Ember's Tea Review: If I had to pick one tea to describe spring as a flavour, I would most likely pick Strawberry Champagne. There is just something about TeaDesire's Strawberry Champagne that seems all too fitting for this time of year. Perhaps it's the elegant and nuanced flavour of the tea, or the fresh and unmistakably fruity armour the tea has. Made with sencha green tea, carrot pieces, pineapple, strawberries, cornflower petals, and sunflower petals, Strawberry Champagne has a brightness to it that is sure to bring you out of your winter gloom. This is a fairly frequent sample we receive in our monthly Tea Sparrow box program where we get four different teas each month. There is usually a theme involved with the teas they pick, and Strawberry Champagne happened to be one of their March teas this year ( if you really love tea, or are willing to try new things, I highly recommend signing up for their program! ). From the moment I tore the sample bag the tea came in I could smell the succulent strawberry arouma. Anyone who knows me well knows that there are few things I love just as much as I adore tea. Strawberries are one of those things. The scent smelled just like perfectly sun ripened strawberries, with a hint of pineapple. The smell didn't shift too much after steeping it either! If anything, the strawberry flavour really got a foothold. The tea didn't really smell like a green tea at all, despite how pronounced sencha can be. The fascinating thing? It drank more like a green tea then it did a flavoured green tea. Don't get me wrong -- the strawberry flavour was definitely still there. The flavours were just so perfectly balanced that one flavour was not competing over the other, or overly pronounced. We had quite a heavily seasoned meal with our tea (our mistake), so some of the subtleties of this tea were lost. After waiting for my pallet to cleanse (and a bit of water to help), I had another cup. The new pour tasted divine! I would recommend Strawberry Champagne for those simply looking to have a nice, relaxing cup of tea. Strong flavours can easily overwhelm the taste of the tea. If you are going to have any kind of food with Strawberry Champagne, we recommend perhaps something more sugary to help bring out the sweetness of the fruit, like macrons for example. I also prefer this tea hot over cold, and as always with your green teas, using under boiling water and only steep for 1-2 minutes (I personally did a minute and a half)! Those who love the taste of green tea but are bored with what they have might like to mix things up with trying this tea. Those who prefer a strongly flavoured green tea may find this disappointing. Those tea drinkers out there that are looking to move away from overly strong flavoured green teas in to more traditional green teas may find Strawberry Champagne to be the perfect transition. At the end of the day, this is a lovely tea definitely worth taking a chance on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Astra's Book Review: The Scarlet Pimpernel is perhaps the best forgotten gem of Georgian literature. You may recognize the name from the Loony Tunes parody “The Scarlet Pumpernickle”, or may have seen the play, Takarazuka revue, or either of two film adaptations (my favourite is the 1982 version starring Sir Anthony Andrews, Sir Ian McKellan, and the lovely Jane Seymour). But few have read the books, despite there being 14 in the series! I paired The Way of the Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Orczy—the 6th installment in the Scarlet Pimpernel Adventures series—with Strawberry Champagne from TeaDesire for their shared sweetness, vivacity, and quaintness. “Everything that happened to me was so wonderful that I am ready to accept all your theories of the supernatural powers of the mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel.” You don’t need to have read the other books in the series (they are demmed hard to find! as Sir Percy would say). All you need know is this: the setting is the French Revolution, our hero an enigmatic Englishman who is master of disguise, risking life and limb to sneak into France repeatedly, saving the innocent from Mam’zelle la Guillotine while the agents of the revolution constantly try to trap him. Baroness Emmuska Orczy was a Hungarian-born British novelist and playwrite. Her tone harkens back to Regency-style prose, but is so over-the-top that it is almost of a parody of the stuffy style of Jane Austen, flamboyant characters of H.G. Wells, and daring-do of Robert Louis Stevenson. You can practically hear the over-acted way that the characters speak (which is delightfully captured in the 1982 film version) and this is a large portion of the book’s charm. The comedy of near misses, the eternal rivalry between Agent Chauvelin and the Scarlet Pimpernel, and its innocent love stories help to make an otherwise grim setting romantic. The Way of the Scarlet Pimpernel is perhaps an easier