The Simple Leaf
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I am wondering how I could possibly be good enough to deserve this tea and my mind is humming over trying to give examples (I cleaned out all the kitchen cupboards yesterday, I finished a significant task at work last week, etc.). But the truth is that no one is good enough to deserve this tea. It is a work of grace that this tea exists and we mortals can enjoy its warm cocoa taste with complex notes of tea and caramel. So now I’m blissing out on grace.
Preparation
The tea has improbably large, twisted black leaves that smell of chocolate. It brews up into a brandy-colored brew that smells like chocolate. The taste is true to the fragrance, it is like a cocoa tea with no bitterness and the merest hint of astringency. This is so good! I really need to order more of this when I run out of my small package. I’ve upped the rating a bit.
Preparation
Oooh, that does sound rather delicious. If I may pry, what is it not doing that’s keeping it shy of perfect?
There are three qualities a tea must have to be a 100 tea: Perfection of Taste, Passion, and Lasting Joy.
Both 99 and 100 teas have perfection of taste and this tea is simply perfect in that way.
However, the primary difference between 99 and 100 is passion. Both 99 and 100 teas must taste perfect with no downsides. But a 100 tea must have that quality that compels me to order the largest size possible of the tea. It must engender in me a devil-may-care passion. I must feel that my life is simply incomplete if ever I run out of this tea. This tea has passed that second test. A few days ago I put in an order for a pound of it.
The third quality is that I must not regret it when the large size arrives and, in fact, seeing the large quantity of tea must continue to fill me with happiness for a long time afterward. This tea has not yet proven itself regret-free since the large quantity hasn’t yet arrived. My honest guess is that this tea is going to prove to be a 100. I am already looking for a yixing teapot to dedicate to this tea and I never felt that way about a tea before.
This is another single sourced tea from The Simple Leaf. This one is from Arunchal Pradesh in India, which is high in the mountains north of Assam and west of Bhutan along the Chinese Indian border. One of the nice things about these single sourced teas is that they are kind of an adventure in a cup. I fantasize about the beauty of these mountainous areas as I sip.
This tea has beautiful, large twisted leaves that smell of chocolate and raisins. It brews into a golden red liquor with scents of chocolate, toast, slight note of malt and the sweetness of tea. It has a very light mild flavor with chocolate notes. It is quite good.
Preparation
This is a single-sourced tea from Himachal Pradesh in India. I bought it because one of the characters in my novel comes from this beautiful place. His parents regularly send him tea from home and I wanted to know what he was getting in his care packages. (Of course, now I am absolutely compelled to try all manner of Indian sweets and teas that can be placed in care packages.)
The dry leaves smell grassy. Steeped the tea brews a golden liquor that smells of flowers, honey, and a very slight note of citrus. The taste is slightly nutty with a slight vegetal and a very, very slight aftertaste of orchid. Nicely satisfying, though I wish more of the exotic fragrances could be found in the tea as well.
Update: As the tea cools the flowery taste becomes more pronounced.
Preparation
What an awesome reason to order a tea!
It is a solemn duty to try the good stuff your character eats or drinks. ;)
Seriously though, it is a fun reason and it does make me feel a bit closer to my imaginary character, even if he does have an evil streak.
Oh the things we do for our works!
That’s awesome on so many levels, Carolyn! I need to find excuses like that to purchase more tea/things.
Yes. I am a deeply honorable artist committed so thoroughly to my work that I am willing to try any amazing tea or even make the ultimate sacrifice and be feted with delightful desserts.
My beloved is writing a book set in Ancient Greece and Rome and I keep suggesting that we have a perfectly authentic dinners from both ancient Greece and ancient Rome, but he is not as dedicated to his art as I am. ;)
I don’t know about food from ANCIENT Greece, but I love me some spanakopita.
This tea sounds delicious. Pray tell, what does orchid taste like? That may be an unanswerable question, because it likely tastes like orchid, so if it is, what do you consume to get a feeling for what orchid tastes like?
Also, your novel sounds like something I would like to read.
It’s not how orchids taste (as I recall from the time I nervously nibbled on my corsage they taste like bitter vegetables) it’s how orchids smell. Or rather, how some orchids smell, which is a dark floral smell.
As to how the tea tastes, I think it would very much appeal to you. It has some of that oolong floweriness but is not as vegetal and has more green tea flavor than oolong.
You’re writing a book? That is so cool!
Might I suggest you try almond or cashew burfi, sohan papdi, and laddu? Those are my three favorite “care package”-able Indian sweets. A box of brightly colored burfi (pink, green, white and tan) is what I think of first when I hear Indian sweets. Not sure if they are specific to a particular region, but I think most people buy their sweets from a sweets shop rather than make them homemade, and that those sweets are popular/universal across India. Some North Indian desserts that don’t travel well, but are awesome and worth trying – gulab jamin, kheer, jalebi, kulfi, ras malai, various kinds of halwa….mmmm. Don’t even get me started on South Indian sweets. :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_sweets_and_desserts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_sweets
Yes, that’s right, wikipedia has TWO whole pages dedicated to this topic. :)
@Shanti Book writing is way over-rated.
I will definitely try the almond or cashew burfi. I believe I had that a few years ago at a Hare Krishna restaurant in Denver and it was yummy. I haven’t heard of sohan papdi or laddu but will definitely ask about them. My partner at work is Indian so he is my go-to guy when it comes to Indian food. We’ve had gulab jamin (my beloved’s favorite dessert), carrot halwa, and kheer. Those don’t seem as if they would travel well, though. (But they are wonderful.) I will look at the rest that you mention. Thanks for the information!
O rly? Damn it. Now I’m going to have to get it, Carolyn.
Hold tight and I’ll send you a sample. (I do have a pound of this tea now.)
I heart you. Give me a few weeks to order some stuff and then I’ll ask you if you want anything from me.
I really don’t need anything right now. My teas have been exiled to the dining room table awaiting reorganization before I can put them back in the kitchen. My beloved says he is tired of my teas taking over the kitchen and preventing him from preparing what he likes. So what I really need right now is less tea or a bigger cabinet or some sort of mind-bending technology to use on my beloved to convince him that he loves being attacked by tea.
This looks pretty amazing I must say. Those leaves are so beautiful. Into the shopping cart it goes. I’m becoming more and more intrigued by the teas on The Simple Leaf website. They look really nice!
Oh, this sounds so nice! Too bad the company only ships to the US, Canada and the UK. I do plan to write to them to ask about adding another country to the list ~_^…