Mum would bring a tray to bed with a cuppa tea that would apparently kill colds if you could drink it scalding hot, often accompanied by cheese toast (crusts cut off only if we were actually sick) and her famous scones, usually served with honey. We bake the mum’s scones every day now at the store and even package the mix to sell. I’m told they are very, very good and I’ve modified her recipe with organic flour and sugar so they are, I think really excellent. Still, they don’t come on that tray with cheese toast and no one’s watching to make sure I stop at 4 tsp so there’s something missing.

English Breakfast, organic: Lightly tippy leaf with brisk, spicy notes. Light, vegetal tone, pleasant astringency, lighter body than expected Holds milk well without loosing flavour.

Glasgow Gold: Rich tea aroma. Hardier, brisker and more astringent than the English Breakfast. A very nice British style tea, benefits greatly from a splash of milk.

Irish Breakfast: CTC style tea, malty and very strong. Heavy body and flavour, a serious tea! I think this one could take the sugar and it really does remind me of drizzly cold Welsh days in school.

What’s the British thing with drinking hot tea in the summer you ask? Well, according to my mother, hot tea makes you sweat and as the sweat evaporates you cool down. Even without taking into account the laws of thermodynamics, which would prove this to be an absurd claim, I would like to point out two other facts; nothing “evaporates”  in the humid climate of Florida (that’s why we don’t hang clothes out to dry/mold) and the last time Britain had a summer was 1972 so how would they know?!

Can you tell this weather puts me in a bit of a mood? Well, despite the above diatribe I should say I like hot tea any time of year and that is, in my book, the only reason to drink it in the summer or otherwise. I like iced tea too, and as a matter of fact I’d like to add a link to my new, very favourite way of making iced tea even though the teas we are tasting today are not suited to icing. The Takeya iced tea maker is compact enough to fit in the door of just about any fridge, makes 66 oz of tea at a time and you don’t need to boil water! It’s also BPA free plastic, doesn’t stain and is easy to clean. It’s been the hottest selling item lately both in store and on-line.

Back to the hot teas, the teas we are tasting are the last four of the unblended plain blacks in our repertoire. Next on my list are English and Irish Breakfast, Glasgow Gold and then the flavoured blacks.

Kenya GFOP, Milima: From the Milima estate, longish, dark leaf with a distinctive floral notes. Brews copper-ish, brisk, cup good astringency, not overly strong with pleasant cacao bean notes. OK with milk but I prefer it plain.

Kenya CTC Tinderet: CTC stands for Crush, Tear and Curl, the method by which tea is machine cut and shaped into the distinctive small pellets. This technique typically makes tea stronger, faster brewing and often malty tasting. This tea brews dark red and is malty and bisquity. A bit sharp without milk but delicious, rich a soothing with a splash.

Tanzania BP1, organic: Organic broken pekoe leaf with mild, pleasant, tea aroma. Brews a slightly lighter red color than the Tinderet. Taste is flat a strongly astringent. A splash of milk improved this to tasteless. Won’t be restocking it so I hope it isn’t someone’s favourite.

Java FBOP, Santosa: Thin, longish leaves unfurl into crinkly edged, dark, largish, broken leaf pieces. Smooth, with pleasant summer fruit notes. Holds milk well but I find it more interesting without.

Tomorrow I hope to get to the last, unflavoured blacks. Stay cool.

1. Shade, our oldest rescue collie will be 15 this summer.
2. Kamir, our younger collie will be four.
3. Shade can no longer keep up with Kamir who is bored and now is torturing her in an effort to get her to play with him.
4. A third, young collie, would entertain Kamir and take some of the pressure off of Shade.

