Reading into Tasseography

Nothing, for me, is better than a good book and a cup of tea. I am sure countless others feel the same way. Perhaps it all came from the 18th century, where afternoon tea was life, and most mainstream classics were conceived. Indeed, I've just read a book declaring Jane Austen was the most avid tea drinker.


As you might have guessed, I love tea. What you might have not known, is I also love books. So much so, I've made it my career. No, no, I don't write books. I don't have the strongest writing ability, and even weaker grammar and spelling skills. I work in the land of books, the most wondrous library! Academic mind you, which makes finding books on tea sandwiches a little tricky. And since I've been in the library, I've notice the link between books and tea even more obviously.


When I was in Nikaido, browsing the glorious shelves of tea, a black current caught my eye. Nikaido's Blackcurrant Librarian's blend went home with me that day, and the librarian in me greatly approves.


So I drink teas that reference libraries. I drink tea when reading books. Hmm, if only I could go one step further. What else that has to do with tea, and reading could I possibly do?
Oh I know, Tea Readings!

For those who don't have a crazy old great aunt/mother/elderly matron friend who offers tea readings (and those awful ribbon candy), tea reading is a very old fortune telling method that uses pictures to predict future events. And for the sticklers out there, the alphabet can appear in the leaves, so technically it is reading.
As I have read a total of 2 (two) books about tea reading, I'm going to call myself a mock expert on it all. Right.

The scientific name, even though it isn't based on science, is tasseography, and it seems to have originated in the UK. The believed origin is due to the first book of tasseography being written by a Highland Seer. There isn't a publishing date on the book, so who knows how old it is.

Note:
The actual tea reading can be very accurate, and very deep and ritualistic. Pah. I'm not into that. I wanted to do it on a lark, and keep it lighthearted and fun. For goodness sakes, we are looking at squiggly pictures in tea blobs. For all the die-hards out there, who read and scoff at my approach, go read entrails or something. I'm going to go play pictionary with my tea!


The first thing you need to do a tea reading, is to find a loose leaf tea. Cutting open a tea bag doesn't work. Most of what is in the teabags is powder, and that will float around in your cup. You would likely also ingest at least two thirds of it. You also can't have your typical tea blends. The leaves will be better quality and therefore will be bigger. If you do a reading on this, all you are going to see is pictures of leaves. Perhaps a tree. But mostly leaves -- tea leaves.
You need an in-between. Not too large, not too small. I thought I found the solution with Nikaido's Librarian blend, but even their leaves were a little too large. I shall keep my eyes open for something better. Meanwhile, it was the Blackcurrant blend that I used.


Next you have to pick the teapot. You want one that has NO STRAINER.
I laughed when I read that. I thought, well, duh.
Of course, only after I made my tea and was attempting to pour a cup did I notice a lack of tea leaves. My Alice teapot had a built in strainer. Oy.
I mean, what are the odds?
Instead of redoing everything in a new pot, I just scooped a teaspoon of leaves from the pot and dumped it into my cup. Problem solved.
I suppose if you do have a strainer, it isn't the end of the tea reading.
Next is the teacup. Go traditionally British here. You know, the wide mouth with the smaller bottom? Of course you know. It's the quintessential teacup. Do make sure the bottom isn't too petite, as it needs to have the surface area to show your destiny!


Okay, drink your tea the way you like it. Milk? Sugar? Go ahead! Makes no difference! Once you have about a teaspoon of tea left in the bottom. Stop drinking, and check a mirror for any tea leaves in your teeth.
Now, if you want to be ritualistic, turn the teacup counter-clockwise three times using only your left hand. Then turn the cup upside down onto your saucer and let the tea drain away for about 30 seconds. Then turn another three times. You should be thinking of a question as you do these actions.

If you don't want to be ritualistic, swish the tea a bit, and then turn it upside down on your saucer. Wait the same time, and poof, you're done. I didn't have a saucer with my set, so I just set it over the drain in the sink. Worked fine. I also forgot to think of a question.


And then, turning the handle towards myself, I looked inside.

Now inside the tea cup is a map. Positions mean things. The closer a picture is to the rim, the sooner it will happen. The closer a picture is to the bottom, the longer it will take. If the picture is near handle, it means it will be a personal thing. On the opposite end, the picture concerns someone you aren't really familiar with. In both cases, the middle of the two means the middle of the two descriptions. You can get even more technical, such as using the cup as a 12 month calendar or a clock, but a novice like me was fine enough for this simple guideline.

