Snow Chrysanthemum

Snow chrysanthemum belongs to the sanvitalia procumbens plant species and grows in high elevations around the Kunlun Mountain in China's Xianjian province.   Infusions made from the dried blossoms of snow chrysanthemum have been enjoyed by the ethnic Uighur people in China.

Snow chrysanthemum is touted as containing large amounts of health-promoting amino acids and trace elements.   Wild harvested flowers are scarce and would command a higher price.  Consequently, many farmers began to cultivate the plant for lucrative profits.  This eventually led snow chrysanthemum to become a commodity of speculation and manipulation in recent years.   The price of snow chrysanthemum per kg climbed up to $3000 USD in 2011.   Then, thump, it crashed down to $5 USD per kg in 2012.    It was a story of rags to riches and back again.

     

Snow chrysanthemum brew is orange crimson color.  It has herbal, creamy and mild berry flavors.   It can be brewed alone or added to regular teas.

Savory Teas

A savory tea is a melange of vegetables, herbs, spices and tea.   Numi produces 6 blends of interesting savory teas:  Carrot Curry, Fennel Spice, Spinach Chive, Tomato Mint, Beet Cabbage, and Broccoli Cilantro.   Following are four of the six blends.  They all contain decaffeinated green or black teas.

Savory teas

To make a cup or a bowl of savory tea, brew one tea bag in hot water for over 10 minutes.  What are the infusions like?  They come close to salt-free vegetable broths.   Take Fennel Spice for example, it has a strong flavor of fennel and no hints of green tea.  As for Tomato Mint, it is zesty, minty and spicy.  

The ingredients in Fennel Spice are organic fennel, organic celery root, organic orange peel, organic onion, organic dill, organic decaf green tea, organic honeybush and organic black pepper.   The ingredients in Tomato Mint are organic tomato, organic onion, organic mint, organic lemon peel, organic parsley, organic cinnamon, organic black pepper, organic decaf black tea, and organic allspice.    

Fennel Spice and Tomato Mint

Great British Tea - Tregothnan

"No," he said, "look, it's very, very simple ... all I want ... is a cup of tea.  You are going to make one for me.  Keep quiet and listen."  And he sat.  He told the Nutri-Matic about India, he told it about China, he told it about Ceylon.  He told it  about broad leaves drying in the sun. 

- Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

There is nothing more quintessential British than drinking tea.  Britain has always relied on imports to meet the demand for tea as she is not a tea growing country.  That has changed slightly after the Tregothnan Estate in Cornwall planted many acres of tea plants starting in 1999, and began to produce true British tea in 2005 or 2006.  Today Tregothnan offers about five blended black teas, one blended green tea and its single estate tea.  

3 Tregothnan black teas

Tregothnan created this Great British tea for 10 Downing Street.  It is a blend of Tregothnan's tea leaves and Assam tea (percentage unknown).   It is strong but not as bold as English Breakfast tea is.   It is more refined but lacks maltiness, and is best enjoyed without adding milk.

Great British Tea

Type:  Black    Country: England    Preparation:  95°C 4 Min

Dry Leaf:  The black and brown wiry leaves give off pleasant spices and dried fruit aromas.
Wet Leaf:  The wet leaves smell like sweet dried fruits mixed in with wet straw.
Liquor:      The tea color is copper brown   It is chocolaty and woody with hints of cigars and spices.  It is not very malty and has light to medium astringency.  

Tee Score: 4 of 5

Tea Blossoms

Tea blossoms are simply the flowers of Camellia sinensis whose leaves are harvested and transformed into many types of teas.   Tea blossoms are hermaphrodite; i.e., each flower has both male and female reproduction parts.   Tea flowers are generally white with golden yellow stamens.

Tea Flower on an indoor tea plant

The flowers of Camellia sinensis are rarely collected by tea farmers. When they are, they are dried and used for making 'tea'.   Here are two samples of dried blossoms:

Left - X    Right - Y

X:  The flowers were wild harvested from ancient tea trees in Lan Xang region in East Asia.  They were withered ( & oxidation occurred) and sun dried.  They are commercially available.
Y:  The flowers were gathered from an indoor pampered tea plant when they faded.