Sounds reasonable doesn’t it? Kitsune Kali Sparsis joined our pack a week ago today. She came from the same wonderful rescue that Kamir came from 3 years ago, Starfish Border Collie Rescue. She is a little red and white dog who was put up for adoption after killing what I can only assume was “a whole mess of chikens” at the farm where she lived. Extremely scared, submissive, underweight, skittish but sweet we figured she would not challenge Shade, who doesn’t need that sort of thing at her age, and wouldn’t stand up to Kamir who can be a bit of an ass now that Shade can’t read him the riot act anymore.

Well, Kitsune, which is the Japanese word or fox, a name we thought would be appropriate considering her history, has made huge strides in the week she’s been with us. She is very lovy, figured out how to use the doggy door in no time, made great friends with both Kamir and Shade and has stolen our hearts. She gets braver with every day that passes, appears to have house trained herself in 4 days and is learning how to walk on leash, sit, give a paw and be a dog.

The bad news? We found out, after the first hour of cohabitation, that this dog talks. She sounds like a Wookiee and has way too much to say about almost everything. She also has a penchant for Feng Shui. This morning 5 pairs of shoes were missing from the bedroom. One half of each pair was in the couch the rest were carefully arranged in the garden. With them a face cloth, 2 socks, an unidentified piece of machinery, possibly from the lawn mower and a half dozen dog toys. My keys, fortunately, only got as far as the back door and we are still looking for the good rubber spatula.

Needless to say she’s staying. I have big plans that after season dies down we’ll be ready to go to obedience class and, if we get past the timidity, Randy has plans for agility training with her. In the meantime we are trying to remember to put shoes back in closets and keys up on hooks.

I’ve been tasting the keemuns this week. Keemun teas are produced in the Anhui province of China. First produced in the mid 1800’s they quickly gained popularity in Britain and are an integral part of an English Breakfast Blend. We currently stock 3 different grades of Keemun at Tea and Chi.

Keemun: Longish, dark, twisted leaf gives a golden cup with woody, lightly smoky notes and a dry finish. A nice, any time of day cup.

Keemun Hao Ya: Fine, well sorted dark leaves. Aromatic, almost perfumy cup, light bodied with mild astringency. The scent makes one think of withered roses.

Keemun Mao Feng: Coarser, large, twisted leaves with a good portion of smaller, gold tips. Smooth, fruity, creamy and rich with notes of dried apricots and plum. Complex and rewarding.

Clint will be keeping Tea and Chi open until 9 pm on Friday and Saturdays. We are starting our extended hours tomorrow with a cheese and tea pairing. I’ll report more on that next week. In the mean time here are the Yunnan tea notes.

With that, Yunnan teas:

China Golden Yunnan: A pretty tea with lots of tips. Dark gold cup, dry up front, brisk, crisp and woody with notes of honey and smoke. I was rather surprised by the complexity of this tea considering how inexpensive it is.

Yunnan Gold Tips: Just tips! Lovely, well sorted, golden leaves covered in down (bai hao). Light golden cup with strong milk chocolate notes, creamy, rich and smooth.

As promised I am sharing Tea and Chi’s recipe for our beloved salad dressing. Just look past the Ceylon Tea info.

Ceylon, what is now Sri Lanka, is an island nation in Indian Ocean and was a British colony until 1948 and is the worlds 4^th largest tea producer. Sri Lanka’s main agricultural exports are tea, rubber and cinnamon. The tea industry in Sri Lanka employs directly or indirectly over a million people. Most tea produced is black tea but green and white teas are now also available. The two Ceylon teas we stock are:

Ceylon FBOP, Nuwara Eliya: The Nuwara Eliya town is located in the central highlands at an altitude of over six thousand feet. I found the FBOP tea to be light, pleasant with mild astringency. A good everyday tea with a reddish gold cup with a nice, tea aroma. It seems a bit thin to hold milk well without becoming non-descript so if you intend to add milk brew it extra strong.

Ceylon SFTGFOP, Vithanakande: Elegant, long twisted leaf with a characteristic white line running through it. Reddish cup, rich body, notes of cinnamon and spice with a distinctly dry finish. Surprisingly excellent with milk which both intensifies and rounds off the flavour.