introduction than one of the books that focuses more heavily on the titular character, as folk who aren’t used to this style of writing may be put off by his foppish drawl and the wanton smattering of French used throughout. In this adventure, our focus is on a small middleclass family besieged by the Committee of the Republic of France. We start following Louise, the wife of a lawyer (Charles-Léon) that has thus far made himself useful and so escaped persecution. Louise is a somewhat limp protagonist who is not galvanized to action until tragedy strikes and she is determined to save her son from persecution. However, being none too useful, she mishandles nearly everything, and were it not for the Scarlet Pimpernel’s assistance, she surely would have perished. Persevere through Louise’s introduction, as it is mostly a foil to introduce us to (and contrast her personality with) our true heroine, Josette. As Louise’s handmaiden and confident, Josette’s pluck and extraordinary beauty have earned her the love of the family’s steadfast though dull clerk, Maurice. Yet it will take a threat on his life for Josette to realize how much she loves him in return. Josette is unsophisticated, but earnest, brave, and unflaggingly hopeful. She undertakes a daring quest to save her mistress and Maurice from death sentences. She becomes an unwitting pawn of Agent Chauvelin’s, mistakenly believing him to be a member of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel. But fear not, her plight attracts the attention of the real Scarlet Pimpernel, as our heroine is pitted in a race against time, subterfuge, and blackmail. The entire thing is as melodramatic and delightful as it sounds. If you are one to read aloud, it lends wonderfully to sharing with a friend or lover…perhaps while also sharing a pot of Strawberry Champagne. Enjoy l’amour et liberté as you are swept up in The Way of the Scarlet Pimpernel!
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Ember's Review: This week our blog post was a little delayed. Due to the Capital City Comic Con shenanigans (and a bit of a vision scare on my part), life certainly had a lot in store for us. However, this isn't a life blog, so I won't bore you with the details of our long, exhausting and equally exciting weekend. I would like to tell you about this amazing tea we got from Tea Sparrow called Lavender Cream! It was all too perfect that our next tea happened to be a cream tea. Recently my roomate's friend asked me if I had ever tried one, and whether I thought they were any good. Of course, I love cream teas. I find them very soothing and comforting after a long day, and they're a perfect companion when you want something "strong but soft". Usually the cream teas tend to be black teas, but I have also seen hibiscus based herbal teas as creams as well. You may be wondering what makes a cream tea a 'cream' tea. Usually--in the case of black teas--it is some combination of lavender and vanilla, which is exactly the case with this lovely tea! Black tea leaves, lavender petals, lavender pieces, lavender extract, and vanilla extract are all that are in this organic tea. I find that cream teas like this Lavender Cream are a good way to ease in to the morning, or to ease out of a hard work day. There is something about them that always soothes you, and even the smell of the dry leaves is enough to send you in to a euphoric daydream. I have not been disappointed with a cream tea yet, and the richness it boasts in its simple yet complex flavour is exactly why we chose it for The Picture of Dorian Gray. From start to finish, there's a smooth sophistication to this tea that we felt was very fitting for Dorian. The first thing I noticed about this tea was that its dry leaf smell had much more vanilla to it then lavender. It is really easy to overdue the lavender, so whenever dealing with a lavender toting tea name, I always get a little leery. It is very easy for lavender to taste like a soap product. I was really impressed once we steeped it how subtle and perfectly balanced the lavender was with the vanilla. The two were like perfect partners, leaving you with a very satisfying and a very round, full mouth flavour. After the steep, the leaves smelled quite a bit more like lavender. I always love seeing how the tea starts and finishes. I find the taste of the tea is usually somewhere between the beginning smell and the finished smell. If you have a good imagination, it's pretty telling! You'll note that some of the tea lacking in the flavour department tend to have all their aromas stripped once steeped. Next time this happens, smell the wet tea leaves. I'll bet you anything that the tea leaves don't smell like much after you've poured hot water over them and let them rest. This tea is perfect as it is, without honey, cream or sugar to round it out. I would recommend this tea to any earl grey fanatics, or to those scared of trying a lavender tea for the first time. You can buy this tea here at Tea Sparrow's shop if you're interested! