tea and chinoiserie

Teavivre.com was nice enough to send me some samples of tea all the way from China (as Leonard Cohen says) and I hope to start reviewing them soon.  I've already tried their Unbridled Love Fruit Tea, because it's got a name that's hard to resist and is a tangy-sweet blend of apples, rose hips, orange peel and black currants.  Liked it very much and will have another cup or two around Valentine's Day.

A major Chicagoland celebrity tea happening comes from Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins, who recently announced plans to open a 1930s French Chinese decor tea house in Highland Park at the former Ravinia Station post office.  With a varied selection of teas and and tea treats, including vegan options and coffee on the menu amidst probably what will be a really lovely setting.  

Pictured:  Tea caddy, Chinese, circa 1780, with caddy spoon by silversmith Elizabeth Morley, 1805. Exhibit in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis (Daderot photo from Wikimedia Commons)

kwik and keurig

A popular gift this holiday season seemed to be the Keurig brand of coffeemaker, which I love the convenience and variety of but I'm still not fully on-board with the taste.  There's just something a bit unfinished and forced about the brew, but if you have only two minutes to make coffee in the morning rush and one person wants Tully's French Roast and the other Green Mountain Dark Magic, this is probably the best option.

There are also reusable K-Cups for your own blend, or disposables for tea, hot cider and hot chocolate -- the latter reminding me of childhood ice skating memories from a rink where there was a rundown but wonderful hot chocolate machine that spurted out a syrupy brown cup of cocoa after a great deal of wheezing and rattling and whirring.  The Gloria Jean's French Vanilla K-Cup fills the room with a distinct aroma that takes me back to how the forever-brewing pots of flavored coffee at the Wawa at 17th and Arch in Philadelphia used to smell (and probably still do).  And then there's the Donut Shop experience, which allows me to remember a lackluster temp job and a nearby now-closed Dunkin Donuts by the CTA's Clark/Lake Blue Line station, with its tasty cranberry-orange muffins and staunch refusal to ever honor Dunkin Donuts gift cards.  All this making the Keurig not just a coffee machine, but a fast as lightning beverage time travel chariot as well....

best wishes for a fruitful new year full of good news and fine champagne

Still Life with Fruit, Champagne Bottle and Newspaper -- William Michael Harnett, 1881 (image courtesy of the-athenaeum.org)

hello and bon jour adele

Check out this Bon Jour® model of lovely and transparent style at the Bon Ton:  Inspired by the elegance of Paris, the hand-blown glass teapot, charmingly named Adèle, has a distinctive look and is designed for loose leaf teas.

Something to think about when exchanging the unwanted toaster or putting Visa gift cards into play.

holiday focus

One of the best teas to accompany the onslaught of holiday sweet treats:  Tazo's Well-Being Focus.  Strong but not overbearing, with a blend of black tea, yerba mate, orange essence, cocoa peels, rose petals and rosemary that smells and tastes delicious while also cleansing your palate and getting you ready for more Christmas cookies, fudge, gingerbread, pfeffernuesse, pannetone, lemon squares, figgy pudding, marzipan, cannoli or whatever Yuletide brings your way. 

(A Christmas Carol image from Wikimedia Commons)

bad tea and burning the midnight oil

When I was in college, I lived on a food budget of about $16 per week and along the way developed a bit of an anemia problem, but beyond that I actually managed to drink generic tea.  It was a horrible no-name brand and the teabags had no strings, though not in the eco-conscious way of today's stringless teabags but simply because these were teabags that were awful and completely no-frills.  The tea itself tasted like whatever leaves might have fallen onto the Lipton factory floor along with maybe some sawdust and perhaps loose tobacco or rat droppings.  It was harsh, it was nasty, and it left stains on the cup that I could never get out -- but it was also weirdly addictive.  I drank cup after cup of that bad brew, especially around final exam and term paper time, and every December at what was once semester's end I get an odd craving for that nameless rock bottom-grade tea that I doubt they even serve in prisons.  In fact, I doubt they even make it anymore and I think the FDA pulled it off the shelves in the late 90s, but to me it still has a strange association with independence and knowledge -- and whatever not killing me making me stronger.

Pictured:  Tea Cups -- Juan Gris, 1914

december, vanilla, and cardamom

Somewhere along the line I've collected lots of vanilla tea.  Also somewhere along the line I've collected a jar of cardamom pods, so I thought I'd put the combination to use in semi-latte form.

10 ounces lowfat milk or vanilla soy milk 
2 cardamom pods
2 bags of your favorite vanilla tea or whatever vanilla tea you've collected along the way (I've used Harney's Vanilla Comoro and Bigelow's French Vanilla so far)
2 teaspoons packed brown sugar
whipped cream
nutmeg

Pour milk into a small saucepan with cardamom pods and let simmer until it begins to boil and foam.  Remove cardamom pods and discard, then add vanilla teabags and allow them to steep in hot milk for about 3 minutes. Place brown sugar at the bottom of a 10 ounce cup and pour hot tea/milk mixture on top, then stir gently.  Top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg.   

Regular soy milk does not taste very good in this concoction, i.e., sticking to vanilla soy is probably best.

Pictured:  Columbus Circle, Winter -- Guy Wiggins, 1911 (Smithsonian American Art Museum)