Left:  X    Right: Y

Each cup of the tea blossom beverages was steeped using one teaspoon of flowers in four ounce of boiling water for six minutes.   Both beverages taste woody and very herbaceous.  X has a cinnamon note and Y is earthy & slightly bitter.  Like tea, tea blossom beverages contain antioxidants as well as caffeine.  According to a biochemistry study conducted in Taiwan, tea flowers contain much less caffeine (maybe 1/10 that of tea) but comparable amounts of polyphenols.   In other words, a tea blossom beverage is healthy and 'virturally' caffeine-free.    

Java Golden Black

Indonesia is one of the top coffee producing and exporting countries in the world.   Indonesia also produces and exports tea, mostly black tea for blending.   The cultivation of coffee and tea dates back to the Dutch colonization during 17th and 18th centuries.   The island of Java, with its tropical climate and rich volcanic soil, is the heartland of tea and coffee farming.

'Java' may be synonymous with coffee but this Java Golden is a premium-grade black tea.  It contains young gold leaves that make a cup of rich and strong tea, strong enough to sustain a person all night writing Java code.

Java Gold

Type:  Black   Country: Indonesia   Preparation:  95°C 4 Min

Dry Leaf:  The small, short and wiry leaves are gold and brown.   Their aroma is dark fruity (raisins and prunes).
Wet Leaf:  The wet leaves have a wet straw smell to them.
Liquor:      The tea is bright coppery in color.   It is brisk, spicy, lightly floral, with a coffee undertone.  It is excellent with milk and sugar.

Tee Score: 4 of 5

Tanzania Livingstonia

Tanzania, home to Mount Kilimanjiro, is the fourth largest tea producer in Africa after Kenya, Malawi and Uganda.  Over 75% of Tanzanian tea is exported.

German settlers first introduced and planted tea in Tanzania in 1902 and after World War II the British took over tea plantations.  Since her independence from Great Britain in 1961, Tanzania continues to cultivate tea in three major areas: south, northeast and northwest zones.

This Livingstonia tea is named after David Livingstone, a well-known 19th century Scottish medical missionary and explorer in Africa.  The tea is not as strong as regular African tea found in some tea bags.  It is a lighter black tea, somehow reminiscent of Lover's Leap from Sri Lanka.  

Livingstonia

Type:  Black    Country: Tanzania    Preparation:  95°C 4 Min

Dry Leaf:  The chopped pieces of dried leaves are raisiny.
Wet Leaf:  The wet leaves are brown and faintly floral.
Liquor:      The tea is reddish brown.   It is light to medium-bodied but with noticeable astringency.  It is slightly citrusy, spicy and floral.

Tee Score: 3 of 5

Tea Seed Oil

Tea seed oil, not to be confused with tea tree oil from Australia, has been used in Chinese kitchens for several hundred years.  The oil can come from the seeds of Camellia Sinensis as a byproduct of a tea garden, but is commonly derived from those of Camellia oleifera and Camellia tenuifolia.  C oleifera is the primary species cultivated in China while C tenuifolia is indigenous to Taiwan.

Camellia Sinensis seeds

The traditional method of  making the oil is as follows:

1. Pick and gather tea seeds.  Dry them in the sun.
2. Remove shells then pulverize the seeds.  
3. Briefly steam the pulverized seeds before cooling and compressing them into round cakes.
4. Load the cakes into an expeller to extract oil. 

Tea seed oil contains almost 85% of monounsaturated fatty acids and is praised as an optimal culinary oil.   Furthermore, tea seed oil has a higher smoking point of about 240°C.   It also has a longer shelf life.

Left to right: 1-Bitter tea oil, 2-Tea seed oil and 3-Tea oil Camellia

The three bottles of oil were imported from Taiwan or China.  Each has its unique flavor profile depending on the seed source and its processing method.

1. Bitter tea oil (Taiwan) was produced by the traditional method.  The color of the oil is golden yellow and its mouth feel is a slight bitter tea taste.   It is regarded as a tonic for new mothers.

2. Tea seed oil (Taiwan) was extracted from seeds that were roasted. The oil is orange amber in color and has a rich, molasses and roasted flavor.   It is lovely like sesame oil.

3. Tea oil Camellia (China) is almost translucent in color.  It is light and faintly buttery.   Although its neutral flavor is ideal for baking, deep frying and salad making, the oil might have been refined.