Welcome to my blog. I hope you will join me for a cup of tea!
All tagged black tea
If you’ve seen my previous posts about tea chocolate, you know that I am obsessed with bean-to-bar chocolate maker Fossa from Singapore and their single-origin tea chocolate bars made in collaboration with tea curator Pekoe & Imp. I was able to find two bars I had not tried yet, Duck Shit Dancong tea chocolate and Himalayan Royale Tips Hongcha tea chocolate.
I came across the recipe for a mocktail called A little bit Russian by Julia Bainbridge. I had heard of Julia Bainbridge before, she’s a writer and the author of Good Drinks, a recipe book on non alcoholic drinks. A black tea concentrate is shaken with coconut milk, simple syrup, bitters and ice, then strained and garnished with orange peel. I tested out this recipe to see if it would meet my tea-centric expectations and slightly adapted it to make the tea flavor shine.
You might be familiar with cold brewing tea but have you tried ice brewing it? I’ve only ever seen ice brewing applied to Japanese green teas and I was curious to experiment with it, which is why I decided to test this method for different tea types from different origins.
When Elisa Da Rin Puppel, the Italian tea blogger at Il Bollitore, asked me about working together on a blog post for The Tea Squirrel about her recent experience at The Tea Crane in Kyoto, I was already familiar with Tyas Sōsen and his natural teas. Here’s Elisa’s tea tasting experience at The Tea Crane. Enjoy!
What’s the best masala chai recipe? I might be biased but mine below is perfection. I even went above and beyond for you and developed a caffeine-free herbal option.
I tried the Camelia Sour tea mocktail recipe by Portland-based Smith Teamaker. Here’s what happened.
I don’t know very much about Sweden, the only thing I know is that their pastries are my new obsession. One kind in particular, Swedish cinnamon knots, also known as kanelbullar. In Sweden sweet treats are a very important part of fika, the Swedish coffee break, which is more of a lifestyle, actually and alternatively can include tea too! Join me on the blog as I pair these delicious pastries with 4 different teas!
Have you ever noticed that it’s almost impossible to get an unsweetened (or even lightly sweetened) chai latte in coffee shops, tea shops, cafes or bakeries? Chai lattes are almost always made from a chai concentrate, a fancy name for chai flavored syrup, which means you can’t have an unsweetened chai latte. I don’t enjoy sweetened drinks and this is one of those things that I find extremely frustrating, second only to fine dining restaurants serving awful tea. I understand that most establishments have constraints in the preparation of drinks, but there must be a solution. I was craving a good unsweetened iced chai tea latte and my only option was to make it myself from scratch.
I had seen puer tea stuffed in mandarins before but I had never seen Korean black tea stuffed in a dried, hollowed-out yuzu. If you’re not familiar with yuzu, it’s a citrus fruit which is similar to a grapefruit and a mandarin orange in flavor. Check out this unique tea, let’s taste it together!
Happy National Iced Tea Month! I’m celebrating with my new favorite iced tea recipe, you don’t want to miss it! Right this way —>
Darjeeling and Assam are the most renowned tea producing regions in India, but they are not the only ones. The tea I’m tasting today comes from the Nilgiris or Blue Mountains in the state of Tamil Nadu, in Southern India. According to the Indian tea association, Nilgiri tea accounts for about 10% of the total tea production of India.
This is a very experimental tea brewing and tasting session with a black tea from Nepal. Instead of Western style, I brewed it in a gaiwan (but I have to specify, not gongfu cha style) to push it to the edge of flavor and aroma, to get a more concentrated brew. It was a series of trial and error and adjustments to the brewing parameters, but I’m happy with the results.
What is tea and murals? It all started with the realization that beauty can be part of my everyday life anytime, anywhere. Be present in the moment and you’ll be surprised how much beauty you will find, often in the most unexpected of places, sometimes in a cup of tea, sometimes just around the corner. Tea deserves more attention, and so does art. I’m pairing the two by showing you the most vibrant and fun murals while drinking tea. Grab your cup, let’s go!
The inspiration for this blog post comes from fellow tea blogger Lu Ann of The Cup of Life, who basically invented this. It’s about “keeping track” of tea, because - as someone once said - “tea is more than just a beverage, it’s about noticing your own habits.”
‘Tis the Season for holiday cookies! Did you know that historically cookies were meant to be displayed as decoration on the Christmas tree? How fascinating! Unfortunately, you won’t be able to decorate your tree with these cookies, they’re too delicious, they’re gonna be gone in no time!
Last week my friend and fellow tea blogger Mike (The Tea Letter) and I met for a gongfu tea session. Mike brought the tea, I brought the teaware and my camera. We had had tea together before at a tea house in San Francisco but this was the first time we got together with the intention to work on a “tandem” blog post. I’m glad to report that the input and inspiration I got from our tea session stretches far beyond that. This post has been particularly challenging to write, maybe because that input stirred inward reflection and assessment of my tea journey so far.
Last October, during my European trip, I got to visit Trieste, an Italian town that holds a special place in my heart. I had not been there in 5 years and I didn’t know what to expect. I had certainly not anticipated that I would find great tea.
With the holiday season officially in full swing, I look forward to holiday parties! I will attend an Alice in Wonderland themed party in December and I hope there will be plenty of tea. I will very likely host some holiday dinner parties too and I’m making a point of introducing everybody to the magic of tea and food pairings. If you, like me, want tea to be the star of your holiday celebrations, I have tried and tested some combinations that will sweep everyone off their feet, from appetizer to dessert.
The most British thing there is doesn’t seem to be doing well at home, but is thriving on our side of the pond. Last month, British daily newspaper The Guardian reported that “the US currently seems to be enjoying a tea party to which Britain has not been invited, with tea bars popping up across the nation and sales of the hot drink shooting up 15% in the past five years”. Good, high-quality tea is not hard to come by here on the West Coast but what is happening exactly in the UK?
"I grew up on this estate, so for me Chota Tingrai is full of memories. The butterflies, the fresh smell of rain, the Tingrai river that winds its way through the estate, the sound of the crickets before a roaring thunder, and the loud rain pattering on the tin roofs and a sea of glowing fireflies are some of my favourite memories of the estate".
Avantika Jalan, Managing Director and Founder, Mana Organics