I turned over my cup, turned the handle towards myself, and saw a decent amount of tea leaves inside. There can be lots of leaves, or very little, neither of which means you drained your teacup incorrectly. It is just how the cookie crumbles. I looked into the cup, and then saw a symbol I instantly recognized. JUMPING JEHOSAPHET, IT WAS THE GRIM!



Ha ha, no. Not really. Any Harry Potter fans would recognize that scene from the Prisoner of Azkaban movie. My teacup was much tamer, though I stared at it in bewilderment for a little bit of time.


First I thought it I couldn't see any discerning pictures because the tea leaves were too big. All I could see was a blob. A blob with stilts and windows? Hmmmm. I kid you not, I flipped through the books for quite sometime looking for tiki hut meanings. Apparently the UK Seers didn't think the Tiki huts were common enough to include in their symbolism lists. And then, I thought perhaps I should turn it around. So I did, and peered at it some more. Perhaps it was my straining to turn a blob into something, anything, that a picture did finally appear: A Ship!


Can you see it? It is the front of the bow. Like a steamer ship? Okay, hold on, I'll outline it.
Okay, how about now?

See, it sort of looks like this type of ship:


And you know what? Ships mean a good trip somewhere, and that is surprisingly accurate. This May I am heading off to Disneyworld (good thing too, I was running low on a certain tea) and Disney is always a good trip. Unless you end up in 30ºc weather and running a high fever, and you refuse to take it easy because you are on vacation. *cough* There is also a letter H in there, which is the first letter of the plane company were are starting our trip with. I thought that one next to the ship might be a flag, but the symbolism didn't make sense. It could be a weird pistol, but those aren't good signs, so I decided it wasn't. The other leaves looked like blobs, and that's okay. They just mean nothing major is going to happen otherwise

So, my thoughts? Well, maybe I mentally superimposed the symbol onto the tea blob, or maybe not. I didn't take it very seriously, but as a divination tool, I don't think it typically should be. I mean, you drink tea with your friends, and try to find symbols in each others cup. If things turn out to be true, then is it coincidence? Lucky guesses? Who knows, and that's what makes it fun to do. But most importantly, if you are going to do a reading, you might as well make the tea worth while.



My blackcurrant tea was delicious as ever, the fruitiness mingling with the earthy tea perfectly. Nothing like a good blackcurrant, and this definitely is one of the best I ever had. The fruit had a bit more of a starring role than the tea, and it also didn't curdle any milk or cream. It also had a refined taste afterward. I once had a blackcurrant that had an aftertaste similar to the taste you get from the air after taking a weed-wacker to an acre of meadow weeds. Ick. Anyone who is a fan of blackcurrant (most British people I find) will love this tea.

The Librarian's Blend Tea is available at Nikaido in Steveston B.C. which is technically in Richmond.

The books I read were:
Reading Tea Leaves /by a highland seer Or read it free online!
Tea cup reading : A quick and easy guide to tasseography /Sasha Fenton

The Greys of pomp and hogwash

Hello everyone, I have a special treat for this blog post. I have found someone who says he know the truth about the mysterious origins of the world’s arguably first flavored tea: Earl Grey.
Mr. Chinwester has been privileged to written records that have been passed down through generations by notable and wealthy ancestors. He won’t lend them to me, of course, said I would get the pages dirty. Wouldn’t even let me –see- the books, said I’d still get them dirty. Indeed. But if he has at long last the truth about the origins, then we shall all have to suffer for information I suppose.

Now, before I get to him, let me tell you that Earl Grey tea was probably created around the early 1800’s, but no one knows for sure. How it came about, and who created it has long been debated by old tea manufacturing companies. The tea itself hasn’t suffered from the mystery; it is one of the most popular tea blends of the world.
It is the tea that I drink every morning when I wake up, without any pomp or ceremony. No teapot, just a mug with two lumps of sugar popped in, and a teabag of Twinings'. Even Captain Jean–Luc Picard favoured this tea most of all. As long as it was hot, of course. And now, to tell us fully about the tea, and at long last the true history, is uh, the enthusiastic (and pompous) Mr. Chinwester:



Ah why hello little commoners! Allow me to introduce myself; my name is Fitzwilliam Ronald Chinwester the first. I was asked by the owner of this blog to give my knowledge on something I know very many things about. I assure you that this is not a rare occurrence and my mind over flows with thoughts of many, many important things. Indeed, they very often have to be very shallow to be able to all fit in my head, I have so many.

