Saturday Morning Tea

Mar19

Good morning, dear tea friends! Tomorrow is the first day of spring, the time of year when I want to throw open all my windows and usher out the stagnant winter air in favor of fresh spring breezes. That will have to wait a few days though as we’re expecting some snow tomorrow, a New England welcome to spring. This past week, we had temps near 70, thunderstorms, blustery winds and now snow. Never a dull weather moment in my little corner of the world! On to tea…

First flush season is well underway in the Darjeeling area in northeastern India. Samples are arriving daily and we’re contemplating purchases. Nothing has arrived just yet so I’m celebrating the season with a Namring Upper Estate first flush selection from last year.

Namring Estate is a very large estate divided into two parts, Namring and Namring Upper. Namring Upper has a steeper elevation and produces the best tea from what I’ve read.

I steeped the leaves for 3 minutes in boiling point (212F) water.

As with most first flush teas, the leaves are variegated from greens to browns with some silver sprinkled in.

Such pretty colors.

The golden amber liquor has a fresh, inviting aroma with notes of sweet flowers.

The flavor is as fresh as a spring day you can’t wait to go out walking in because the air is filled with awakening and hope. The cup is smooth and sweet with notes of flowers and a crisp, refreshing finish. Very yummy.

Speaking of walking, that’s next on my agenda today, followed by shopping for Easter goodies for my grandkids.

Until our next time together, enjoy your cuppas and the start of spring!

Something opens our wings

Something makes boredom and hurt disappear

Someone fills the cup in front of us

We taste only sacredness

~Rumi

Saturday Morning Tea

Mar5

Good morning, dear tea friends! Bright sunshine streams through my windows, the first day of spring is only 2 weeks away, and I have a lovely green tea in my cup today.

Life is good.

I’d like to introduce you to Jiu Hua Mao Feng, or “Nine Glorious Mountains,” from China’s An Hui province, specifically Jiu Hua mountain, one of the four sacred mountains of Chinese Buddhism. During the great dynasties of China, this mountain was home to over 300 temples. It’s also a beautiful landscape rich in pine forests, waterfalls, streams and interesting rock formations. Sounds like a wonderful place for tea to grow and thrive.

A delicate floral aroma scented the air as the leaves steeped for 3 minutes in 180F water.

The long, twisted Mao Feng leaves released gently during steeping, the “agony of the leaf.”

The pale gold liquor is light and smooth with sweet vegetal notes and hints of flowers in every sip. The finish is clean and crisp.

This is the perfect tea for taking a break from your day to sit and just be still. Let all of your daily cares and worries fall away as you savor this tea and contemplate its sacred origins.

Until we meet again, may you enjoy many cups of tea!

“It’s not what you look at that matters. It’s what you see.”

~Henry David Thoreau

Saturday Morning Tea

Feb20

Good morning, dear tea friends! On this late winter day, I chose a real eye-opener for my morning cuppa, an Assam black tea from the Nahorhabi Estate.

The Assam tea growing region lies on either side of the Brahmaputra river, one of the major rivers of Asia. That area of the world has a monsoon period when they can receive up to 10-12 inches of rain per day. The site of this tea estate used to be a forest of the “Nahor” tree, a slow-growing, gracefully shaped tree that’s native to wet, tropical areas.

I steeped the tippy leaves for 4 minutes in boiling point (212F) water.

A sweet, malty aroma scented my kitchen as the tea steeped in my glass teapot.

The red-amber tea liquor is rich and malty with a smooth caramel/toffee sweetness that mellows any astringency in the cup. My kind of Assam.

This tea is hearty enough for the addition of milk. Its natural sweetness is so lovely that you won’t have to add any sweetener to your cup unless you enjoy your tea extra-sweet. This is a great choice when you need that extra boost in the morning. Or need to tackle a project like I do today, more unpacking and organizing in my studio.

We experienced bitter cold weather last weekend with temps below zero but I think we’ve now turned the corner towards some milder, more spring-like weather, which is always welcome. Have a wonderful two weeks and enjoy your tea!

“You must carry chaos inside you to give birth to a dancing star.”

~Friedrich Nietzsche

Saturday Morning Tea

Feb6

Good morning, dear tea friends! The sun is shining in a deep purple-blue sky on a world of white today. It snowed for much of the day yesterday, a heavy snow that fell in wet clumps. Around sunset, I was outside shoveling when the skies cleared and the landscape came alive with this unearthly glow. I stopped for a moment and just gazed at the western sky ablaze in streaks of orange and pink. It looked like a painting. A beautiful moment.

Everything about my tea this morning is warm and inviting from its deep cocoa aroma to its rich, complex flavor. I’m pleased to introduce Panyang Congou Select, a black tea from northern Fujian province in China.

I steeped the large, tippy leaves for 5 minutes in boiling point (212F) water.

I found these wet leaves twisted together and as I drew them apart, magic happened. Happy Valentine’s Day!

The dark amber liquor has a pronounced aroma of cocoa, which carries over into the smooth, full-bodied flavor. It’s more the flavor of unsweetened cocoa so this tea would go great with a little sweetener and a splash of milk. Yum. There are some spicy hints, almost like cinnamon toast, which linger into the finish.

This is a great winter tea, one to be savored as you watch the snowflakes swirl around outside your window. Ok, time to go outside for more shoveling. Have a wonderful two weeks and enjoy your tea!

“There is in us an instinct for newness, for renewal, for a liberation of creative power. We seek to awaken in ourselves a force which really changes our lives from within. And yet the same instinct tells us that this change is a recovery of that which is deepest, most original, most personal in ourselves. To be born again is not to become somebody else, but to become ourselves.”

~Thomas Merton

Saturday Morning Tea

Jan23

Good morning, dear tea friends! The light gray clouds are heavy with the promise of snow as I pour my first steaming cup of tea, a China Oolong called Feng Huang Dan Cong Supreme.

Feng Huang translates to “phoenix,” referring to the mountain in Guangdong province where this tea is grown. Dan Cong means “single tree,” referring to the tea trees this tea comes from.

These venerable old trees grow amongst the rocks of the mountain. This harsh environment causes the leaves to grow very slowly, and a rich store of minerals develops from this slow rate of growth. The trees grow randomly on the mountain and the area is never weeded. The leaves from native plants fall and decompose, thus enriching the soil and the tea trees with nutrients.

I steeped the large leaves for 3 minutes in 190F water.

The golden liquor has a rich, fruity aroma, foretelling of the burst of flavor to come.

With my first sip, pronounced notes of ripe stone fruit, with woody hints, greet me and linger long into the finish, leaving a light silky feeling on my tongue.

It’s amazing to me that such a fruity flavor could be naturally occurring. The perfect conditions come together to create this truly wonderful tea.

See you in two weeks and enjoy your tea!

“A sailor lost at sea can be guided home by a single candle. A person lost in a wood can be led to safety by a flickering flame. It is not an issue of quality or intensity or purity. It is simply an issue of the presence of light.”

~Kent Nerburn