Category Archives: Life Musings

Saturday Morning Tea

I awoke this morning to rumbles of thunder and teeming rain that have continued on into the morning. A sudden cool breeze lifts my curtains from the windows revealing sharp flashes of lightning that dance across a low sky filled with bruised clouds. As I wrap myself in a warm robe,  I reach for a black tea but not a typical black tea. It is a black tea that actually tastes like an Oolong tea.

From the Jun Chiyabari estate in Nepal, its leaf designation is one that I have never seen before, GHRHT. Meaning Golden Hand Rolled Himalayan Tips, the picking is of only the first two leaves and a bud from the end of the stems, the tender new growth. The tea is created from a secret process that results in a black tea with the characteristics of a fine Silvertip Oolong tea.

Since the tea is grown in the Himalayan mountains in the same part of the world as Indian Darjeeling tea, I steep the leaves for 3 minutes in boiling point water.

As I lift the steeped leaves from my teapot, a rich, fruity aroma greets me. Mmmm…

The wet leaves reveal whole intact leaf in various stages of unfurling from the hand rolling that was done during their processing.

The deep amber liquor is quite sweet with notes of apricot and peach and a whisper of rosemary in the finish. A colleague of mine, with a very fine palate for tea tasting, has also detected fennel notes in her cup.

For this special tea, I bring out my teamug purchased in Arroyo Seco, NM last fall. You can see the fingertip imprints of the potter on the side of the mug from when they dipped the mug in glaze. That is my favorite part of this beautiful russet and charcoal teamug.

While I had originally thought that I’d be able to work on removing a bush stump from my garden today and prepare the soil with some loam for planting, it looks like it’s going to be an indoor day. Oh dear, I guess I’ll just have to play in my studio then!

Happy Mother’s Day!

“Women need solitude in order to find the true essence of themselves: that firm strand which will be the indispensable center of a whole web of human relationships.”

~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Saturday Morning Tea

Ah, the first day of May. I think it’s one of the loveliest months of the year here in New England. Everything is bursting with new growth and blooms, a color feast for the senses wherever you look. In honor of May, I am sipping the infusion of the tea flower. Not the tea leaf as I usually do but the flower itself of the tea plant, camellia sinensis.

The flowers are white but turn a golden yellow when they are sundried after picking. They do contain caffeine but it is much less than the leaf, making them a perfect choice for caffeine sensitive tea lovers.

The infusion steeps to a light golden color, much like the dry flowers. The aroma is honey sweet with a faint whisper of apple.

The flavor is quite sweet and lightly floral with hints of caramel. A wonderful refresher for any time of the day, hot or iced.

I’m enjoying my tea flowers in my newest teabowl. I wrote about it here. I love to drink lightly colored infusions in it so I can see the wonderful spiral on the inside of the bowl.

This weekend I am dusting off and pulling on my garden overalls and see what can be done in my new little yard. Perhaps a small grouping of colorful blooms here and there to lift my heart everytime I return home.

“All my life through, the new sights of nature made me rejoice like a child.” ~Marie Curie

Saturday Morning Tea

When I returned home after work yesterday, I discovered that my internet connection was working once again. So, just as mysteriously as I lost it, so I regained it without having to call Verizon. I was so thrilled that I could take a long walk in the fresh evening air instead of being cooped up inside on the phone. What a wakeup call on how much I depend upon my electronic devices to just automatically work!

This morning’s tea is a yellow tea called Heirloom Yellow Buds, quite an impressive name. The tea leaves are plucked from heirloom tea bushes in the Yunnan province, located in the south of China. In terms of an agricultural product, heirloom is defined as “a horticultural variety that has survived for several generations usually due to the efforts of private individuals”.

The leaves remind me very much of a white tea because most white teas consist of the buds of the tea bush. The whole intact leaf is a beautiful light sage green. Yellow teas are processed in a similar fashion to green teas, however, the difference lies in involving a moist steam heat and then covering the leaves with a cloth to allow the moist steam to develop the flavor. This process is repeated several times. I’ve written about another yellow tea and the process here.

In experiencing this tea – steeping, inhaling, sipping – the first word that comes to my mind is ethereal. It’s so light and delicate with a pale straw colored liquor. I steeped the leaves for 3 minutes in 180 degree F water.

So pale is the liquor that the true spring colors outside shine through.

The flavor is quite sweet and smooth with a whisper of apricot that lingers into the finish.

The azure sky reflected in my teabowl has not a cloud in it. The birds outside are welcoming another beautiful spring day as I quietly sit by the window sipping and meditating on the weekend ahead.

“Mystics report that every bit of the world radiates from one center – every cricket, every grain of dust, every dream, every image, everything under the sun or beyond the sun, all art and myth and wildness. If they are right, then we have no more important task than to seek that center.”

~Scott Russell Sanders

Mercury and my internet connection

After an interesting week of computer and network connection problems at work, I woke up early this morning to discover that I had totally lost my own internet connection at home. After an hour of plugging and unplugging, switching on and off, and trying to get ready for work, too, it was  time to leave and start my workday. And then later on in the morning, my cell phone wouldn’t allow me to make a call.

What is going on here, I wondered?

I found out that it’s all because of Mercury. The planet. It’s retrograde.

The definition of retrograde is “moving backward; having a backward motion or direction; retiring or retreating.”

About 2-3 times a year, Mercury slows down so much in its movement that it appears to be going backward. We’re now in a retrograde period until May 11th. During this time, it’s not at all unusual for communications to go haywire, especially computers and any kind of communication devices. Oh, ok, so that’s what’s happening!

You can read more about this phenomenon here.

With all that said, I’ll be contacting Verizon when I get home tonight and, hopefully, this problem can be resolved quickly so I can share a cup of tea with you tomorrow morning. If you don’t hear from me, I am still trying to connect…..sigh…

Saturday Morning Tea

The rain clouds have finally parted here in New England but not without some severe flooding in certain areas. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by the storm. I hope that the warm temps and bright sunshine help clear all of this water away and folks can return to their homes and businesses.

This morning’s tea is a Ceylon black tea from the Deniyaya estate, located in the Ruhuna district in southern Sri Lanka. I’ve written about another tea grown in this district here.

The plucking is predominantly composed of very fine tip, giving the dry leaf a “salt and pepper” look.  The fine, needle-like structure of the leaf reminds me of South African Rooibos.

Because of its fine structure, I steeped the leaf for 3 minutes in boiling point (212F) water. It didn’t take up much room in my teapot’s infuser at all.

As I poured my first cup, I notice a pronounced, rich molasses aroma wafting up from the dark amber liquor.

I’m enjoying my tea in a new teabowl purchased from Salty Dog Pottery at a recent art show I attended. As I browsed around the show, I was immediately drawn to the soft colors and symbolism on this piece. The shiny glazing is created with salt!

I love the layered complexity of this tea. I taste cocoa, whispers of vanilla, hints of fruitiness and a smoothness that carries into the finish.

Today I am spending the afternoon with my precious 17-month old granddaughter who is here visiting from New Mexico. The day has graced us with warmth and sunshine so we are going to enjoy a trip to the playground and a long walk on the bike trail at a nearby pond. Oh yes, and a trip to the toy store for a Dora the Explorer doll! Ella loves Dora and calls her “Do-ba”, “Do-ba”.

What are you enjoying today?

You are the bows from which your children, as living arrows, are sent forth. ~Kahlil Gibran