Saturday Morning Tea

Sep24

Fall has arrived under a grey blanket sky. We’re in a rainy weather pattern here in New England and I don’t think we’re supposed to see the sun for a week. It’s a good day for a rich, warm Assam black tea in my morning cup, this one from the Banaspaty estate, a small organic tea garden tucked into the hills of Kabi Anglong district in northeast India.

This particular Assam is a broken leaf tea so I steeped it for only 3 minutes in boiling point (212 F) water. Assams have such a gorgeous russet color, don’t they? It reminds me of the warm colors of the setting sun.

The wet leaf has a pronounced malty aroma, foretelling of its rich malty flavor notes. As I took my first sip, I detected a crisp astringency that could be enjoyed plain or toned down with a splash of milk.

There’s nothing like a pot of tea to brighten up a gloomy day.

As my tea cooled, some fruity hints were revealed, darkly sweet like the sweetness of raisins. We’ve just received a big shipment from India so I look forward to reviewing more Assams in the weeks to come. Shall I make October Assam month? Or do you like to read about a different type of tea every week? I welcome your feedback!

Have a wonderful week, dear tea friends…

“The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest.” ~Thomas Moore

Saturday Morning Tea

Sep10

This morning I was all set up to do a new tea review and as I went to snap my first photo, my camera’s battery died. No problem, I have another so I changed batteries only to discover that battery was dead, too! So, it appears that the universe is giving me a message today so I’ll share a post from my archives. Enjoy and have a great week!

Even though we are on the cusp of autumn and the temps are dropping rapidly here in New England, especially at night, I’m still in the mood for a light tea.

I introduce you to Huangshan Mao Feng Supreme, a beautiful, spring harvest Chinese green tea. Perhaps springtime in a cup can banish away the gloominess I feel on this dark, cloudy day.

The leaf is from a very fine plucking and careful processing resulting in an amazingly intact leaf set. I loved watching the leaves dance in my glass teapot as they infused.

Just the tips, the very new growth, are plucked to create this special tea.

I have read that Huangshan is another name for Mount Huang, located in the Anhui province of China. It’s a place of granite peaks, hot springs and beautiful sunsets and sunrises. An optical phenomenon known as Buddha’s Light occurs a couple times a month there with the sunrise. Sounds like an amazing place.

This tea is quite pale in color with a vegetal whisper in the aroma.

I chose this particular teabowl because the pale liquor allows me to see the beautiful texture inside the bowl. The flavor is light yet fills my mouth with its soft, fruity sweetness. Mmmm….

As I sip my tea, I watch the gray blanket of sky and contemplate the seasonal changes to come. My cup of springtime seems to hold back the thickening clouds as it releases the scent of new growth with every sip.

“Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.” ~Rainer Maria Rilke

Saturday Morning Tea

Sep3

A happy Labor Day weekend to one and all! Are you saying to yourself: now where did the summer go? Those long, hazy days seem to always fly by, quickly fading into the coolness of the fall.

This morning I’m enjoying a cup of Ceylon black tea from the Manikkanda estate. It has a leaf style designated as “FF” or “Fancy Flowery”, a special production from this particular estate. I believe the FF means that there is an abundance of golden tip, or new growth.

Historically named Ceylon as a British crown colony, the name is an English translation of the word Ceilão, a name given to the island by the Portugese in 1505. The island officially became known as the “Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka” in 1972 and then in 1978 to the “Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka”. A Sanskrit word, Sri Lanka translates to “venerable island” in English.

The Manikkanda tea estate is located in the southwestern Galle district, a district of the Southern province at the southernmost point on the island.

I steeped the leaves for 4 minutes in boiling point (212 F) water, producing a rich russet liquor with a brisk aroma.

Look at that gorgeous color, a deep glowing fall color.

The tea liquor wakes up my palate with its brisk astringency and sweet flavor. I’m enjoying my tea plain but I bet it would taste great if you wanted to added milk and/or sweetener. This tea would also make a wonderful iced tea for those remaining warm days of late summer.

