Full Ceylon Tea.
Ceylon only.
The tea that I drink on a daily basis is a melange of earl grey and ceylon leaves. For Norouz, my mother gave me a HUGE bag of my favorite tea. Before my mom gave me the tea, I had gone to the Iranian super market and decided to try a different black tea! I came across a pure ceylon and was curious what the difference was and what the earl grey adds to it.
Did you know that Sri Lanka where this tea comes from used to be called Ceylon?? The name stayed the same.
Aren't these leaves so pretty?!
Smell: The earl grey and ceylon mix is very fragrant. The ceylon only tea still has a wonderful smell but it's not as potent. The earl grey must add that extra kick!
Color: Perhaps I made a stronger brew than usual but I believe that this tea was darker than usual!
Taste: Although I missed the fragrance as I drank, this ceylon only tea was delicious. The taste was just as bold and full bodied.
Overall Review: THUMBS UP CEYLON!
Tea & Food Pairings
Grand Tea.
I'm always finding new tea companies on Instagram, which is why I love it! I stumbled across Grand Tea. I really enjoy how this site helps other tea sellers get noticed through the directory. Not only is this a tea company but the owner does contests, which brings me to this post.
There is a photo contest centered around favorite tea and food pairings. This inspired me to think about what I like with my tea. First off, do sweets count as food?? When it comes down to it my favorite pairing is something that can be dunked. I can dunk biscuits, cookies, scones and so much more! I especially like these cookies made from almond. They are called Ba-do-mee.
My grandfather used to say that sweets were a necessity after dinner to help settle your stomach. This has been a tradition in my family
When I got home from work the sun was still shining and I leaped at the opportunity to have a little photo shoot :)
Please share with me your favorite tea pairing!
Let's talk about stress baby
Calm the heck down!
I think we've all had that moment where we finally gain self awareness and notice that our brows are furrowed, fists are clenched, jaw is locked and are SO irritated. Well guess what ....this is why tea is the love of my life.
Yea! Peace! Calm!
Seriously though I know it's hard not to get tense but making yourself aware of what you do when you're tense can help you stop it. Whether it's stress from work, a relationship, family, friends, projects or a combinations ...we all experience it and some of us don't deal with it so well.
First, you need to recognize what your stress factors are and your physical reactions to them. For example, I started noticing that when I get irritated then stressed I would clench my jaw and this was making my mouth sore and causing headaches.
Second, become aware of your body's postures and reactions to emotions. For example, when I feel my jaw getting tight I take a deep breath and relax it. After doing this for several weeks I noticed that I don't do it as often!
Third, take a deep breath. This may seem obvious but try it. Breath in through your nose and out through your mouth and also try breathing in and out through your nose only. Both of these techniques give you a a feeling of release but you may prefer one over the other.
FINALLY, drink some damn tea. I know all my favorites have caffeine but this magical liquid calms me down and increases my optimism...at least until I finish the cup :)
Tea Tasting Notes - How to use your senses
Let's Get Nerdy.
I'm always trying to learn more about tea so I'm not someone who says they LOVE tea yet actually knows nothing about it.
I wrote in a previous post how my darling mother surprised me with a tea book and I dove in immediately, enjoying all the history and tea cultivation lessons. I skipped ahead in the book to find a section on tea tasting! Sure, whenever I try a new tea on this blog I try to be as descriptive as possible so you the reader can feel like you're tasting with me.
I'm a self proclaimed tea taster at best but after reading the section on tea tasting I realized that my first instincts of what to do when tasting are on the mark. First of all I would like to give credit to the beautiful, aromatic Persian tea blends that I grew up drinking because that is what led me to do what I do. Probably one of the most distinctive things about the Persian tea blends (and all tea) is the smell. As you know our senses are intertwined and a smell can set off a memory of a taste which is why sometimes the smell of a dish can turn you off to tasting it.
Your sense are your best friend when it comes to Tea Tasting. You won't really get the full taste if you just brew it and drink it.
Look.
Take some time to admire the dry leaves, look at the intricacies like the shape and size. The color of the brewed tea is also important as that will indicate it's strength.
Smell.
Smell the leaves dry so that you're preparing your palette to drink the tea. I've experienced that the smell of the dry leaves can turn you off or on to the tea. Even if the tea has a smell you're not fond of, go past your comfort zone and give it a try.
Taste.
The tea book informed me of an interesting, yet obvious fact. Tea temperature matters. For example, a high temperature can mask a bitter flavor of a tea and extenuate the sweetness. Another tip that was new to me was to take a sip of tea and breath out through your nostrils, this will make the taste more pronounced to your taste buds.
Describe.
Now this is the part that might turn some of you off. No one wants to look like a tea swirling snob but it is beneficial to be able to describe the taste. Many tastes can bring up a memory but how you define it is much different. One way to define it is by olfactory characteristics such as floral, fruity, woody etc. You can also use words like rough, complex and bold to describe it (More here). I know I'm going to start using these words so that my readers can better understand me. Here are some tips from the book!
Source: Twinings Tea Club
Get your tasting on!
Royal Icing Experiment- Lessons Learned
Instagram is really a cool platform. I'm constantly finding so many talented people. Recently I keep stumbling upon cookie decorators. These ladies are amazing! The cookies they create are almost too pretty to eat. One of my favorite accounts is @tinykitchentreats! I found this lovely profile and found out that she makes these extra special sprinkles...so of course I had to get some to use on my cookies!
"Slumber Party sprinkles" - There are mini donut sprinkles in this pack!
For the cookies I used the same recipe I used in "Tea Party cookies". I've reading a lot about royal icing and comparing these decorating videos to my experiences with royal icing...something wasn't right. Apparently there are two schools of thought: meringue powder and egg whites.
