Week 5 Year of Tea
Day 29 As it's Friday, I thought I'd treat myself to one of my favourites..Bangladesh Phulbari. With or without milk it's a winner with so many layers of taste. Really rich and biscuity,this is the top grade available from Moulvibazar to the Northeast of Dhaka and is a traditional English breakfast, morning cup of strong British Tea.
Day 30:I know I'm being a little previous but couldn't wait any longer to sup some Sweetheart Tea - it's a blend of scented and flavoured black teas - the chocolate's the first thing that hits, rapidly followed by rose and last but not least the violets. I suppose it's like an update on the old 'flowers and chocolates' gift...
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Day 31: Despite having way too much to sleep last night, felt a big snooze coming on so opted for a caffeine-fest in the form of a Brazilian Yerba Mate flavoured with Sweet Orange. The citrus flavour works really well with the woodiness and I'm now wide-awake and suspect I will be for some days...
So the 32nd #teaoftheday is a Ceylon Melfort Estate Green. Big loosely rolled leaves steeped for 3 minutes in 80°c produced a really 'bright' cup with a slghtly floral initial taste which rolled out to a spicy, earthy finish. The tea of Sri Lanka is still referred to by the 'old' (ie colonial) name. Ceylon tea was, for many years considered to be the finest in the world. After independence the government pragmatically decided to keep the old name and therefore keep one of the world's strongest brands intact.
It's Day 33 and it's a well known but not often seen Chinese #teaofthedaycalled Young Hyson Green. If you're local to Nottingham, it'll be a familiar name...
The tea is earthy and robust with a very slightly harsh aftertaste (a bit like walnuts) not unpleasant but definitely temperature sensitive. If you use water which is too hot, that harshness becomes bitter (true of all unfermented teas)
: A Herbal Tisane for Day 34. Couch Grass is that 'orrible weed that's a right pain. Fortunately it's choc full of Vitamin A & B and also Potassium. It's used for treatment of Cystitis and other UTI but don't wait for that to try it! Drink it because of the lovely earthy, savoury taste which is equally tasty cold as hot.
I woke this morning to a news article about the Rhubarb Triangle which is the 9 square miles of West Yorkshire which is world famous for production of that most divisive of food stuffs. So, as we stock a Sparkling Rhubarb Sencha it seemed apt to be my #teaoftheday Number 35. While I'm happy to eat rhubarb as a savoury, it makes for a rubbish pud as it's just not sweet enough for me. The blenders of this Japanese green tea have dealt with this by adding not only flowers of Peony, rose and marigold but also lychee fruit. The combination is a total winner - the lychee gives it a fragrant (almost vanilla) taste while the rhubarb gives it a very particular aftertaste which is a bit like celery. All in all a really pleasant tea which I think I'll be drinking iced on some lazy sunny afternoon.
