Latea Era - Cheese Crown...Ummmm what is that?

I haven't done a restaurant post in a long time since I've been busy these last few months and also been focusing on tea, so sticking with the tea theme, here is a new tea shop/house.

Latea Era - "The new era of tea" is their slogan.

I'm not too sure about that, but they are trying to do something a little different.

So what is a "cheese crown"?  It's their specialty cream cheese topped tea drinks which means a salty liquid cream cheese mix sits on top of tea.  It may sound gross, but it wasn't too bad and if you are a sweet and salty combo type person, this may appeal to you.

I didn't think I'd get the best tea here so opted for something pretty, the cheese crown rose oolong.  I had it hot but they do make it cold as well.  It did look pretty and the cheese did stay at the top for a very long time.  Overall I think it's like drinking a tea and your dessert at the same time, but the tea flavour isn't as strong as I'd hoped.  If you like the sea salt cream topping at other teashops, you may like this.

I'm not sure how the salty topping of tea really started but it may have been the coffee and dessert chain 85°C in Taiwan in 2008.  Maybe the trend dates back further but the chain offered coffee with a sea salt cream topping and when I had it in Taiwan in 2009, it was not bad - it was quite unique.  I believe tea followed after the success of coffee.

However, if you want to consider who initially added salt to tea, traditional Tibetan butter tea is made with brick tea (puer or black), (yak) butter and salt so this may be the first creation of tea with salt.

Anyway, for a few years now in Toronto, there are a number of locations offering this salted cream topping: Gong Cha, Share Tea, Chatime.  Latea Era also offers a salty cream topping but they go one step further and making a salty cream cheese topping.  I'm not sure of how many other places offer a cream cheese topping in Toronto but I have heard Happy Lemon does; I have yet to go.



The only thing is I don't know where this tea house comes from, how it originated, who started it, is it in other countries?  It just seemed to pop up and their website states it's their first North America location. In the last six months there has been numerous tea places that have popped up in Toronto; very exciting!

They brew their teas on the spot which can slow the line down but does ensure freshly brewed tea and their tea bags are on display.  If you want a regular bubble tea they do offer that, some fruit teas, and matcha options.  Their regular milk tea is brewed with an espresso machine and I also ordered one to go with tapioca.  Unfortunately I wasn't a fan of their basic milk tea as I found the tea not as smooth.  There was a bit of char taste to it too which could be the type of tea or the espresso machine extracting unwanted flavours from the tea.  Half sugar is a little less sweet than half sugar requests at other tea shops.  The tapioca was also not the best but I did go early afternoon on a Wed so that could be why.

At the back

This place has lots of seating so great for groups, studying and when you just want to sit in a nice space instead of getting take-out.  Cafe music playing in the background makes for a more modern ambience.  Service was also polite and friendly.

Would I go back?

Yes, to try their matcha options, but based on the drinks I did try...it's probably not my cup of tea.  Maybe their matcha will be the drink that keeps me coming back.

Lots of cream cheese topping at the end.

Latea Era

3300 Midland Avenue, Unit 37
Scarborough, ON M1V 4A1

T: 647-349-6888

www.latea.ca

• Phone numberusiness website

Happy Year of the Rooster!

Yesterday was the first day of the Lunar New Year, Year of the Rooster.  

Happy New Year!

For the new year I usually make a new year's glutinous rice cake (see a previous year's) and this year is no different.

I followed this recipe over at my friend The Craft Bandit's blog but cut the recipe in half and made a small modification to the instructions. This yields a cake that is a little more cake-like, but if you like more chewy it's best to stick to the original recipe.

1 - 9" round cake

2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp oil
200g (Mochiko) glutinous rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

red bean paste (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line or butter you baking pan.
Beat eggs and sugar together until thickened.
Add the coconut milk, milk, and oil and combine.
Mix the glutinous rice flour, baking powder, and salt together.
Add dry flour mix to egg mixture and stir until combined and there are no lumps.
Pour into cake pan.
If adding red bean paste, pour 2/3 of batter in pan, distribute red bean on top.  I used two spoons to drop small amounts all over.
Pour remainuing batter on top to cover the red bean.
Bake for 35-40 mins.

