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Foodies are folks who like to talk about, write about, blog about, and tweet about food. From restaurant reviews to original recipes, nothing related to food escapes their notice. One of the nicest, sweetest, and most creative foodies is Michelle Judd of Tasteasyougo.com, a food blog I have been practically glued to for awhile. She’s preparing for her wedding but still has time to post new recipes.
Michelle’s goal isn’t necessarily to come up with recipes that go with tea, but she often does just that. I have picked a baker’s dozen (13) of her recipes that seem especially appropriate for your tea time, and each month I’ll be selecting one of these recipes and pairing it with one tea. Some pairings will appear to be fairly traditional, while others will be a bit offbeat. All I can say is that, after reading my take on these, you might want to try out her recipe with some of the tea named and assess the pairing for yourself.
The recipe: Pomegranate Vanilla Scones with Pomegranate Whipped Cream
Pomegranate Vanilla Scones with Pomegranate Whipped Cream
Your first reaction here might be “Oh, gee, another scone recipe,” but you must trust me here — these are not your grandma’s scones. Inspired by a bottle of PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur and a jar of Singing Dog Vanilla Bean Paste lurking in her pantry, Michelle was inspired to create scones beyond not only the mediocre but beyond the scone stratosphere. Then, she took it a step further with a pomegranate whipped cream topping.
Hopefully, you can now see that these are no run-of-the-mill scones. Pairing them with just the right tea is, therefore, essential.
The tea: Japanese Sencha
Japanese Sencha
A number of teas came to mind, mainly ones more typical of a British tea time where scones are traditionally served. Scottish Breakfast, a blend of orthodox Assam and Keemun, is always a fave with hubby and me, since it takes milk well and goes great with just about any baked item. Straight CTC Assam was another option, with its malty goodness made better with milk and sweetener. A black Ceylon tea was also considered, with its raisiny quality mingling with the toasty qualities of typical tea time treats. Then it hit me: black tea is too expected here, too typical. Such a unique recipe calls for a unique pairing with tea. Time to think “green” — Japanese sencha green, that is. Light, smooth, and a touch grassy. Just the thing to go with these wonderful scones and, since sencha is more of a sipper than a gulper tea, you will probably end up slowing down when you eat the scones, too. That will spread out your tea time and make it more enjoyable.
Hope this works for you. Feel free to comment here with your experience, and watch for the next pairing to be posted in May.
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Like this:
A Jasmine using the tipmost leaves of the tea bush
Jasmine teas fall into what the tea experts call “scented” teas. I just call them “flavored” teas, since items used to create the scents usually affect both aroma and flavor.
Whether you call it “flavored” or “scented,” jasmine tea has been around a long while, starting some time during the Song Dynasty in China (960-1279). The best grade is supposed to be from the Fujian Province, but versions are also available from Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang provinces.
Tea leaves are harvested in Spring and stored until the jasmine flowers are in bloom in early Summer. The flowers are then picked when the petals are tightly closed (usually in the early morning) and kept cool until night when they begin to open. It is at this time that the tea leaves and those little white flowers are combined and stored overnight while the tea gets infused with the scent of the blooms, a four-hour process that may get repeated as many as seven times.
Jasmine teas come in a bunch of forms, including:
- Pearls (full leaves hand-rolled into little pearl shapes), also called “tears”
- Needles (full leaves processed into long, thin shapes)
- Blooming (full leaves and often flower petals sewn together in a “bud” that opens up as it steeps like a flower blooming)
- Full leaf (often this is the two-leaves-and-a-bud picking from the very end of the tea bush branches)
- Broken leaf (leaves from further down on the branch or that have been machine harvested and processed either by hand or machine and possibly further broken)
- Fannings (machine processed tea leaves ground to smaller pieces but larger than dust)
- Dust (machine processed tea leaves ground down really fine for easier bagging and/or steeping and usually flavored with jasmine oil instead of real blooms)
- Compressed shapes such as hearts
Jasmine with Flowers Green Tea
Black, green, white, and oolong teas are all used as the tea base, although green tea is by far the most common. Expect to pay a bit more for the better quality jasmines from vendors with a good reputation like Golden Moon, Harrisons & Crosfield, and Harney & Sons.
