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!

Shout out to Numi Tea

Numi Tea, based in Oakland, California, provided us with some great tea choices in the Teacal this semester.  My fellow Berkeley students and I were really excited to taste them.  We tasted a White Bai Mu Dan, a classically delicious Green Dragonwell, and Numi's Aged Earl Grey Tea, among others.

Numi also gave us some of their Flowering Teas.  They are intricately hand-tied tea leaves that open up into a beautiful flower bouquet when steeped.  The class enjoyed observing these when we tasted one during Black Tea week!

Thanks Numi!

Cook with Tea

Tea Seed Oil is on the market now!  I've been reading about how popular it is in China and Japan for cooking, as well as other uses.  Tea Seed Oil (not to be confused with Tea Tree Oil) is cold-pressed from the seeds of Camellia oleifera, a close cousin of Camellia sinensis (the variety which tea leaves for drinking come from).

Seeds!

 In China, tea seed oil is used in dips, sauces, marinades, and dressing as well as to make soap, lubricants, and rustproofing oil.  In Japan it is used to make tempura and to slick back the hair of Sumo wrestlers.  Lastly, the Emerald Harvest Tea Oil  website boasts these advantages:

1. The Highest level of monounsaturated fat of ALL oils 2. The Highest smoke point of ALL oils 3. One of the lowest levels of saturated fat of ALL oils 4. Vitamin E, Omega 6 and 9 essential fatty acids 5. No Transfat

Tea and Tarot

Our most recent Cloyne tea pouring also included some Tarot card exploration.  On Thursday we had a Sencha from Norbu, Royal Garland Oolong from Samovar, Tie Guan Yin from Chan Teas, and Ryokucha from Samovar.  We loved the electric green color of the Ryokucha as well as the grassiness of the Sencha.  

Aaron, Vince, and Taylor

Freddy, Chris, and Zoe

 Freddy and Zoe with Nate

Black Tea Week

This Tuesday, we tasted Black tea in the Teacal.  It wasn't the most extensive tasting in comparison to Greens and Oolongs, which are much more plentiful in Chinese tea production.  However, we tasted some nice teas from Norbu Tea and Numi Tea.

We tasted Numi's Aged Earl Grey.  It's a black tea flavored with Bergamot oil.  It's a strong one, with nice citrusy flavors and the bite of the high quality black tea.

Bergamot

We also had a Feng Qing Gold Tips variety, from Norbu.  It's from the Yunnan province and it's leaves are a lighter color, and very thin and fuzzy.

Jonathan and Richard

Black tea tasting

Shout out to Root'd Tea

Root'd tea donated a bunch of tea and teaware for the class this semester.  We've tasted their delicious Yellow Phoenix in class, a well as their Rock Oolong, Misty Tips, and Tie Guan Danks.

This was a favorite when we tasted the oolongs.

Teacal 

Thanks to Nick and Miles from Root'd!

Teaware to go

I love these thermoses!  Pylones has some silly patterns.  It's a French company.

                                                

These are coffee mugs:

    

Extra tea tastings

I've been holding extra tea pourings for the Teacal (the Cal tea class).  This week we had one at Cloyne with a small group.  Madison and Frank started off an then several others joined as well.  We had Root'd Tea's Rock Oolong and a Jasmine Pearl from Samovar.  The oolong, also known as Rou Gui, is a twisted oolong (not rolled) and is dark, roasty, chocolatey, and slightly sweet.

Jasmine Pearl is a classic favorite.  We watched the leaves unroll with each powerful floral infusion, and even ate some at the end.  I like noting how the pearls vary in their buoyancy in the first couple infusions.  Some float, some stay in the middle, and some sink to the bottom of the gaiwan - a sign of high quality leaf.

Madison and Danny

Ryan and his tea cup.

The tea session was accompanied by some Shel Silverstein poems from A Light in the Attic, which I uncovered from the free pile at Cloyne.  

Tasting some Ryokucha

Today, I had a wonderfully delicious afternoon tea called Ryokucha.  It is a Japanese green - a mix of Genmaicha (green tea with roasted brown rice) and Matcha (ground green tea).

Ryokucha is extremely aromatic - grassy, roasted, and grainy from the pieces of rice in it.  The Matcha makes it a beautiful electric green color.  I loved the look of it in the white cups.

Tea Pot

I found this cool Jasmine tea tin from China and turned it into a pot for one of the orchids in my room.  I love this tea tin - it has an English side and Chinese side, and it's in Imperial Yellow.

White Tea Week in the Teacal

Pouring tea in class!  We had teas from Norbu, Samovar, and Numi.

Shout-out to Norbu Tea

One of the White teas we tasted in the Teacal this week was from Norbu Tea.  Norbu generously donated several teas to the class, and on Tuesday we brewed their delicious Ya Bao Wild Camelia White.

Ya Bao dry leaf

The dry leaves are beautifully furry and you can see the whole buds.  One take on its dry smell was "vegetal."  We decided that it is a very herbal white tea, as opposed to sweet.  The brew is light and I liked its calming characteristics.  In the class, people described it as "peppery," "like a hot, dry sauna," and "like a silkworm cocoon" - all very genuine and observant descriptions of the flavor and aroma.

Senchas from Norbu

A beautiful Sheng Pu-erh cake that we will taste later in the semester.