Bohea from Oliver Pluff & Co.

This morning I had my first taste of smoked tea.  This particular tea, called "Bohea" by it's producer, Oliver Pluff & Company, is lightly smoked. My understanding is that some other smoked teas carry a much heavier taste of smoke. This is my first taste of smoked tea, in spite of all the tea I have drunk over the years, because the idea of drinking a smoky flavor just did not appeal to me.  But after sampling Oliver Pluff's Bohea, I have revised my thoughts on the topic.  I'm not sure that this type of tea will ever be my favorite, but I am certainly enjoying this one.

According to Oliver Pluff's website, this type of tea was imported in large quantities during colonial times and was, in fact, so popular that the term "bohea" became a commonly used slang term for tea.

According to the book The Story of Tea: A Cultural History and Drinking Guide (2007), smoked tea was developed by accident in the Wuyi Shan region of China in 1646.  In advance of an invading army, local villagers in that area hid their tea by burying it in the mountains. Before burying the tea they needed to dry it to prevent it from rotting. So they dried the tea over pinewood cut from the surrounding area, where it adopted the smoky flavor. Later, the "ruined" tea was offered to Dutch traders who sampled it and loved it. Thus the practice of drinking a smoked tea was born.  

This book is an excellent resource with a useful index. So, I recommend searching it out to learn more about the history around smoked teas.

Rosewater Iced Tea

Today I had the pleasure of tasting Rosewater Iced Tea for the first time.  My daughter and I discovered it at the Mediterranean Deli on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  When I saw it, I knew it was something special.  I tried it, and ended up drinking more glasses of it than I care to admit.  It was delicious: a traditional Southern (sweetened) iced tea - with a hint of something more.

After that fortuitous find, and a filling lunch, I did a little online research where I learned that rosewater tea is also sometimes referred to as Lebanese tea or Persian tea.  Online you can find many recipes for brewing rosewater tea.

See a wonderful article on this particular iced tea from this particular deli in the online journal, Southern Things which is "a student edited and authored online journal of writing on Southern material culture published at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill." As this article succinctly states, The Mediterranean Deli's rosewater tea simultaneously offers customers "the comfort of the familiar and the thrill of the exotic."

I think that sums it up nicely.

Visit to Table Rock Tea Company in Pickens, South Carolina

This week I visited the Table Rock Tea Company with my friend, Jessica Tripp.  We were led on a tour by the charming company co-founder and co-owner, Jennifer Lorch.

We ended our tour of the green house and grounds by sharing stories over a pot of tea.  It was a lovely morning.

Ajiri Tea from Kenya

This morning I am drinking a mango flavored black tea from Kenya.  It is produced by Ajiri tea.  I was delighted to find the tea and its charming packaging in one of our local Whole Foods Markets.

The black mango blend that I am enjoying is medium bodied and smooth.  The mango flavoring is balanced and not too highly perfumed.  So I am glad to have discovered this delightful addition to my tea cabinet.

3 Mountains Tea

I recently learned about 3 Mountains teas from a friend here in Asheville - and was pleased to later discover that the company and its associated organization, Africa Healing Exchange, are based here in Asheville.

This morning I am drinking the Rwandan Black Orthodox tea which is made available to the U.S. market through 3 Mountains.  As I have written earlier, I enjoy strong black teas.  This tea is full-bodied but well-rounded and smooth to the finish.  Highly recommended!

If you are in Asheville you will find this tea on the menu at Dobra tea.  If you are not in Asheville, you can purchase this tea and other Rwandan products through the 3 Mountains website.  Happy drinking!

Hope Tea from Thistle Farms

Today I am drinking another tea purchased from Thistle Farms.  This one is a black tea from Uganda which they call "Hope" tea. It is a strong, full-bodied tea with earthy tones.  This is my favorite type of tea.  It would be perfect for those who like to add milk and a sweetener to their tea.  But I take mine black.

The Way of Tea and Justice

Today I am drinking a moringa blend black tea which I purchased from Thistle Farms.  This tea, which is a blend of moringa leaves, black tea, lemon balm, and lemongrass, is reputed to be rich in antioxidants and other healthful components.  I, myself, enjoy this particular tea blend as an afternoon pick-me-up because it has a perky, lemony flavor, and a bit of caffeine.

I first learned about Thistle Farms and its founder, Becca Stevens, back in 2011 when they were featured in a series on National Public Radio.  I immediately searched for Thistle Farms online and learned more about its mission.  I have been an admirer of the Thistle Farms enterprise, products, and founder, ever since.

