Saturday Morning Tea

Jan9

Good morning and Happy New Year, dear tea friends! I hope everyone had a lovely holiday season. I’m feeling full of hope, with a generous dollop of joy thrown in, as we start this brand new year. How about you?

A China white tea, called Pai Mu Tan Special Grade Organic, graces my cup this morning. Its plucking is of the new leaf shoot, or bud, plus the top two leaves. Pai Mu Tan, or Bai Mudan, translates to “white peony,” some say because of the shape of the leaves, others because of its fragrance.

Many folks ask, “what is the difference between a green tea and a white tea?” After all, look at the leaf in the photo above. It’s green, right? Well, it’s all in the processing of the leaf. Whereas green tea leaves are heated up pretty much right away, whether steamed or pan fried, for example, to halt the oxidation of the leaf, white tea leaves are allowed to wither naturally in the sun, sometimes for several days. So, the leaves aren’t heated to halt oxidation. In fact, after withering, the leaves are piled and allowed to oxidize a little bit before they are baked to dry the leaves out for packing and transport.

I steeped the leaves for 3 minutes in 180F water. A gentle, sweet fragrance wafted up from my glass teapot as the leaves released their flavor into the water.

The tea liquor is the light golden color of the morning sky right before the sun breaks the horizon.

A ripe melon note is present in both the aroma and the silky smooth flavor. A lovely tea that’s sweet, fruity and light.

Bits of down from the white hair on the tea leaf float in my tea bowl.

Outside my window, thick, winter white clouds sprinkle down a fine, damp mist, foretelling of the wind and rain storm expected here tomorrow. It’s a good weekend to stay inside, wrapped in a cozy blanket with a hot cup of tea in hand. I just started a new knitting project I’ll work on, a jasper green cardigan sweater with cables for myself. I love new projects!

“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. And on a quiet day, if you really listen, you can hear her breathing.” ~Arundhati Roy

Saturday Morning Tea

Dec19

Good morning, dear tea friends! In a few days, it will be Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, or the longest night of the year, depending upon your perspective. In my little corner of the world, it occurs on December 21st at 11:49pm. I always try and imagine what is was like for the ancients witnessing the darkness growing with each passing day, not knowing whether the light would ever return. But, of course, it did and they came to celebrate the “birth of the Sun” on this day.

I’m celebrating the holiday season today with a special Darjeeling in my cup, called Victoria’s Peak Gold Organic. It really doesn’t look like a Darjeeling at all, does it? The leaf reminds me of a very tippy Assam or China Black Mao Feng.

This tea was grown on the Steinthal Estate in Darjeeling, northeastern India.

I steeped the leaves longer than I normally do with a Darjeeling – 4 minutes in 212F water. 5 minutes would work well, too, especially if you like to add milk to your tea.

Here’s some information about Victoria’s Peak from the grower.

“This is a division within the Steinthal Tea Estate, named after Queen Victoria. Located next to Victoria’s Falls and Victoria Park as a memoir of one of the Queens who visited Darjeeling. It is a picturesque area – on the north side we can see the Himalayan mountains on the east of this are the Botanical Gardens..and just above is the Darjeeling town. A very small quantity of tea is produced every year from this division, which are manufactured at the adjacent Steinthal factory.”

In looking at the intact leaf sets and whole leaf, you can see that it was processed with great care and artistry. The cup aroma is rich with notes of cocoa.

The red amber liquor has a mouth feel with majestic presence. The flavor is complex with notes of cocoa and spice and just a hint of malt. A warm toastiness lingers on my tongue. A very enjoyable tea experience!

In honor of Winter Solstice and this holiday season of light, I’m happy to share with you my beaded journal page from years past.

My December journal page is entitled “The Birth of the Sun”, in honor of the Winter Solstice and the long celebrated “return of the sun.” Inspired by the beautiful color palette of the sunrise, my piece symbolizes the light of the holiday season. The days are now getting longer and my sun contains the seed/embryo of the warmer months to come and its continuing journey towards light. For me personally, I meditated on the light within my own heart as I set down each bead.

I’m traveling to Michigan for the holidays so Saturday Morning Tea will return in 3 weeks time. Have a lovely holiday season!

You darkness, that I come from,

I love you more than all the fires

that fence in the world,

for the fire makes

a circle of light for everyone,

and then no one outside learns of you.

But the darkness pulls in everything;

shapes and fires, animals and myself,

how easily it gathers them!–

powers and people–

and it is possible a great energy

is moving near me.

I have faith in nights.

