The Tea Scoop

Portsmouth Tea Co.: New England Blueberry Muffin

Recently, on a vacation to Williamsburg, Virginia, we stopped in a very exciting little store called the Peanut Shoppe.  Among the obvious peanuts was a display of various teas. Of course I was unable to resist exploration, and an assortment of black tea tins caught my attention. The company was the Portsmouth Tea Company.

I selected an herbal blend called "New England Blueberry Muffin," intrigued by the label's claim that it tasted like a "fresh from the oven muffin." The color of the liquor is a perfect match for my pink RAZR cell phone, ideal for a princess tea party. Inhaling the aroma, I was surprised to find that at least in terms of scent, the tea lived up to the claims on the label. I took a first cautious sip, expecting the tartness all too common in fruit scented herbal teas. There was a tartness, but not to the point of overwhelming taste. In fact it was just enough to cut the sweetness of the aftertaste for a well-balanced flavor.

There was a hint of muffiny-goodness, but I wouldn't call it muffin flavored tea. Label claims aside, this is one of the more delicious fruit tisanes I have enjoyed.

"Get Gorgeous" II

Today is Day 3 of the "Get Gorgeous" experiment, and I have tried drinking the tea in various manners to improve the taste, which is just too fruity for me. Generally, I prefer fruity teas to be iced and sweetened, so that it's more like juice or a cocktail. So far, I have tried it iced and unsweetened (not something I would recommend) and sweetened hot. When hot and sweetened, it is a bit more palatable, but I think I used a wee bit too much Splenda, so there will be more experimentation on future cups.

As for as the skin part of the experiment goes, three days seems a bit too soon to see any change, so I will not be reporting on that yet.

Blending Tea

I thought I'd make a brief entry on blends. If there is anything I've discovered, it's that you can make a blend out of practically anything. If you mix too many things, it does become a bit overly-complex in terms of the number of tastes however.

What are the rules for blending teas? Well, quite simply there aren't any. Just like making a dish, you just have to think about what flavors go well together, and what won't clash. In general though, here are a few ideas:

I have found that blending teas with herbal infusions works quite well. Black and green teas go well with mint and lemon flavored infusions, for example. Try blending a jasmine green with peppermint...delicious! Greens also do well with floral tasting infusions. You can also get inspiration from existing blends...say you tried a raspberry black that you enjoyed. Well, try mixing a similar but unscented black tea with a raspberry infusion, and voila!

If you want something a bit tart, try blending a raspberry infusion with a lemon infusion.

I personally love Irish Breakfast with Peppermint: the two strong flavors really work well together, and give my black tea a refreshing edge.

Jane Pettigrew's The Tea Companion suggests adding a small amount of a "good quality" tea, or adding a little bit of scented tea to something else to make something special and different. One of her recommendations is adding a few Jasmine leaves to a China black for an afternoon blend.

I'd love to have any other suggestions!

Tea Tasting 101

Tea Tasting, like wine tasting, requires practice. But for beginners, here is a guide.

First, sprinkle the leaves onto a flat piece of white paper, in order to observe such qualities as the color, texture, size, and shape of the leaf.

Then, brew the tea. For black and oolong teas, and herbal infusions*, bring the water to a boil. For white and green teas, however, you want the water to be just under boiling. Use the following steeping times:
Black: 3 minutes
Green: 2 minutes
Flavored White: 1 minute
Unflavored White: 5 minutes
Oolong: 3 minutes
Herbal: 5 minutes

*This includes red/rooibos tea and mate as well

You can also use the steeping times recommended on the packaging. It can be very much a matter of taste.

Once the tea is ready, pour into a cup that will allow you to observe the color of the liquor such as a white china cup or a clear cup.
Smell the tea, first cup your hands around the teacup, and deeply inhale through your nose to smell the tea. Describe the aroma.
Next, drink the tea, slurping it and allowing it to roll over your tongue. (It's a good idea to allow the tea to cool slightly first!) Where does it hit your tongue the most? If it hits the back of your tongue, it is bitter. On the sides, sour, and on the tip, salty/sweet.
After you have finished, spread the leaves onto another white sheet of paper, and note whether the leaf has remained rolled or unfurled.

A few notes:
For the initial tasting, the tea should be tasted with no additives such as sweetener or milk. However, if you enjoy these things, you may add them for a second tasting. In my experience, fruit-scented teas do very will with a bit of cane sugar. Cane sugar sweetens a tea without overpowering the taste the way that white sugar does.

I love this cupping set from Serendipitea. At only $15, it's definitely on my wish list!

