I decided on this one to fulfill the final October sipdown prompt – a vegetal tea. Just in time!
But in choosing it, I remembered my matcha and got a hankering for that, too, so I will probably have both, but this one is a sipdown!
Because I had an awkward amount of leaf, I slightly overleafed and found it initially a little more astringent than I wanted. A tiny bit more water fixed that, and then pairing it with my lunch made it really good. A bit of briskness makes some teas stand out enough to be noticed with food, whereas a milder tea might quail at combination and almost disappear, not much more than a cup of hot water,.
Today my cool weather crop plants are finally big enough to harvest enough greens for a vegetarian Chinese dumpling soup and it was perfect with the tea. The dumplings have toasted brown rice (among other things) in them which tastes really nutty and that seemed to amplify the nutty aspect of the tea. Or was the tea amplifying the nuttiness of the dumplings?
Post-prandial cup number two is just as strong as cup one, if not stronger. Green beans, not cooked Southern style in a pot of water with side meat but made in a skillet with sesame seeds and Asian sauces and allowed to get dark, crisp areas combined with a lemony tartness and a nutty follow up.
hehe I am glad I’m not the only one who does that. Something in a tea will remind me of matcha and I’ll want matcha too !!