My favorite jasmine is dragon tears (or pearls). For one thing, it’s easy to measure out the right amount. I just count the pearls (2-3 per 8 ounces of water) and toss them in a cup of hot water, watching them unfold as they steep. Blooming jasmines are alright, but I find they are more fun to watch than to drink and can often be overly strong on the jasmine. Which brings me to another issue…
The floral aroma of jasmines can be quite overwhelming to those of us with sensitive sniffers. While I enjoy the flavor, which is often much milder than the fragrance, I have to be careful not to inhale too deeply when preparing the tea so that my nose doesn’t go into overload mode. Of course, this also means that jasmine teas need to be stored properly, that is, in air tight containers away from your other teas, or you could end up with a whole cupboard or tea pantry full of jasmines, whether you intend it or not.
Jasmine tea is said to have numerous health benefits, including:
- destroys free radicals and helps to slow aging
- lowers the risks of developing cancer
- helps keep bad cholesterol levels down
- is effective for dysentery, influenza and cholera, and in preventing colds
- stimulates the body to burn calories which encourages weight-loss
- has a calming and soothing effect
Jasmine Blooms (Photo by Maria Brzostowska from Fotolia.com)
Give jasmine tea a try and you could get a very pleasant surprise!
Disclaimer: This is not intended as medical advice. Please consult your physician for your particular needs.
See also:
Review — Jasmine with Flowers Green Tea
Jasmine Dragon Tears and Michael Williams’ “Trajan’s Arch” — Magical Realism and Real Magic
Review — Golden Moon Jasmine Pearls
Jasmine Tea Choices
The Tea Provinces of China, Part I
The Tea Provinces of China, Part II
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Like this:
Flowering Tea - 3 Flower Burst - Green Tea
The last chorus of “Auld Lang Syne” has drifted off into the night air, the last balloon inscribed with “Happy New Year” has popped, the confetti has been swept up, and Dick Clark has been put back in cold storage for next year’s dropping of the big ball in Times Square. Time to close the door on the old year and start off the new year with a new tea!
“New” is a pretty relative term. For many people in their 30s, 20s, and teens, the music of The Beatles is “new” since they weren’t around when “Hard Days Night” and “8 Days a Week” were first performed to a large crowd of screaming adolescent females. To me, watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers on cable TV is new, but not to my parents who grew up going on dates to the cinema to see this star couple glide gracefully through their routines. Thus it is for tea.
The New Year is a great excuse to shake things up a bit, so why not with tea? We tend to be creatures of habit, and thus can slide into ruts both in our lives in general and in such things as our tea enjoyment. So, we need to make the effort to pick something new.
Jasmine Delight Bubble Tea
A few options:
- 100 Monkeys White Tea — A nice way to take the plunge away from black and green teas into the wonderful world of white teas. This is a premium grade, loose leaf white tea from China, and a best-seller. Prepare with care, though. This tea needs water that is heated to about 170-185° F but a longer steeping time of 15 minutes is recommended to let the flavor fully develop.
- Bubble tea — A treat with its origins in Taiwan, where some of the world’s high-end green and oolong teas are grown. This beverage mixes tea, milk, and tapioca balls into something quite unique and very popular in many countries.
- Oolong Orange Blossom Estate tea — A “twofer” that’s great to get you to try oolong and also get a refreshing burst of fruity jasmine notes. Perfect for those who like jasmine but want to explore oolongs.
- Flowering Tea – 3 Flower Burst – Green Tea — A “threefer” not only by design but by effect. The dry tea “bud” contains lily, osmanthus, and jasmine blooms, and is tied together with steamed full leaves of Yunnan green tea. As it unfolds, you will see an impression of the Yunnan Province countryside in China, with its perfect climate for growing flowers. You get a full green taste with peach, lily and jasmine notes. Use boiling water and infuse about 5 minutes.
- Izu Matcha — Powdered green tea from Japan with a bright Spring green color and a rich planty aroma. Go all the way and prepare it in true Japanese fashion, complete with bamboo whisk.
The bottom line is to get out of your tea “comfort zone” and go for something completely new. Who knows, you could like that new flavor so much that it’ll become your new daily cuppa!
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
For better or for worse, it’s pretty much agreed that it was the Chinese who first came up with gunpowder, probably at least a thousand years ago. You could go one step further and make the argument that the Chinese were responsible for inventing two types of gunpowder. There’s the kind that’s used for shooting, blowing things up and whatnot, and there’s the more easygoing kind that’s reserved for drinking.