Right right, onto the important subject (only slightly more important than of myself) of my disclosure: Earl Grey Tea. Why yes! The glorious tea of a ladies’ luncheon! Of the afternoon sort where crumpets and scones are eaten with decided vigor! The tea I daintily drink from rare and expensive porcelain while I wait on the moors –with rifle in hand of course- for a hind to cross my path! Ah, don’t be off put by my wealth my good reader. Not all of us can have our tea served to us in items made in far off exotic lands. Mine, I must boast, were made in the wondrous land of china!
Earl Grey is only Earl Grey when a black tea base is made with a squishy little citrus fruit called the Bergamot. The bergamot fruit isn't exactly edible, but the skin, or rather, the rind is the prize. It has long been used as an additive for tea and perfume. In fact, if you lean in and take a whiff, why yes, don’t I smell lovely?

Earl Grey tea was named after an actual person, you know, Charles Grey. My wealthy ancestor actually chatted to him about the weather once. It’s true! Now the Earl wasn’t the original Earl Grey at all, but rather the second. Now I can tell you personally that being a first, like myself, is much more prestigious than anything a second has to offer. And when I have a lady to finally wed me, and produce a Fitzwilliam Ronald Chinwester the second, I shall make a point to remind him about it daily.
Ah herm hm. Right, the tea. The Earl Grey was a good chap, was even the prime minister of the United Kingdom at some point in his life. I am sure he did many fine things, like abolish slavery and such. But what he did most spectacularly was the single handed rescue a poor drowning Mandarin man from a river while he was in China. Oh yes, a fine swimmer he was, swam the River Thames every chance he could. He would swim right under the ice in the winter, and hold him breath during the summer when the heat made the sewage smell uncomfortable strong. The Chinese fellow was so thankful, rightfully so, that he presented the Earl with the recipe that has now become known as Earl Grey Tea! Oh, just a moment.

Hmm.
I have just been told by the mistress of this blog that I have said a fallacy. Apparently, Lord Grey has never stepped foot in China. Well, a man -was- rescued, and if not by him then one of them men in his employment.
What, apparently, black tea in China wasn’t as popular as it became in jolly old England, and therefore wouldn’t have made a suitable gift?
And the Chinese didn’t use the Bergamot fruit for flavourings?
Really now, you are just picking apart my story for sport.
Harumph. My story is perfectly possible. I’m the one with the passed down records that most assuredly indeed exist. You don’t have any such privilege to prove otherwise.

Well, perhaps Howick hall, the resident of our brave Earl, had terrible tasting water due the high amounts of lime. Back then nothing could be done, and a Chinese man - I bet you it was the same drowning man!- was brought in to see if he could make a tea that wasn’t ruined by the water. He picked a black tea base, and blended it with the citrus fruit rind. It proved to be spectacular, and the Lady Grey began serving it in London. It was a political family mind you, and therefore all the people who mattered started drinking this new tea. They enjoyed it so much (and I would think lime-less water would have improved it ten fold) they requested it be sold. Twinings' got it -oh how I do love Twinings'!- and the rest is history. It is, after all, all noted down my records.


Lady Mary Elizabeth Grey has her own tea but I dare think it wasn’t -her- who came up with it. Women aren’t capable to do such things as thinking...
Madam! Did you just assult me? I dare say I didn’t just deserve to be. Imagine, attacking a guest! Harumph! Now if you don't mind, I still have some concrete history to tell.
It was probably the company Twinings' -oh I do love Twinings'!- who came up with that brilliant ‘Lady Grey’ marketing idea. It is a lovely tea made with another bitter fruit, lemon seville orange.


I dare say Lady Grey wasn’t as lovely as her tea, or the Earl wouldn’t have been so randy for the Duchess of Devonshire. Still, there isn’t a tea called the Duchess of Devonshire, now is there. Then there is the Earl’s ‘questionable’ brother who was found with a duke, and thus became the inspiration of Earl Grey Cream. Just a little vanilla is added in this blend to make it smooth and creamy. Scrumptious!