For the red bean paste I used store bought but I've also recently made some at home with my Instant Pot with good results using the recipe at JustOneCookbook.

Wishing everyone a healthy, harmonious and happy new year!

Drinking hand picked baozhong/pouchong tea from Taiwan.

Sanchenping High Mountain Spring Oolong

From Taiwan Tea Crafts, I got a sample of their winter and spring oolong from Sanchenping as part of their Shanlinxi exploration tin and tried it a little while ago.  Pictured is the spring 2016 oolong, a lovely green.  

I preferred this over the winter oolong.

Beautiful leaves after steeping.

The tea soup.  

I brewed this at 5g/100ml using just off the boil water.

1st steep (1 minute): buttery aroma and taste, also very floral
2nd steep: still very floral and I thought there was some notes of melon
3rd steep: more vegetal tasting
4th and 5th steep: mmm, sweet aftertaste (huigan) which was very nice, moderately thick.  I actually used slightly cooler water than earlier steeps and brewed longer by 20 secs.

I read that although oolongs can be steeped using boiling water, high mountain oolongs may taste better with lower temperature water.  The author commented that sometimes high mountain oolongs taste great when tasting in the mountains on the tea farm because when water boils at a higher elevation, it's actually about 95 degrees Celcius and not 100.  I tend to agree that when I use slightly lower temperature water than boiling for oolongs, there is much more flavours that comes out...my experience anyway.

Quite enjoyed this one as a few that I've had recently were just okay.  However, I'm not sure how many more steeps there would be as I didn't have time after the fifth one.

Starting My Puer Tea Journey

I got my package of Puer tea from Bitterleafteas on Friday!  Very excited!   

My teas of choice have been Taiwanese oolongs and I'll still be drinking these, but I've been trying to branch out more.  Puer is a type of tea that is considered fermented and most people I know of Cantonese descent that go to "yum cha" or dim sum will know it as "bo lei cha" the dark tea that is earthy and sometimes undrinkable depending on where you go.  That is how I knew Puerh tea when I was under 20. 

About 10 years ago I bought my first cake of Puer from a tea shop in San Francisco Chinatown.   I was not educated at all, didn't know anything about it and don't remember the random shop I stopped  into.  I'm SURE I overpaid, especially being a tourist!  I was actually looking for an oolong that would resemble the natural cooling - menthol like feeling I got after having an oolong tea at Ten Rens Teahouse.  The man did not know what I was talking about and we ended up tasting Puer and that was how I ended up buying a cake.

The Puer tea cake was a ripe puer (there are ripe and raw puer teas) and it was smooth and earthy and I did enjoy it.  But afterwards I drank more oolong and feel in love with oolong teas (and began my never-ending oolong tea journey).

Fast forward several years and I had my first raw Puer experience and was surprised by how different it was from the ripe.  It was quite bitter as it was young, but I still thought it was pretty unique as there was more to it than bitter.  However, I think I was scared off pursuing Puer because I didn't know how to judge whether I was getting the real thing, whether I was over paying, how to store it, and there were not as many Puer sellers in North America at the time - online sales were not what they are today.

Then came the blog reading last year...

Somehow I came across a number of bloggers that border on 'obsessive'...I mean one blogger who I now faithfully check in with almost daily has a stock of over 500 teas!!  And this post from a blogger who was nominated for a Saveur blog award is an example of the complexity of tea knowledge that I only hope to have one day.  I've also started to follow a few on Instagram like @boychik2989, the variety of tea and teaware that gets posted will really inspire you to explore different teas.  The only downside...my wallet tends to get a little lighter as I start to buy more tea and teaware!

Here is a munchies.vice article on a gathering of wine and tea drinkers and here is one reddit thread that followed.  The main point...how is flavour judged and is it paramount in whether a tea is good or not?