Superior Gunpowder Green Tea
That would be gunpowder tea, of course. It’s a variety of green tea that’s most commonly produced in Zhejiang Province, in China, though tea processed in this style may be found in modest quantities in other tea-growing regions. The origins of gunpowder tea are not completely clear but it is thought to have originated sometime during the Tang Dynasty, which may actually mean that the predates the other kind of gunpowder, the kind you can’t drink.
There’s also no real consensus on how gunpowder tea came by its name, but it’s very likely that it has something to do with the fact that the leaves are tightly rolled into small balls during the processing stage. This was something that used to be done by hand in days of yore but is more likely now to be a task assigned to a machine. As for the name, it may also have something to do with the fact that gunpowder tea typically has a strong, somewhat smoky flavor that’s a bit reminiscent of gunpowder.
The Chinese themselves are said to not be all that fond of gunpowder tea, but it’s quite popular in various other countries around the world and probably more so than any other in parts of northern Africa, where the British introduced it in the nineteenth century. Here one of the standard beverages of choice is made with gunpowder tea, fresh mint leaves and sugar.
Here in the United States, we’ve never been much renowned for our tea drinking, but gunpowder tea was apparently well known here as far back as the early nineteenth century. For proof of this, check out exhibit A, a rousing patriotic song from 1813, called Gunpowder Tea.
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Jasmine with Flowers Green Tea
Name: Jasmine With Flowers Green Tea
Brand: English Tea Store
Type: Green tea, scented
Form: Loose leaf
Review: This is a ridiculously inexpensive tea ($3.89 for four ounces as of November, 2011) and, for the price, brews up a respectable cup of jasmine green tea that should suit jasmine lovers well. The dry leaf itself is made up of dark, twisted leaves scattered with dried jasmine blossoms. The jasmine scent dominates, although it isn’t overpowering, even after steeping to a medium-bodied liquor.
In the cup, the tea is dominated by the sweet, floral jasmine, and I don’t taste that much green tea. The tea has some mild astringency which is not unpleasant: Brew this tea right and you’ll have a nice cup that makes for nice sipping as your afternoon winds down.
As its price suggests, this is not a “gourmet” tea, but rather a good workaday alternative to more expensive jasmine teas, such as the English Tea Store’s Jasmine Dragon Tears. Still, it remains an economical alternative to expensive teas, without tasting cheap or artificial.
Preparation Suggestions: For the best results, use a light hand when preparing this tea. A teaspoon of leaf to eight ounces of 190F/87.7C water should do nicely. Check the tea after letting it steep for a minute: If it isn’t strong enough, let it continue steeping for another minute. A too-long steep, or too much leaf, can produce a tea with bitter notes that don’t work well with the jasmine flavor.
Serving Suggestions: Many Chinese restaurants serve jasmine green tea with meals, and it can be quite refreshing when served with Chinese food. The English Tea Store also recommends serving it with cucumber sandwiches, and I can see this tea going well with a traditional afternoon tea service of sandwiches, scones and sweets. Jasmine green teas are also great on ice, so don’t be afraid to experiment with this tea.
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Like this:
Genmaicha Japanese Green Tea
Name: Genmaicha Japanese Green Tea
Brand: English Tea Store
Type: Green tea
Form: Loose leaf
Review: Genmaicha has long been my “go-to” tea for initiating green-tea newbies. It combines sencha with roasted rice, producing a unique flavor: The rice mellows out the sencha, while the tea itself produces a pretty, light green liquor and a slightly spinach-y flavor. I’ve heard some people call genmaicha “popcorn tea” because some of its roasted rice has “popped” to look like tiny popcorn kernels. This makes the tea fun to look at, and the flavor of roasted rice mellows out the grassy notes that often characterize Japanese greens, making this tea palatable to folks who would otherwise shy away from green tea.
The English Tea Store’s version of genmaicha is clean tasting, not too vegetal, but also a good balance between rice and tea: Some genmaichas are not so well-proportioned, and contain too much rice, producing a soupy cup of tea. This tea is a bit more refined, and I very much enjoy drinking it first thing in the morning before I have my breakfast. It also works well as a mid-day snack, as it also has a decidedly savory, “brothy” quality: If you are at the office and think that you are getting hungry around 3pm, have a cup of this before you head for the vending machine. You might save yourself some money and a couple hundred calories!