Tea and Chi Salad Dressing Recipe

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

¼ cup maple syrup

¼ cup ginger spread

¼ red onion peeled and roughly chopped

½ tsp salt

1 cup good virgin olive oil

Put first five ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. With the blender running drizzle olive oil and blend for 2-3 more minutes. Enjoy.

Today is the beginning of Greek Orthodox lent and I felt this would be a great day to feature some of our vegan food so we are offering an all vegan menu. This weekend is the Garden Club’s Antique Show and our annual contribution of 300 to 400 lunches served over two days. Next week… Well, at this rate I’m not sure I’ll get to next week so I’m not going to worry about it.

What I’m trying to get to is that I’m way behind with my tea tasting and I promise to work extra hard when this month is done to catch up. In the mean time, here are my notes on our two Nilgiri teas and my recipe for a vegan Almond Halva.

Nilgiri, which means :Blue Mountain” is a mountainous region in South India. The teas produced here tend to be medium bodied and aromatic. Much f the tea produced in the are a is used in teabags but orthodox tea is also produced and we’ve recently obtained a very note worthy white tea from the area. Our current black tea stock from Nilgiri includes a Flowery Orange Pekoe from Tiger Hill and a Winter Frost from the Welbeck Estate.

Nilgiri Fop, Tiger Hill: Dark, reddish leaf with pleasant, mild aroma. Reddish cup with mild astringency, bright tasting. Holds milk well. Nice, anytime, British style tea. Milk rounds out astringency.

Nilgiri, Winter Frost, Welbeck: Long, dark leaf with some tips. Gold cup with an aromatic, sweet and pleasant flavour. High notes of honey and melon. Very nice.

Almond Halva

• 2 cups thick semolina (farina or cream of wheat will do if you can’t find it)
• 1 cup light olive oil
• 2.5 cups sugar or 2 cups sugar and ½ cup honey if you use honey
• 6 cups water
• Thinly paired peel of 1 lemon
• 3 sticks cinnamon
• 3 cloves
• 3 cardamom pods
• 1 blanched, chopped almonds
• 1 cup sultanas (golden raisins)

Put sugar, honey, if using, lemon peel and spices in a medium, heavy pot and bring to boil, simmer for 2 minutes, remove lemon peel and spices and then keep warm on very low flame. In the mean time, in a heavy pot heat oil and pour in semolina stirring all the time. Cook, stirring, until just beginning to color. Add nuts and raisins. Add syrup very carefully. It will spatter pretty badly so be extra careful. Stir continuously until thickened and beginning to pull away from the sides. Pour into a large, oiled baking pan. Let cool, refrigerate for 1 hour and cut into serving pieces. Sprinkle with cinnamon if you like. Enjoy!

Next update will include notes on our Ceylon teas and Tea and Chi’s recipe for salad dressing, as promised. See you soon and wish me luck for the week.

Also keep in mind these teas are not here yet. Some will be gone by the time I call to order but please, let me know if some interest you and I’ll take this into account when ordering. Perhaps one of them will be “that” kind of tea for you.

Pouchong, top grade: Long, twisted green/grey leaves unfurl in water releasing an aroma that is both floral and fruity. Smooth, sweet, with a hint of soft grass. $8.50 per ounce

Li Shan Spring: Rolled, dark green leaf, buttery rich aroma even before brewing. Flavour is light, sweet and creamy and lingers on the pallet. Miro, who helped with the tasting announced he could drink 50 gallons of this. At $17 per ounce that would set you back about $283, the price of a fancy, single bottle of Champagne. By the cup it’s a modest 40 cents!

Li Shan Winter: More vegetal and not as creamy as the spring. Very pleasant and mild. $10 per ounce.