What are you implying? I did not just make that last part up, Earl Grey Cream absolutely has vanilla flavourings. I also take high offense at you trying to negatively portray my character. Me a liar? How dare you. I do believe I am done here, for I no longer will subject to your lies and indiscretions!

Good day!

..........................

Well, sorry about that everyone. That’s what I get for trying to invite an ‘expert’ to talk. Obviously the mystery of origins is still there, and might never be solved. Still, no matter what your preference, there is a Earl Grey to suit your tastes. You can have more black tea and a little bergamot for a slight citrus flavour, or a lot of bergamot mixed into the tea for a stronger citrus flavour. Stash’s Earl Grey is very strong for the bergamot flavouring, while Twinings' in more mild in that sense. You can have actual rind in your tea in a high quality tea, or just artificial flavourings in a inexpensive tea. I will have the Earl Grey Cream from the Metropolitan Tea company for a treat, for there are few rivals for a tea as smooth as that one is. I am partial to the Metropolitan tea company's Earl Grey Cream, as I found other companies put too much bergamot and that clashes dreadfully with the vanilla. Lady Grey, I sometimes swap for my normal Earl Grey. It is fruitier and lighter, and seems to suit a cheery, sunny morning beautifully.

I do have one ominous “Beware” though. If you drink more than four liters of Earl Grey in one day, and do this daily, some negative symptoms can occur. The bergamot can, in high doses, cause muscle cramps. It can also have the same effect as grapefruits, slowing the absorption of estrogen and decreasing the effectiveness of birth control pills. But you have to be drinking a very large amount of Earl Grey daily for this to happen.
Earl grey is found in many pantries, and will always be my number one must have tea.
Twinings' can be found in nearly all grocery stores, and the Metropolitan Tea company is only in select tea supplier stores.

'Empressing' the locals

One summer morning in 2004, my mother woke me up and told me we were going to go to the Victoria area on Vancouver Island for an overnight stay.
It was a glorious trip, and we spent time in all the must see places: Buchardt Gardens, the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, the Provincial Parliament building, the now gone Royal London Wax Museum, and the Royal B.C. Museum. That was actually the whole reason we were going – to see the Eternal Egypt exhibit. But most spectacular was the icon of Victoria. As the Big Ben is London, the Eiffel tower is Paris, the statue of liberty is New York, the Empress hotel is most definitely Victoria. And what else is the Empress hotel known for other than their overnight accommodations? Well, their high tea of course!

My mother and I diligently went and had tea every Monday at a local tea house. Since we were in Victoria on a Monday, we decided that high tea – even at $50 a person- was a must do. The décor was beautiful, and even though I was wearing a Harley Davidson shirt (what was I thinking?) we were treated very well. The high tea, on the other hand, was lacking. A very pricy bill got you soggy pastries, tasteless sandwiches, and very simple fair. As my mother liked to say afterwards, we weren’t “Empressed.”

What was delicious, however, was the tea. Simply called "Empress Tea," it was signature blend unique to the hotel -- of course we bought a tin of it to take home. It didn’t have any added flavours or ingredients outside of regular tea. What was special was that they blended different tea together from different regions, and even different countries. It was complex, subtle, and smooth. It is more than a little amazing that the exact same plant could taste so differently from one spot to the next. It is -the- quintessentially perfect afternoon tea.
After we got home, we savored our little tin of tea, and were sorely sad to see it finally empty. It wasn’t as if we would be going over the water anytime soon to replenish our Empress Tea stock.


But then, a few years later, I stumbled upon a delightful store called Murchie’s (the same store that I later found the lovely Lavender tea). To my surprise, and of course delight, I found that Murchie's sold the official Empress Tea blend. It turns out that the Empress (a historical hotel built in 1908) used Murchie’s (a local company established in 1894) as its tea supplier and tea blender. I promptly bought a box, and rejoiced that the Empress tea was only a wee bit of a drive away. I drank it all, bought some more, drank it all, and bought some more again. And then something odd happened. I went to buy another box of Empress Tea, but there was no such sign of the tea in the entire store of Murchie’s. I looked, became concerned, and finally flagged down a staff member to inquire about the tea. The Empress tea was no longer called the Empress tea. It is now known as Murchie’s Afternoon Blend. I grabbed the newly named tea and bought it. So relieved I was, that it didn’t occur to me to ask why – at least not until I was enjoying a cup of the brew at home. Still, no matter what the name was, I thought it the same great tea I had come to know and love.

