Saturday Morning Tea

Feb23

Good morning, dear tea friends! Today we’ll talk about the northeast of India, the Assam region to be precise, and a rich, dark cup from the Nahorhabi Estate. I have read that this tea estate, one of several owned by Jay Shree Tea, got its name because it used to be the site of a forest of “Nahor” trees, a tree native to that area of the world. The tea leaf is quite tippy, as you can see from my photo.

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. Wow, that’s a lot of water.

Speaking of water, I used boiling point (212F) water to steep this tea for 4 minutes.

If you’re going to add milk or cream to this tea, I recommend steeping for 5 minutes. We’ve been enjoying this tea with half and half at work the past several days. What a treat!

The aroma is rich and toasty, malty. The flavor is quite stout but with a smoothness I didn’t expect. So flavorful and complex, I am already on my second cup!

The day outside is cold and gray with about 6 inches of snow expected to fall in our area later on. It’s one of those forecasts that change every time I watch the news – will it be rain or snow and when? Well, I’m all cozy and warm here with my pot of tea and the farthest I’m going to travel is into my studio to work on a new necklace design.

Have a lovely week!

“Being with people who warm us, who endorse and exhault our creativity, is essential to the flow of the creative life. Otherwise we freeze…When women are out in the cold, they tend to live on fantasies instead of action.”

~Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Jungian Analyst and Writer

Saturday Morning Tea

Feb16

Good morning, dear tea friends! After last week’s blizzard that dumped 2 feet of snow on us, it’s great to be back with you sharing a cup of tea. Today’s cuppa is a black tea from the Guranse Estate in Nepal. The beautifully intact leaves have been hand-rolled and processed.

From the tea estate’s website:

“Guranse Tea Estate is situated at an altitude between 3300 and 7300 feet above sea level. Probably the highest tea garden in the world which produces one of the best teas. In order produce exquisite tea enriched with delectable ‘muscatel’ flavor with superb aroma, the bushes need to grow breathing pure mountain air, filled with just the right combination of sun, shade and rain that are abundant in the eastern hills of Nepal, below the majestic Mount Everest and mount Makalu.”

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

Look at this fine plucking of the top two leaves and bud. Amazing.

As I lifted the infuser from my glass teapot, a fresh floral aroma wafted up.

The glowing amber tea liquor is silky smooth with sweet, floral notes. It’s mellow and light.

There’s more snow falling this afternoon, flakes gently floating to earth, no accumulation, thank goodness. This is the perfect tea, the perfect moment to sit and gaze out at the world of white.

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

~Albert Einstein

Saturday Morning Tea

Jan26

Good morning, dear tea friends! I hope that you had a great week and stayed warm if you’re experiencing a bitterly cold winter as we are here in New England. Oh my. Each day has started with these numbers – 3, 8, 10…brrrr! I need some serious warmup here! So, with that in mind, I chose a dark, rich China black tea to grace my teabowl this morning. Meet Organic Black Monkey, with its fuzzy golden tips threading through long, twisted, dark leaves.

I steeped the leaves for 5 minutes in boiling point (212F) water. As I lifted the infuser from my glass teapot, a strong aroma of sweet pipe tobacco greeted my senses. With the name “Monkey”, I thought this tea might be more like a Golden Monkey, with those rich, cocoa notes, however, I found this tea to be more like a Bohea in aroma and flavor.

The long, twisted leaf reminds me of a dark Oolong tea, one that has been oxidized at 40-50%, in fact, there are some of those toasty, woody nuances in the flavor as well.

The dark-russet tea liquor is thick and bittersweet, like a very dark chocolate, leaving the suggestion of cocoa in my mouth. The tobacco notes that I found so pronounced at first mellowed out as the tea cooled. Aside from that cocoa bitterness, the tea is quite smooth, leading me to think that this tea would be fun to “monkey” around with the steeping times.

This tea did a great job of warming my bones, a perfect cuppa for a frigid, mid-winter’s day.

I started playing around with my polymer clay stash last weekend and want to continue that this weekend. I had purchased a DVD from polymer clay artist, Barbara McGuire, on her version of mokume gane, involving gold leaf, alcohol inks and poking the clay with geometric shapes. I’ve been imagining ways to combine the beautiful, watercolor effect of this technique with either free-form beading or bead embroidery. Stay tuned to see what manifests!

As always, I so enjoy our time together, sharing a cup of tea. Thanks for stopping by!

“I dream a lot. I do more painting when I’m not painting. It’s in the subconscious.” ~Andrew Wyeth

Saturday Morning Tea

Jan5

Happy New Year, dear tea friends! I hope that everyone had a great time over the holidays and now here we are in a brand new year with many wonderful tea moments to look forward to. Shall we get started?

I have some exciting news to share with you! One of my dreams came true when I received the most amazing gift on Christmas – a micro lens for my Nikon camera. I’ve enjoyed photography for many years, starting out by taking loads of pictures of my kids as they were growing up. Over the years, I found myself drawn more and more to the closeup shots, especially when I started taking tea pictures almost 6 years ago. This morning I share with you my first shots with my brand new lens – a China black called Yunnan Black Snail.

From Yunnan province in China, this tea is produced from a large leaf varietal. The leaves are rolled into spiral shapes, reminiscent of snails. After a 5 minute steeping in boiling point (212F) water, take a look at this gorgeous unfurled leaf.

You can see how it was twisted as it was rolled and curled.

The deep dark amber-colored tea liquor has a spicy aroma with hints of cocoa. The flavor is smooth and rich with a sweet caramel-y nuance along with notes of spice and cocoa. For its beautiful leaf and depth of flavor, this tea is an amazing value. I’m already on my second cup!

Speaking of cups, I received this beautiful, handmade teamug as a gift. The blue glaze drips down a brown background in a lovely pattern, which I’m so enjoying looking at as I sip my tea and contemplate the new year.

I’ve already set some goals for myself this year, one of them being to move on beyond the portfolio website I created in my online class and create a new website where I can sell my jewelry. Another goal is to share my art much more often here on my blog. What goals have you set for 2013?

As always, thanks for stopping by and joining me in a cup of tea!

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” ~Henry David Thoreau

Saturday Morning Tea

Dec15

Good morning, dear tea friends. My heart is feeling very heavy this morning. Before I talk about tea, I’d like to take a moment to send thoughts and prayers out for the family and friends of the victims of yesterday’s horrific tragedy in CT. And thoughts and prayers that we as a nation can work together to prevent this horror from happening again. Thank you for listening and virtually joining in to hold my hand and offer your own thoughts and prayers.

This morning’s tea is called Tai Mu Long Zhu, a green tea from Fujian province in China. The tea is harvested in the spring and then the leaves are processed and carefully rolled into small “pearls”. Most of the “pearl” tea I’ve seen is usually scented with jasmine flowers. This tea has no scenting.

I steeped the pearls for about 3 minutes in 180F water. This tea tastes very smooth so you can probably experiment with a longer steep time, if you wish.

I have to say that the wet leaf amazed me. I didn’t expect it to be so large! The “pearls” unfurled gently during steeping to reveal loose spirals of long tea leaf.

As I meditated on the beauty of this tea leaf, I thought of how we can unfurl and open our hearts to face this tragedy together and, using this open heart energy, admit and accept that something is gravely broken in our country and needs to be healed.

The light straw-colored tea liquor has a sweet aroma, lightly vegetal and fruity. The flavor has a very light vegetal flavor with nuances of melon and a sweetness that lingers.