Saturday Morning Tea on Sunday

Jul6

Back to reality from my very relaxing trip down the Jersey Shore. I have this one more day of vacation, however, and I am going to savor every moment. I begin with a cup of one of my favorite China Oolongs called Bai Hao. Translating to mean “hairy crab”, I’m not sure why it’s called this but the leaf is rich and variegated.

After steeping in 180 degree water for 3 minutes, some of the leaves are still curled up and some have straightened to reveal their intact state.

The liquor is a buttery amber color with a sweet aroma. The taste is quite sweet with a fruitiness that lingers on the tongue. Many Chinese Oolongs that I’ve tried have a woodiness to their taste that I don’t really care for. I think it is probably connected to how long the leaf is oxidized. The darker leaves seem to produce that woody note. This tea, however, is light and fruity and very enjoyable.

It was an interesting experience to be away from my computer for a solid week. Of course, many vacations are taken with the intent of removing yourself from the busyness of your day to day life. If I had a laptop I probably would have brought it with me as there was internet access in the condo. I’m glad I didn’t though because it was a nice break from the electronic world and the distraction it so readily provides on a daily basis. For one week, my life was focused on walking on the beach, inhaling the salty air and listening to the sound of the waves. It gave me the opportunity to just “be” and listen to that voice deep within which sometimes gets drowned out by everything else in my life. I read and wrote in my journal a lot, too.

More on my Jersey Shore experience in the coming week…

Saturday Morning Tea

Jun28

The white blanket sky gives me the feeling of being enclosed in a light tent as it gently illuminates our back deck and garden, bringing the gorgeous color of this morning’s tea leaf into sharp saturation. I’m sipping an African black tea from the Malaika estate in Kenya. The word Malaika means “angel”.

The leaf is dark with a minimum of tip and an aroma of sweet chocolate drifted up when I first opened the pouch. The steeped liquor is a deep reddish brown after 5 minutes in boiling water. The taste is hearty and slightly astringent with a hint of malt and a sweet lingering finish.

Tea has been grown in Kenya for about 100 years with a surge in the last 10-15 years that has brought it to be one of the world’s largest tea producers. You can read more about it here.

Yesterday my company closed for its annual shutdown so I am on vacation for the next 9 days. My parents have invited me down to the Jersey shore again where they have rented a condo right on the beach. Lovely! So, tomorrow morning I head out for the 5 hour trip down to the Shore. As I don’t have a laptop computer, I won’t have any computer access while I’m down there for the week. As I’m on a computer all day at my job, it will be a blessed break away from the electronic world. I’ll return next Saturday afternoon so my morning tea will be postponed until the following day, Sunday July 8th. I’m bringing my camera with me so I’ll have lots of pictures to share of my adventure when I return home.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday week!

Saturday Morning Tea on Friday

Mar28

I’m in Michigan visiting family this weekend so my tea post is a day early. I’m using my Dad’s laptop and I absolutely love it. Note to self: purchase a laptop this year!

This morning I am sipping a cup of Tai Ping Hou Kui, a China green tea, and gazing out at the 4 inches of snow that fell over night. Even though the sun is shining brightly on the sparkling snowfall, winter is not over here in the Detroit metro area. Back home in Massachusetts, I think the forecast was for more springlike weather, rain and temps in the 40s.

The long hand-crafted leaf is amazingly intact. After steeping the leaves for 3 minutes with 180 degree F water, I found a leaf set with 4 leaves attached. The aroma is fresh and mildly vegetal and the liquor feels surprisingly thick and full in my mouth even though the taste is mild and sweet. This tea was first produced at the beginning of the 20th century by a venerable Tea Master. Its name translates to Great Green Monkey King and it is produced in An Hui province. The criss-cross pattern on the leaves is stamped from the cloth used to press and flatten the leaf. The fine crafting and care in its processing is apparent in its beautiful appearance and taste.

Yesterday, my Mom (who is an avid needlepointer and knitter) and I visited a fiber arts shop in Macomb, MI, called Crafty Lady Trio. We purchased some scrumptious wool and silk yarn, Mom to knit a scarf and I to try my hand at a felted bowl pattern I found in the book One Skein by Leigh Radford. I have visions of colorful felted bowls filled with beads adorning my new studio! I’ll post photos of the yarn, along with some rubber stamps I purchased for my next mosaicon, when I return from my trip.

My finished Mosaicon

Mar21

I recently put the finishing touches on my mosaicon, “The Way of Tea”, created in Laurie Mika’s workshop last weekend. I cut a couple of small tiles to fill in the small areas. For the very skinny areas, I poured various size seed beads and then filled the space with Judikins Diamond Glaze to glue them in place.

Here is a closeup of the glass vial I filled with green tea leaves. It’s one of my favorite China greens called Tian Mu Qing Ding. The hand rolled leaf is just beautiful. You can see my review on this tea here.

My friend Amy has also written about our wonderful workshop adventure here.

Laurie Mika Workshop

Mar19

I had the honor and pleasure of taking a workshop last weekend with the Mosaicon Goddess, Laurie Mika. I’m so glad that it was a 2-day workshop because it was chock full of learning and creating. Using polymer clay, paints, powders, beads and various ephemera, we each created a mosaicon on a piece of wood. There were 12 of us in the class and everyone created a piece both wonderful and unique.

Laurie has a great informal right brain way of teaching which I warmed up to immediately. She’s patient and sharing and was a great help to me as I tried to manifest what was in my head into a mosaic piece of art. It was a fabulous group of ladies who were encouraging and quick to share stories and art materials.

The first day we concentrated on making our center piece and various sizes of tiles that reflected our chosen theme. The second day we created painted tiles and then put it all together.

I love how each piece draws you in with its story.

The powders and paints lend a very rich look to the polymer clay.

I didn’t get a chance to finish my mosaicon in class. My idea was to create a temple called “The Way of Tea”. As I laid the tiles out, it just didn’t look finished to me. Then Laurie came up with the great idea to give my temple “wings”, turning it into a pagoda. Here’s the almost finished piece.

I still have some small areas to fill in with beads (oh joy!) and skinny tiles. If you don’t already have it, I highly recommend Laurie’s book, Mixed Media Mosaics.

I’m already happily planning my next piece!