Bubble Tea

"Shaken, not stirred" is how 007 James Bond likes his martini made. 'Shaken, and stirred' is how Chun Shui Tang (Spring Water place) prepares its pearl milk tea.

Chun Shui Tang is credited with the creation of bubble tea (a.k.a. pearl milk tea or boba tea) in Taiwan.   Mr. Liu Han-Jah established Chun Shui Tang in Taichung, Taiwan, in 1983, and later came up with the idea of offering his customers 'foamy iced black tea' using a cocktail shaker.  In 1987 Ms. Lin Hsiu-Fui, one of Mr. Liu's employees, made a whimsical choice to put her favorite Taiwanese tapioca balls (fen-yuan) in her iced tea, and subsequently started to share her concoction with her colleagues and customers.  Before long, the tapioca ball milk tea became an instant success and the rest is history.  

Bubble teas are made to order at Chun Shui Tang.  Customers may choose the amount of ice and sugar in their drinks.   The proximate steps for making its famous pearl milk tea are as follows :

- put ice in a cocktail shaker
- add 80 cc brewed Assam black tea
- stir in creamer and cane sugar syrup
- **add cooked tapioca balls (7 mm size)
- shake 33 times
- pour and serve in a coffee glass mug or a tall paper cup.
** alternatively, put cooked tapioca balls in a glass or a cup then pour shaken milk tea over them.  Stir the tea lightly with a straw.

The characteristics of good bubble teas are foamy on top, fresh tea aromas, not too sweet and 'al dente' tapioca pearls.

Pearl Milk tea in the patio of Chun Shui Tang

foamy pearl milk tea

7mm tapioca balls

The original Chun Shui Tang is located in Siwei Street, Taichung, and was renovated in 2014.  Below are photos of  menu and Yongfu Road store in Taichung, which is five miles west of the flagship tea house.  As of 2015, there are about 42 Chun Shui Tang tea houses in Taiwan and five in Japan.   The tea houses serve a variety of cold and hot beverages as well as food.

Yongfu Road Chun Shui Tang

London Fog

The word on the street is that London Fog was created in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, around mid 2000.   However, if you ask people on the streets of Vancouver about the origin of this drink, you would get a blank look.  So far, no one has claimed credit for this hot beverage.

London Fog, in essence, is an Earl Grey tea latte.   Commonly, to make a London Fog drink, use two thirds Earl Grey brewed tea and add one third steamed milk plus a shot of vanilla syrup.   There are many variations of London Fog depending on whom, where, what and how.   Below are four Vancouver samples of London Fog:

Blenz Coffee on Commercial & Broadway
lemony, citrusy, no tea taste, not too sweet and no foam.

Murchie's at Oakridge Shopping

More tea taste, barely sweet and two tea bags floating in the foam.  

Starbucks on Commercial and Broadway

one tea bag, foamy, lemony and a bit too sweet

Sweet Revenge on Main

Tea leaves used, more refined vanilla and citrus flavors.

Sparrow's Mouth

This 'thingy' is sold as white tea or Pu'er tea from Yunnan, China.  It has several names, including Yabao and Nan Mei.  

The buds are picked and then sun-dried or steamed & sun-dried.   Some are further compressed into round cakes.  The buds do not resemble any regular white tea leaves (e.g., silver needles) and have a piney aroma.

Sparrow's Mouth

Use boiling water to brew and re-brew the buds for making 'tea'.   The infusion is mild, sweet, floral and lightly spicy.   A pleasant piney and sweet aftertaste lingers in the mouth.

Sparrow's Mouth infusion

Is it or is it not?  This wild 'thingy' is not a true tea but is likely from the buds of wild-grown vaccinium dunalianum var dunalianum in Yunnan. Local Chinese people call it Sparrow's Mouth.  Limited analysis of it has shown that Sparrow's Mouth contains no caffeine.  There are two types of Sparrow's Mouth : purple and white.   Both are touted as remedies for detoxification, indigestion, sore throat, lethargy, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.   The 'thingy' is also known as Moonlight Goddess because the steeped buds could appear like ladies in a hot tub!     

Moonlight Goddess

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.