Hello March: I'm Dreaming of...

The wonders of technology!

I did not draw or paint the above picture.  Rather I took a picture on my camera and with a free app converted it to the above sketch/watercolour.  Absolutely love this app.  Of course hand sketching or hand painting would be even better but I really don't have those talents, nor can I spend time cultivating them

...maybe in a decade or two :)

So what does this have to do with March?

Well, my thoughts for March began with this rare picture I took.  Most of my pictures are up close of food or tea.  But there were a few times recently where I would have to stop my tea session and do something else and while at a distance I began to admire my tea setting from afar. 

I love every piece there.

As I drink more tea, a good tea drinking experience is one of the things I'm after...the tea, teaware, and your surrounding setup are important.  Doesn't mean I don't just drink tea as a beverage because there are days where a mug of tea is great.  But every tea lover has their own philosophy on tea drinking and I think I'm still developing mine.  Before I focused on only the tea, then I started to really think about my teaware. I love acquiring teaware but if I just had these pieces I would still be happy.  Even a simple five dollar gaiwan is fine if that's all I had, but teaware is a luxury I've come to appreciate and will save for pieces I adore.

So now comes the surrounding setup.  I don't have a special room or table...this is just the dining table.  The bamboo tea tray is useful but I've been considering using a tea cloth (chabu) to change things up.  Besides this, many people will also have some sort of greenery to enhance the atmosphere.  I'm really, really bad with plants so I never thought of it or never aquired vases because they would be empty if I did.  But the mandarin oranges on the table was a pop of colour, an element of freshness that I liked.  

So, with signs of Spring often showing up in March, in March: I'm Dreaming of... 

Something green to add to my tea space.

Kim's Nature is a place I recently was told about and plan to visit since they look like they have a great selection of plants, particularly succulents and bonsai.

I'm not capable of owning a bonsai, but for those that are looking for some inspiration and for some really lovely pics, here is a new kind of bonsai, aqua bonsai.

For more inspiration, I've found it through various Instagram pics

...@a.light.thing...all are great but here are some recent ones I like: this one dated march first and one feb twenty-third.  She sometimes matches a quote or poem to her picture which I love.

...@pekoeandimp for the consistently lovely setup

...simple outdoor tea setups like here.

There are so many more and propably people I don't know about but thought I'd highlight a few.

Making my own chabu/tea cloth.

I have a hobby of making little coin purses and have acquired a bit of fabric.  Most are small pieces of fabric that are actually too small for this project, but I have a couple that might work.  I'm not certain if this will be doable but that's what this series is about isn't it :)  

Bitterleaf Teas' Raw and Ripe Puer Gift Pack

A little while back I made the decision to start drinking more puer tea so this post is an update.  Bitterleaf Teas was the brand I decided to start with for several reasons...the first being I wanted more than half of what they were selling!  Their teas sounded great and their teawares were so beautiful.  If you check out their website or Instagram, almost every photo gives off a feeling of serene calm, beauty, and quality.  I have to admit, I can be swayed by pretty things (lol!). But, I also like to read reviews and there were also many positive online reviews.  What I also liked was how well they described the teas and steeping suggestions which makes it a little easier for someone new.  Prices also seemed reasonable - I'll have to buy and taste more teas from different sources to really made a judgement though.

Thus, I ordered a number of teas from Bitterleaf Teas and one of the items was a gift pack containing a raw (sheng) and a ripe (shou) puer.  These teas were a great introduction to puer for newbies like me and thought I'd share my experience.

First up was the ripe puer, Black Beauty 2009 Meng Hai Imperial Ripe Puer.  I'm still getting familiar with the different areas/mountains as each area produces certain characteristics but I have to admit it's been slow learning for me right now.  If you're new like me, Teadb is a good resource and here is a link to some info about Menghai County.

I'm not exactly new to ripe (shou) puer but am new to quality ripe puer so this was an easy one for me.  For those that have not tasted ripe puer before this one would still be nice to drink but would be unlike the usual teas available in the North American market.

Brewed using 1g per 30ml as suggested.  

Boiling water.

Rinse: quick.

1st steep: 3 secs.

Subsequent steeps: +3 secs and then +5 secs.

First off, this is very fast brewing!  I'm used to brewing at 45 secs to 1+ minutes for other teas so it took some getting used to.  The colour of the tea soup is very nice deep red. The tea was earthy, malty sweet, and smooth; very refined.  My personal experience is each infusion wasn't too different except the first was lighter than the 2nd and 3rd as expected, but my palate is not as sensitive as more experienced drinkers.  By the 3rd steep my tongue was tingling!

3rd steep, beautiful deep red tea soup

I brewed this for my mom but at a much higher ratio of leaf to water, just extended the steeping time and it still was very good.  Even oversteeping doesn't yield a bitter cup which she again was surprised at as she was for sure thinking it would be bitter.

Definitely recommend this ripe puer for easy brewing and the smooth refined taste.  Very drinkable!

Now onto Hummingbird 2013 Meng Hai Old Arbor Leaf Sheng Puer.