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Astra's Review: Oscar Wilde wrote plays, short stories, fairy tales, and most famously, his novella: The Picture of Dorian Gray. Sensual, sexual, and depraved, it matches the luscious flavour and enveloping scent of Lavender Cream tea. But to fully appreciate this book, it helps to have an understanding of the era in which it was written. Victorian England was morally uptight. While the British Empire appropriated culture from the many nations they’d invaded, they reframed imports to be ‘acceptable’ by British standards. On the surface Britain clung tightly to a moral high ground, while behind closed doors, mysticism was all the rage, along with the growing popularity of opium dens, the Kama Sutra, and hedonism. Enter Oscar Wilde, the poster boy for hedonism. In an age when sodomy (i.e. any male gay sexual act) was punishable by death, a sub-culture of dandies arose as a fashionable way to parade one’s sexual preferences without the police being able to arrest them. Wilde got away with a lot just by being a witty, gregarious, clever man. (He was so entertaining at parties that he inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to invent a certain eccentric detective with the mental acuity to solve any crime.) Originally published in a serialized format in 1890, Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray still caused uproar for its depravity (despite his editor cutting 500 of the more salacious words out). There was so much press around it—along with Oscar’s vehement defence of his book in the papers—that it was swiftly picked up to be published in novel format. This edition included the author’s aphorism defending the right of art for art’s sake, and became a sort of literary manifesto. Wilde’s story about a pair of male friends (Basil Hallward, a painter, and Lord Henry “Harry” Wotton, a hedonist) who both fall in love with the same pubescent boy (Dorian) is one of love, lust, purity, pleasure, and corruption. Oscar Wilde was known for writing characters into his plays that got to speak his observances or thoughts. In Dorian Gray, it could be argued that he presents himself as both Basil and Harry, in a sort of Jekyll and Hyde of his own desires. You probably know the key elements: Dorian’s perfect beauty inspires Basil to create his one artistic masterpiece—a portrait. Dorian, flattered by Basil’s attentions, recognizes his own beauty for the first time in seeing how Basil has portrayed him and becomes obsessed with his own power over women and men. Harry Wotton’s scandalizing conversations during these painting sessions introduces innocent Dorian to the ‘ways of the world’, including drugs, sex, gambling, seduction, and the finest luxuries. Basil tries to prevent his perfect Adonis from being corrupted, and somehow, mystically, his painting takes every marring disfigurement of Dorian’s rapidly degenerated soul instead of the young man himself being tarnished by his actions. There is far more to this story, both in allegory and plot. The slippery slopes are as understandable as they are horrific; the fickleness of a young man drunk on his own invincibility is as realistic as it is heart-breaking. Though full of drama as everything spirals out of control, a modern audience is less likely to be scandalized because Wilde’s themes have become a regular feature in entertainment. So, sip at your luscious Lavender Cream Allow the scents and richness of the tea to wash over you as you turn the page. Give in to the pleasure of Wilde’s luscious writing, and unravel the philosophical questions the story poses. In our current culture of striving for LGBT acceptance, we need Oscar Wilde more than ever. This weekend on Saturday was the third annual Victoria Tea Festival 'Revival'. For a small donation of 5$ and your own cup from home you could sample some of the local tea companies in town, as well as from the Mainland. We weren't quite sure what to expect, as there used to be a tea festival that took place in Victoria that had been cancelled due to lack of funds. It was one of the major reasons why I wanted to move to Victoria. The tea culture on the island seemed so diverse, full of life and passion. It was intoxicating, and while my interest in tea was still budding at the time, I was disappointed to hear the year that I landed on the island I now call home was the same year the tea festival had been canned. When I was surfing around on Facebook about a week ago I just so happened to stumble across a targeted advertisement for the tea festival. I immediately got jittery and fired off an all caps text to my roommate. Date. Time. Place. A giant grin on my face. Check, check, check, aaannd check! We had to go. Based on the photos they had on their Facebook page, the outdoor venue was much smaller then what my roommate was used to. They had previously