Preparation Suggestions: I prefer to brew this tea for about two minutes in water heated to 180F (82.2 C). Japanese greens can get very astringent if brewed in too-hot water or for too long, so experiment with the temperature and infusion length to get this tea to the strength that you prefer.
Serving Suggestions: Genmaicha is great on its own, but it also goes well with food. I like it paired with sushi/sashimi and other Japanese foods. Works well with Korean dishes too!
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
I was inspired to write this article when my husband said he fancied a green tea and I looked in my tea cupboard to see what jumped out at me. After some deliberation, I decided to open up a foil packed tea that had the year 2008 printed on the front. You can imagine how many teas I might have in my cupboard, and it’s not possible to drink all teas in their freshest state, I’m embarrassed to say. Needless to say, I was curious to see if there was still any flavour left this 3-year-old tea. I opened the bag and looked at the loose leaf.
Meng Ding Cui Zhu (Green Bambo Green Tea) loose leaf
Considering the age of the tea, the leaves didn’t look too bad. If the tea was freshly picked, the leaves would be much greener. I was also astonished to find that there was still a fresh(ish) grassy aroma to the dry leaf.
So, I put the kettle on to the right temperature, made the tea, and the next test is, of course, in the drinking of the tea. My favourite part of my tea making ritual is watching the leaves dance as the water is poured into the glass. This never fails to make me smile. 
Meng Ding Cui Zhu (Green Bambo Green Tea) loose leaf
The tea was an absolute delight: typically vegetal, slight nutty (although not as nutty as other green teas, such as Lung Ching), with a sweetness and slight astringency. I was pleasantly surprised!
A mark of a great tea is how many infusions you can get from the same teaspoon of leaves. To my amazement this tea had two further infusions out of it. Not bad considering how old the tea is. You can see from the following picture the plumped up wet leaves on the right, when compared to the dry leaf on the left.
Dried loose leaf compared to the wet leaf on the right
So the moral of this tea story is, when buying tea, buy in small quantities, and tea is best stored in a dark cupboard, away from strong smells, and in a tightly sealed container. Tea is best consumed within 18 months but if you have a good quality tea, you may be surprised like I was with this tea!
Note: A thousand apologies to the vendor for not consuming this tea much sooner. 
Many thanks to my dear husband, whose renewed interest in photography resulted in capturing some wonderful tea memories.
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Granny Green Apple Green Tea
Apple-flavored teas are enjoyed year round but become especially popular in the Fall, a time in the U.S. when apples are typically harvested. They are also featured in a number of caffeine-free herbal mixes.
Start with Granny Green Apple Green Tea, which blends a luscious green tea with bits of green apple. It’s deliciously refreshing, like biting into a real apple, and the all natural fruity flavor is perfect for any time of day. Each sip will give you that Autumn aura where the heat of Summer fades into cooler days and nights that lead into that time when growing things rest.
Apple Spice Naturally Flavored Black Tea
If you prefer a black tea version, try Apple Spice black tea with a flavor that is straight from the orchard blending with the taste of natural, high-grown Ceylon tea from estates at more than 5,500 feet above sea level and no chemical aftertaste. Generally, you would enjoy a tea like this without milk, but you might try a little with milk just to see if it suits you. Either way, you will be transported with each sip to a place of serenity and calm, like when the labors of harvest are ended and before the canning and baking begin.
Go caffeine-free and fruity with Lady Hannah’s Whole Fruit Herbalwhere apple blends with a virtual fruit market for palate-pleasing flavor. Lemon, strawberry, hibiscus, rosehip, pineapple pieces, papaya pieces, brambleberries, strawberry pieces, blackberries, raspberries, and other natural flavors join in the fun. Steep for at least 5 minutes, and preferably 7 minutes, in boiling water to bring out the full flavors of each fruit. Once ready, this hot beverage can be sipped slowly to get the most of all those fruits and let them dance on your tongue. They will remind you of warm tropical nights while at the same time have you longing for that comfy sweater you stored away last Spring.
Lady Hannahs Whole Fruit Herbal
Of course, you can also stick with a nice tea to have with an apple-y dessert. Try cinnamon-flavored tea, Darjeeling, Dragonwell, Ceylon, Earl Grey, Yunnan, or Ti Kuan Yin. Enjoy any of these with a slice of apple pie, warmed and topped with a nice slice of slightly melted cheddar cheese or with a scoop of vanilla or even a big dollop of fresh whipped cream.
