Ukraine

Today we travel to the second largest country in Europe, the Ukraine. I'll admit that I was surprised to discover that it is the next country smaller than Russia. They have been an independent country for a comparatively short time with a brief period of independence from 1918 to 1920, and then declaring independence again in 1990 as the U.S.S.R. was breaking up. The country has some mountainous regions around its borders, but is mostly plains with some highlands. 

Information on tea drinking was pretty sparse. I did find an interesting video about a Ukrainian who won a tea brewing competition. He had these special tea pots made that stacked one on top of the other, and he did multiple step brewing with different teas that brewed at different temperatures. I don't know what different types of tea he used, but I decided to make some mint green tea. 


Since mint steeps fine in boiling water, I added a scoop and let it steep for a minute. While the champion tea brewer would filter all the mint leaves out of the water before brewing the green tea, I just tossed my green tea in after a minute to steep another 3 minutes. This is actually a more accurate way to brew the tea since green tea brews best at a lower temperature, and herbal teas tend to brew for longer periods of time than green tea. 


Yes, I did mix countries a bit by using my Moroccan tea cup, but I have to justify getting it, right? Okay, I do use my fancy tea ware whenever I can just because I like it. While the champion tea brewer would certainly be unimpressed, it is more involved than just plopping a tea bag into your cup and going about your day. 

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