Summer tea

I like my new tea discovery this summer!  It's a refreshing tisane brewed from dry hibiscus septa petals. 

The pretty pink drink tastes very clean, with hints of kosher pickle and cranberry juice. Here is the weblink for this unique drink among unlimited tea choices.

Enjoying Tea in Chinese Culture

With the leaves turning colors in autumn glory, my recent daily choice of tea tends to be a darker oolong with thicker mouth feel and deeper character profile.  During my talk at Homewood Retirement Center about enjoying tea in Chinese culture, I showed off a rare Puer tea brick gifted to me a few years ago when I was in Taiwan during the tea plantation visit. 

 

A fun thing I just discovered by looking at the above picture is that my choice of outfit and tea displays harmoniously reflect the seasonal color without any purposely intention.  What an instinct when dealing with the subject of tea!

Frederick downtown "tea hop" event

For last week's "tea hop" event, I captioned each photo in the album to serve as a brief event review. The participants were mostly of young millennium generation and what a joy to see their enthusiasm in trying out new teas and learning about the Chinese culture through tea serving!

Fun with afternoon teatime

This coming Saturday:

First Tea Hop in historic downtown Frederick

A young mind sure is creative!  An AmeriCorps volunteer at Asian American Center of Frederick designed an innovative tea appreciation event in light of the abundant tea shops in Frederick. I will be giving a pre-hop talk to introduce three varieties of Chinese tea and the role of tea plays in Chinese daily life and cultural arts.

Here are articles for perusal before my presentation:
A. Tea and general health
B. Tea and specific health related issues
C. Tea composition

Perfect Settig for Mid-autumn Moon Viewing

 

Today is lunar new year's August 15, the mid-autumn festival day for full moon viewing.  A good friend knowing my love for opera and ballet sent me an e-greeting featuring soprano Lucia Popp's "Song to the Moon" (from Dvořák's opera Rusalka).  What a beautiful combination to view the moon while listening to her illuminating voice pouring out the delicate poem from the heart.  Adding a pot of light green tea and few moon cakes, I think, would be an ideal poetic setting for moon viewing tonight! 

Downton Abbey Tea Set

I was happily surprised upon spotting the English breakfast tea service set among Downton Abbey costume exhibit at Winterthur Museum.  It was tucked in a corner in the servant costume display area.  The fruit basket, rolled London newspaper and ironed cloth napkin--pure English elegance!

Besides costume display, my friends were happily surprised as well when I made Oolong tea for them with my petite tea set during the break.  

Symbolism of plum, orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum

In Chinese classic painting and literature, 梅，蘭，竹，菊 (the prominent plants for winter, spring, summer and fall: Plum , Orchid, Bamboo, Chrysanthemum) represent esteemed merits of gentleman's character : plum for ability to overcome hardships, orchid for gracefulness, bamboo for high moral standard and chrysanthemum for honesty. 

The characteristic weather pattern of the four seasons influences my tea choice as well.  In winter,  the earthy fragrance, golden amber color and full body of Pu-er or Oriental Beauty tea enhance the warmth while reading in my cozy study.

To welcome spring, I switch to lighter Oolong (i.e. Taiwan's high mountain tea and Anshi's Iron Goddess tea) for its pleasant floral fragrance and taste. 

In summer, the dragon-well green tea suits my palate with its clean scent and slightly bitter "I-can-taste-the-nature" quality. 

Then when autumn leaves turn to golden yellow and red, the robust and fruity flavor of Oolong from Taiwan's Tung Ting mountain compliments the harvest season's ambiance so perfectly!

A marvelous green tea to start the new year

I am so blessed to have friends who remember my tea hobby during their travel.  Recently I was given a beautiful tin packet of 竹叶青 (direct character translation: Bamboo Leaves Green), an organic green tea from China's Emie Mountain in Sichuan .  The unique tea  was named by a high ranking official (as many other Chinese teas) who paralleled the beautiful shape,  light greenish scent and color of the tea to those of fresh young bamboo leaves.

Each pale green leaf lays plumb as a ripe snap pea pod. Upon opening the individual tea packet, the fragrance waded towards me with a refreshing bamboo leaf's aroma. And what a delight to see the leaves swelling, drifting, swimming and gently diving down to the glass bottom.   The first sip met all my anticipation of a good tea: a light mouth feel along with a pleasant, soothing taste.  After enjoying the first steep,  I felt as if I was sitting on a mountain clearing surrounded by nature's beauty.

Afterwards, I chanced to read the tea company's press release dd July 2011.  It recorded a French winery host's comment after an invitation tea tasting : "I can taste nature in this tea." 

