Tea Alchemy: Butterfly Pea Herbal Infusion

A friend generously shared with me this butterfly pea tea,  a treasure she brought back from Thailand. It's a fun tisane with a bit of fascination.  I thought it would be good for this month of magic!  

To start, the tea brews up in this lovely cobalt blue color.  The taste is, well, a bit legumey but not unpleasant.  Just an unusual flavor for my Westernized taste buds.    

Presto/Chango....When you add a little citrus (in my case, lemon juice), magic ensues!  The herbal tea transforms from the cobalt blue to this lovely aubergine color.  I also preferred the flavor of the brew with a splash of lemon. 

Butterfly Pea herbal tea is known botanically as Clitoria ternatea.  It has been used for Ayurevedic medicine for a very long time and is also used in Southeast Asian cooking as a food coloring.

Have you ever seen this magic herb brewed into tea?

Smacha Tea in Bellvue, WA

As part of the grand weekend associated with the NW Tea Fest, some tea friends and I visited Smacha Tea in Bellevue, WA.  This shop is modern and inviting.  Clean lines, lovely teaware and a wide range of teas to taste and purchase.  Owner Jason Chen is an expert in Chinese teas and has written books on the topic including A Tea Lover's Travel Diary and  Four World-Famous Chinese Green Teas.  

The tea bar is made of beautiful wood, into which an attractive drain has been fitted (I think the drain is copper) to handle the pre-warming of pots, the rinsing, and all the liquid fun associated with brewing good tea. 

Jason has also invented the Smacha Automatic Tea Brewer (below) which simplifies the brewing process by controlling the timing and volume of water moving through the tea.  I think this is a useful solution for an office or other situation when you don't have the time to bring out all the "stuff" associated with making tea in the small pot style.

Here we are, enjoying tea and snacks. 

Jeffrey Macintosh, another really smart tea guy, is preparing tea for us.  He also explained how Jason spends a lot of time with his partner tea farmers to ensure the processing methods yield the quality of tea desired.

I brought home a Phoenix oolong, Yellow Branch variety.  

Smacha is a tea shop worth visiting.  I respect the care and attention that goes into the growth, production and selection of each tea.  The next time I visit I would like to dive into some of the Chinese greens.  See, I'm already planning a trip!

NW Tea Festival 2014

Shiuwen Tai of Floating Leaves Tea (left) and me

The 2014 NW Tea Festival has come and gone.  It was a great year with record attendance.  I was very busy this year and failed to get any photos during the event itself.  Thank you to my friends who provided these (CW and Marmalady)! 

It was great (though too brief) to catch up with friends whom I see only once or twice per year.  In addition, this year I participated in new ways.  I hosted a tasting on bowl-style brewing and had a great time with those folks exploring a simple yet profound way of drinking tea.  I also helped Shiuwen Tai of Floating Leaves Tea with the discussion of the 5 most common teas of Taiwan: Baozhong, Oriental Beauty, Dong Ding, TieGuanYin and Alishan (presented in the order of the tea's emergence in Taiwan).

Many of my local friends also hosted events this year:  Wu-Wo tea, and tea classes and tastings.  I feel so honored to be among so many smart and generous tea friends!

One of the things that really struck me this year was how friendly everyone was - and I mean everyone, including the big names.  For example, I was in the "green room" prepping for my tea tasting and Michael Harney came up and introduced himself to me.  Same thing with Lorna Reeves, editor of Tea Time Magazine. 

Our local tea group headed to Seattle a few days early and had so much fun at the pre-tea party!  (We visited 4 local tea shops.)  I'll share pictures from that soon.  For now, I'm still unpacking all my new teas and tea toys and expressing my gratitude for living so close to this great event!

Come and See Me at the NW Tea Fest

If you're in the Seattle area this weekend, come and see me at the Northwest Tea Fest!  My Portland tea friends and I will be very involved this year, supporting many tastings, classes and events.  I'll specifically be involved with the Wu-Wo brewing, hosting a tasting focused on bowl-style brewing and assisting Shiuwen Tai (Floating Leaves Tea) with her class on the World of Taiwanese Teas.  

See the program: http://www.nwteafestival.com/program14.php  

This weekend is always one of the highlights of my year!

Meatless Monday: Purple Potatoes and Quinoa Oatmeal

Purple Potatoes

The DH grew these potatoes.  We didn't know they were purple until he pulled them out of the ground.  They were a volunteer plant that he rescued.  What a great surprise!  They remain purple when cooked, the color a little softer.  And I just LOVE this photo from a style perspective, the color and detail of the potato, his hand, the fabric texture.  Love it.

Oatmeal with quinoa and huckleberries

And here is a recent breakfast - oatmeal blended with quinoa and topped with huckleberries.

Sending Off Summer

I drink tea by my mood and by the season, and I currently find myself sending off my"summer greens" in a farewell (above) and moving into oolongs that are a little darker.

And I'm appreciating this tea set with the little dudes on it drinking tea.  :-)

To Autumn

William Blake (from Poetical Sketches, 1783)

O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stain’d With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit Beneath my shady roof; there thou may’st rest, And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe, And all the daughters of the year shall dance! Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers. “The narrow bud opens her beauties to The sun, and love runs in her thrilling veins; Blossoms hang round the brows of Morning, and Flourish down the bright cheek of modest Eve, Till clust’ring Summer breaks forth into singing, And feather’d clouds strew flowers round her head. “The spirits of the air live in the smells Of fruit; and Joy, with pinions light, roves round The gardens, or sits singing in the trees.” Thus sang the jolly Autumn as he sat, Then rose, girded himself, and o’er the bleak Hills fled from our sight; but left his golden load.

Sharing My Passion

What I love doing - talking about (and drinking) tea!

