ring around the rosies

From sky to earth.

After yesterday's whack-i-ness*, we're coming back down to earth for a while to discuss my favorite hot beverage. No, not chai, although that was running a close second there for a while. My all time favorite hot bev is GREEN TEA. I love this beverage for many reasons, although I used to hate it and here's why.

Long ago, I tried green tea and I thought, blech! So bitter! So boring! So not good! What was the fuss about?? It had a taste only a Chinese mother could love. I tried sweetening it (which makes me cringe now at the thought), adding milk, all the sorts of things we do to regular tea to make it less bitter, but I could not find a happy medium that made me think, "Hey, let me just brew myself up a nice mug of green tea! That sounds yum!" Oh no. I felt I was just not a "green tea person." Sure, it is wicked nutritious, curing everything from warts to stomach ailments (just kidding about that first part), and apparently has NO bad side effects. People that drink it their whole lives weigh about 98 lbs. and live to be 503. But I just COULD. NOT. DO IT.

Then I got edumacated. I don't recall what my first experience was with proper green tea, but it was probably with the sampler that my BF sent me. In Pursuit of Tea is the company, and they make these little boxes with several tea tins each with enough for a pot or two of a different kind of tea. Oh, and instructions. They also give us the instructions. Very important to learn Ancient Chinese Secret Regarding Tea. The sampler she sent me for Christmas that year was a veritable cornucopia of green tea. Some of it wasn't even green, some of it was white tea, but they were all similar in their non-Westerness, their odors that strongly resembled lawn clippings, and their absence of bags to hold them prisoner.

I think that's the key, really, to invest (ha! green tea in an asian market is SO cheap) in good quality tea, and to use loose leaves. Once I brewed my first pot of proper green tea, I became an ersatz tea genie, insisting on only loose tea, water at certain temperatures, no condiments, blah, blah, blah. Really, it was so obnoxious to be around I'm surprised all my friends didn't sell me to the Red Army and call it a day.

But there *is* the fact of that perfect cup. The steam that smells like vapors rising off hot concrete during a summer storm. The flavor that resembles, er, grass. I know that may not sound that appetizing, but once you've tasted it, you know. More flavor than plain water, mild and smooth, but somehow very refreshing. It leaves no icky film in the mouth, or bad "tea breath." It requires, indeed, demands no sweetener. And it makes one feel so good drinking it. It's the "space in between the breaths" of the tea world, to borrow a saying from yoga class. Nice and neutral, a backdrop against your day.

I used to take an entire thermos (huge! pot of tea could hardly fill it!) to work every day and drink the entire thing before lunch time. My students started to grow curious. What is this that you bring here and drink before us with that ecstatic expression on your face? And does it have vodka in it? Soon they understood that their teacher was really not a closet alcoholic (their explanation for everything), and eventually they came to shower me in tea-related gifts, when, that is, they weren't hiding my crutches like they did that time when I broke my ankle. It's really a wonder I didn't start putting vodka in my thermos after all. Teenagers! Love them! Really, I do. Except everyone needs a break from 'em every seven years (or minutes) or so.

Anyway, here's a little primer on green tea, for those of you who want to see what all the fuss is about.

First, get thee to an Asian market and purchase a box of loose tea. It does come in a variety of flavors, but I would generally ask the proprieter to recommend the most popular brand or type. I started with some from a tea shop in China Town on a trip to SF. (Proprietor's famous advice, "Drink green tea! Make tummy smaller!" I think that made me a convert for life.) Love tea shops! Lots of trial and error, very little commitment. If you live near one of these areas, then this really is your lucky day. If not, then that just makes this more like a scavenger hunt. Fun!! Later we'll be looking for an empty box of oatmeal, an autograph from a police officer, and your picture taken with the entire staff of Wendy's.

This type of green tea is called "gunpowder." See the little balls? Hand-rolled leaves to concentrate the flavor. Looks like gunpowder! You only need this much for an entire POT of tea. So this is why the price relative to what you get is quite reasonable.

After brewing, this is what the little balls turn into--whole tea leaves. Much better than the little tea dust inside those tea bags. No wonder those bags make such bitter tea. You're drinking the dregs of the tea merchant's stash. This handful of wet leaves brought to you by my teapot leftover from yesterday. Cold wet tea leaves in my hand first thing in the a.m. Fun!

This is the brand of tea that I'm drinking. I'm not wedded to this brand or anything. It was a gift from a Chinese friend of ours. I think maybe he and his brother watched lots of American films. Since they came to this country, they have used American names, which they gave themselves as children. His name is Freddy. His brother's name is Jason.

This is my Bodum tea pot. It has an infuser. I am not wedded to this brand, either, but an infuser of some kind is crucial to a good pot of tea. As well as a good source of hot filtered water. If you don't have a hot water dispenser (bottled water delivered=necessity when you live on the coast...seriously, do they expect us to bathe in this stuff that comes out of our faucet, much less drink it??), then some other heat-em-up contraption is great. I think I've talked about this before, so I will not continue.

Temperature of the tea water is also important, otherwise you will cook your tea leaves and they will turn bitter. Do not overheat the water! You should heat the water until it is ALMOST boiling, but then turn it off. (In Pursuit of Tea says 170-185 degrees for white and green teas, which is waay below boiling point.) The hot water dispenser I have gives it to me at 195 degrees. But I think the temperature gauge on it lies to me, so it's probably closer to 185. Whatever, it tastes fine. See?? I can TOTALLY relax about this. Really! Not obnoxious!

Okay, it does not need to brew that long. I know you are waiting it to turn, well, tea-colored. But it does not! You are drinking something that is, at best, pale, pale green. It really looks like the water that runs out of the bottom of your flower pots. Be not deterred! It still smells and tastes like grass, and that is your goal! Expect this to be very translucent. If it is dark, you will not like the flavor, I promise.

Pour it in your mug and sip. It does not need sugar, so put that spoon down! Just savor it. The first mug may taste weird! Just force yourself to drink another. Then another. You will like it before you even know what has happened to you. And you will have the sudden urge to mow the lawn.

Feel the goodness spreading throughout your being. Read an Amy Tan book. Order some Chinese take-out. Do some zen meditation. Watch a kung fu marathon. Preferably not all at the same time. You are experiencing something new, so enjoy it.

Yum! Tea! It almost makes me forget the absence of sugar in my diet. After my cheat day on Sunday, I felt a little icky, and not that fulfilled. I ate nearly a half of a homemade lemon pie. Tried to make it taste like Johnny Ray's BBQ lemon pie in B'ham. Close, but not quite. Still it was good for breakfast. I did miss my veggies, and given a day to eat WHATEVER I wanted and AS MUCH of it as I wanted, I really didn't eat that much. I still used Splenda in my coffee, a square meal for dinner. My biggest extravagance beside the lemon pie was a bowl of yogurt-flavored Cheerios for lunch and several pieces of garlic bread with my dinner. Hmh! Kind of a downer, really.

Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled sugar-free diet.

I'm off to go for my walk and, at some point today, work on my Jaywalker (yikes! Did I forget to mention I cast on for the Jaywalker yesterday?? Sorry, slight oversight. Must report more tomorrow. Too soon to talk about it, anyway) Have a great day.

*I'm really not sure from whence the word "wharp" came in yesterday's entry, except from my weakened brain at 7 a.m. I meant to say "whack," although it sort of fit in well with my space theme. Thanks to Knits and Grits Katie for acknowledging my mistake. I'm forever grapeful.

Posted by Rachel at January 31, 2006 08:25 AM