To go along with this moringa blend tea, I have begun re-reading Becca Stevens' book, The Way of Tea and Justice: Rescuing the World's Favorite Beverage from its Violent History (2014).  I highly recommend this book to any tea lover who also has a concern for the plight of tea plantation workers, who are mainly women, and a concern for social justice in general.

The Mindful Cook on Taking Tea

I am currently taking a course called "Mindfulness and Spirituality" so these days, any book with the word mindfulness in the title catches my attention.  I believe that the practice of mindfulness holds multifaceted benefits for anyone who devotes herself or himself to it.  So this book, The Mindful Cook: Finding Awareness, Simplicity, and Freedom in the Kitchen by Isaac Cronin drew me to it when I saw it on a store shelf.

As I thumbed through the book last night, I was pleased to discover that there is a section in which the author discusses the ritual of taking tea.  (pages 146-156)  He talks about taking tea in the context of mindful attention and hospitality.  So he opens these pages on tea with a quote from the queen of hospitality, Alexandra Stoddard.

In Alexandra Stoddard's Tea Celebrations, Stoddard writes:
"Each occasion is special. Every time you plan a tea happening, certain dynamics come into play. Listen and hear the message. For long after the event there is a lingering intimacy. Three sips into a sincere tea ritual could change our attitudes about the way we choose to live our lives."

These pages devoted to a discussion of taking tea focus on mindful attention to the ritual of tea and the interactions between host and guests.  (It also points to fascinating differences between how tea is taken in the East and in the West.) An article I referenced in an earlier blog post, "How to Be Mindful With a Cup of Tea" gives more explicit "instructions" on how one might practice mindfulness while drinking a single cup of tea.

I enjoyed the ten pages in The Mindful Cook which are focused on tea. Now I look forward to exploring the remainder of this lovely book.

New To Me: Butter + Toast Pottery and G & Tea

Today I am enjoying two things that are new to me.  The first is an art pottery mug that I found at a thrift store this morning.  The maker's mark on the bottom of the mug reads "Butter + Toast."  So I have done a little online sleuthing and have discovered that Butter + Toast was a design company founded in 1986 by RISD graduates Gibb Browlie and Michael Lamar.  If you follow the links you will see that these two talented men are now engaged in other activities, but are still in the art and design field.

The second "new to me" thing I am enjoying right now is the tea that I am drinking from this mug.  I recently purchased a 2 ounce bag of "G & Tea" created by Jessie Dean of the Asheville Tea Company. As the name of this tea blend suggests, it is inspired by the botanicals that are typically found in a gin and tonic cocktail.  This loose tea mix blends green tea, lime peel, lime basil, rosemary, and juniper.  It is delicious and a great afternoon pick me up.

Tea Craft Tuesday: Tea Bag Wrapper Flowers

I save the wrappers from tea bags that I use to brew tea.  I've done it for years, and now have quite a collection.  I use them in collages, and was not sure what else to do with them until one day when I got the idea of using them to make paper flowers. I searched out instructions in a book that was on my bookshelf, Fanciful Paper Flowers: Creative Techniques for Crafting an Enchanted Garden, by Sandra Evertson.  I learned the structure of making these paper flowers from this book. It really is a wonderful book that is full of fun ideas and beautiful illustrations.

Above you see flowers created with two different types of tea bag wrappers.  The pink ones are made with foil-lined wrappers.  The lavender, white, and yellow flowers in the teapot are made with paper wrapper.  I prefer the look and malleability of the foil-lined wrappers.  But both types of wrappers will work.

 

If you want to give this project a try, I suggest that you buy the thick material flower-shaped punch by Fiskars.  I believe I found mine at JoAnne's. Regular flower punches will work.  But I punch through both layers of foil/paper at the same time, so the two layers of the tea bag wrapper tend to get stuck in regular punches.

I guess the only technical part of this project that is not obvious from the photos is how to attach the wire floral stem to the flower.  Here are basic instructions.

1) Punch a cardboard circle from card stock or lightweight cardboard.

2) Glue this circle to the back of the flower that you have created.

3) Take your floral stem and bend it into a small spiral at one end.

4) Glue the wire spiral to the cardboard circle on the back of your flower.

5) Bend the wire to orient the face of the flower in whatever direction you like.

Voila!  You have a flower on a stem that is ready for a vase or a floral arrangement anchored into floral foam.