~Rainer Maria Rilke, On Darkness

Saturday Morning Tea

Dec5

Good morning, dear tea friends! On this crisp, early December morning, there’s not a cloud in the clear blue sky, and I’m enjoying a Pu-Erh tea in my cup. This particular selection, called Pu-Erh Tuo Cha Std., has been compressed into little birds’ nests shapes, called tuo cha. As you can see, each tuo cha is neatly wrapped in paper.

Each tuo cha will make 2 cups of tea so I had to break them up a bit to measure for my 3-cup glass teapot. I used one full tuo cha and one half tuo cha. I steeped for 6 minutes in 212F water.

Traditionally, Pu-erh teas are created from leaves harvested in the ancient tea forests of Yunnan province in China. There are two different kinds of Pu-erh tea, raw (Sheng) and cooked (Shou). This Pu-Erh is of the cooked (Shou) variety.

Cooked Pu-Erh goes through a “composting” step during its processing. The leaves are piled into heaps, much like a compost pile, creating a heat in its core and transforming the leaves into this unique tea. Compressed forms of tea have been produced in China for hundreds of years. It was the most common form transported on the ancient caravan routes because it was less susceptible to physical damage and easier to transport.

The tea liquor is a dark, opaque brown, with a sweet, earthy aroma. The flavor is velvety smooth, with notes of earth, autumn leaves and a dark sweetness, like molasses or dark brown sugar. As the tea cools, it gets even sweeter.

To conserve on heat, I keep my house pretty cool. I rely on my tea to warm me up and this tea did a great job of that. I’m going to the movies with my grandkids today, always a special treat to spend time with them! When I return home, I’ll put on some holiday jazz music and finish decorating the tree. I love this festive time of year. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and enjoy your tea!

Heaven or Hell, love or hate

No matter where I turn

I meet myself.

Holding life is precious is

Just living with all intensity

Holding life precious.

~Kosho Uchiyama Roshi

Saturday Morning Tea

Nov21

Good morning, dear tea friends! It’s a bright, cold November day today as we near Thanksgiving, a time to gather with family and friends to give thanks for all of the abundance in our lives. I think it’s especially important to focus on all that’s good in our lives what with the frightening events happening in the world. I’m thankful for a hot cup of tea on a cold morning and for all of you to share it with.

In my cup this morning is a China black tea from Yunnan province, called Yunnan Rare Grade. Composed of downy, golden tips, this tea is rich and inviting.

I stepped out of the box a little bit and steeped the leaves for 6 minutes in boiling point (212F) water. I love how you can see the fine golden hairs even under water.

The twisted tips release slightly after steeping, giving off a warm aroma with just a hint of cocoa. The tea itself has a toasty aroma.

The beautiful dark-amber liquor is sooooo smooth with notes of biscuit/toast and hints of cocoa, which reveal themselves more as the tea cools. I feel this tea is inviting me to experiment with how long I can push its steep time.

I’m comfortably settling in to my new home, one unpacked box at a time, and am looking forward to creating a special area in my dining room to display my tea bowl collection.

Until our next cup of tea, I leave you with one of my favorite poems. Have a lovely Thanksgiving!

Morning Poem

Every morning the world is created. Under the orange

sticks of the sun the heaped ashes of the night turn into leaves again.

and fasten themselves to the high branches—and the ponds appear like black cloth on which are painted islands

of summer lilies. If it is your nature to be happy you will swim away along the soft trails

for hours, your imagination alighting everywhere. And if your spirit carries within it

the thorn that is heavier than lead—if it’s all you can do to keep on trudging—

there is still somewhere deep within you a beast shouting that the earth is exactly what it wanted—

each pond with its blazing lilies is a prayer heard and answered lavishly, every morning,

whether or not you have ever dared to be happy, whether or not you have ever dared to pray.

~Mary Oliver

Saturday Morning Tea

Nov7

Good morning, dear tea friends! I’m happy to be sharing a cup of tea with you from my new home. After unpacking all week, it feels great to sit down and savor a cuppa. This morning’s tea is a second flush harvest from the Teesta Valley Estate in Darjeeling, India.

Teesta Valley Estate was named for the nearby Teesta, a turbulent mountain river. Along with the Gielle Estate, Teesta Valley was laid out gradually from 1841 to 1856, using carefully selected China bushes. Stretching upwards from 2500 to 6500 feet above sea level, this lovely garden is located at the highest point above the valley and blessed by cool mists, bright sunshine and crisp winds, the perfect growing conditions for great teas.

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

The leaves steeped up to a beautiful amber color. The aroma wafting up from my glass teapot is sweet and floral. This tea is a bit lighter and smoother than a typical second flush selection. With that in mind, I think I’ll experiment with increasing the steeping time and see what happens.