Saturday, April 19, 2008

Tea


There sure is a lot of tea in my tea box. In fact, I've got so much tea, it's time to blog about it. Clockwise from top:

King Tea: what I use in summer to make iced tea. It's strong and outback-flavoured, like the billy tea we made at the Jondaryan Woolshed.

  • Pu-Erh Chinese tea. A fermented black tea blend that is thought to be good for digestion, slimming, weight management, beauty and so on. Not sure about whether it has worked on me, but very good with dumplings, yum cha, heavier Asian foods and deep-fried foods.

  • Bunting-Tee Rooibos. This one was sent over by my German friend: it's what we drank at her parents' house in Bremen, Lower Saxony. One of the culinary traditions there is to place a piece of rock sugar in the teacup, then pour over the hot tea. The sugar will crackle and whisper. Then you pour light cream carefully and slowly down the side of the cup, and wait for the cream to resurface, pooling at the top, emerging from the depths like soft white gardenias.

  • Not sure about the name of this one. My Japanese teacher friend gave me this packet of Japanese tea, saying that I should prepare a jug of it, wait for it to cool, and then have the cold tea in the fridge, to be sweetened and drunk as a refreshing treat. Tastes great.

  • Lipton Rooibos teabags. I already like Lipton Red Tea with guarana, and now I like the hot version too.

  • Ginger Tea. It's just sitting in the cupboard. Have never tried it. It's on the list of things to do.

  • Jar of Moroccan mint tea. This is what goes into my gorgeous tea glasses that I got from a market in France. Lovely on a cold wintry day with some Greek sweets, or a hot pastry.

  • More Japanese tea: some light green tea to drink after midnight. Very soothing.

  • T2 brand: sencha vanilla, Russian Caravan and gunpowder teas. The gunpowder is a little strong for me, but I love the Japanese-inspired sencha vanilla and the Russian Caravan, especially with this breakfast.

  • Three teas from The Tea Centre in the Brisbane Arcade. Earl Grey with Blue Flower, 1001 Nights, and Japanese Lime. I ran out of Stockholm Blend, unfortunately. It's still their biggest seller.
Not pictured: the roasted-rice and green tea gencha mai, bought from Riverbend Books.

And I can't talk about tea without mentioning my beautiful mini-teapot and cup from the talented Mel Robson. This little pot makes tea so much more special.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lipton have missed the point with their Rooibos Teas. They've ruined them by adding black tea and guarana of all things!!! If I want a heart starter I can get this through hundreds of other drinks. Rooibos is naturally caffeine free and they should formulate their rooibos teas without added caffeine and hits. The fact that is is NATURALLY caffeine free, rather than chemically altered is a marketing point they have completely overlooked.

Pinky said...

Good point. Maybe the prepacked iced Rooibos tea is meant to be for the so-called busy people who 'need' their caffeine to start the day? Perhaps the Rooibos element is just an exotic and appealing new variety of the same old sugar-laden caffeinated energy juice? Therefore, if they plugged the iced version as decaf, the target audience might be turned off... possibly.
I think true tea lovers tend to stay away from the sweet iced versions and stick with the hot stuff.
Although, I like the iced Rooibos for the flavour, not the energy content!

Helen said...

I must say I find it quite interesting that the three teas you have from the Tea Centre are the same three I have!

Pinky said...

Helen, obviously great minds think alike.