Enjoy this long weekend, dear tea friends!

“September’s song is a two-part harmony, as summer’s lighthearted serenade ends and a deeper melody begins.”

~Sarah Ban Breathnach

Saturday Morning Tea

Aug13

I sit here quietly and sip my tea, the sounds of summer all around me – the faint buzzing of a lawn mower, the electric sound of the cicadas in the trees, the caw-caw of one crow to another as they fly over my house. As we enter the warm, hazy days of late summer, the fuschia impatiens dress my garden in their rich color.

In my cup this morning is a very dark tea, a China tea called Organic Pu-Erh 2nd Grade. Back in June, I wrote about the 1st grade here.

I steeped the leaves for 8 minutes in boiling point (212 F) water and, as you can see, the water quickly gets very murky on its way to becoming as black as night. Pu-Erh goes through a “composting” step during its processing. The leaves are piled into heaps, much like a compost pile, creating a heat in its core and transforming the leaves into this very unique tea.

Everything about this tea is so dark – the dry leaf, the wet leaf and the tea liquor after steeping. A rich, sweet, earthy aroma rises from my glass teapot as I remove the infuser basket.

I find that if I gaze at the tea liquor long enough, I can see a mulberry tinge around its edges. Can you see it?

The flavor is mellow and quite smooth, not as strong as its aroma. Characteristic notes of autumn leaf and forest floor mingle with a sweet molasses syrup flavor. I find myself enjoying it more and more with each sip.

While I was visiting my family in Michigan last month, we visited a quaint little village called Saugatuck, located on a river very near Lake Michigan. As we were strolling the shops, I came upon a pottery shop and purchased a few teabowls there. The artist’s name is Jeff Blandford and his business is called Volmod Ceramics. Voluptuous. Modern. Ceramic. He had some really cool pieces. As he was ringing my purchase, he told me that the teabowls I chose were created during a very creative time at the end of his student days at Michigan State University, over 3 years ago. So, I’d like to think that these lovely teabowls were sitting on the shelf patiently waiting for me to come along and bring them home to Massachusetts with me so I could enjoy many tea moments with them.

Until next week, dear tea friends…

“The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning.” ~Ivy Baker Priest

Saturday Morning Tea

Aug6

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Good morning, dear tea friends! Enjoy this oldie but goodie…

This morning the air had such a presence when I walked out onto the back deck. I strongly felt its steamy thickness pressing in on my body. Everything is air conditioned these days – my car, my house, my work, the stores – so it is almost a shock when I walk outside. All that said, I much prefer this thick heat to what lies ahead in about 3-4 months from now.

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With tender buds and full leaf sets, this morning’s tea is called Huo Shan Yellow Buds, a yellow tea from China. In touching the beautiful intact leaf, I imagined women moving through a tea field, their picking baskets strapped to them as their delicate hands reach out and pluck the tender new growth from each tea bush. Women are chosen for this task for their small hands and graceful movement.

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

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How does yellow tea differ from green tea, I wonder? From what I’ve researched and read, it is processed very similarly yet varies in the heating/firing steps. These steps are much more time consuming in producing the yellow tea in that the tea leaves are gently steamed with moist heat and then wrapped in some sort of material. This process is repeated several times. It produces a tea that tastes more like a white tea than a green tea. Such an art form. You can read about it here.

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Just like the air outside, this tea has such a presence in my mouth. That is called a “full mouth feel”. It is very apparent with the first sip of tea. It is not thick like an Assam tea but more buttery and silky.

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The tea liquor is quite pale with just a hint of color in my teapot. The aroma is soft and the flavor is slightly sweet and peppery/spicy. Very delicate and subtle.

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The tea is so light that it shows off the speckled inside of my teabowl to perfection. ahhhh..

Infinite riches are all around you if you will open your mental eyes and behold the treasure house of infinity within you. There is a gold mine within you from which you can extract everything you need to live life gloriously, joyously, and abundantly.

~Joseph Murphy