3589 Tasting Notes
It is 70 degrees, though blustery, and we could not pass up this opportunity to have a picnic lunch on the grass in the sunshine. Lunch was followed by tea, cookies, and Valentine chocolates outside and reading aloud from Mrs. Dunwoody’s Excellent Instructions for Homekeeping. (I had to explain many things to my daughters. Did anyone else ever have to pour hot water and ammonia on a floor and then scrape up wax buildup for their mother? Thank goodness that is one chore I never anticipate having to do again! )
As for the tea, it was a most excellent companion to our reading. This is a black tea that goes well with anything and is liked by everyone. It has no astringency like the higher grown Ceylons may have. It is from the daily tea selections at Southern Season, but has good body and very large leaves. It can be served plain, or taken with sugar and milk equally well.
Preparation
On Jacqueline’s recommendation I am trying this one again and taking it with sugar and milk. I tried it before with no additions and though it wasn’t bad, I thought it wasn’t great.
I tried the first cup with just sugar added, and it was very pleasant. Although no one else has mentioned it, I really think I picked up on the barest hint of smoke in this, as is common with many keemuns. It was lovely! I tried it with sugar and milk both next, and liked it just as well, though most of the time I don’t add milk to my tea. Hubby is very picky and likes only a few teas but he finished his cup so he must have rather liked it! It was a lovely pot to follow up a quiet Sunday brunch while I catch up on my correspondence. I would liken this to Premium Steep’s Golden Monkey, though perhaps not quiet as refined, and also to Teavana’s Golden Monkey, though it is not as honeyed as either and has a little more heft because of that hint of smoke.
Preparation
A very nice vanilla flavored black tea! This one is not nearly as sweet as their Vanilla Comoro and I use it as a stand alone or with cookie or cheese plate tea. It is pretty iced, as well. Must have been good – I just drank the whole pot! I do put a little sugar in this one if I am not having it with food.
Preparation
Sold out again? How can it be! Alas! I am glad I have a little bit left but this is getting serious, people! This is such a favorite that it HAS to be served at Wednesday tea party every week! I resteeped this week, too, and we drank a second pot of it. Delicious, round, satisfying, naturally sweet, full-bodied yet golden caramel flavor. I am on pins and needles waiting for them to get some more….I will be ordering a pound so we won’t have a tea emergency anyway time soon…
Preparation
So excited! So many people have already shown an interest on getting in on the special offer of loose leaf Tower of London next week that Mike Harney decided to just add it to their catalog! Wheeeee! I know I already had three pounds spoken for and possibly four. If you haven’t tried it, this tea is just too good to miss, and I almost DID miss it! I read a very positive review of it and at the time EVERYONE was sold out, including the Harney website. My hubby got online and searched until he found a little tea shop that had some and ordered it for me as a surprise. This is lovely in the afternoon unsweetened and served with cookies or a cheese plate, and I drink it in the mornings with just a touch of sugar. It is similar to Paris, but sometimes I am more in the mood for this one!
Preparation
Oh joy! Just smelling the leaves of this beautiful Earl was delightful, and then things just got better as I poured it and sipped! The tea base is very high quality and the bergamot is just right. It was very well liked at tea party today, and my guest remarked that it was sooo much better than the bags and sachets of Earl Grey from another company that she usually buys. Indeed, it doesn’t even compare.
Preparation
When I read about the toasted cheese and tea at the end of I Was A Rat, I had to smile! And I also had to celebrate that warm feeling and happy smile with a toasted cheese sandwich (perfect, by the way, from my new Breville Smart Grill and Griddle hubby encouraged me to get!) and a pot of good tea. I knew the old cobbler and his wife wouldn’t have had a foofy French tea, so I chose this milder-than-most Irish breakfast that we like so well! Very nice! Milk and sugar, of course!
Preparation
A nice pot of this followed breakfast today! A little sugar in this one for me unless I am having it with afternoon cookies. Today I picked up on the grapey flavor of the black currant in it a little more than usual. It was yummy! And Mike Harney has offered to make some one pound bags of this loose leaf! Hooray! I already have orders for three people wanting it, and I expect Sandy may make it four when she gets back from her south island tour!
Preparation
Mike Harney just wrote to me and offered to make a pound of this loose leaf! Hooray! I have asked him to make more than that – does anyone else want some of this delightful goodness in loose leaf? Just post to the Harney wall on Facebook or call or email them and let him know. Their customer service is unsurpassed! If you haven’t tried this lovely tea, I will liken it to Paris and it definitely has French style. It is wonderful unsweetened or with sugar.
My grandmother did EVERYTHING and I didn’t even know how to do the simple things when I went on my own. I even remember being terrified of the washing machine! Poor David did the laundry for the first 6 months or so before I was ready to learn. David did most of the cooking too – I literally didn’t know how to boil an egg. Seems like a million years ago! I think my grandmother thought she was doing things for me to save me the trouble since I was an earnest student and was always doing homework, but she really did me a disservice because it was twice as hard to learn everything all at one time when I started my own home!
This book would have come in handy! Mrs. Dunwoody is a fictional Southern Belle who put these hints together in 1866 in her old age for posterity. It has everything from recipes for housecleaning solutions to etiquette to organization. It is certainly very old-fashioned, but there is a wealth of great advice in it!
To this day, every time I gingerly attempt to deconstruct a cooked whole chicken, I can just see both grandmothers looking down and laughing hysterically at me.
“Cut AGAINST the grain, dear!” I can hear my mom when I carve a bird! And “You’re throwing that away? There is still a lot of meat left on that carcass. Here, let me….” or how about “Be careful not to overbeat that pound cake!” But I must say that by the time I was housekeeping on my own, my mom ended up liking my cooking better than her own!
:) …and then there’s my feeble attempts to bake homemade bread…but let’s not go there…
Now that is one area where I succeeded! My mother used to say, and I quote, “I’m scared of yeast!” She wouldn’t bake with it because she would put a lot of work into something and then it would fall.
I think the yeast is much more dependable these days – I remember even in the 90s going to the supermarket and buying yeast. THere was always a huge possibility it was “dead” from improper storage and sitting on the shelf forever. Now I use instant yeast – I get the big bag from King Arthur and keep it in the freezer in a special container. Lasts so long and you know King Arthur treats their yeast beasts right!
Yeast beasts—-I like that. (I’m collecting tongue twisters for a kids’ writing assignment.)
We bake so much, especially home made bread, that I buy the Sam’s Club double pack – two pounds! I keep the open one in the refrigerator and the other in the pantry since it is vacuum sealed. I used to use Perfect Rise but the only local source is pretty expensive for the amount we use, and the one at Sam’s has worked well for us. Perhaps it is more stable now – plus my mom was raised in an orphanage and didn’t have anyone to teach her to cook! And down here in the country, especially back then, they made cornbread and bsicuits that didn’t require yeast, so probably even her older relatives barely used it.