Morning Coffee & Afternoon Tea

Délicat White Tea

I've been under the weather this last week.  Girl troubles, mostly, but a touch of the flu came and went that made it hard to even think about blogging.  Fortunately it didn't keep me from my coffee or tea.  Or chocolate.  But that goes without saying. 

Trying to be true to my promise for this month, I've tried several new teas.  Today I'm sipping a white tea from Portsmouth Teas: Délicat 2nd Flush White Tea.  I've never tried white tea before and I'm liking this tea very much.  It's got a very subtle flavor, light and delicate (heh, so it's aptly name, I guess, eh?), with a very slightly sweet aftertaste which is really nice. 

If you like your tea strongly flavored you probably won't like this one, but I think it would go very well with a lightly buttered scone or shortbread cookie. 

White teas are a bit different from the green and black teas most people are familiar with.  They come from the same plant, but white teas are made from the new growth buds and leaves and are less processed than the black teas.  The less mature leaves are covered with fine silver hairs that give them a white appearance, hence the name "white tea".  I don't know if you can see the white hairs very well in the thumbnail here, but you should hopefully be able to if you click on it to see the larger version.  I could see them really well using my little old-lady magnifying glass.  But my camera didn't want to get in that close.

White tea also has higher concentrations of catechins (that's the good stuff in tea: polyphenolic antioxidant plant metabolites, specifically flavonoids).  Now, I don't drink tea because of it's healthful properties.  I long ago gave up worrying about my health.  I consume what tastes good, and what pleases me.  But I'm kind of tickled that I'm enjoying something so much that is also so healthy. 

Portsmouth offers 3 kinds of white tea, and I may just have to try them all.  The Délicat comes from the Fujian province in China, and they claim it comes from the bud and first two leaves that are handpicked from the new shoot of the plant.  That sounds pretty high-falutin, but the bottom line for me is it tastes good!

Chocolate Marshmallow Tarts

By way of warning, I'm on a tart kick.  My ambition is to become the Queen of Tarts.  Ok, maybe just the tart queen of Arizona.  At the very least the tart queen of my block. 

So, for Chocolate Friday, I'm doing Chocolate Marshmallow Tarts, a recipe that began life on the Hershey's Kitchens website, modified to suit my taste, of course.  It is now dangerously decadent.  No really, I mean it.  If your eyeballs aren't jiggling after you eat one of these tarts, I'll eat my ... hmm ... crown.

UPDATE: I had to modify the recipe.  It was too rich and sweet, even for me, and that's saying something.  Taking into account how sweet the marshmallow creme is, I reduced it, added whipped cream.

Chocolate Marshmallow Tarts

2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup Marshmallow creme
1/4 cup whipped cream
6 (4 oz. pkg.) mini graham cracker crumb tart crusts

Optional Topping:
Whipped cream, fresh fruit, or maraschino cherries or chilled cherry pie filling or slivered almonds

Directions:
1. Place chocolate chips, milk and sugar in small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at HIGH (100%) 1 minute or until milk is hot and chips melt when stirred. With wire whisk or rotary beater, beat until mixture is smooth; stir in vanilla and almond extract. Cool to room temperature.

2. Whip cream.  Stir whipped cream and marshmallow cream together.  Fold chocolate mixture into the cream/creme mixture and stir briefly, but leave some separation and "striping".  Spoon or pipe into crusts. If you're a good piper, you could really do something beautimous with the striping effect of the brown and white.  I just poured it in, impatient girl that I am.

3. Cover; refrigerate until set. Top and garnish as desired.  Makes approximately 6 servings.

Note:  You can make the graham cracker crust yourself, but I found these Keebler mini-tart shells already pre-made at the grocery store.  They're about 3 inches in diameter.  I tried them with the lemon curd because it sounded good but ... not so much.  Chocolate filling with graham cracker crust is MUCH better.  It's a lot like a s'more!

Pictures coming soon!  Enjoy!

Trying New Teas

In honor of National Hot Tea Month, I'm trying to get out of my tea rut.  I tend to find something I like and stick to it.    Nothing wrong with that, but then I don't try new things.  I realize there are teas out there I'm not too familiar with and might like.  Might love.

Today I'm drinking Darjeeling First Flush, from In Pursuit of Tea.  I've had this tea before and didn't like it much, but this time I actually followed the steeping guidelines (printed right on the back of the package, thank you very much!)  The first cup was ok, but a bit too strong.  The second cup was way-mo-bettah!  And the third was JUST RIGHT.  Using the right water temperature (just under a boil for this tea) and the right amount of tea and steep time can make a huge difference in the taste of tea.  Now I can honestly say I love this tea!