(note for readers: click on the google tool bar for web links' translation)

My Recent Taiwan Tea Field Trip (Part 1: Nov. 11 2011: the tea lodge)

Just as I expected: once we settled with luggages, Mr. Lin, the lodge owner treated us with oolong tea produced from his tea fields.

The wood lodge's living room is warmly decorated with calligraphy, painting, bonsai and orchids.  Both tea table and serving tray were carved from single blocks of hard wood. 
 

Next: evening tea dinner

My Taiwan Tea Field Trip (part 3: Nov. 11 midnight till 2 am: participation in tea production)

We stayed in the area known for the classic "Tung-Ting" oolong tea.  Thanks to Mr. Lin, the lodge host who treated us with tea dinner feast, I got to observe and participate in tea production at one of his relatives' farm house.  We arrived around 8pm when he had already laid out the leaves for partial drying and was ready to stir the leaves for enzymatic oxidation. 

With his artisan tea experience, he added the optional process of rotating the leaves in the bamboo cradle for further oxidation.  One needs to be patient and observant in order for all the batches to go through similar degree of
transformation.  Then the highlight of the evening (and well worth to give up sleep until 2am): the pleasant aroma released from tea roasting to stop its further oxidation.

Where would you like to have tea today

My first grape harvest under the arbor

If someone asks me today where would I like to have tea, my answer is  Lumière in Paris ! With music in the air, warm fall color surroundings, sipping "le thé" with my favorite almond croissant -- c'est la vie!

Setting for tea and music, chez moi

Make believe French fun in my backyard

So the next best place to have tea today is chez moi--right at home! 

Hope for fresh tea produced nearby

antique hot drinks dispenser in Columbus, IN

Recently a tea blog updates me on few more active tea plantations in US.  One  place opens to the public is the Charleston Tea Plantation .  If you are a tea enthusiast and loves to travel, mark your calendar for the plantation's annual
2012 First Flush FesTEAval on Sunday, May 20th. The plantation is open year round: the harvest season starts in May and the Camellia Sinensis plants begin to bloom in late September.

For my tea blog readers near Alabama vicinity, check out this seemingly charming place for yourself: Fairhope Tea Plantation . 

Fresh mozzarella and tomato platter at "The Old Fashioned" restaurant in Madison, WI

It is back to college time, here is a helpful article for the mothers to prepare for tea-loving sons and daughters to stay healthy: Campus teatime. 

Enjoy tea wherever you are!

Tea Cuisine on the Horizon

Yilang Tea Lodge's garden

Yilang Tea Lodge's side garden

A report on the new trend of tea cuisine reminds me of a 2006 trip to Taiwan's Yilang tea plantations.  The road to the tea farmer's lodge took quite a few hair-raising serpentine turns on a narrow mountain road.  Another highlight of the trip was a rustic 10-course dinner prepared by the farmer family in a patio kitchen with free range chicken, mountain fresh field greens and mushrooms. Perhaps it was the most refreshing and tasty meal experience ever for all the diners around the table.  One surprise after another, the big bowl of tea-infused soup or stir-fried vegetable with tea leaves were greeted by incessant oohs and aahs!

On the way to the tea lodge

As a cooking ingredient, wine is a common staple for many cuisines.  Tea, or tea leaves, however, is seldom used and any recipe including it might appeal to but a few adventurous cooks.  Nevertheless, there are two Chinese dishes which are worth the effort to try (at least for cosmopolitan gourmets) due to the unique use of tea.  One is "smoked tea duck", a banquet dish prized for the golden brown color and subtle smoked tea flavor imparted to the duck skin and meat.  The second one is "Lung Jing shrimp": Lung Jing the delicate, green tea sprouts from West Lake and pearly pink shrimp velvety but slightly crunchy to the bite.  In my personal opinion, both are culinary masterpieces with exquisite combination of color, texture, aroma and taste. 

For tea's parallel to coffee's use in desserts, Japanese style "green tea cheesecake" has quite a following in Asian bakeries because of its beautiful color and refined texture.  Also, green tea ice cream has become a popular item for its intricate tea flavor.

Now I am looking forward to add more memorable tea dishes to my list if the "tea cuisine" trend actually takes off!