Next lesson: Pairings!

Information from Tea Time World Wide, and my own personal experience.

Making the Perfect Cuppa

I thought I'd just go back to the basics for a single post, and talk about the way to make a perfect cup of tea.

Start off with the best tea you can afford, and like I mentioned yesterday, loose leaf tea is the best for the full flavor. Start with cold water, filtered if possible, and bring it to a boil. Use one teaspoon of tea per eight ounces, and follow the steeping guidelines below.

Black Tea: 3 minutes (4-5 minutes for a stronger brew)
Oolong Tea: 3 minutes
Green Tea: 1-2 minutes (shorter for very strong greens, such as Gyokuro, and use just under boiling water)
White Tea: 1 minute for scented, 5-6 minutes for unscented (Use just under boiling water)
Herbal Infusions: 5 minutes

Remember, all of these are to your own personal tastes. But, with the exception of herbal infusions, your tea will become bitter if allowed to steep too long.

Strain leaves, and enjoy!

Darjeeling Tasting

Teavana carries three types of Darjeelings: Makaibari, Puttabong, and Margaret's Hope. These names distinguish the various estates on which the tea is grown, and all three are fairly well-known estates. The Makaibari garden in particular is famous for its organic tea. It is important to note that not only are there many Darjeeling estates, each estate puts out several flushes. At Teavana, the Makaibari and Margaret's Hope are second flushes, while the Puttabong is a first flush. The first flush is the highest quality produced by a garden, the first leaves harvested in the spring.

Darjeeling Makaibari: (Organic)
The leaves were small, rolled, and dark. When steeped, the liquor was a terracotta color, and the leaves opened wide, and were mostly whole leaves. The taste was very light, and slightly sweet.

Darjeeling Margaret's Hope:
The leaves were very similar to the Makaibari, but the liquor came out as a much deeper reddish brown. This one was a little more full-bodied, and a little nutty, much more like a traditional black tea than the other two.

Darjeeling Puttabong:
As the "champagne" of teas, I must say I expected more, but it might be a matter of personal taste. These leaves are much greener, and bigger, and the liquor was a golden color much closer to a green tea or an oolong than to a black tea. It was even lighter than the Makaibari in terms of taste, and was slightly floral. Despite it's lightness, it wasn't as grassy as a green tea, but did have some similarity to an oolong.

The Margaret's Hope, from one of the most famous gardens, was my favorite, most likely because of my preference of black teas over anything else rather than quality. I was surprised to find such a different between the different Darjeelings, although true experts can distinguish even more. The best tasters can tell not only the garden, but also the elevation, when it was picked and what the weather was like.

The Gift of Tea

I was recently given several tea related gifts.

• Four square white ceramic teabag rests
• A chest filled with Bentley teabags
• Bonjour Harmony Glass Teapot

The tea chest is an attractive wooden box painted to look as if it is made out of bamboo and with a nice latch on it. Opening it is a joy as rich aromas waft out from the six varieties of Ceylon tea inside: Peach, English Breakfast, Raspberry, Orange Spice, Earl Grey, and Green Tea. There are ten of each flavor.

The teapot has been an absolute delight so far. It includes the wooden trivet and scoop shown in the image, and comes with instructions to use five scoops for a full pot. The built in infuser has such a fine mesh that hardly any fannings (tea dust) made it through, and there was enough room for even oolong leaves to expand for the maximum flavor. The great thing about glass teapots is that it allows the tea enthusiast to fully appreciate the color of the liquor. It also goes perfectly with my Trendglas Tea Warmer, available from Teavana.

Lavender Dreams

This afternoon being rather snowy and dismal, I thought a nice cup of tea would do it, so I meandered over to the local Teavana to have a cuppa. They recently put out quite a few new varieties, one of which I was eager to try: Lavender Dreams, which is a lavender scented white tea.

I love the scent of lavender, and my only experience with it in tea was with Revolution Tea Company's Earl Grey Lavender

In that case, the scent is light enough that it enhances, rather than overpowers the black tea.

Perhaps it is just that white tea is too subtle a flavor in the first place, but the lavender flavor in Teavana's Lavender Dreams is absolutely overwhelming. It smells amazing, but taking a sip, I rather felt as though I was drinking lotion or soap, as the tea flavor was nowhere to be found. The description also includes candied violets as an ingredient, but I was completely unaware of those as I sipped.

Taking a second sip, I found it not at all improved from my first impression. I kept giving the tea another chance, and it kept disappointing me, for all my eager waiting.

Price? $15.00 per two ounces. Not worth it.