Initially, first thoughts is flavour is extremely important and people would question why that is even a question.  But, when you dig deeper into the experience of tea drinking there is also the component of fragrance, mouthfeel/body, aftertaste (or huigan), and what sparked the discussion, "how it makes you feel". 

For me, how a tea makes me feel partly is determined by my mood.  There are times where some teas although taste great may not be great for the mood I'm in and I opt for something else.  There are also times that this one might have notes of peach and this honey...I like both flavours so is one better than the other?  Of course it then depends on other things you look at.  Finally, it could just end up being how you feel after drinking the tea and the act of brewing tea.

Getting back to puer specifically, here is a final post about puer tea collecting which I think was really good in articulating what it means to be a collector of puer tea and touches on the fact that this type of tea is living, it is still fermenting.  It also makes me want to buy some puer too!  (I caved and ordered some puer tea from Bitter Leaf Teas as you can see!)  It also references back to the munchies.vice article mentioned above.

Anyway, for those looking to expand their tea knowledge please do take a look at these blogs.  There is always something to learn.  And now it begins...

Naturally Grown Kyobancha- Surprisingly Delicious

This naturally grown Kyobancha from the tea farmer Sinichi Kihara was a nice surprise tea! I purchased this after looking for hojicha (online at yunomi.life) and found the dry leaves to be quite unique.  The leaves are not rolled but after steaming they are dried as is or flat. It's interesting that they don't roll the leaves as this results in quite a large volume.  I'm still trying to learn more about the different kinds of Japanese tea but "Kyo" refers to Kyoto and "bancha" is unprocessed leaf meaning not rolled.  It is a type of hojicha (roasted green tea) but the main difference in hojicha, the roasting is of processed or rolled leaves.  These leaves are also older and thus bigger than other Japanese teas.  You can read more here.

The first time I brewed it, I used about 3g of leaf in my 175ml gaiwan and 90 degree water for 1 minute.  The tea soup was a yellow/light brown shade which surprised me because I was expecting it to be darker.  It was also very clear and bright looking.

Subsequent sessions, I used 5g of dry leaf...almost filled my 4oz ramekin!

 The steeped tea leaves...looks very similar to the dry and very dark.

 My most recent brew using 5g...

The tea soup is amber in colour and still very clear and bright.  Aroma is roasted and slightly smoky as you would expect.  The taste is less roasted than I would have thought and there is some cooked grain taste, barley possibly.  Soon after, there is a subtle sweet finish to it which is surprising as it's not what I would expect.  Brewed 3 times and still had good flavour.  

I quite like this tea and see this as a daily tea but also one for guests that aren't familiar with tea.  And for the price it's very good value!  This was part of my first order with Yunomi last year and the experience and quality has been very good.  I also like that they have many small vendors/farmers on the site that you wouldn't normally hear of in North America.  Definitely recommend checking them out for other Japanese teas.  

Instagram- @tiantiantea

I have an instagram account I set up a little while ago, but I haven't been using it to post pictures. I've been following others, mainly foodie accounts and some tea ones...none of whom I know personally; hope that doesn't sound too creepy!?

Why so late to the party?

Well, to be honest, very, very few friends I know use Instagram and I knew the amount of time people spend perfecting their Instagram pics was not something I wanted to find myself caught up in (since I think I spend way too much time on blog photos already!). So, I didn't post anything when I got my account.

Why now?

Well, there are numerous reasons. Since I've been refocusing on tea lately, I have intentions to challenge myself to improve my tea photography and to photograph tea in different ways. Instagram seemed like it would keep me taking those pictures.  Another reason is the same reason  many other bloggers use Instagram - because it's a fast way to put out a picture or info when you just don't have time for a blog post or really doesn't warrant a blog post.  A picture can also start a conversation which sometimes ends up being very helpful.

I'm now posting my daily teas and tea related pics (like desserts and tea) on Instagram under the name @tiantiantea.  I decided I wanted something different than my blog name since I really wanted it to be focused and to limit my time posting.


