British tea 3

Great Britain (or the United Kingdom) comprises a combination of England, Whales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The ins and outs of the structure and politics of the UK are beyond me. Whenever I think of the UK, I remember a comment from an episode of "My Word!" that played on NPR when I was in college. At the end of the show, the panelists were given a phrase, and they had to make up a story around it. Those stories were often pun filled flights of imagination, but I always remembered one panelist described the island of Great Britain as "looking like a chap wearing a big hat riding a pig backwards". I looked up a picture of the island, and I saw what he was talking about.

I decided to look up tea in Scotland today, and found that they do feel compelled to share their tea culture online in a meaningful way. There is actually a tea garden in Scotland where they make artisnal black teas. 

Scotland comprises about 1/3 of the island of Great Britain, and is further divided into the highlands in the north, and the lowlands further south. I think the tea plantation is actually in the lowlands (tea is usually grown at higher elevations - the higher the elevation, the fewer pesticides needed). On the other hand, the weather would be slightly more forgiving at lower elevations given that Scotland is not known for being warm (in the video they do mention protecting the plants from the weather). 


As luck would have it, I currently have some artisinal black tea from Kenya. While I'm sure the tea from Scotland tastes different, I will raise a cup of artisinal black tea in their honor. 

Look at those beautiful leaves! As I have been taking this culinary trip, I've really learned to look at the tea leaves, and appreciate their beauty. 

Here's the final brew. In the video, they talk about getting multiple brews from the leaves that they grow. This particular tea from Nandi Hills, Kenya can get 2 decent brews if you treat the leaves right. You either have to brew the second cup right away, or spread the wet leaves out to cool off immediately after brewing. Even then, don't wait too long before the next brew or they will develop sour, off flavors. 

Comments

  1. Poppy CrockerJuly 21, 2019 at 8:24 AM

    My life would be so much more exciting if I had to worry about the best way to reuse tea leaves.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lace makerJuly 21, 2019 at 12:48 PM

      I so wish that that was the biggest concern in my life. The reality is that adults don't have much control over their lives either, even though kids think that they do.

      Delete

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