This is my Yerba Mate tea cup made from a gourd with the sterling silver straw that I bought in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is sitting on my a guide to tea book printed by adagio teas.
Does coffee or tea taste better out of your best dishes? Saundra thinks tea should be served in proper dishes where as it makes no difference with how coffee is served.
Harney and Sons tagalong tins of tea and adagio tins of tea are different ways of serving tea. Harney and Sons tins hold silk sachets of tea. The adagio tins are full of loose tea. The Stash Tea Company has all kinds of loose teas.
Does coffee or tea taste better out of your best dishes? Saundra thinks tea should be served in proper dishes where as it makes no difference with how coffee is served.
Harney and Sons tagalong tins of tea and adagio tins of tea are different ways of serving tea. Harney and Sons tins hold silk sachets of tea. The adagio tins are full of loose tea. The Stash Tea Company has all kinds of loose teas.Tea is the second most consumed drink in the world. The first is water. The scientific name of the plant is Camellia Sinensis. Black tea is the most popular tea in the U.S. Examples include Darjeeling, English or Irish Breakfast, Ceylon and others. Green tea is an unoxidized tea and has little caffeine. Examples of green tea include Dragonwell, Genmai Cha, Gunpowder, Sencha and others. Oolong tea is a semi-fermented tea and is principally manufactured in China and Taiwan. Oolong teas fall between black and green teas. Some oolongs include Ti Kuan Yin, Pouchong and Wuyi. White tea is produced on a limited scale in China and India. It is the least processed of teas but is considered the apotheosis of tea. Examples are Pai Mu Tan, Silver Needle and White Darjeeling. I really like the taste of White teas. Finally, flavored teas are made with essential oils of the desired flavor with black, green or white tea usually from China or Sri Lanka. Examples are Peach White tea, Citron Green tea and Root Beer Red tea. Tisanes are not teas. They are made by infusing hot water with herbs and plants. Some call them herbal teas. Rooibos is known as Red Bush Tea or simply Red Tea. I served Rooibos tea at one of our POC meetings and everyone seemed to like it. It is caffeine free and harvested from a bush grown in South Africa. The newest drink to the herbal market is Yerba Mate. It has been hailed as an energizer and remedier to the body. It comes from South America and has an unusual taste. Julie and I tried it in Buenos Aires. It is definitely different. You put the leaves in a gourd cup and pour hot water in and drink it with a sterling silver straw that strains out the leaves. Julie and I both bought one with a straw.
There are different kinds of coffees too. Latin American coffees are light medium bodied coffees. Jamaican Blue Mountain is a smooth expensive roasted coffee. My son, Patrick and I both enjoyed the strong Mexican coffees in Cozumel. African and Arabian coffees are medium full bodied coffees while Asian and Pacific coffees are stronger and full bodied. Kona coffees are one of the finest roasted coffees in the world. Kona coffees are expensive and very smooth. Kopi Luwak as seen in The Bucket List is the most expensive coffee in the world. I will leave it to you to watch the movie and find out why and why it was so funny. The European coffees and espressos are strong and tasty. Julie said she likes Olive Garden's espresso. I will have to give it a try. French roast is a strong dark roasted coffee. Then there are the instant coffees. Personally, I would almost rather do without, almost.
As to the cups photographed yesterday, the top one is tea and the bottom photo is coffee.
Tomorrow, the discussion will be on tea bags or loose teas. Fresh whole beans ground at home or cans of ground coffee give you a choice as to how you want to serve your coffee. Then do you brew, percolate or French press your coffee? Do you make a teapot full of tea or just a cup of tea?
There is a tie-in between books and coffee in my life. When I was a newlywed, I began housekeeping with a Corning ware electric percolator. We lived in a small apartment way out in the suburbs of Topeka and I had no car, no bus, and not much to do after I dusted the three pieces of furniture we had. Quickly I found the public library and it was my salvation. While I was reading, I came upon a description of a European coffee drinker and his way of relishing coffee by holding a sugar cube in his mouth while drinking his coffee. It awakened within me a desire to find a better cup of coffee. Electric percolators produce a hot beverage, but it tastes nothing like the wonderful aroma of freshly ground coffee beans. Through experimentation I finally found the Melitta system, and Voila!, wonderful coffee. These days I still use that method, though the machine is a little more sophisticated. It is a Capresso coffee team. The coffee maker has its own burr grinder, uses a Melitta-type gold filter, and can be set to various strengths, grinds and amounts per batch. We also enjoy the Keurig one-cup maker for a single cup at noon. It is the same system only even easier, as the filter is built in to the single serving K-cup and is simply discarded. The coffee is hot and delicious and the maker can instantly create a coffee station in any room which has a 110 plug-in. Although I usually don't care for flavored coffees, the Van Houtte hazelnut medium roast is just rich and delicious without any cloying sweetness. It makes me think of high end coffee house coffee. So, the quest for that delicious cup which was inspired so long ago by a book is fulfilled.
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