Jin Xuan, high mountain: This high elevation, spring harvest tea is so buttery and smooth it seems almost impossible that it’s “just” tea. Tightly rolled, bright green knots unfurl into tea tips in your cup. Wonderful, full mouth feel. $6.25 per ounce

Four Seasons Top Grade: Khaki coloured leaves, robust, roasted note. Dry, crisp with a hint of cinnamon. I think this would make a lovely morning tea.$7 per ounce

Nantou Green Oolong, Winter: Oh my! Berries and cream! Clean, light cup with a fleeting floral note up front followed by fruit and a clean, dry finish. Truly excellent! $10

Ming Jian Oolong: Sweet, distinctly floral, very mild. Hay notes and no astringency. $11.25 per ounce

Oriental Beauty, competition grade, honorable mention: Very perfumy, floral with strong notes of plum and summer hay.  Poetry in a cup $37 per ounce

An incredible, fragrant, colorful and delicious world opened up. We walked the corridors of the trade show in a daze looking at blending ingredients, tea accessories, brewers, packaging machines, tins and above all, tea! Frequent bathroom stops allowed us to keep taking sips from each tea vendor, each type of tea, each estate.

Josh’s booth was half sized and in the less prominent section of the show and could easily be passed by. I immediately noticed because he looked so out of place (no suit, no tie, no fancy set-up) and more than a little uncomfortable looking. He asked if we’d like a taste of his tea and we, of course, said yes. It was towards the end of the first day and I was grateful to just sit for a minute and put my bag full of info down. Josh prepared a fresh batch “gongfu style” I took a sip and everything slowed down and then came to focus.

It seemed impossible that so much could be contained in a single sip. I had a flash back to Douglas Adams’ of tea in “Restaurant at the end of the Universe”: “No,” he said, “look, it’s very, very simple … all I want … is a cup of tea. You are going to make one for me. Keep quiet and listen.”
And he sat. He told the Nutri-Matic about India, he told it about China, he told it about Ceylon. He told it about broad leaves drying in the sun. He told it about silver teapots. He told it about summer afternoons on the lawn. He told it about putting in the milk before the tea so it wouldn’t get scalded. He even told it (briefly) about the history of the East India Company.
“So that’s it, is it?” said the Nutri-Matic when he had finished.
“Yes,” said Arthur, “that is what I want.”

The drying leaves, the wind, the rain, the rocky hills, the spoil, the clouds and the suns’s contribution to the cup as well as the hands of the pickers, the song of the children and the watchful eye of the garden master all in the elegant little cup under Josh’s glinting eye. I asked how much it was and, to my credit, didn’t spit up my tea when he told me. I thanked him and we went back to the hotel where I spent all night dreaming about the tea. In the morning, first in line, I bought my first 2 pounds of “that” kind of tea.

I’m sure I’ve had better teas since, teas that nearly brought tears to my eyes or teas that practically made me purr, several of them from Josh, but that was the first. Each time he sends me samples I remember that tea and this past week he sent some again. In tomorrows blog you will be my notes on the tasting of Josh’s incredible teas.

Valentine’s day teas: As promised I’m taking a short break from y black tea tasting and checking out the Valentine’s day teas and the new oolong samples, before continuing on. The four Valentines teas are all rooibos and honeybush based so they are all caffeine free, no astringency teas and they are good hot or iced. These teas are grown in South Africa and the disadvantage of “skipping the order” is that more info on this type of tea will become available later on. Here are my notes.

White Chocolate Rooibos: Distinct, sweet white chocolate aroma follows right through each sip with the flavour. Mellow, smooth and sweet. Creamy, without being cloying.

Chocolate-Strawberry Love Affair: Chocolate: Strawberry scent up front. Bright, fruity, fresh strawberry flavour with a low, supporting note of chocolate smoothing out the end. No doubt about who wears the pants in this love affair!

Chocolate Cake Honeybush: The honeybush scent is prominent and closely followed by a caramely/bisquity note. The flavour is surprisingly cake-y, but not very chocolaty, with a fruity ending.

