Global Tea Time

Tea is huge in India. Their style of brewing tea is popular the world over, and is used by many cultures. When I first started researching how people in other countries brewed their tea, I wasn't sure that I would be able to do anything different for India. Chai, spiced tea is popular the world over. While I have made several variations over the course of this blog, I think there is still something different about how they make it in India. There is a lot of variation, and they have many options to achieve a similar outcome. I also knew that there could be a lot of research involved in learning about tea in India, and I don't exactly have the time or patience to spend hours on the internet looking up information. Thankfully, I found a podcast, " Gastropod " that had an episode about tea that talked a lot about the history of tea in India. When the British colonized India, China was still the only country that produced tea. As British settlers started living in India...

I see that the automatic posting function is still not working. This was supposed to post last Sunday when I was traveling in real life, but it didn't. It has been a while since I've gotten away and gone somewhere. It was nice to have a bit of a break. . Today we are traveling to Taiwan , a small island nearly 3 times as long as it is wide, off of the southeast coast of China. The island is volcanic in origin, and about 2/3 of the land is covered in mountains. Spoiler alert, they grow tea on top of those mountains! I was quite amazed to read that maple trees grew there. Now I want to go there, set up a sap shanty, and drink tea. Real tea. Most of the information I first found about tea in Taiwan was about bubble tea. Sigh. They must drink it another way. I did a little more digging, and found the "old fashioned" way to drink tea. Traditionally, oolong tea is made and drunk in Taiwan. From the videos, tea is brewed in small teapots. It is then poured into a tall, n...

I survived the coding exam! 5 hours and 40 minutes with no breaks. Well, you can leave the room to use the restroom if you want to, but the time doesn't stop. This test is designed so that if you hesitate, or need to stop and think about anything at length, you will run out of time. You also get a free retake when you pay to take the test the first time if that tells you anything. It will be another week or so before I know my score, so I get to go back to being a real person again, at least for a bit. One thing that is premium on the mind of people taking this test for the first time is hydration and snacks. You will miss lunch while taking this test. Given the lack of bathroom breaks, you also don't want to drink much before the test, and that is a problem if you like your morning coffee/tea. So I went looking for a solution, maybe some bottled tea to take just in case I needed a hit of caffeine. I didn't like the look of the big bottles of tea, and most of them had som...

I take the medical coding certification exam tomorrow. Since I have a few partially finished posts, and not a lot of time, enjoy some Moroccan mint tea until next week. Okay, it's not actually Moroccan mint in my cup. It's a purple, mint tea blend, but the cups are really from Morocco. It's also really hard to take pictures of really shiny things. Anyway, I'll have a more composed (and informative) post next week.

Japan is one of the major players when it comes to tea. Their tea culture is the second oldest in the world. I wasn't sure how to approach exploring tea in this country because there is so much variety. There are the traditional and modern ways of drinking tea, and in addition, tea is also found in food. First, a little background on the country . Japan consists of a string of islands on the eastern edge of Asia. It is described as mountainous, with live and dormant volcanoes. Japan is known for ancient traditions and technological modernity. The history of Japan is quite lengthy, and the adoption of Western culture along with traditional culture makes it even more complicated. One of my hobbies is actually quite popular in Japan, and reflects the Western influence on the country. Tatting is a method of making a knotted lace by hand. A lot of new patterns and innovative designs are coming out of Japan. I have one book that is a translation from Japanese, and I nearly bought a t...

The concept of gongfu comes from China. I've heard through various resources that the term gongfu refers to learning to do anything well, but over time it has become mainly associated with tea brewing. Most of what I know about gongfu brewing has come from watching videos from Mei Leaf on YouTube. For a long time, I thought that a set would be too expensive to realistically buy, but then I started looking on Amazon... These sets are typically used on a bamboo tray that is made to hold excess water, but those were sold separately. I didn't think it would be too important to have one since other tea ceremony cultures use a bowl to hold leftover water from the brewing process, and place their brewing tools on a towel. I used an inverted bamboo steamer as a stand in for this picture. Now imagine it being rectangle, and sealed at the bottom to hold water. As it turned out, I realized how uneven the height of the slats on the steamer are. I decided to opt for a setup that was a l...

Today we travel to Uzbekistan , and Kyrgyzstan  . These 2 countries are neighbors, and they share tea culture. Uzbekistan This country was established by the USSR in 1924, and declared its independence in 1991. The climate depends on elevation, and the largest part of the population lives in the eastern half of the country around oases. Over half of the population lives in rural areas, and they have a fairly young population.  Kyrgyzstan This country is between Uzbekistan and northern China. Most of its border runs along mountain crests. They have a similar history of Soviet occupation, and also gained their independence in 1991. There are 2 main valleys that run through the country, and the majority of the population lives in the valley near the capitol.  The videos I found about tea were very similar. They serve green tea. When drinking tea in groups, service is made from oldest to youngest. Their tea sets match. They have a decorated pot to make the tea in,...