attended a festival that took place at the Crystal Gardens that had lots of different classes, covering various topics related to tea. There were demonstrations on how to hear the temperature of the water without needing a thermometer, as well as proper tea ceremonies that you could learn about and take part in. This festival was small. There were roughly seven different booths, not including the Tea Symposium inside the JagaSilk Tea Bar. Each of the booths were unique in what they had to offer. The first offered samples of their tea. All I could see was a bright green-blue, and thanks to the butterfly pea flowers we talked about in our Howl's Moving Castle blog post, I knew right away what we were looking at. They were showcasing their personal blends that included the special transformative flower. The one on sample was butterfly pea flowers, lavender and peppermint (sourced from Washington State; a popular place for quality mint, if you were curious). The next stall was a woman who did tea readings (which Astra will touch on in a bit), and another made tea infused jellies. Of course I had to ask why all their bases were with grape jelly to satiate my own curiosity, though I was certain of the answer already. Grape is a surprisingly versatile flavour that pairs well with many profiles, all while not interfering with other flavours in the dish (or in this case, jelly). Case in point, the grape was like a step ladder for the tea infusions. Some were more subtle then others -- like green tea jellies versus the earl grey infusion. As we moved down the line, we came across a man selling more medicinal teas that were inspired by Chinese medicine. They had their own blends as well, focusing on specific themes; Remedy for cold and flu; Sleep for peaceful rest; Cleanse for a light detox. We sampled the Cleanse tea, which had a really lovely roasted flavour to it. We had expected a far more medicinal flavour to the tea and were extremely thrilled when we sipped the tea and found it far more enjoyable then medicine should be. But, hey! We're not going to complain. After all, it's good for you! My roommate and I shuffled down the line, and found ourselves at a kombucha stall. For me kombucha is really hit or miss, especially considering that the kombucha we know here on the West Coast is not the kombucha many Asian countries are familiar with. But we're not here to talk semantics. All things considered It was some of the best kombucha I have had so far living on the island, and Unity Jun's products are made in Canada! It made the experience all the more special. Our last stop was at the JagaSilk booth where they were making a sample of their lovely matcha (or maccha if you prefer) right at the table for all those interested! Recommended at 65°C, the thing you need to understand about matcha is that it is very delicate (do you see a recurring theme? Take notes! Take care of your tea). You really need to control the water flow and pour of your spout. If you follow us on our Instagram you will have most likely seen the video that was posted. The attendant's kettle had a very fine, small spout to it. She added the water very slowly, pausing every now and again, and once ready to whisk she used a specific wrist motion in order to get a nice froth with her matcha. A good matcha will be extra creamy, and if you can appreciate some of the more umami flavours that matcha can have, then I highly recommend popping by the JagaSilk tea bar if you're ever in Victoria! It was a quick walk through, but rather intimate. While it was over sooner then I would have liked it was a nice break from ordinary life. It was a reminder to take a deep breath once in a while, but also a nudge to attend some of the smaller events in your town or city. You never know what you could be missing! I would gladly go again next year, and hopefully next time with even more tea! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Astra's Tea Reading Review: Rather than a book pairing for this special additional post, I'm going to focus on a different kind of reading--a tea leaf reading! At the Victoria Tea Festival, a woman named Nicole was offering Tea Leaf Readings. Having never had my leaves read before I was very curious to see what it was all about. I've read Tarot cards for years, and have always had a fascination with various forms of pattern-reading, clairvoyance, and fortune telling. How did this particular method work, what was involved, and what kind of response would Nicole read in my tea cup? At first, I was attracted to the table by all of the adorable teacup-and-saucer sets. These were British style vessels, not the small Chinese porcelain cups I had expected. One in particular caught my eye: with a lattice-like rim to its saucer, a shimmering opalescent lacquer inside the porcelain, and a short wide cup. There were also four teas from our local Silk Road Tea company to choose from, and a number of small silver spoons for us