Many use meringue powder just to be safe and others say egg whites taste better and if using pasteurized eggs there shouldn't be any concerns about getting sick . ** This excluded pregnant women and people with weak immune systems**
This time I decided to try egg whites. Literally royal icing is powdered sugar and either egg white or meringue powder, some recipes call for a little bit of water as well. I was trying to achieve the "flooding" consistency which is supposed to dry almost immediately. Check out how the cookies turned out. Note: Regardless of appearance, the were delicious :)
They're a bit sloppy. I would like to be able to outline them and then fill in the rest of the cookie. I learned that I need to make the consistency a bit more stiff AND most importantly get a different icing bag. My icing bag tip cam off and spilled icing on one of my cookies and it doesn't have enough variety for tip size.
Other lessons: Donut shaped cookie cutters are the best and slumber party sprinkles make them look more appetizing than regular donuts!
Coconut Chocolate chip cookies- My OWN Recipe!
Recipe by me!
My step father's mom is an excellent cook AND baker. Grandmere makes a MEAN rhubarb pie. One summer day she asked me if I wanted to help her make rhubarb pie for dessert that night and I've been hooked on baking ever since. It's such an amazing process, like a chemistry experiment and it brings so much joy to the people I share it with.
I've always wanted to make up my own recipes but never knew where to start. There are so many recipes that I've made over and over again where I don't even need to look at the proportions because I know them by heart. I decided to start small with a twist on chocolate chip cookies!
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 F
- Put the chocolate chips and coconut aside to use at the end
- Combine all the dry ingredients in a small bowl
- Cream the butter and sugar in a larger bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla
- Beat in the dry mixture into the larger bowl
- Add chocolate chips and coconut
- Place tablespoon size or a bit larger balls on the baking sheet a few inches apart
- Bake for 7-9 minutes or until golden brown
These have a slight coconut taste, not overly saturated.
American Tea Room- Caramel
I discovered American Tea Room on Instagram. Btw, if you're not following @teathoughts on Instagram you should! Back to American Tea Room, I can't wait to visit. The next time I'm on the west coast American Tea Room will be my first stop. Not only do they have a wide variety of teas but it seems like such a cool place! Do I sound like a fan girl even though I haven't even visited? oh well.
Probably the coolest thing is their Tea Zone, I dig anything that gets people learning about tea.
Fragrant.
I finally got around to buying tea from American Tea Room and decided that I've been branching out so much that I've forgotten about different black tea blends. Black tea is my favorite and It was time to be adventurous.
I purchased their caramel tea which is a black Indian tea with real chunks of caramel! Don't believe me?
Now that you believe me, back to fragrant. You know that smell at a carnival? That sweet, delicious smell of caramel on different snacks? The one that takes you back to your childhood? That's the wonderful smell that filled my nostrils when I opened the bag.
After I brewed the tea and poured it into my glass the smell was even more powerful, engulfing my entire apartment! Heaven!
The taste was wonderful, it was different than the black tea I've been drinking in most recent years but is so familiar to me. I believe one of my relatives used to have this type of black tea at their house when I was younger. The caramel doesn't make it too sweet but definitely gives a candied taste to the tea. Upon putting some honey in the brew, it was perfect.
Seriously if you're near this tea room I'm jealous but Ill keep trying teas until I can visit. Did I mention they sent me a free sample? Complete surprise but a yummy one!
Oops these beautiful buds go in my way :)
Tea Party Cookies!
It's time for a tea party.
I ordered a 3 pack of tea cookie cutters from amazon, thanks Wilton! I got a teapot, a teacup and a muffin. I decided to make sugar cookies and decorate them a bit :)
Preheat Oven to 400°F. Cream the butter with sugar in a mixing bowl until it's light and fluffy.
Beat in the egg along with the vanilla and orange or almond extracts.
Add the flour and salt one cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Do not chill the dough and divide into two. On a floured surface roll out each ball. Make sure to cover the cookie cutters in flour before using.
Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 6-7 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.
Tea history, terroirs & varieties
Iranian New Year came early this year.
Today was a beautiful spring day so with the sun shining and breeze blowing I set off to enjoy the weather. I walked to my mom's house, it's only about two blocks away by the way. I went over there for a little visit because surprisingly as busy as life is I don't see my mom, stepdad and younger siblings as much as I'd like even though we're so close. Anyway, Iranian New Year is the first day of spring but my mom surprised me with a tea book!
Of course the nerd in me was so excited and I came home and started reading it on my balcony (again, it's gorgeous outside). This book is really cool because I've always loved tea but I didn't really know much about the origins.
One thing that I always wondered was about what word is used for tea. In the US and much of Europe, the word for tea starts with a "t." English is Tea, French is The etc. In the eastern part of the word the word for tea starts with "Ch." Chayee in Farsi, Cha in Chinese. The reason for this is a no brainer but one I didn't know. The difference is based on whether tea was delivered by sea or by road and therefore the word was different because of the different influences of the language of the transporter. Cha is tea in Mandarin and so the countries that are closer and received tea through a ground route adopted this sound in their vocabulary for tea!
Reading about the different plants variations and how they are cultivated. Excited to share more information with you as I read!
More green tea!
My aunt generously sent me some more green tea and it is so beautiful. It has a different shape then the other one.
The first green tea I tried that she sent was curiously similar to the regular black tea that I drink, not in smell but in both taste and look. This one is more similar to the type of tea you might drink at a Chinese restaurant.
As sad as I was that my honey from Capital Bee Co was finished it makes a great container!