Love the initial smell of the leaves...they are so fragrant and sweet, I couldn't wait to get started on the brewing!

I haven't had sheng puer in a long time and the first time I didn't really have much guidance or knew what to do.  This time after reading more blogs and reviews on steeping and since a guide is provided with the tea, my tea session went pretty well.

The tea was pressed into mini cakes which made it easy to brew as well, about 8-9g per mini cake.  I brewed this following their instructions:

1g to 20ml water
Boiling water
Rinse: 10 secs
1st steep: 7 secs
2nd steep: 10 secs
Subsequent steeps: + 5 secs

1st steep:  Really lovely!  Light apricot colour tea soup.  Floral, mildly sweet taste.
2nd and 3rd steep: The bitterness hits but there is an underlying sweetness.  
4th steep:  The bitterness starts to mellow down and the sweetness is rising.
5th steep:  Sweet notes of apricot or maybe raisin, it's thicker and the huigan is stronger.  Really nice!  Slightly more drying in the mouth though.

Paired with sugar cookies at about steep 6.

6th steep: Similar to the 5th.
7th steep: Grassy and sweet.

Unfortunately I had to stop here.  The aroma of the wet leaves was very sweet like raisins so I'm sure it could have given more.  Loved this raw puer as it changed several times in taste and feeling!  The bitterness was also not too strong that someone new to raw puer could still enjoy this tea.

Pretty nice looking leaves

If you're new to puer this would be a good starter pack. They also sell each individually and the Hummingbird is offered in mini cakes or a full sized cake.  There are a few other starter packs I've seen and also sets that have been curated to give you a sense of what different mountains/regions taste like.  Thinking about getting those too.  Especially good since there is so much out there that it's hard to decide what to get.

So far this has been a great beginning!

Dyeing Tea Towels with Natural Dyes

I've been in the need of new tea towels, especially to wipe up all the tea and water I sometimes spill as I brew tea.  Then just before Christmas I came across "flour sack towels" which were inexpensive lint free cotton towels and my mind started thinking...thinking of numerous DIY projects I could do!  The reason being is these are almost always white, a blank canvas pretty much.  I love white towels but sometimes having various colours or a print is also nice.

Interestingly enough someone on Instagram that LIKED one of my photos posted a picture of some lovely coloured towels dyed with various colours made from food...and a wonderful looking mauve made from avocado skins and seed!  Yes, mauve from avocado. She got the idea from the moneycrashers site which referenced another site, pioneer thinking.  

Anyway, I started reading more and started to think about using tea but of course the avocados were stuck in my head and I knew I had to experiment.... So, does the above towel look mauve?  

NO.  FAIL.  

More peach I would say but that is the colour I got when I used avocados...(sad face!).  Peach is still nice but not really the colour I was going for and in some lighting could look like a grimey towel unfortunately.  Not sure if the avocado has to be a certain ripeness or a certain varietal, but I should have known that the liquid just didn't look right. 

Back to colour experimentation.

I got my initial set of towels from Walmart, 5 for $7.  They are quite thin like muslin but actually soak up quite a bit of liquid and was great for wiping down a table.  Then I got a thicker set from Amazon, Aunt Martha's brand.  They cost quite a bit more per towel but are thicker which I think will be better for printing on...another bunch of experiments I'm planning.  Wish me luck!!

Kiu Japanese Restaurant

Kiu Japanese Restaurant is a newish sushi and ramen restaurant located in the downtown Markham complex.  We went on a Friday for lunch and it was busy but they have quite a bit of seating so we got a table easily.

The restaurant offers sushi (not too extensive), raw oysters, small appetizers, and ramen from Ramen Isshin (located on College St.).  I've been to Ramen Isshin and it was good so we thought it'll be good to try their uptown location since we're uptown more than downtown.  

I had the Kotteri Rich Shoyu Ramen and made it into a combo with karaage for an added $3.  Not too bad, broth was flavourful and rich...just what I was looking for.  The egg was done nicely and the noodles were good, could be chewier but still enjoyed it.  The pork slices were very thin, too thin if you're paying $11 a bowl.  We got two large pieces of karaage but they weren't seasoned enough, good crunch though.

I also have to mention the tea, if you order green tea they serve houjicha tea (roasted green tea) which was enjoyable.  They refilled my cup without asking which was good because I think I drank the first cup pretty fast!

Side order of takoyaki...yum!

Black Sesame Tan Tan Noodles...this wasn't that spicy and does taste like dan dan noodles you get at Chinese restaurants.

Kiu is spacious and clean and lots of natural light. Too many people to take a photo of the tables though. The service was good, no complaints.  

We also found out there is underground parking so it makes this a good choice for winter months.  Overall, the experience was good.  Not the best ramen in the city, but I'd come back to try their sushi and other ramen bowls.

Kiu Japanese Restaurant

169 Enterprise Blvd, 2nd floor

Markham, ON L6G 0E7

T:905-513-6368

http://www.ki-u.com/

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.