Red Hot Love: Very fruity and floral, with the chili pepper lingering on. Strong cherry note, perfumy. Be warned that this gets spicier the longer you step and it can get downright hot. Randy claims that a bit of sugar brings out the flavours.

We are clearing out the winter seasonals this month to make room for the Valentine’s seasonal. All that is left is at 50% off, a great opportunity for the Northerners to stock up. In addition to this you can se coupon code “seasonals” during checkout to receive $5 off any order of $35 or more that includes any of our seasonal teas. Next update will be on the new oolong samples so check in again soon.

Oh, and did I mention that if you stop by Tea and Chi on Wednesday between 4-6 pm we are having a Valentine’s Tea tasting?

I left Tea and Chi (thank you Randy and Jaci) just before 1 pm today to go pick up my friends Stephanie and Nancy. We were to meet at my friends’ Carmelo and Melinda’s house for lunch and to see his art.

Stephanie has not been well and when I arrived she asked if I would put a leash on Henry, her 14 year old fox terrier, and take him out for a minute to do his business before heading out to collect Nancy at the Art Museum (she teaches a ceramics class on Thursday morning). Going in and out of the house is always a challenge because Henry likes to bolt out the door but we went for our walk and returned and left again without incident. We collected Nancy and arrived at exactly 1.30 pm at Carmelo and Melinda’s where Sherry, a sixth friend, and the organizer of the event, met us at the door.

At this point I’m not sure if I should rave about Carmelo’s cooking, Carmelo’s art or Melinda’s friendship and hospitality. I own two pieces of Carmelo’s jewelry, which I dearly love and wear most of the time but the larger pieces were just magnificent. Don’t take my word for it, Carmelo has his own website and you can easily take a look http://www.carmelopampallona.com/index.html

Carmelo is Italian, very slightly built and talks with his hands. He has a passion for life that I’ve rarely encountered and it extends beyond his art and into everything he does. His cooking is no exception. Steamed asparagus in a tangy sauce, a cold smoked salmon on organic field greens, sautéed shrimp and rosemary bread… Then came the affogato. I just had to look this up because I’ve never heard the word before. It apparently means “drowned” in Italian and in this case consisted of a shot of espresso over a scoop of vanilla Hagendazs. Anyone that knows me will tell you I don’t drink coffee. I used to but it didn’t agree with me. It makes me jittery, hyperactive and destructive. But how can you pass up on affogato made by a real Italian, surrounded by friends, art and good conversation?

We got back to Stephanie’s just before 4 pm and Henry was nowhere to be found. My heart is already racing from the cup of coffee I shouldn’t have had and I’m trying to imagine how Henry could have gotten out of a locked house. Then we hear the noise. It sounds very much like the “thunka, thunka, thunka, thunka” of a badly loaded washing machine. Except no one loaded the washing machine and it is in the garage not in the kitchen. Stephanie has a narrow, tall, stainless steel, touch-less trashcan and the sound comes from inside. Henry is inside, wedged, nose up, ass-end down, lid closed, over-heated, dehydrated, glassy eyed and unable to move as much as a muscle beyond panting, which was, it turned out, the cause of the thunking. We briefly toyed with the idea that someone broke into the house, put the dog in the bin, left and locked the door behind them. I had to tip the can over and un-wedge Henry who just lay on the tile floor unable to move or focus. The next half hour or so was spent slowly dripping water into his mouth trying to rehydrate and cool Henry down. Shortly before I left Henry had recovered enough to be able to lift his head and drink water by his own accord and I had stopped shaking, for the most part. Every attempt at a scenario that would explain how Henry got in the bin failed both with Stephanie and for the rest of the afternoon at Tea and Chi with staff and visitors. If you have any thoughts or are interested in performing a re-enactment I’d love to hear from you and I promise to get back to tea related stuff in the next posting. I wish you all a calm and uneventful evening.