So my January resolution is to

1) Try more teas
2) Try to remember to read the steeping destructions, and
3) Experiment more with preparation variations before I give up on them

Coffee Roasting Report #3

Over Christmas I finally got low enough on my supply of green bean samples that I needed to re-order.  But Sweet Maria's was closed for the holidays, so I started looking around for other sources of beans. Here are my notes on a few:

G2 Coffee Merchants - This site confused me.  Apparently they don't offer sample packs, but since they're in New Zealand the point was moot.  I can't imagine what the shipping charges would be.  New Zealand folx will be happy to know they can buy green from this site, and they'll roast it for you if you don't want to roast your own.

Coffee Storehouse - This site offers half-pound sample packs, a 6-pack and a 10-pack, but the price was a higher than Sweet Maria's.  Bookmarked for possible purchase later.

Burman Coffee Traders - No small sample packs, but they do offer special bundles.  The bundles are 3 different kinds of green beans, one-pound packs.

Coffee Bean Corral - This site offers sample 1/2-pound sample packs, but you have to buy them separately, so the price varies.  Some coffees are more expensive then others. 

I went ahead and placed an order for 6 coffee sample packs from the Coffee Bean Corral.  I really liked being able to select which ones I wanted!  Ordering was easy and they shipped pretty fast. 

The only thing I like better about Sweet Maria's (other than the price) is that Sweet Maria's prints descriptions of flavors and recommendations for roasting times right on the packs.  For dummies like me, it's nice to have that information handy.  I would roast half the bag using their recommendations, and then do the other half by eye-nose, and see which I liked better.   Coffee Bean Corral has something they call "the matrix" on their website, which tries to catalog the different characteristics of each coffee, but I couldn't find roasting recommendations anywhere.  To savvy roasters it probably doesn't matter, but for newbies like me, it's helpful to have something to guage by.

Carnival of the Recipes #124

I totally spaced and forgot to mention that this week's Carnival is up for viewing at Elementary Chef.  Lots of good stuff to try, go check it out! 

Two recipes I'm gonna add to my must-try list are Shawn's Frozen Berries with Hot White Chocolate, and Julie's Chocolate Chess Pie.  Julie doesn't say why it's called "chess".  Maybe you can play a game of chess in the time it takes to cook. 

And for a change, a non-chocolate recipe has caught my eye.  I am definitely going to try Meanderings' Mince & Tatties recipe!

Lemon Cream Scones

There is a lemon scone recipe in this post, I promise, and an answer to the question, what can you do with lemon curd?.  But first...

A Tea Party Lady Moment

I had the most wonderful cream tea yesterday.  All by myself, sitting in a corner with my pretty tea tray, laid with the good china, sipping a cup of my favorite tea - Yunnan Gold - and nibbling on a freshly baked lemon scone, smothered in real Devonshire clotted cream and lemon curd.  With the  dogs sleeping at my feet, and the wild lovebirds filling the tree outside my window with color, everything was toasty warm and for a moment, perfectly perfect.  It was truly one of those magical moments that seem to hang suspended in time. 

I had been planning this special afternoon tea for a while, and I was afraid that, like most overly planned moments, it wouldn't be as enjoyable as anticipated.  But this one blossomed full, in so many ways, taste, smell, sound, sight... and heart.  The only thing that could have made it any better was having my mom here to enjoy it with me.

From the Complaint Department

Before I move on to the scone recipe (I'm getting there!), I want to mention the clotted cream.  I ordered several small jars from British Delights at the beginning of October.  By mid-October, having received no email confirmation or notification of shipping, I got worried and tried to check my order.  This website has the most awful, out-dated, hard to use shopping system I've ever used.  I could find no way to check the status of my order, so I finally emailed them directly.  The terse reply I received said my order had been flagged "Christmas" and would ship in "early November".  I was a little miffed, to say the least, and emailed again to say if they couldn't get my order shipped sooner than that I wanted to cancel it.  I waited, but got no reply.  No word at all, not a sausage.  After fuming for a while on incompetence, I forgot about it.  And then, in the middle of December, the package arrived.  What kind of stupid system are they running there???

In spite of all that, the clotted cream was delicious.  I got a 6 oz jar of English Double Devon cream made by The Devon Cream Company.  I would buy this again, if I could find a better place to order from.

