random tazo tea wisdom

From one of Tazo's Awake Tea's tea bag tags:  Time to turn over a new leaf.  Preferably a tea leaf.

Featured Art:  The Tea (Mary Cassatt, ca. 1880 @ Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

rickshaws and monkey kings

Lipton's Rickshaw Tea isn't available everywhere but I did spot the bright red and black box in a local grocery store around here recently and of course had to buy some.  It's a black blend with a nice kick, and it can be used to make this tasty Hong Kong Milk Tea.  If you can't find Lipton's Rickshaw, you can always use a good Ceylon as the recipe says; if you do have Rickshaw on hand and it's the bagged variety, you might want to use two bags when brewing to get the appropriate strength.  And I'm going to pair the Hong Kong Milk Tea with Timothy Mo's The Monkey King for the first Tea and a Book selection here, as The Monkey King details the curious adventures of the confused yet crafty Wallace Nolasco, his wife May Ling and and May Ling's family in Hong Kong.  There are many quirky funny characters and a tone that’s like one of Mr. Mo’s other novel titles, i.e., Sour Sweet.  And Mabel Yip takes her tea with lemon, thank you.

macchia + to

• Macchiare -- Italian:  to stain or mark
• Caffè macchiato -- Espresso speckled or stained or flecked with milk (and/or macchiare il caffè)
• Latte macchiato -- Latte speckled or stained or flecked with espresso
• Macchiaioli -- Group of 19th century Italian artists who used an Impressionistic-like technique of dappling or blotting with paint (before the Impressionists did)
• Ralph Macchio -- Just turned 49 according to imdb.com; may or may not like caffè or latte macchiato; should try something different and make a movie about the Macchiaioli

DIY chai

If you don't fully celebrate Diwali, the Indian Festival of Lights, why not try making your own blend of Chai to mark the holiday?  Strand Teas in Oregon--Oregon clearly being a major Land of Tea--has a recipe for a homemade potion that goes as follows, with a delicious and healthful use of fresh ginger: 

• 10 whole peppercorns
• 5 whole cloves
• 8 whole cardamoms
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1/2 inch knob of fresh peeled ginger very thinly sliced
• 2 cups filtered water
• 2 Tbsp organic sugar
• 1 cup organic whole milk
• 2 full tsp ASSAM KALGAR

Combine all ingredients except milk and tea leaves in a clay, glass or stainless steel pot and slowly bring to a boil. Turn off heat and steep covered for 15-20 minutes. Add 1 cup of milk and bring to a boil again slowly, turn off heat, add 2 full tsp ASSAM KALGAR and steep covered for 5 minutes. Serve immediately and sweeten to taste.

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More recipes from Strand can be found here, and the featured image is from IndianGiftsPortal.com, where you can learn a great deal about Diwali and purchase all kinds of bright and beautiful Diwali items for your home.

when tea and monkeys turn evil

The 19th century Irish writer J. Sheridan Le Fanu is famed for ghostly stories like "Carmilla" and the cautionary tale "Green Tea."  Cautionary for people who like their tea strong and who drink plenty of it, and for those who might be susceptible to strange hallucinations.  (To quote:  Tea was my companion--at first the ordinary black tea, made in the usual way, not too strong: but I drank a good deal, and increased its strength as I went on.) We may consider green tea to be full of antioxidants and healthy benefits nowadays, but if you start seeing a red-eyed monkey, you've had enough.  The story itself can be read here, and in the sense of following the old-school wisdom of write what you know, Le Fanu did indeed enjoy many a well-steeped cup.

Pictured:  Green Monkey -- George Stubbs, 1798 (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK)