Mint pea soup with peppermint tea

I did a tea tasting last week at my friend Claire’s house and for dinner she made a beautiful mint pea soup. I looked up the recipe online last night and decided to make it myself – but with tea. Instead of using a mint leaf to taste, I decided to substitute organic peppermint leaves. A teaspoonful gave my soup a subtle minty zest, so I’m sure if you increased this, your soup would be even more refreshing. Organic leaves are probably best, especially given you mix these in at the end in the food processor. Obviously, it’s also best to bring the soup mixture to a boil before you toss it all in, so the leaves can expand and emit a strong minty flavour. I served mine in a large pink teacup with a few dry peppermint leaves on top for full effect.

Click here for the recipe, taken from Jamie Oliver’s food forum.

From coffee addict to tea lover

I used to need one cup of coffee to wake up in the morning and at least another two to get through the day. The smell of fresh roasted coffee beans made me salivate. And I’ll admit, although I love the variety and health benefits of loose leaf tea now much more than coffee, I still miss that fresh roasted aroma, thick, milky latte texture and spooning off the foamy bit from the top!

But on my recent trip to New Zealand to visit the country’s only tea plantation, Zealong, I made two new tea discoveries that woke up the coffee addict inside. The first was the fresh, roasted aroma and taste of Zealong’s Dark Oolong tea. Opening up a foil sealed bag of this tea will instantly put your coffee cravings at ease – it has that same fresh, roasted aroma that somehow soothes the soul. And the taste doesn’t disappoint either. It has a rich, nutty taste that leaves a slightly buttery texture in the back of the mouth. And if that description doesn’t satisfy your craving, then check out my recent review for Teaviews.

The second discovery was a Maylasian style tea house called Apego in Auckland. Loose leaf tea replaces coffee beans in the expresso machines here and gets brewed up into a tea latte (pictured above - how good does it look?) – complete with that frothy, foamy milk I used to love spooning off the top! I tried the oolong latte just because I was so curious to see how this variety of tea would work with milk (oolong ranges in flavour from sweet and floral to nutty and caramel). Wow! The sweet, floral flavor of the oolong tea leaves actually combined with the warm milk to create a decadent, dessert-style tea. So despite the super-sized tea cup that it came in, I could’ve easily had another. The flavour was a ‘sweet surprise’ and I got that creamy texture I’d been missing. My inner coffee addict loves nothing better than waking up to a nice cup of tea now.

Friday's teapot meltdown!

Buying and storing green tea

I recently searched the streets of Sydney for Gyokuro, a very high-quality Japanese green tea, for a client tasting. Japanese green tea is known for its strong vegetal flavour, but it’s also known for losing it’s taste if not stored properly. But given Gyokuro’s high price tag (between $25 - $45 for 50 grams or approximately 10-15 teaspoons) I wanted to share my findings.

I purchased two lots of 50g worth of Gyokuro – one from a well-known shop that stores its tea in tins (directly inside the tin and without any plastic, which is so, so bad for loose leaf!) and another from a specialty Japanese tea shop that sells Gyokuro in air-tight, foil-sealed bags. Both had a vibrant green, leafy colour and sweet aroma. But there was a slight difference in the taste. The Gyokuro stored in the tin had mellowed in taste due to air exposure, meaning my foil-sealed Gyokuro had a stronger, vegetal flavour. It’s not that the tin Gyokuro was bad, it just had a more rounded, slightly richer flavour than the other, which was much more true to its famous grassy and vegetal taste qualities.

