself some, I wouldn't mind a spot of tea, at that, so long as it's no trouble and I can give you a hand in the kitchen. Then you go through the whole thing all over again until you both end up in the kitchen drinking tea and chatting. In America, someone asks you if you want a cup of tea, you say no, and then you don't get any damned tea.I liked the Irish way better.” ― C.E. Murphy, Urban Shaman

I would love to have you join me for tea daily at www.acupofteaandacozymystery.com 

Shades of Black

Tea is a wonderful beverage. It can soothe as well as inspire. It's wonderful to drink when you're alone, but it's fantastic when shared with friends.

I spent last evening sharing tea and conversation with my friend Niraj at his tea studio. We drank a flight of black teas, four from China and one from Nepal. It's so interesting to taste these teas side by side so you can really see the similarities as well as the differences.

We started with the Yunnan Gold, and also ended with it! Such a smooth sweet tea (and no-we don't add any sweeteners, it's naturally sweet!). Yet with this sweetness, you also get pepper and some spice. It's quite malty. From there we moved to the Himalayan Imperial Black from Nepal. Although the tea is similar, I got a totally different aroma from the steeped leaf, moist green earth. Of course these teas are from two very different areas. The Imperial Black is very creamy with a complex taste. We had to have my Lapsang Souchong and this time I noticed a slight menthol note. It's interesting how different notes can emerge.

Next up was the Keemun Mao Feng followed by Kickin' Keemun. What was most interesting to me was the difference of the leaves. Both Keemun, but totally different looking leaves. The Kickin' Keemun (Keemun Hao Ya B) is on the left (I had moved the cups for the picture) and the larger leaf of the Mao Feng is on the right. Both are slightly smokey (so you know I like them) with the Kickin' Keemun having more "a taste of fire" than actual smoke. It was quite malty with some pepper and an earthiness about it.

It's great to be able to compare taste and notes with someone. You can bounce ideas off each other and perhaps sense nuances you hadn't noticed alone. Find a friend and taste some teas together. You can open your mind to new possibilities and great conversations!

Review - Keemun Mao Feng

Keemun Mao Feng is a Chinese black tea. The tea I enjoyed is a Summer 2013 from Anhui, China. It's a staple in my tea cabinet.

 KEEMUN MAO FENG

The Dry Leaf: See how the leaves are rolled? There is a warm, slightly smoky aroma here.

The Wet Leaf (After Steeping): The aroma is quite warm. I got a scent of caramel and some boiled veggies.

I actually took this photo after my third steep. 

Liquid: Isn't that a gorgeous color?! The taste is slightly smoky with dark fruit and caramel. There's a slight astringency at the finish.

Iced: Lighter in color, but still a glorious chestnut amber color.

Scent: The smokiness is there, but dark fruits hit the nose more.

Taste: The smokiness is more pronounced here, as is the astringency. While good iced, this tea loses some of the nuances of its flavor. I prefer it hot.