Saturday Morning Tea

Jan26

Every morning this week when I’ve left for work, I’ve been hit with a blast of frigid air as I step outside into a world of ice and snow. I hurry to my car and as I turn the ignition, numbers in the single digits and teens flashed on my rearview mirror. 9. 12. 15. Brrrr… It is bundling up weather so I wrap myself in a big fluffy coat, a handknit fuzzy scarf and a mint green fleece hat topped with a pompom. This is also weather perfect for a hearty black tea so this morning I am “wrapping” myself in the rich malty aroma and taste of an Assam tea from the Mangalam estate.

Assam Indian black teas are noted for their full body and thick dark liquor. This tea is a broken leaf grade so it brews up quicker than whole leaf counterparts since more leaf area is exposed to the water. I steeped the leaves for 4 minutes in boiling water. Notes of spice and bittersweet cocoa fill my mouth as I take my first sip. The leaf and liquor lend a dash of rich color to a cold winter morning.

Today is my polymer clay guild meeting where I will experiment with making glazed face cabochons. I will share my results in a future post!

Saturday Morning Tea

Jan12

After the heavy rains of yesterday, today dawned clear and bright through high wispy clouds. The sunshine is illuminating a delicate mist that has settled in the hollows and a myriad of rainbowed water droplets clinging to the branches and power lines.

As I sit at my window, I am sipping a cup of China Keemun tea called Xiang Luo. From Anhui province where the most prized Keemuns are produced, it is a treat to the senses from its toasty aroma to its rich honeyed amber color and buttery smooth liquor.

Keemun tea is named after a county, Qimen, in Anhui province. There are several stories about its origins but the most common is one of a governmental official in the late 1800s who learned black tea production in Fujian province and then decided to return to his native county, Qimen, to produce black tea there. He met with success and his new black tea was imported to England where it was enjoyed as a breakfast tea.

The words I would use to describe Keemun tea are rich, wine, smoke and chocolate. While it is nowhere near as smoky as a Lapsang Souchong, there are hints in its flavor that might appeal to Lapsang lovers. Keemun may be enjoyed plain but it is certainly strong enough for milk or cream when the long, wiry leaves are steeped for 5+ minutes.

What are your experiences with Keemun tea?

Saturday Morning Tea

Dec22

It has been snowing on and off all week. Mostly, delicately falling flakes that don’t stick to the roads but lightly frost the snow already on the ground. It’s perfect for this time of year as we celebrate the season of Light, birth of the Sun/Son. At 1:08am this morning, Winter Solstice marks the shortest day of the year here in the Northern hemisphere and starts our winter season. As I gaze out my window upon a sea of sugar dusted houses and trees, I am enjoying a cup of Melange Noel in honor of the season.

Black tea blended with spices, dried fruit and nuts, it warms me all the way down to my toes. The liquor is a rich reddish brown color and the flavor is fairly full-bodied with notes of cinnamon and orange. I am drinking from my traditional Christmas cup, purchased years ago at Bronner’s in Frankenmuth, Michigan. So, as I sip, I am filled with wonderful memories of Christmases past spent with family in Michigan.

Joy, love, hugs, comfort

Christmas time in Michigan

going home again

Saturday Morning Tea

Nov24

As the full moon set on this frosty morning, I rose out of bed and wrapped myself in a big fluffy robe to greet the day. A perfect morning for something spicy to warm me up, I simmered some Chai in a pan on the stove while I made breakfast.

Masala chai is a traditional Indian blend of black tea and spices – cardamon seed pods, cinnamon pieces, clove, ginger and black pepper. An Indian gentleman once told me that they would add the black tea leaves to the sweetened milk and then go to their spices and throw this and that in to simmer. So, each family had their own recipe and that could vary from day to day.

I used Chai Spice blend and added a couple of spoonfuls to a cup of organic 2% milk. I simmered this mixture for 10 minutes and then added sweetener to taste. This results in a very spicy cup so it is one of the rare occasions where I will add sweetener to my tea. It smooths out the sharpness of the spices, especially my extra spicy version. Demerara sugar is unrefined with a high molasses content and works especially well.

Mmmmm, delicious!

Saturday Morning Tea

Nov10

My kindred friend Laura adores Earl Grey tea so this Saturday Morning’s cuppa is in honor of her. As the pigeon tribe from the building across the street wheels across the sky, I look out over the treetops onto a cloudy cool mid-fall day and open my journal to a new page. There is still a blaze or two scattered across the countryside but most of the trees have now muted to a rusty color. Nature is starting her slumber.

Earl Grey tea is traditionally a black tea that has been scented with the essential oil of the bergamot orange, a small fragrant citrus fruit grown in the Calabria province of Italy. The bergamot orange is not a variety of the sweet orange that most of us are familiar with eating but a hybrid between a pear lemon and a Seville orange, or bitter orange.

Legend has it that the son of a Chinese bureaucrat was rescued from drowning by a servant of the second Earl Grey, Charles Grey, Prime Minister of England from 1830-1834. The man was so grateful that he presented Earl Grey with a special tea. Earl Grey liked it so much that he gave a sample of it to his favorite tea purveyor and asked them to replicate the flavor.

I am enjoying a cup of a flavored Earl Grey called Creme Vanilla. The aroma is sweet and creamy, reminding me of the cream sodas I used to love when I was young. The flavor is an interesting blend of citrus and vanilla which I especially like. It’s strong enough for milk but sweet enough for no sweetener added.

I really like the story behind this tea – a gift of a special tea bestowed in gratitude for saving a life.

What is your experience with Earl Grey tea?