Now I know there are many green loose leaf tea drinkers out there, so following are my tips for buying and storing quality green teas:

1. Foil-sealed bags are best for freshness, as the tea leaves have had limited air exposure
2. After opening, store in an air-tight tin where the leaves won’t be exposed to sunlight or heat (ie not in the cupboard over the stove!)
3. It’s best to store green teas at a constant temperature, meaning if you haven’t been storing them in the fridge, don’t! A change in temperature can sometimes affect the flavour more than storing in the fridge
4. The jury is still out regarding whether the fridge keeps green tea fresher. If you do store it here, try not to expose it to any strong odours
5. Drink green tea soon after opening as the flavour will change over time and may lose it’s fresh, crisp vegetal taste. If you prefer a mellower flavour, then this tea can be stored for about two years

Liquid lunch? There's a cupcake in my tea cup

While I love that more and more of us are recognizing the amazing health benefits of loose leaf tea, these leaves have some amazing natural flavours as well! As I gear up for my Mother's Day custom blending sessions where not only can you learn more about natural tea flavours like honey, hazelnut and plum, but you can work with me to create a personalised tea blend that suits your flavour palette, I thought I should talk a bit more about what good tea really tastes like! Recently I visited New Zealand’s only tea plantation, Zealong (I’ll be doing a series on how loose leaf tea is made soon!) and had the chance to taste some beautiful natural tea flavours. In fact, their Pure oolong tea tasted a bit like eating an orchid cupcake – check out my review on Teaviews. And it made me think about all of the great flavours tea has naturally, without having to add anything artificial. Now I’m not bagging out those of you who enjoy a cup of Blueberry Cheesecake, Tiramisu or Mexican Chilli (oh yes, these all exist!). It’s just worth noting all of the great flavours that can be achieved in loose leaf tea when you understand how to brew it properly and/or create a custom blend.

Firstly, white tea. Many of you probably think this has a thin and ‘barely there’ flavour right? Wrong. High-quality white tea when brewed properly should taste like honey or melon and has a decadent, velvety smooth texture. And there’s more…like oolong tea that tastes like hazelnut, black tea that has a lovely fruity apricot flavour and pu-erh tea which warms you up in winter with a unique plum taste. And if that doesn’t wet your appetite, custom blends using natural loose leaf tea and tisane (herb) flavours can also create unique tastes including everything from an After Dinner Chocolate Mint to Cherry Chocolate Chai. In fact, I recently tried a Taiwanese oolong tea that tasted like sucking on a sour lolly! Not a personal favourite, but definitely better for me than eating the real thing! Interested in learning more about tea’s natural flavours? I’ll be doing group tea tastings every Saturday beginning in May. But if you want to explore flavours sourced specific to your personal tastes, then a custom blending session where you can create your own loose leaf tea might be for you!

A brew for peace: The Japanese tea ceremony

Given the recent events in Japan and other countries, I wanted to post something that I wrote awhile back about the peaceful, meditative effects of attending a traditional Japanese tea ceremony at Cha-An, one of my favourite tea houses in New York (scroll below for a video clip from a traditional Japanese tea ceremony).

The Japanese tea ceremony, known as ‘chu-no-yu’ in Japan is based on the principals of ‘harmony, respect, purity and tranquility’. Traditionally the host will invite guests into their home for sweets and matcha (Japanese green tea leaves ground into a fine powder) or for a bigger meal accompanied by many teas which can last for up to four hours. At Cha-An, they have a separate little room decorated in traditional Japanese style with woven mats on the floor where they hold the ceremony. I’m asked to take my shoes off before climbing into what feels like a kid-size temple. My host comes shortly after, dressed in full kimono.

First I’m invited to eat sweets and then she prepares the matcha. Every hand gesture is thoughtfully done, her hand and arm gracefully moving through the air, like a tea ballet. Technically she’s doing something we perform in our kitchen every morning (albeit with an electric kettle) but it’s so beautiful to watch I fall into a trans-like meditative state – perfect for tasting all of the subtle nuances in my lovingly prepared bowl of matcha. My host goes on to explain that it was actually samurais that popularized the tea ceremony in ancient Japan. Apparently even they got tired of all the fighting and saw the ceremony as a respite from the cruel tragedy of war! Which is why she explains, no politics, nasty comments or any unpleasant words are ever discussed at a tea ceremony! For both the host and guest, it’s a pleasant, peaceful respite from our everyday worries.

Please spare some peaceful thoughts for Japan during your next ‘tea break’. Donate to http://www.redcross.org.au/.

Japanese tea ceremony: Tea At Koken WITH SOUND