Yunnan Gold

Yunnan Gold (Golden Yunnan, Dian Hong) is one of world's best black teas. It is produced in Chinese Yunan ("south of the clouds") region located in the far southwestern corner of the country.
Yunnan Gold tea leaves are small, tighty rolled and of golden-brown colour.
And the taste...Well, it is rich with a hint of sweet malty flavour.
How to brew it? It is recommended to use purple clay or porcelain tea ware. Rinse tea cup and teapot with hot water. Use 1-2 teaspoons of tea leaves per every 150 ml of water. Steep tea leaves in hot water at about 100° C for the first and second brewing. In further brewing gradually increase steeping time and water temperature. For those who prefer milk with tea...just add 10 to 15 ml of dairy milk and stir...

Saenggang Cha

Saenggang Cha is a tea made from ginger root. The ginger root is washed and sliced without peeling. The sliced ginger root is stored in honey for few weeks. To make the tea add the ginger root in hot water.
Saenggang Cha is used to prevent colds and to aid digestion. It also has remedial effect for those suffering from diarrhea and stomachache due to low body temperature.
Saenggang Cha helps people how have low body temperature due to bad circulation.
This tea should not be drank by person who has a gastric ulcer.

Tea-shirt

Is it a tea-shirt or t-shirt? Well, see for yourself. The video is
in French but I believe no translation is needed.
Have fun!!!

Danggwi cha

Danggwi cha is a tea made from boiling a dried root Korean angelica or an angelica gigas nakai (look at the photo). The dried root of Korean angelica is gently boiled in water for a few hours. Sometimes, ginger root can be added for preference when boiled.

Korean angelica is often called ginseng for woman. Thus, it is good for (white) leucorrhoea and postpartum care. If consumed for a long time, it can remedy cold fingers or toes. But, it should not be used for someone who has diarrhea

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Grog

Here is a recipe for Grog which includes tea...
Melt sugar (the amount depends on your taste)
in a glass of freshly made strong tea.
Add a teaspoon of cognac and a tablespoon
of rum.
Serve hot.

Jamaica and Hibiscus tea

The infusion made from the Hibiscus sabdariffa (Roselle) flower is called "jamaica" when it is served as a cold drink and "hibiscus tea" when it is served hot.
Jamaica is a drink popular in Southern California, Mexico and Central America. There it is called Agua de Jamaica. It has cranberry-like flavour. It is good for people who have tendency toward water retention. It is a mild diuretic.
Jamaica is prepared by steeping calyces of Hibiscus sabdariffa in boiling water, straining the mixture, pressing the calyces (to squeeze all the juice out), adding sugar, and stirring. The drink is served chilled.
Hibiscus tea or Karkade (pronounced "Kar-kah-day") is a sweet tea. Karabe is an Arabic word for Hibiscus sabdariffa (Roselle). It can be served served hot or chilled with ice. Then it is often called Einab. Karkade is very popular in North Africa.
In Thailand people use Roselle to make a tea which is believed to reduce cholesterol.
Roselle can be used to make kind of wine. There it is combined with Chinese tea leaves at ratio 1:4 by weight. Drink made or Roselle is famous in West Africa too. Drink called Jus de bissap is known as "national drink of Senegal".
Finally, how to brew it...Heat 0.5 liter of water in a pot. When it starts boiling add a fistful of Hibiscus flowers and boil for four minutes. Remove from the stove and sift to a pitcher. Add 0.5 liter of cool water to the pot and let it stand for about 10 minutes so the flowers release all their colour. After the 10 minutes have passed sift again to the pitcher. The Jamaica should be neither too red nor too clear, but rather the colour of non-concentrated cranberry juice. Add sugar to taste, then chill until cool.

Lei Cha

Lei Cha (literally "pounded tea") is a tea made by the Hakkas in China. Hakkas are a subgroup of the Han Chinese people who live predominantly in the provinces of Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Fujian in China. They migrated from Northern and Central China centuries ago.
Lei Cha is made as mixture of tea leaves (mainly Green tea or Oolong), roasted peanuts, mung beans and sesame.
Lei cha is served in a cup with a chopstick. Person can use the chopstick to stir the ingredients in the cup.
Lei cha is traditionally a savory drink. But nowdays it is usually drank sweet.

Kuma Saza tea

Kuma Saza tea is the bamboo leaf tea made in Wakkanai, which is located at the northernmost part of Japanese Hokkaido island.
Kuma Saza tea is of green colour. It is light in taste. Its taste is similar to that of green tea but a bit lighter.
This tea is alkaline and rich in amino acids and vitamins. It is good for those who have digestion problems or for those who want to "cleanse" their liver after drinking lot of alcohol.

Ku Ding Cha

Ku Ding Cha is a beverage which is consumed in China as an alternative toordinary green tea.
Word Ku means bitter because of its initial taste. Ding is a Chinese characterthat is similar to a spike...Dried leaves used to prepare this beverage are long, narrow nail-like when twisted...Leaves are often formed into balls or rolls.
Some 90% of Ku Ding Cha in China is from an Ilex species - mainly Ilex kudincha. Ku Ding Cha contains triterpene glycosides (saponins), polyphenols and flavonoids.
Ku Ding Cha promotes blood circulation, lowers blood pressure, lowers blood lipids (including cholesterol). It is also believed that it can prevent deterioration of the heart and brain funtction and help to control body weight.