Time passed, and my mother traveled back to Victoria and bought a package of the official tea the Empress sold (they packaged it in a box rather than a tin) for souvenir's sake. Curious,I did a taste comparison and both tea tasted the same. On examination, however, the tea leaves were a little larger than my Murchie’s blend. It was visually different, but still the exact same blend of tea. Eventually we had once again run out of our dear tea, and once again the tiny pilgrimage was made to pick up Murchie’s afternoon blend. This time however, I was determined to ask some questions. To appreciate the answers, however, it's best to know a little bit about the Empress hotel:

It was built a bloomin’ long time ago, and through most of its existence was owned by CPR. Canadian Pacific Railway was doing well, and building hotels for the guests that used its rail. Yes, the railroad didn’t extend to Victoria, but they also had nice ships (not unlike ferries, but also not unlike little floating hotels either) that would transport people to Seattle, Alaska, ect. Business boomed, then wilted (WW1) and then boomed, and then wilted (WW2) and then only slowly came back around, with many ups and downs in between. The Empress was actually considered for demolition in the mid 60’s, but outcries and the pointing out (rightfully) that it was an iconic landmark caused it to get a cosmetic refurbishment (called operation Tea Cup) instead. Thankfully in 1989 they smartened up and did a true refurbishment that renewed its original grandeur and glory. A year before that, however, the hotel division of CPR was beginning to change. It bought out a large competitor, and began buying small hotels, and luxury hotels in international locations. They became Canadian Pacific Hotels and Resorts. The year 1999 had them buying the San Francisco Company called Fairmont hotel, and they decided in 2001 that they should call all their large luxury hotels the Fairmont hotel. So technically, the Empress hotel I knew was always the Fairmont Empress hotel. Okay, in 2006, Fairmont jumped into bed with a large LA hotel company called Colony Capital, and remains that way today. But what does that mean for the tea?


Well. The Empress hotel is no longer just a Canadian hotel; it is a half American one. I would suppose that after the merger, the American side wondered why the Empress should spend money with Murchies’s when they could get their tea blended elsewhere for much cheaper. All that truly mattered was that the blend was the same, the guests would know no different. Pfft, way to support your local community. Murchie’s really got the short stick of this agreement. Not only was the Empress no longer their client, but they were no longer even allowed to use the name for the signature blend. Such a treatment despite having who knows how long of a working relationship with each other, though I would assume it would be right at the Hotel’s beginning -- nearly a hundred years ago. From what I heard, they did try to fight back legally. But after spending quite a bit of money, and the cases going nowhere, Murchie’s dropped the suit and limped back home defeated. Which is why you now have Murchie’s Afternoon Blend, which in my humble opinion, tastes significantly better than the Empress blend of tea.

Here is a quote taken directly from the Empress Tea Box.

This blend of seasonal quality was specially created for afternoon tea at the Empress. The Assam component (2nd flush June production) gives a thick malty and full bodied character; the Kenya component (Kiambu region, January productions) gives floral-like flavour and golden coppery infusions; the South Indian Component (Nilgiri mountains, January production) gives superb fruity and sprightly flavour with a lovely finish; the Ceylon (Dimbula Region, January production) gives an airy almost piquant flavour that opens the blend; and the China (Anhui province, April production) gives a burgundy depth with light oaky notes. Truly one of the world's great teas!

You can purchase the Empress tea at the Empress Hotel, or email them at Shop@fairmont.com.
You can purchase Murchie's Afternoon blend in any Murchie's locations, or online.

The Tea enthusiast at Disney

What does a tea lover do at a Disney Resort? Well, that depends on what side of the country you’re on. One side has a great selection of tea to drink, and one, frankly, does not.

Now I am not talking about the horrid drink they call iced tea. I can’t drink that stuff (I need cream and sugar, remember?) I am talking about the “wake up in the morning and drinking a hot tea with milk and sugar” tea. Granted, it is often so blasted hot in either park that you don’t typically -want- to drink a hot beverage. But tea is perfect in the morning, and afternoon tea is fine in an air conditioned building.