On Sunday, I had the privilege of sharing tea information and stories with guests of the Tea's Me tearoom in Hillsboro, OR.  Such a fun afternoon!  The biggest compliment was when one kind woman said, "I loved hearing you talk about your passion."  Yes,  tea is my passion!  

Teapots ready to steep loose-leaf tea

Special thanks to the kind attendee who took some of these photos for me!

Then pivoting into yesterday, my work team joined me at the Japanese Garden for a team building event.  We enjoyed a garden tour and my sensei from Issoan Tea School provided a demonstration tea ceremony.  We then served each guest a handmade sweet and a bowl of tea.  I think my team had a fun time.

Kikyo - Balloon flower sweet

Can you guess which one is me?  ;-)

Two really fun-filled and diverse tea days!

Blooming Succulent and Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to Snap for winning my Giveaway of a Global Tea Hut package!  It will be on its way soon!  Woohoo!

These images are of a succulent (hen and chick) that's been blooming for a long time this summer. It's happy on the front balcony.  Such a cool plant with amazing flowers.

Meatless Monday: A Late Summer Picnic

All packed up and ready to go!

The weather has been so nice lately, and with our abundance of garden tomatoes...a picnic was in order!

Our neighborhood has several lovely places to sit and snack. I liked this one for the view of the roses and the large grass lawn. The angled sunlight of this time of year is beautiful and golden.

Garden tomato and basil with fresh mozzarella on baguette, one of my favorites

Lemonade with huckleberries

How are you making the most of these late summer/early autumn hours?

GIVEAWAY and Wu-Wo Video

Hi, Everyone!  I'm so pleased to share with you a video of my beloved Wu-Wo tea ceremony.  My friends are in the video and I'm the narrator.  Enjoy!  To celebrate, I'm also hosting a giveaway.  See below.

Click here to watch the video!

GIVEAWAY!  The folks at Global Tea Hut have generously provided me with an extra package to share as a blog giveaway.  (Tea Sage Hut, which I've visited in Taiwan, is the home base for GTH.) The package includes the color magazine, a tea sample and a gift.  It's a very exciting and generous offer!

To be entered into the drawing, leave a comment in this post + one other on my blog. Your pick!  I will announce the winner on Thursday, September 18th.  Good luck!  

Otsukimi, Moon Viewing

Otsukimi is the annual moon viewing festival, celebrated generally on the full moon in September (it's based on a very old calendar system, so this can occasionally fall in October).  I am so lucky to live near the Japanese Garden in Portland!  The Garden hosts a special moon viewing event for three nights.  It's a rare opportunity to be in the garden after dark.

I was honored to be able to help my senpai (Sr. Students) with the tea ceremony demonstrations last evening at the tea house in the garden. We did three rounds.  During the first round, I was a guest and got to enjoy a delicious bowl of tea and the sweet shown below.  During the second round, I made tea.  Here are some photos from the garden and the tea house.

The tea garden, lanterns lit

Special seasonal sweet, named kikuyu, a fall grass that many of us know as balloon flower

Tokonoma with scroll that invites us to stop and listen to the wind in the pine

Flowers

Utensils

Join Me at Tea's Me - Hillsboro, Oregon

My family at Tea's Me

Please Join Us! 

Sunday, September 21st

Tea's Me in Hillsboro, Oregon

2 pm

Afternoon Tea

Tea 101 Class

$25 (cash or check)

RSVP to (503) 547-8617

I'm delighted to be partnering with Julie of the Tea's Me to offer a Tea 101 class. Julie will provide a delicious afternoon tea menu and of course a pot of tea! I will discuss the history of tea (fascinating and scandalous!), types of tea and photos from around the world, tips for brewing, a bit of etiquette and my forecast for tea's future. Please join me!

Bat Brew

I was brewing some tea with friends in a park last evening, in a quiet clearing circled by tall pine trees.  It was dusk and the light was fading. (The mosquitoes were making themselves known.)  My fellow tea fanatics and I heard this rustling noise above us and spotted bats flying overhead.  Soon, we could hear their clicking sounds (they were using "echo location") and an occasional squeak. It was so cool!  After about 5-10 minutes of this other-worldly show, they disappeared.  As my DH recently said, "Nature participates."  Yes, and in very cool ways!

The photo above is of the brewing session.  We're drinking a tea from Global Tea Hut.  It's a "Kingfisher Jade" - Tsiu Yu - hybrid that was developed in Taiwan, one of the "Three Daughters of Taiwan." I liked it very much. It's a lighter oolong, on the greener side but not without some depth.

Chai Blossom - Really Good Tea Mocktail

This tea mockatil is really, really good!  It's perfectly refreshing on a hot day, and the warming spices will help it transfer well into the fall and winter, too.  The recipe comes from Bon Appetit.  I made the following variations:

• I used loose leaf tea with chai spices
• I used fresh lemon juice (because I had it from the lemon twist), but I think lime juice would be great 
• I used 1/4 cup sugar instead of 1/2 cup; I like tart drinks and I found it to be the perfect amount for me

I can think of so many variations!  I think grapefruit or blood orange would be interesting near the winter solstice.  If you like citrus and you like chai, you'll love this!

Summer Flash

Summer is starting to give way to fall here and it's promising very nice weather this long weekend!  Sunshine and mid-to-upper 70's. I think of this as summer going out with a flash of glory as fall nudges it along.  I'm drinking a Japanese green tea in these photos, feeling a sense of urgency to drink up my "summer teas".  Of course I can (and do) drink this in the winter, and yet it's more what I crave when the sun shines long. 

While my tea is green and fresh, the colors of these photos suggest a fall scene. These transitional periods are very interesting times.  I find them full of energy and opportunity.

What teas are your drinking as we make our way from one season to the next?