to brew our own cups. Asking to sign up for a reading, I found that there was an empty slot starting in 4 minutes, and taking it, I was encouraged to pick, brew, and drink my tea as soon as possible so we could begin. I selected Philosopher's Brew, which is one of my favourites from Silk Road (a lemongrass, chamomile, rosehips blend that provokes introspection and relaxation), and one we've been out of stock of at home for some time. Since Nicole was still learning the art, and because I was the first of the day, I think I caught her off-guard a little, as there were a few instructions she forgot to give me while I was stirring the loose tea in my cup--like the fact that I'm supposed to focus on a specific question, or topic (much the same as one focuses when shuffling Tarot cards). Instead, I watched my tea steep, trying to cool it quickly enough to drink. As the residue must be left behind on the rim and bottom of the cup, the tea is brewed loose. One is meant to use their teeth against the edge of the cup to strain as they drink. If one has rabbit front teeth, like me, this proves less than satisfactory, so once my tea cooled enough to be a tolerable temperature to stick my lip into, I began sieving through my lips instead. All in all, I ended up eating quite a bit of my tea (so glad I chose a herbal)! One drinks their way around the rim of the cup, each sip progressing bit by bit. With a handled cup, this does make for some awkward last dregs, as the handle was tucked up against my chin, but I managed it. I was requested to be sure to drain every last drop, before passing my cup to Nicole. Discovering at this point that I was meant to have been meditating on a theme, I decided to pick a general topic that would tie in with where my head-space has been lately. If any whirring subconsciousness was influencing the patterns my lips made in the leaves, it would like be on this theme: The Path Ahead. I won't go into the minutiae of my reading, nor the interpretations I took from it. Instead I want to highlight what the experience was like, in case you are interested in having your leaves read. Nicole smelled the tea first, cupping the bowl of the teacup in both hands. Beyond the scent of the tea itself, sometimes a person leaves behind their own scent that mingles with the tea and imparts a theme to the reading. Next, she rotated the cup between her palms, inspecting the shape of the clump of leaves at the bottom of my cup, and also inspecting the trail of patterns and gaps made by the dregs trapped along the rim of the cup. She appeared to be rotating the cup in the same direction I had rotated it to drink. Then she began reading with the "high level" pieces, that is, each of the clumped shapes around the rim. Each cluster represented different symbols, which have meanings (much like the symbolism of images found in dreams). The more tangled or complex each cluster, the busier that segment would be, sometimes with more to juggle or more at stake. The gaps between clumps acted as pauses between events or stages of the coming weeks. Sometimes there would be a simple symbol (at one point I had perfectly crossed lemongrass filaments, like an x in the midst of a gap, which implied introspective discovery, rather than direct action). After reading each of these, Nicole then moved on to the conclusion to my question--in this case, my destination in the path ahead--which revolved around the larger clump of leaves at the bottom of the cup. These sink and settle while drinking, and so are considered anchoring--the result of all of the action and choices represented on the rim. Their configuration also seemed to explain the timeline of this reading, and provide some guidance to keep in mind while facing the path ahead. I tried to look up some of the symbolism she mentioned afterwards, and there seems to be a great deal of complexity as to when certain symbols hold certain meanings, though I'm not sure if this is to do with placement, proximity, or other techniques. As with any soothsaying endeavour, I try to provide as little feedback to the reader as possible, allowing them to give me a "clean" reading unaffected by leading responses. This allows me to go over the notes I made and meditate on their guidance on my own later. I use these sorts of readings not as "what is my fortune?" but rather as "what should I put some focus on in my life right now?" and in that context, the Tea Leaf Reading was very much on point. It was an interesting experience, and I would be curious to do another in the future. That's it for now! See you on Friday for our regular steep. |
AuthorsEmber and Astra joined forces to blog about their two deepest passions: books and tea! Here you will find information on various teas, and--alongside each tea--a book that will be perfectly paired and analyzed. The full book reviews (containing spoilers) as well as the source for the tea will be linked to in each blog post! Archives |