Let’s start off with Disneyland in beautiful Anaheim, California. There are about three places to have tea in the park in the morning. One is Riverbelle Terrace, where the dinning is over the counter. You can have tea, but it’s Tetley.
Now I am no fan of Tetley, mostly because of the physical tea. Look at it, it’s all powdery. One might as well drink instant tea. The brew is also nothing to rave about.
Fine, how about the gorgeous Carnation Café? They are a sit down restaurant, and I absolutely love going there. The food, service, and atmosphere are great. The coffee, from what I’ve heard, is also delicious. The tea? It’s Tetley. It is actually a little amusing, because when you request hot tea, they bring out the works. Milk and a slice of lemon, and honey are brought out just in case. So why does Disney serve the cheapest tea they can purchase?
The last place you can go is to the Blue Ribbon bakery on Mainstreet, where all sorts of specialty coffees are available. But tea? Well you can have hot tea, for about three bucks. And it’s also Tetley. And that is really it for breakfast in Disneyland’s Magic Kingdom. Lesson to be learned? Bring your own tea to Disneyland.
I am starting to think Mickey mouse must not be a big tea drinker.

Now Disneyworld? Oh ho ho ho! That’s a different story. Despite being so bloody hot and muggy in Florida, their tea selection is so much better. First, if you are in the Animal Kingdom, you can head down to the Royal Anandapur Tea Company.


You can have hot tea – but it's usually blistering hot in Animal Kingdom. So while you have a great selection of hot, you can have the cold too. I once had an Iced Masala Chai there, and I have never again had its equal. Highly recommended. How about a high tea? Well, at the Grand Floridian, at the Garden View Lounge, they pull out all the stops for their high tea. I haven’t been yet, but it is a must do for my next trip down.

As for buying tea, well you have a few options. In Disneyworld, specifically, you can head over to England in Epcot and buy some Twinning’s tea (yum) in all sorts of British staple flavours. You could also head over to Downtown Disney where the Spice & Tea Exchange just opened last November. Located in Mickey’s Pantry, it looks like you can blend your own teas! *squee* Oh hum, pardon me. Though, you might not have to since they have over 40 blends available. Still, who knows how many of those are black tea.

Now, in both Disneyworld and Disneyland, there are teas available to buy in most large or culinary specific shops. There are some assorted teas, but my favourite is Disney Wonderland Tea, The Mad Tea Party Blend. Every time I’ve been to a resort, I have always made sure to stock up in case I was low. I don’t think I ever want to be without this tea on hand. You would rightly assume this is a tasty tea, eh?


It contains Indian Black Teas, Safflowers, Calendula Petals, Ginger Bits, Apricot Bits, Peach and Apricot Flavors. The main star I would have to say would be the Apricot/Peach. Unlike the weird peach tea I wrote about earlier, the safflowers and calendula balance the citrus. It means this drink is complex and smooth enough that it ends up working beautifully. The tin is also fun and in character of the Alice in Wonderland characters. Here is the Mad Hatter's guide to make Tea:

How to make Hot Tea
(a.k.a Uncold Tea)
by the Mad Hatter

Start at the beginning (and when you come to the end...stop). Use 1 teaspoon per 8oz of water and steep for 3 to 4 minutes (we recommend your clock be two days slow). Move down the table and get a clean cup.

This is a great summer drink, and I can’t figure out why Disneyland doesn’t serve this tea instead of the icky Tetley tea.

Disney used to sell this tea online, but it looks absent for the moment. Surely they will sell it once again! If you don't mind getting a whole bunch of teas that include the Mad Tea Party Blend, you can get the Alice in Wonderland Tea 6 pk.
Meanwhile, if you go to a Disney resort, you can pick one up in store!

Don't drink the bath water

Well, I planned on writing about this tea in late spring/early summer. But with the weather being so piddly out there, I am positively aching for spring. I know it is only the third day of February, but the groundhog did promise an early spring, and darn-it, I want it now! I want the warmth, I want the sunshine, but most of all, I want the flowers! In fact, my impatience for flowers to grow is why I am drinking Lavender Black Tea by Murchies at the moment.