Wedding Celebration with "Tea" Theme

Crown Princess Margaret Rose

Recently I was asked for ideas about my friend daughter's wedding celebration.  In the limelight of the Royal wedding this Friday, here are several inspirations for the bride who loves tea:

1. arrange a Japanese or Chinese garden with gazebo for photo setting

2. at the start of wedding reception, the bride and groom serve tea (it's a Chinese custom) to the parents to express their appreciation (preferably on a raised head table for all guests to see, work out details at rehearsal dinner); this would likely be a moving experience for all to remember

3. if it's a Chinese banquet, a best man may give a simple instruction to the guests about tea courtesy ( tapping 1st and middle fingers on the table when tea is served) and proceed with a tea toast for the bride and groom

4. prepare miniature teapot filled with tea leaves as party favor for guests to bring home

Royal Tea



With Prince William and Kate's royal wedding on the horizon (April 29), tea becomes fashionable again.  I took the pictures above at a dinner gathering while the host was arranging serving pieces from his massive china collection (note those tea sets and cups on the side buffet tables against the Victorian pink wall).

Come think of it, one of my friend has mentioned to me a scholarly book  "A NECESSARY LUXURY: TEA IN VICTORIAN ENGLAND" during a recent conversation.  (She happens to know the book because it was written by her daughter!)  With tea's intrinsic allure,  even in our modern world, it conjures image of elegance, warmth and togetherness.  Tea serving provides shared cultural experience joyously at a dim sum house on weekends as well as soothingly in an England country home every afternoon.

More about joy of tea related to wedding in my next blog.

French Pastry at Teatime

A delightful paring for the smooth Darjeeling black tea could be any French pastry longingly perused by calorie-conscious women young or old.  The eye candy picture above frequently comes to me through my favorite blog feed: ParisBreakfast by Carol Gillott.  Her March 2nd entry is quite a guide for Paris tea salons.

Timing is right for me to mention the newly relesed documentary Kings of Pastry .  One can't help but respect the devotion of French chefs' dedication to their craft.

After viewing the movie with the cine club of Alliance Française of Frederick, I surely appreciate every bite of  beautiful pastry as a work of art!

New USDA Dietary Guidlines

Grilled Romaine drizzled with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and generous sprinkles of fresh Pamesan cheese

Thanks partly to this cold winter, my 2011 new year resolution has been kept well--no carry-out dinner (or more appropriately speaking: "carry-in dinner") so far!  However, I do have to talk myself out quite often in order to detour away from Chinese restaurants for my favorite stir-fired rice noodle or salt-pepper shrimps...

One way I deterred myself from falling is by stocking the refrigerator with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.  And for TV snacks, I fill my pantry with toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds (with shell) .  Nevertheless, my love of teas should take most of the credits for keeping me on tract of healthy eating.  A cup of warm oolong tea instead of ice cream, cake or pie would keep me happy and satisfied after the meal .  Even occassional crave for sweets comes along, a buttery caramel hard candy in between tea sips will be just the perfect dessert combination!

Here is the link for those who also like to start eating healthy.  It provides international websites of official nutrition recommendation, including the most recent (published Jan. 31st, 2011) USDA dietary guidlines.  The sage idea of  "eat everything in moderation" has been and will be my dietary motto.  No need to veer away almond crescent or Sopressata sausage--just have it in small portions.  Moreover, sipping teas throughout the day provides ample zero calorie fluid need for healthy living!

Happy Lunar New Year of the Rabbit

Vegetarian Ingredients for Hot Pot

Just like Christmas and Thanksgiving here, Chinese new year celebrations in my memories are about gatherings with family around dining table.  Travel tickets need to be arranged way ahead so no one would miss the hearty New Year Eve's dinner.  Since the weather during lunar new year is usually cold, many families prepare steaming Hot Pot in addition to bowls of their house specialties.  Here is a picture to show how hot pot brings out new year festivity even in modern day Texas!

All my favorite things

"These are all my favorite things...." The beautiful voice of Julie Andrews and images of Lewis Carroll's England come to my mind upon viewing this picture.  The boxwood garden with the flighty flowers, citrus fruits and butterflies surrounding the girl in the pretty white dress  sipping tea (it must be tea!) cover almost all my favorite things.  I am longing for the days to enjoy tea in the garden as the girl does.  Well, it's less than two months away...

Start the year with "Back to Nature" life style



at Woodstock's Biling Farm

The enlightening TED talk by Dan Barber reminds me that drinking tea is the easiest way we can connect to natural foods on daily basis.  All the good things which are produced in tea leave cells in fresh air would be gently simmered out from the dried leaves into your tea cup ....  His recent interview by NPR (at time marker 45:45) furthers the topic of tea's anti-angiogenetic property (RE: Dr. William Li's TED Talk in my Aug.09, 2010 blog entry) and  health benefits of natural foods with better flavor.

at farmer's market in Vermont

So my 2011 new year resolution (which should be easy to carry out) : more visit to farmer's markets and surrounding gardens, more cooking at home!