Yuja-cha

Here in Croatia it is rather cold now...A perfect time to get flu or something like this. Here is a short description of a simple Korean tea....It is called Yuja-cha or Citron tea.

It is very easy to prepare....Slice the lemon in thiny slices...put those slices in honey...And finally put them into boiling water...Enjoy this sweet-sour lemon-yellow drink. It is very rich in vitamin C and it helps in fighting against flu.

How not to repair a broken teapot....

This photo show how not to repair your broken teapot...:)))

Tea in East Frisia

East Frisia (German Osfriesland) is a coastal region in the northwest of the German federal state of Lower Saxony.
East Frisia is known for its consumption of tea and its tea culture. Strong black tea is served on every occasion...with breakfast, mid-afternoon and mid-evening etc.
As a sweetener for tea "kluntjes", a rock candy sugar is used. It melts slowly. Tea is usually served in traditional small cups with little cookies.
Tea in East Frisia has also a special version. Brown rum is mixed with kluntjes and left for several months. During winter this mixture is added to black tea. People believe that such tea cures headache, stomach problems, stress etc.

Tea in Wudang

The Wudang Mountains, also known as Wu Tang Shan or simlpy Wudang, are a small mountain range in the Hubei province in central China. Here is a video about tea culture in this part of China.

Anhui green tea

In this video you can see the traditional way of making melon seed green tea in Anhui region. Anhui region is located in east China or to be more precise across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River.

Wheatgerm tea

Little extra

Hello everyone!! I have just put an extra option to my blog. For all those of you whose mother tongue is not English there is a posiblility to read my posts in 8 different languages via Altavista Babelfish translator...Just click the flag and there it goes...

The translator is located on the right side of my blog. You should find it easily. I hope that you'll find this extra option useful.
Have a pleasant weekend!!

Inuit teas

Hello everyone! This time let me mention a web site about kind of exotic teas...well, certainly exotic from my point of view...
Here is the link to the web site with some info about Inuit teas....Just click on it...
Northern Delights teas

Tea wine

Ingredients
1 gallon tea (some 16 tea bags per gallon)
0.5 lb raisins
3 lb sugar
2 lemons
yeast

Method
Dissolve the sugar in the tea. Chop the raisins, and add these to the tea, along with the juice of the lemon. Pour the mixture into a clean bucket and cover the bucket and leave to cool. Once it's at room temperature, add a teaspoon of yeast to the bucket. Leave the mixture for a week, stirring daily. Strain the liquid to remove the raisins, and pour into demijohns, sealing with a fermentation lock. Leave this until fermentation has stopped, then bottle it. The wine is usually ready to drink after a further 2 months.

source: The Penguin's Kitchen Companion

Green tea liqueur

First let me mention the ingredients you'll need...
6 tablespoons of quality green tea leaves
3 cups of vodka
1 cup of sugar syrup
2-3 drops of green food colouring

How to make sugar syrup? Mix equal parts of sugar (white or brown) and water. Bring to a boil and simmer for five minutes. Cool before adding to the rest of stuff in the recipe. By the way, you can also use an equivalent amount of honey.
Steep tea leaves in vodka for 24 hours. Do not steep for longer time cause the liquer will turn bitter. Shake the jar or bottle well when you add the tea leaves. Add the sweetener and colouring the next day.
Finally, for those who do not know or are not sure....1 tablespoon is 5 ml (1/6 ounce), 1 cup is 236 ml (8 ounces).

Pakistani Doodh path-ee

Greek Mountain Tea

Greek Mountain Tea (Shepherd's Tea) or Tsi to Vounou is made of dried leaves and flowers of Sideritis plants (Ironwort).
This tea is very popular in Greece. People use it especially in winter...in time of higher level of colds, aches, pains.
It is said that Greek Mountain Tea has positive effects on colds, respiratory problems, digestion, the immune system, mild anxiety and as an antioxidant. The tea is also good as an anti-inflammatory and to reduce fever.

Tetsubin

Tetsubin are famous Japanese cast iron teapots. There are two main types of Tetsubin - those that are used for brewing tea and those that are used for heating and carrying water (only) during Japanese tea ceremony.

Due to Tetsubin relief decorations on the outside, glazing with enamel on the inside, small size and often unusual shape they are popular collector item. Authentic products have the symbol of manufacturer on the base of teapot.

Tetsubin holds some 1/2 litre of water. It is usually sold with a tea strainer and and iron trivet.

First Tetsubin appeared in the 17th century. They were used to brew tea or just boil water. Those Tetsubin did not have decotrations like today's teapots.

In the 19th century infused tea became very popular. Tetsubin became primarily status symbol, rather then functional kitchen items.

Japanese prefectures Iwate and Yamagata are famous for their Tetsubin.

And now here are few guidelines on how to use Tetsubin...Do not place tetsubin directly on stove to heat. Instead, boil water separately and pour into Tetsubin.While water is being heated, pour some warm water into Tetsubin. This will warm the teapot which will keep tea warmer for longer period of time. If it is glazed, this will prevent Tetsubin's ceramic glaze from cracking when the hotter water is poured in.

How to clean Tetsubin? Just rinse inside with some water and pour out...Do not use soap and abrasive pads for cleaning. After rinsing, dry the inside and outside of Tetsubin with a piece of cloth.

Cute tea advertisment