Now I love this tea, but I think it might be a required taste. When most people think of lavender, they think of aromatherapy candles and bath salts. I let a coworker take a whiff of my tea, and she said it smelled like bath water (she must be a fan of the lavender bath products) and would not give it a chance. What most people don't realize is lavender is also a herb with a wonderful taste -- actually it tastes very much like it smells.

I first became acquainted with lavender as a herb when I tried some lavender jelly on toast. I had assumed it would be foul but goodness was it ever delicious! This piqued my curiosity, and I went looking for more lavender food. It appeared in many recipes, and I even tried my hand at making some lavender lemon cake. It turned out very mild, but tasty.
Disclaimer: make absolutely sure no pesticides have been used on your garden picked lavender if you plan on using your or other people’s lavender as an herb.

You can use lavender in your bath, you can use it in your food, and for the herbal drinkers out there you can add it to hot water to make a natural tisane. Apparently lavender has a whole bunch of health benefits as well: it helps with insomnia, stomach aches, and anxiety. Way back in the olden days when bathing was rare and optional, people used to put lavender blossoms around the house to mask the scent of unpleasant body odors. Hiding smells with this natural perfume was so common that eventually when the Victorians gave bouquets of lavender to someone, it told the receiver that they weren’t trusted. It asked, “What are you hiding under the scent of lavender” in the language of flowers.

So when I was visiting Murchies, (a great tea company that started in 1894 in British Columbia) and saw they carried Lavender black tea, I simply had to buy it. And as I have stated, I love this tea. There is a good solid black tea base, and it is countered perfectly with lavender. It’s certainly not overpowering -- just a perfect balance of the two. It is one of those things that you have to try to decide if you like it. And yes, while I suppose it does smell a little like a lavender infused bath, unless you put milk and sugar in your bath, it’s not going to taste like one.

So be adventurous and try –anything- with lavender in it to see if this tea might be right for you. Better yet, just try this tea!

Available at Murchies in store, or online.

Tea Time at the Archives

Not too long ago I volunteered at the local archives. I moved items from moldy boxes, to nice, fresh boxes. It was quite fun though that I think is a matter of personal preference.
Right next door was the local museum, and our Archivist also acted as the museum curator. For five blissful months I felt submerged in both the museum and archives daily life, and I loved the Archivist/Museum Curator to pieces!

He was the nicest gentleman I ever did meet, and he also loved tea as much as I (possibly more, since he did come straight from Britain.) Because he was in charge, and because he was British and loved tea, the Archives was a bit unique: there was tea time at 3:00 pm sharp every day.

The first day I volunteered and found out about this tea schedule, I was ecstatic. Mandatory tea? My goodness, that is the perfect workplace. It didn't cut into the day, as their union stated there needed to be two 15 minute breaks in afternoon and morning, or at the manager's discretion. So two 15 minutes put together at 3:00 meant everyone sat down for a half hour tea break. Everyone mostly showed up for tea, so there was a large relaxed gathering that typically wouldn't have happened. The camaraderie and the closeness between staff is still the best example I have seen or been privileged to partake in. It leads me to believe that all workplaces should have designated tea breaks, and in future careers I might just insist on it (as long as it doesn't get me fired.) I learned some things about tea there, mostly from the Archivist. Heat your teapot with hot tap water, before you put the boiled kettle water in.
That way the cold clay/porcelain doesn't suck the heat out of the boiled water, and your tea will remain hot longer. The first time I tried to help and put boiled water into the pot without warming it up first, I got an earful! I also learned that some people like to steep their tea so dark, it could be taken for coffee at a quick glance. I loved this place, and I was sad to end my volunteering to go back to library school.

Now I was recently in the area at the local tea house “The China Cup Tea Company” (which I personally quite recommend) and I was surprised and delighted to see a unique blend on the shelves: The Surrey Museum Heritage blend.
Now each time someone buys a bag of this tea, three dollars are donated to the Museum. Of course I knew I had to buy a bag, I would have bought the tea even if it tasted like dishwater. But it doesn't, it certainly doesn't!

