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

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

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.