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Aha! I found a crouching foil sample in the corner of my ‘to be reviewed’ organizor. You can run, but you can’t hide from me for long.

I jumped onto the Rocky Mountain Roller-Coaster at 66 degrees yesterday and am holding on…WHEEEEE as the dip is about to hit with a snow-storm tonight. DOWN we’ll plunge with 5-6 inches of snow and then WHEEEEE back up to the 60’s most of next week!

What do you do on this wild ride? Make soup and drink tea! (Uh and watch a good movie!)

So, a long time ago before I knew from Gaiwan’s and such, I always made tea in a teapot with a brew basket ‘Western Style’. I was happy.
About 6 months ago, I began to brew more black tea’s in my Gaiwan and was shocked at how different the flavor was compared to the teapot method.
Since that time, I’ve been revisiting those same tea’s I tasted before to brew the ‘new’ way with greater enjoyment in most cases.

Zhu Rhong was a tea that I had tasted ‘Western Style’.

After fixing some Thai coconut curry fish soup for today and tomorrow, I made tea.

As soon as I poured the tea through my small strainer into the porcelain pitcher, I bent over to smell the leaves and the leaves
mocked me with a scent so potently delicious that I turned my head and sneezed!

Bugger!

Wow, are there words to describe the scent of these leaves?!

Chocolate covered dry fruit dipped in honey and oozing (or melting in the sun). I can’t think of anything other than this and it’s a lame attempt at the aroma.

I picked up the pitcher and poured the tea into my cup. There was a sheen, a coating of tea on the pitcher that was silky when I touched it.

The silkiness was in my mouth all the way through the swallowing of the tea, not butter but the way an emolliant feels on your skin when it’s dry…soothing and light, gliding easily.

If the Zhu Rhong was music, it would be Gershwin or Brubeck, rich and full with unexpected notes of flavor. Classic.

Zhu Rhong is the DARK CHOCOLATE LOVER"S TEA! That’s where I reside.
I love Laoshan Black and all the other fabulous Black Tea’s, but Zhu Rhong is in my top 10 list because of the dark bittersweet edge.

I hope this returns, but if not…the adventure in tea is always exciting.

Last night my granddaughter Megan (who I’ve mentioned before many times as a young composer) conducted an original piece of music (she did the arrangement also). The original was 1840 Irish song (A Nation Once Again) by Thomas Davis ( a protest song before the days of the IRA) and Megan used his words. Here’s the link if you want to see it performed… http://youtu.be/6wAv_p3eP_o