The area the Archives is in is Cloverdale, and each year Cloverdale does a big festival with blueberries. Blueberry pie, pancakes, milkshakes, and more. So it makes sense for the China Cup to have blueberries in this tea. Now I have tried it and can't taste them. In fact, I can't taste any single ingredient other than the black tea base. It all mixes so well together, it makes up another flavour entirely: delicious.
This is a perfect afternoon tea, not too fruity, or dessert-like. Add milk or cream, sugar or honey. Or let is steep until it looks like coffee. It is a strong, wake up and get back to work tea. You can have this at breakfast, at tea time and with dessert. It is versatile, and did I mention delicious? This tea, I would guess, would also be the perfect tea to serve at the afternoon mandatory tea in the Archives.


Located at: The China Cup tea company, as far as I can tell. But give them a ring and they might be willing to ship some tea to a tea lover out there!

Peaches vs Dairy

On the Vancouver wet west coast, there is a lot of rain. One might saw you could also go to a beach, and say there is a lot of sand. The first probably being truer.
Oh....I wish I could go to that beach. A sunny beach. A sunny warm beach with none of this whishy washy rain that might turn to snow but just remains cold and slushy.

So, what do you do when it is cold and miserable and you are craving the warm days of summer? Well, try drinking a summery tea for one thing! My boyfriend and I were at a small grocery store, and saw this lovely peach of a tea: Stash's Peach Black Tea!
Upon finding this tea, I was intrigued. It is a black tea, and you can add dairy and sugar to black tea. Could it be added to this tea?

Any tea drinker out there has added milk/cream to a nice cup of tea, and found it curdled up at the top at least once in their life. I personally had this experience with a blueberry herbal tea, and my mother made me drink it anyways. Even as a young girl I knew you could never put dairy in a citrus tea/tisane as that was just asking for it to chunk up, but blueberries?
(just a refresher, herbal teas aren't actually teas because they don't include the plant camellia sinensis—or tea. They should be called tisanes.)
Now I am no science teacher, and neither will I give you a science lesson, but I will say milk curdles because of the acidity in the blueberries, and that changes the pH in the milk/cream and causes it to coagulate.
In fact, all these fruits are acidic, and will most likely cause you milk/cream to curdle: apples, blueberries, cherries, grapes, grapefruit, nectarines, peaches, pears, pineapple, plums, and raspberries.

Another thing will cause dairy to curdle is pouring it right into boiling water. The heat will do the trick, even if you have a regular old black tea. If you find this a problem, add your milk/cream first, and add the boiling water slowly to gradually warm it up.
If you aren't putting milk into boiling water, you are drinking a regular old black tea, and it is still lumpy, then your milk/cream is bad. For goodness sake, throw that dairy out!

Now if you do make the citrus tea mistake, and you see your tea curdled, you can do one of three things:
1) Throw it out and start again. And this time, don't add any milk! Or use whole milk/cream, as it has a higher threshold for clumping.
2) Scoop out all the curds you can see. The milk/cream hasn't gone bad, just changed consistency. Water still tastes the same frozen, doesn't it? You might have to keep scooping throughout your drinking experience.
3) Just drink it all. The texture will be off, you might have to chew your tea, and you might not want to drink blueberry tisane ever again, but it won't kill you.


Well you might have noticed peaches in the list of acidic fruits. If you had a herbal tisane full of peaches and added milk/cream, it would curdle. But a black tea is a different sort of beast. To a point, you can add dairy to black teas and not have to worry about the consequences. On the other hand, some very bitter teas, or a strong Earl Grey(with the bergamot oils) will curdle milk.
Indeed, I was very curious about this tea.

Upon opening the box, I grew concerned. Ever open a bag of peach candies? That overwhelming PEACH smell? That's what greeted my nose. The smell was strong, but would it curdle the cream?
I made two cups, added sugar, and poured the cream in. It swirled, and twirled and mixed perfectly. No curdling! Got to love the black teas!

As for the actual tea? Well, it wasn't nearly as strong tasting as it smelled (they never are). By the time I put cream and sugar in it, it smelled like a peach perfume. Depending on the person, I suppose that could or could not be appetizing, The peach taste was there, but on the whole I think it would have made a better tisane.
What I am absolutely sure about, is that this tea would make an amazing iced tea come summer time. Oy.
Maybe I just need to go to a warm sunny beach now, and bring some Stash's Peach Black Tea with me.

Tea available at most grocery stores!