Friday, November 17, 2006

Tea anyone?

All this blogging about bread and muffins made anyone thirsty? I just made a pot of white tea* with a scoop of raisins for my morning pre-breakfast drink. An especially leisurely morning for me as I have the day off after a short 3-day work week. Tomorrow will start my next five day work week which then will be followed by the four-day Thanksgiving weekend. November is a great month to be employed -- just so one can enjoy the days off!

*From about.com: Black tea has been fully fermented during processing, and green has not been fermented at all. Oolong teas are somewhere in the middle. So what is 'white tea'? Well, just like those other teas, white tea come from the Camellia sinensis plant. But the leaves are picked and harvested before the leaves open fully, when the buds are still covered by fine white hair. Hence the name. White tea is scarcer than the other traditional teas, and quite a bit more expensive.

White tea is similar to green tea, in that it's undergone very little processing and no fermentation. But there is a noticable difference in taste. Most green teas have a distinctive 'grassy' taste to them, but white tea does not. The flavour is described as light, and sweet. You should steep white tea in water that is below the boiling point.

5 comments:

Serena said...

I haven't tried white tea - but have heard a lot about it. I've read that it is important not to let it steep too long or too hot - it gets bitter, I think.

Roberta bought some sort of white tea a few weeks ago for Chez Nous . . . maybe I should try it there. I did notice at some store (Trader Joe's maybe?) Pomegranate White Tea. Sounds interesting, at least.

We got some Chocolate Tea recently at Trader Joe's. Roberta said that she really likes it.

Catherine Uible Morgan said...

Serena, you may have tried the white tea unknowingly when you were last here. I've been using it instead of green tea on my cereal for the last few weeks. Interesting you mention pomegranate as that is Dee's favorite variety of juice and she also had tea in that flavor.

Roberta said...

I have a source (FREE!) for pomegranates, if anyone reads this comment. Roberta the commenter

Catherine Uible Morgan said...

Yes, Roberta, we read your comments! And sure, I'd take some free pomegranates if you have them with you tomorrow at brunch....

Mary Uible Crowson said...

Didn't even know there was more than one kind of tea...I mean green tea is a different color, but can't say I had an interest in it before. TEA ON CEREAL??? GROSS!!!

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