Saturday Morning Tea

Jan30

Here in New England, we’re in the midst of an arctic blast with temps in the teens and howling winds making it feel like the air is below zero when you step outside. Brrrr… I’m grateful to be tucked away in my little nook with a steaming mug of green tea to warm my hands and my spirit.

This morning’s tea is called, interestingly enough, Lonely Mountain White Mist. Of course I chose this tea for its poetic name, conjuring images of a faraway land with tea bushes gracing a mountainside.

This tea comes from a fine plucking (top 2 leaves and a bud) of tea bushes grown in Fujian Province located in southeastern China. Traditionally described as “eight parts mountain, one part water, and one part farmland”, its climate is very suitable for tea growing with over 1200 tea plantations scattered throughout the province. So, our image of the mountainside is right on.

I steeped the leaves for 3 minutes in 180 degree water. As I gently lift the lid of my glass teapot, the pale golden liquor imparts a fresh, clean aroma. Is spring almost here?

The tea is so pale that I can see the texture in my hand crafted teabowl. If I could choose one word for this tea it would be

sweet

A sweetness that swirls and lingers through the asparagus notes and right on into the finish. So smooth…

As I mentioned in my last post, I am itching to play with my beads in a free-form way so today I will journey into the world of bead soups, mixing colorful bowls full of beady goodness.

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”

~Maya Angelou

What are you creating this weekend?

Saturday Morning Tea

Jan16

I had a wonderful start to my morning today. The phone rang as I was preparing my tea and, as I said hello, I was greeted to a happy birthday song from my parents. My heart smiled as I poured water over the tea leaves. Thanks Mom and Dad. I’m so blessed.

The tea I’ve brewed up this morning is a Kenyan black tea from the Milima tea estate. I’ve found conflicting information regarding this tea estate. Some say that it’s a compendium of 3 tea estates and other information indicates that it really is its own tea estate located in the Kericho Highlands of western Kenya. The Kericho region is where most of the tea is grown in Kenya and it lies west of the Great Rift Valley.

I steeped the leaves for 4 minutes in boiling point (212 F) water. Most of the tea that comes from Kenya these days is of the CTC variety. CTC means crush, tear, curl, a mechanized processing of the leaf which results in a consistent granular structure.

This leaf, however, has an intact structure though it is broken, not whole. Its leaf designation is BOP which means broken orange pekoe.

The tea liquor steeps up very dark and full-bodied. It makes a great breakfast tea that would certainly hold up well to any additions like milk and sweetener.

I enjoyed my tea plain so I could discover the interesting fruit and spice flavor notes. Mmmm…apple…nutmeg….soft but there.

I’ve written about another Kenyan tea here.

While this tea is very smooth compared to its CTC counterparts, there is a zip in the finish. Look at that dark liquor, almost like coffee.

I am looking forward to a day of hanging out, shopping and lunch with my lovely daughter. A perfect birthday celebration. We plan on visiting the bead store which I’m hoping will jumpstart my dormant creativity. Now that I’m all moved in, my studio is ready and waiting to embrace me once again.

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself. -Neil Gaiman

Saturday Morning Tea

Jan9

A week of settling in. I sit here in one of my straight backed kitchen chairs, looking out onto a robin’s egg sky and ponder how I fit into this new place. My own place. Sometimes I feel like it is not real and I am living in a dream. And I sip my tea…

This morning I crave a tea to wake my mouth (and the rest of me) and chose the best tea for that job, a second flush Darjeeling from The Namring Upper estate. Located in northeast India amidst the majestic, towering Himalayan peaks, this estate is one of the more well known in Darjeeling district. I reviewed last year’s Namring second flush here.

Second flush Darjeelings are harvested in the summer after the leaves have “flushed” back from the first flush (spring) harvest. Usually, the appearance and taste is darker, richer, fuller.

This tea is all that and more.

After spooning the tea into my small glass teapot, I steeped the leaves for 3 minutes in boiling point (212 F) water. I like to use bottled spring water for steeping. I find that gives the most consistent, true taste. The tap water in my town is unreliable for brewing tea.

The aroma is rich and fruity with a taste of ripe muscatel grapes. The finish has notes of wood and nut in a pungent bite that lingers, drawing all of the moisture out of my mouth.

Oooo…this would be marvelous with rich desserts.

While many folks are making resolutions this time of year, there are others who choose a word for the year. A word to guide. A word to contemplate. A word to open awareness. If I had to choose one word for this tea, it would be

rich

Even the color is rich, a dark amber which glows like a precious jewel. Serve this tea with dessert at your next dinner gathering.

Today I am spending the whole day in my new studio, unwrapping the many boxes piled in there and finding a place for each precious art supply.

“There are times to cultivate and create, when you nurture your world and give birth to new ideas and ventures. There are times of flourishing and abundance, when life feels in full bloom, energized and expanding. And there are times of fruition, when things come to an end. They have reached their climax and must be harvested before they begin to fade. And finally of course, there are times that are cold, and cutting and empty, times when the spring of new beginnings seems like a distant dream. Those rhythms in life are natural events. They weave into one another as day follows night, bringing, not messages of hope and fear, but messages of how things are.” ~Chogyam Trungpa

Saturday Morning Tea

Jan2

My first full day in my new place started out bright and early with a visit from the Verizon man. A little bit of wiring magic, actually a couple of hours of plugging, unplugging, testing, and I now have an internet connection. Morning has turned into afternoon as the snow dances and swirls outside my window and I’ve finally got the chance to sit down and quietly sip a cup of Chinese green tea called Bing Yin Zhen.

Downy leaf buds, the tender new growth, are plucked and processed. The leaves are then artfully hand twisted which shows off the fine quality of the leaf to perfection.

I steeped the leaves in 180 degree F water for 3 minutes.

The hot water steep doesn’t even touch the shape of the leaf. What gorgeous handcraftmanship!

I know that Yin Zhen translates to silver needle. I couldn’t find the translation for Bing though. Does anyone know?

The aroma of the ecru tea liquor is soft and fresh, very reminiscent of a white tea. The tea settles in my mouth with a silky feeling and then releases faint flavor notes of tobacco that linger in the aftertaste.

The rest of this weekend will be spent organizing and decorating my new place. Stay warm!

“Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist

but the ability to start over.”

~F. Scott Fitzgerald

Christmas Morning Tea

Dec25

The sun is rising on this beautiful Christmas morning. A ring of newborn pink kisses the horizon as the sky starts to glow. A few rays of sun light up the hills as a curl of smoke rises from the neighbor’s chimney. As the world wakes up outside, there is such a peaceful quiet as I sit here before the fire and enjoy the first cup of the day, a spicy black tea called, appropriate to the moment, Hearthside Chai.

A black tea blended with cinnamon, ginger and cardamom seed, as a traditional chai has but then there are some interesting additions – licorice and cacao.

A warm spicy aroma greets me as I gently lift the lid of my glass teapot after a 4 minute steep in boiling point (212 degrees F) water. Where the steeping guidelines call for 1 teaspoon per cup, I find that too strongly spicy for my taste so I use 1/2 that amount of leaves.

The sweet licorice flavors the cup as the other spices blend together to create a rich delight to the senses. Depending upon what spice predominates as you spoon your leaves into pot or cup, the flavor can vary from warm cinnamon to spicy ginger to exotic cardamon.

This tea is very warming, both to body and spirit. A perfect tea to start this festive day.

Today, my daughter and I will be flying to Michigan to spend holiday time with my family so there won’t be any Saturday morning tea this week. I look forward to joining you next Saturday so we may share a cup to toast the New Year.

Until then, dear friends…