Tag Archives: tea review

Saturday Morning Tea

I’m up very early for a Saturday morning because I’m preparing to go down the Cape to Hyannis to visit a very dear friend. We’ve known each other since freshman year in high school (many moons ago!) and have experienced many significant life events together – weddings, births, deaths, divorces, moves. As our kids have gotten older, our visits have become more and more infrequent, I’m sad to say. It has now been a whole year since we’ve last seen each other so I’m really looking forward to our visit. And Hyannis has a wonderful bead shop, too.

After the stormy weather of the past few days, today has dawned clear and bright. And quiet. No rumble of thunder in the distance. The birds are even quiet this morning. Speaking of birds, this morning’s tea is a China green called Phoenix Eyebrow. Harvested very early in the spring, the leaves are processed and shaped into tight points on either side and curved to resemble eyebrows.

I found some intact leaf sets. Gorgeous!

With a fresh vegetal aroma, the liquor is very light in color and taste. It tastes smooth and full with a slight sweetness in the finish. As the tea cooled, more sweetness was revealed in its flavor. I think this would make a very nice iced tea. Mmmm…

Saturday Morning Tea

It’s been hot and humid this past week. Yesterday I forgot to turn the AC on in the morning so by last night, it was sweltering in the house. Looking for ways to cool off, I decided to make up a pitcher of iced tea in this beautiful Italian glass pitcher I found at Target. So, before going to bed last night, I filled the pitcher halfway with cold filtered water and added 12 grams or 6 teaspoons of a whole leaf black Ceylon tea from the Koslanda estate. I let the tea leaves steep overnight. This is the “cold brew” method of making iced tea. You can read more about it here. Some instructions call for one tablespoon for every 6 ounces but I used one teaspoon instead to make a lighter brew.

In this photo, I haven’t strained the leaves yet but I will do this with the aid of a large Pyrex measuring cup. This is such an easy method of making iced tea and the resulting brew is not bitter at all, despite the fact that the leaves are steeping for 10-12 hours or longer. What a gorgeous color!

As it was still early and cool out on the backyard deck, I decided to have an impromptu tea party. The tea is so refreshing with an interesting spicy note. I sliced up a ripe peach and enjoyed that with my tea. Yum!

Saturday Morning Tea

What a marvelous day – warm, not too humid with brilliant sunshine. Here in New England this past week, we’ve had some wild weather, including a couple of tornadoes that touched down in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. We experienced vivid lightning, crashing thunder and torrential downpours like I saw when I traveled to the Hawaiian rainforest. On our walk last night, we collected quite a few branches that had been knocked down. They’ll make great kindling for our fireplace once they’re dried out and seasoned. With all of this fire energy flying about, I decided to try a new type of tea for me – a smoky tea. I know that there are a lot of Lapsang Souchong fans out there but, alas, I am not one of them. That said, this tea has always intrigued me and I keep searching for one that I will enjoy. At my company, it is one of our best selling types of tea. I’m not reviewing a Lapsang this morning. Not yet. I have one in mind for an August review. This morning I am sipping a Formosa Oolong called Heavy-Baked Tie-Guan-Yin.

The full leaf is first processed as a Jade Oolong which is a slightly oxidized leaf. Still considered an Oolong tea, it is much more green in character than other Oolongs. This is because the leaf is allowed to oxidize only a little bit, approximately 10%, give or take. Some other Oolongs are oxidized 40-50%, giving them a much darker flavor and fuller body. I looked back on my tea archives and was surprised to discover that I haven’t reviewed a Jade Oolong yet. I’ll do that in August, too. I did review a Spring Dragon Oolong, another “greener” Oolong.

Once this tea is processed as a Jade Oolong, it is then roasted to give it a much different flavor. As you can see, the leaf is so very dark. In the processing, the leaf rolls up into little bundles which then release their shape a little during the steeping. I steeped the leaves for 4 minutes in 190 degree F filtered water.

The liquor is a deep reddish brown with a smoky aroma that has hints of tobacco. The taste is sweet and smoky but not overly so. For me, the smokiness is at just the right level. The full-bodied taste would probably stand up well to milk and sweetener. I am enjoying it plain.

Today is the perfect day for enjoying my tea out on our backyard deck. So, I will go sit and relax and work on a jewelry project. I have to set all of my other projects aside for the day and work on creating some jewelry to match a white and gold dress I have because tomorrow…………

My youngest son is getting married!

Saturday Morning Tea

The weekend is showing promise of perfect mid-summer weather – nice and warm with lower humidity and sunny skies. Now that things are caught up from vacation both at work and at home, I’m looking forward to a couple of days with no responsibilities, filled with working on my art projects. I started my May journal page but set it aside for vacation. Now it’s time to turn my focus back to it and complete what I started. There are so many things that I would like to do and sometimes I get so overwhelmed with trying to balance it all, especially with a full-time day job. How do you find balance in your life?

Ok, time for my cup of tea. This morning I’m sipping a Japanese Sencha called Supersencha Kamakura. The dry leaf looks like grass clippings, flat, smooth and very green. Green tea has a long history in Japan, having been introduced in the 9th century by a Buddhist monk returning from his travels in China. You can read more about it here. The most well known type of Japanese green tea is Matcha, the powdered green tea used for the Tea Ceremony, Chanoyu (translation: hot water for tea). I had the honor of attending a tea ceremony last fall in Boston and I wrote about it here.

After the leaves are plucked, they are steamed to stop the oxidation and then rubbed and dried. The rubbing breaks down the cell walls and releases the volatile oils which gives the tea its wonderful flavor.

The liquor has an interesting yellow green color and sweet, vegetal aroma. Japanese green tea can be very vegetal tasting, moreso than Chinese green tea. This tea is quite vegetal but also sweet which smooths out the pungency. There is also a slight nutty note which lingers on my tongue. Years ago I received this tea bowl as a gift from a friend and it is perfect for my Japanese green tea. I imagine majestic mountains watching over the tea fields below.

Time for another cup. Have a glorious weekend!

Saturday Morning Tea

I think I mentioned this before but one of the experiences I love the most about springtime besides all of the colorful blooms, is the arrival of the first flush Darjeelings. This morning I am sipping a cup of Arya estate Aroma Darjeeling. The Arya tea garden is located in the Darjeeling district in northeast India. I wrote a little about its history in a former post. To me, its name even conjures up images of a fairytale kingdom high in the misty mountains.

I was so excited to find this intact large leaf in my cup. The color and quality of the leaf is outstanding. The amber colored liquor smells like delicate fruit and flowers and its taste fills my mouth with a slight hint of sweet bananas and other tropical fruits. A heavenly treat to start out the long holiday weekend.

Today I am attending my polymer clay guild meeting where I will try and get some work done on my March journal page. “Try” is the key word here as I will probably be visiting and sharing with my fellow guild members for the first few hours! A veritable gab fest, if you know what I mean. I’ll post a photo soon of the progress I make today on my page.