Tiān tiān for 天天 meaning daily.  

I also chose to use the pinyin of tiantian because it could also be: 
tián tián for 甜甜 meaning sweet.  

Loved the possibility of a dual meaning! 

Oh, and I haven't figured out how to add a link to my feed on my blog...will get to that...eventually.

How to Make Roasted Milk Tea (Without Milk Powder or Creamer)

ChaTime's roasted milk tea has been a favourite of so many of my friends and myself that there are times I want to make one at home.  Especially a hot one on extremely cold days like today!!  I know that most bubble tea places use milk powder or creamer in their drinks which makes it easier, however I don't have these items on hand. So I began using regular milk and thought I'd share some key tips on how to make milk tea, more specifically roasted milk tea in this post.  Making cold vs hot also requires different steps which I'll highlight but my recipe below will be for a hot roasted milk tea.

1.  Finding the right tea

Tea is available almost everywhere these days, but finding roasted tea...that can be a stumbling block from the start.  There are oolong teas that are roasted however, roasted oolong may be a little expensive to use and may not be exactly the right flavour profile.  A more readily available roasted tea is hojicha (also spelled houjicha) a Japanese style roasted green tea.  If you haven't heard of hojicha, you're missing out!  Comforting when brewed hot and refreshing and unique when cold brewed.  I purchased my first batch at Nohohon Tea Room which sells the Momo Tea brand (very nice teas) but recently I've also ordered online from Yunomi. Roasting levels can vary though.

2.  Quantity of tea leaves

Use at least double the amount of tea leaves for the volume of water used to brew the tea.  You could try three times the amount depending on the tea but start with two.  This is because of the addition of milk or ice that will dilute the brew.

3.  Using liquid milk instead of milk powder

So this post comes about because I don't have milk powder or creamer on hand.  To get a similar creamy taste, it's ideal to use 3.25% fat or homo milk for this but you could definitely use lower fat milk.  In addition, because you'll be using liquid milk, a small amount won't cut it, the quantity of milk will need to be almost equal to the quantity of tea and that is why you'll need to brew the tea strong.

4.  For cold milk tea, use large chunks of ice to cool the tea quickly.

You want the tea to cool very quickly to reduce the amount of water that gets added to the drink or you risk diluting the drink too much.

5. Steep time

There are some teas that will be quite bitter if over steeped so don't try to add extra time to the steeping unless you are making more than one portion. You will need to increase the steep time compared to making a single portion by about a minute.  I find with hojicha it doesn't over steep so easily so often I'll brew longer.



Hot Roasted Milk Tea:
Makes 1 large mug (approx 300ml)

6g of hojicha tea leaves (1 rounded tablespoon)
150 ml boiled water
1-2 tsp sugar (adjust to taste, I prefer 1.5 tsp)
150 ml milk

Put tea leaves into a brewing vessel*.
Pour boiling water into a separate cup first, then pour onto tea leaves (this step is to reduce the water temperature to about 85°C as boiling water with result in some bitterness).

Let steep for 3-5 minutes.
Strain the tea into your cup/mug.

This was after 4 minutes

Add sugar.
Heat milk till steaming (do no boil).
Add to tea and sugar, stir and ENJOY!.

*No brewing vessel, a small pot/saucepan also works (and steps may be simplier), especially when making more than one cup.

Eco-Cha Club Membership (October and November)

I've received my October and November Eco-cha tea club teas a while ago but have been too preoccupied to post a review so here is a combined post.  Again, 75g of tea is provided in the monthly subscription and it comes nicely package with an info card.

October (the club's 11th tea since it's start) was an heirloom small leaf black tea.  These were tightly rolled in strip form.

I brewed using their guidelines, 9 grams per 175ml with boiling water for 50 seconds.  This is definitely more than I usually use for black tea.  Tea soup was a nice reddish brown...