Gee, I have a sudden hankering to go bake an apple pie. Wait a minute… it will pass… ah, that’s better! I’ll just head to the local bakery now.
Enjoy your apple tea time!
See also:
All Flavored Teas Are Not Created Equal
An Orchard in Your Teapot, Pt. III — Teas with Fruity Aroma and Flavor
An Orchard in Your Teapot, Pt. I — Fruit in Your Tea
Mercedes Apple Spice by The English Tea Store
Review: Mercedes Apple Spice Herbal
Review — Stash Cinnamon Apple Chamomile
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Pearl River Green Tea
Name: Pearl River Green Tea
Brand: English Tea Store
Type: Green tea, Chinese, Organic
Form: Loose leaf
Review: Chinese green tea lovers who are looking for a reasonably priced organic option should consider the English Tea Store’s Pearl River Green Tea. Its olive green, slightly twisty leaves infuse to a green-gold, light/medium-bodied liquor with a classic, straightforward green tea flavor.
Pearl River is a sturdy tea, and its dry leaf has a subtle, slightly spicy nose. After brewing, the spice mostly dissipates, though there is a very slight hint of nutmeg in the tea’s finish. Otherwise, this is a somewhat vegetal tea, with the flavor of baby lettuces. The tea is also moderately astringent, resulting in a nice, but noticeable, pucker after each sip.
This tea does lack the sweetness that one often finds in Chinese green teas: I have found this to be characteristic of many organic teas, and am not entirely sure why this should be. If you are fond of teas with a lot of natural sweetness, you may wish to select another green tea, as Pearl River is not a sweet tea, and unlikely to quell sweet cravings. It is also not a tea that I would recommend to green tea “beginners”, as its vegetal notes may not suit an untrained palate. On the other hand, I’ve found that it’s robustness makes it a nifty “morning tea”, great for consuming before breakfast or as an afternoon pick-me-up.
Preparation Tips: Bring the water temperature down to about 180F and allow the leaf to steep for about 2 minutes for a flavorful, but not overwhelming, cup of green tea.
Serving Tips: This tea tastes great served on its own: Pairing it with food would overwhelm its flavors. However, it is also clean and neutral enough that it wouldn’t produce any weird contrasts in flavor if you did consume it along with a meal. This also makes a nice iced green tea.
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Longing Heart Flowering Tea
If you’ve ever tried a flowering tea, you know there’s more to the experience than just the end result. A flowering tea is crafted as a beginning-to-finale art form. A tight little ball of mystery is dropped into a warm bath, and a breath of anticipation is held. Then, slowly and deliberately, petals of green tea unfurl, revealing carefully chosen blooms and herbals for more color and taste than first hinted at.
English Tea Store’s Longing Heart Flowering Tea comes from the Anhui Province of China, created by a tea master to ease his longing heart on difficult journeys to Beijing. And it is a perfect example of art-meets-flavor. Gentle green tea effortlessly mingles with jasmine and a plume of amaranth (another name for the plant called Love Lies Bleeding), producing a mild but satisfying botanical finish.
Love Lies Bleeding
It’s the ideal sipping companion to Jess McConkey’s paranormal mystery Love Lies Bleeding. In McConkey’s novel, Samantha Moore awakens from a coma to find herself enwrapped in a life of pain and dependency. She is at the beginning of her difficult journey to recovery; not only from the injuries she sustained in a brutal attack, but from the emotional aftermath. Her father and her fiancé agree to send her to recuperate in a remote cabin in an isolated town in Minnesota. A town that is a tight little ball of mystery, much like Sam herself. She resents her loss of freedom, both because of the way her family controls her decisions, and the way her fear controls her mind.
But as the novel unfolds, Samantha grows and unfurls, slowly and deliberately, to reveal more strength than first hinted at. At Elk Horn Lake, hidden secrets effortlessly mingle with danger, haunting, and romance, and author McConkey navigates these treacherous waters to produce a mild but satisfying literary finish.
If you choose to sweeten the tea, don’t add much! This tea, and this story, are artfully understated. But one thing is strongly clear: sipping English Tea Store’s Longing Heart Flowering Tea while reading McConkey’s “Love Lies Bleeding” (with a bloom of the title-worthy plant) is a literal taste of real mystery.
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