Ok, on to the recipe!  This recipe originally came from OChef.com, who got it from The Best Quick Breads, by Beth Hensperger.  I modified it some, so it's not really "Old-Fashioned Lemon Cream Scones" anymore.  It's ...

Christine's Yogurt Lemon Scones
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
Grated zest of 3 lemons
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 large eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 tbsp lemon yogurt

Preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C).  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest, and salt. Cut in the butter with a fork or a heavy-duty electric mixer until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (At this point I usually have to get my fingers into the mix to help break up the butter.  Or is that just the child in me...)

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt and cream. Add to the dry mixture and stir until a sticky dough is formed.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead gently just until the dough holds together, about 6 times.  There are many different ways to cut the scones.  Some folx use the "round" method - patting the dough into a 1-inch thick round, and cutting like a pie.  I prefer the "log" method.  Roll out the dough into a long log and pat down to about 1 inch thick.  Cut as shown in the picture here.

Place the scones about 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops with sugar, if desired. Bake in the center of the oven until crusty and golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve immediately with butter, clotted cream and lemon curd or your favorite jam.  Or you can let them cool on a rack and freeze in heavy-duty freezer bags for up to a month.

Yield: Makes about 8 scones

Coming up next, the Queen of Tarts, in parts. 

Enjoy!

Microwave Lemon Curd

Since the theme of this week's Carnival of the Recipes is easy/hate-to-cook recipes, I thought I'd post my SIL's Microwaveable Lemon Curd recipe.  Lemon curd is pretty easy to make anyway, but this is the sooper-dooper easy version, for the very laziest of cooks.

Microwave Lemon Curd 
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
Finely grated zest of 3 lemons
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

Melt butter in the microwave on high for 1-2 minutes.  Grate the lemon peel to get lemon zest.  In a separate bowl, combine sugar, eggs, lemon zest and lemon juice.  Blend with a wire whisk.  Slowly whisk in the hot melted butter.

Microwave mixture on high 3-4 minutes until thickened, whisking well after each minute.

Pour into a clean glass jar and allow to cool in refrigerator.  Will keep a week or more if kept refrigerated, and more if sealed in canning jars.

Now, for the really REALLY lazy cooks who don't want to mess about with fresh lemons to get the "zest", a splash of lemon extract will add some extra-lemony flavor.  Or you can just leave that step out altogether.  It's extremely yummy even without the zest.

Now, what does the lazy cook DO with this easy lemon curd, you may ask... THAT is another post for another day.

Chocolate Friday: Sell it with Chocolate!

My brother's work brings him all kinds of little perks - leftover stuff, forgotten stuff - and all this stuff gets shared with us, his grateful fambly.  In this case, it was leftover promotional materials in the form of little silver tins.  What was inside?  Chocolate covered sunflower seeds!

I 'm totally addicted to these colorful little bombshells. 

I have to say, as promotional materials go, chocolate is one of the best.  If you're in the market for this kind of thing, pass right by the t-shirts and ball caps.  Give the heave-ho to the pens and mouse pads.  Go for the chocolate.  You can get chocolate covered sunflower seeds in a variety of shapes and containers from any one of the many promotional product companies out there.  Check here and here and here, for instance.  Some of them will let you customize the colors for specific holidays or events!  And this place offers all kinds of chocolate and candy promotional products.

I'm almost tempted to get something like this for my own business.  I could hand them out at development meetings, I guess.  But since I don't go to trade shows, or other public type marketing events ... who would eat all that chocolate?

Heh.   

Ok, maybe I'll just save some money and buy via the regular route.

China's Really Big Tea Pot

Finally a tea companion to the roadside attraction / big coffee pot series!  This is definitely one to add to my travel plans.  If I ever get to China to visit the Tea & Horse Road, this will be on my list of other places to visit!

It's located in Changshu, in the Jiangsu province of east China.  A ginormous teapot (5.5 meters tall) is pouring "tea" into a bowl. Made of reinforced contrete, it took five artisans thirty days to finish. 

Pretty cool!

January is National Hot Tea Month

Happy New Year everybunny!  I hope your hangovers are light.  Can anybody explain to me why time seems to go so much faster as you get older?  Cripes but 2006 went by fast. 

This is your official reminder that January is National Hot Tea Month and your official invitation to join the club.  Feel free to grab any of the icons below - I'm hoping to make some new ones today - and post them on your blog.  Then come on back and add your link to the comments or trackback as a member of the National Hot Tea Club.

UPDATE: 4 New Icons Added!