Taste was malty and there was a dried fruit taste to it, dried plum maybe (?) but the info card suggested dried apricot and papaya.  Still honing my tasting skills so will have to keep tasting this tea, maybe modifying the amount and steep times.  Not very astringent but I did feel like there was too much leaf in the cup though.   Again, maybe that is because I often use less per 175ml and not because I thought it was too strong. In terms of overall appeal, it was average for me. Only steeped 3 times as I didn't have the time for a long tea session.  Leaves look quite nice after the session.

The November tea (the club's 12th tea since it's start) was a Tieguanyin hand picked from a small farm in Muzha (Taipei).

This tea is processed in the traditional style where it is oxidized and roasted more heavily than the lighter Tieguanyin teas in recent years.  The batch is 50/50 of tieguanyin leaves and jin xuan leaves since there is such small quantity of original tieguanyin tea trees.

Brewed using their parameters, 10g per 175ml with boiling water for 50 secs.  Very strong roasted aroma and the tea soup brews up quite a dark orange brown.

Nice strong roasted flavour and I also want to say there was a slight creaminess to it on the 2nd brew.  It definitely is more of a fall/winter type of tea.  I've never been too fond of traditionally processed tieguanyins but maybe I haven't had top quality either.  I definitely lean more towards lighter tieguanyins.

Paired really nicely with a chocolate cupcake I made...

And, just because I was testing out a piping tip...here is pic of a cupcake topped with green tea whipped cream.

And just because it was my first time piping petals with whipped cream, I had to take a close-up...

Don't have a pic of the wet leaves as I only infused 3 times and leaves were not quite unraveled yet so I think it could have still had lots of flavour potential. Tieguanyins although very popular haven't really been a tea I drink too often so it was great to receive this tea.  I'll have a chance to get more experience brewing this tea and it definitely has a warming quality to it, great for the winter!

As I write this, one thing about the tea club I have to mention is that if you're in Canada, the box can take 3 weeks or more to receive.  I have yet to receive my December box (I'm sure this is partially due to Christmas volume).  It's slightly disappointing that it does take so long to get here especially when they put up info on their website about the tea soon after shipment so it's less of a surprise in terms of what tea will be in the box.  Anyway, hopefully the January one is faster.

Happy New Year!

Hello, it's been a while.

2016

Goodbye to an eventful (and stressful) year and soooo thankful for my family and friends for being there!

2017

HELLO to a challenging new year!

I recently welcomed my second child, hence my absence from this space.  So aside from feedings, diaper changes, taking care of my first child, sleeping, and online Christmas shopping I haven't had a chance to think about this blog.  Actually I've thought about it lots, but haven't had a chance to post anything.

Looking back, I've had some great meals and glad to have read some interesting books.  I posted on tea a few times and that is where I've actually been spending most of my extra energy on these last couple of months. However, I don't know if it's because I'm not as focused or congestion for part of the time has muted my taste buds, but I haven't had the tasting experiences I've expected.

Only in the last two days, the last two days of the year, was there a glimmer of promise...

2017...looks to be a very promising year, for tea and I that is.

Yesterday I had a chance to re-read some passages in one of my tea books from Taiwan and there was an intro written by one of their well known tea experts/enthusiasts.  He summed up tea drinking or "the way of tea" with these 2 words:

歸零

The first word means "return or back to" and the second word is "zero", so essentially return to zero.  I took it to mean a reset in a way.  Every time you drink tea, the act, the experience is like a reset.  You spend the time to brew the tea and taste the tea, calming your mind and revitalizing yourself.  Even the physical change that the leaf goes through as you brew the tea mimics these words; the dry leaves unfurl with the heat of the water and what you end up with if using whole leaf tea is the shape and likeness of the leaf prior to the processing...a return back to the original state (somewhat).

In some ways, the end of the year and beginning of a new year for some is like a return to zero...you think about what you've done the past year, your successes and failures and then start to think about your future self.  How you may do things differently or plan new beginnings.  As I write this, I'm quite looking forward to 2017 as I focus on balancing the needs of my expanding family and challenges I plan to put upon myself.

Happy New Year!!