Big City Tea Bags

Although I am usually not a proponent of tea bags when looseleaf tea is available, these New York character tea bags from Pylones are so cute!

Marble Tea Eggs

After having some delicious Marble Tea Eggs at Ching Ching Cha Tea House in DC in January, Corwin and I made some ourselves.  

It is a fun recipe where you create a marbled design on the inside of a hard-boiled egg by cracking the shell and soaking in a tangy blend of spices.

Before cracking the shells

Finished product

Try this recipe at home!

Lavender Experience

Last night it got a little too late for the caffeine in Camellia Sinensis, so we tried a new herbal infusion that my mom's friend sent me for Valentine's Day.  It is Lavender, which I've never had in tea before!

Lavender Tea, English style.

Wouldn't you love to explore this lavender farm?

Beautiful Chinese Tea Thermoses

I love these ceramic designs.

More tea sessions!

Last night we had tea in my room - after several weeks without tea pourings!  Maria and Sarah were visiting from Pitzer, so they got to experience the gaiwan.

Chris!

We had a delicious and light green tea from Norbu called Huang Shan Mao Feng as well as a Japanese brown rice and matcha tea.  

Teacal Fall 2011

Final Projects in the Teacal

We had our final Teacal class of the semester!  The final project was an open-ended reflection and creative interpretation of the class on the whole.  We had a myriad of projects that ranged from artistic to culinary to scientific.

Several people made treats for the class to share: We had Jonathan's Chai Butter Cookies, Jeanette's Chai Cookies, Hayley's Green Tea Cookies with Green Tea Syrup, Elyse's Green Tea Shortbread, Wilson's Jasmine Green Tea Cookies and Torrin's Lemon Chamomile Shortbread as well as her Chai Gingerbread Bars.  Amazing!  Richard made us some Milk Tea with Green Tea, mint, lime zest, and honey to gulp down with the baked goods.  Also, Tianhui brought us Chinese herbs to taste.

Chris, who's into bar tending, made a Green Tea reduction syrup to mix into drinks, like a Daqiuri.

Chris' Green Tea leaves from his syrup.

Duncan made a composition about the experience of drinking tea.  He made it for a woodwind quintet, I believe, and acted it out for the class.

Duncan during his music performance

James, who is an MCB major, did a presentation on the molecular structures of caffeine and other compounds in tea!

Grace crocheted a Tea Cozy for a Gaiwan!

Theresa and her Tea Tree, made with real tea leaves. Shaina, Natalie, Andrew, and Erin also did artistic renderings of tea in collage, sketch, and scrapbook form. 

Other projects included Jessica's Genmaicha powerpoint presentation, Aaron and Frank's poems, and Anna's papermache teacup! 

Thanks, Teacal, for a wonderful class!