I just finished writing Year of the Dog ! It had a massive plot hole that I had to fix which turned out to be more work than I expected. Here’s a snippet: “Hey, Auntie Nell.” He wrapped his arms around her, bussing her on the cheek and breathing in pikake flowers and shortbread cookies. And suddenly he was nine years old again, and her solid presence had made his chaotic world stable once more. “What are you doing here?” He usually took her to dinner on Wednesday nights, but today was Tuesday. The edges of her smile faltered a little before brightening right back up again. “What, I can’t visit my nephew?” She angled around him to enter his home. “Is this your new house? Looks lovely.” Which was a blatant lie, because the fixer-upper was barely livable, much less acceptable to a neat-freak like his aunt. She also left four matching pink and purple floral suitcases on the stoop behind her. Only then did Ashwin notice the cab driver standing slightly to the side of the walkway. “Can ...
I got a chance to review this Chinese black tea from MastersTeas.com. It’s not what I would normally drink, and it’s much finer in quality than what I drink at Chinese restaurants, so it was a fun new experience.
From the website:
Qimen Caixia or “Sunrise Keemun” is a unique black tea made from early spring leaves which are gently rolled to create a whole leaf tea. The semi wiry leaves do contain some tips as well. The dry aroma offers the classic Keemun orchid note. The cup itself is a medium-light bodied one that is delicate, sweet and complex with notes of orchid, honey and toast. While it is rather delicate, it presents a nuanced experience with a soft finish.
About the leaves:
Grown between 800 and 1200 meters above sea level this Twig Leaf cultivar was hand plucked at the end of April from 60-year-old trees. Known locally as "keemun maofeng", is consists of one bud and two or three leaves approximately 2-3 cm in length.
This tea contains a high level of caffeine | Steep at 212° for 2-3 minutes.
The tea had a pleasant, slightly malty scent when opening the bag. I steeped 1 airy tablespoon in 500 mL 212°F water for 3 minutes.
It made a light colored black tea, but full of flavor. It had a slightly malty taste and a very soft and mellow mouth feel.
It tasted very smooth with a little milk, although the milk masked the flavor a bit so that it tasted a little watery.
With a Japanese cookie, it was tasty. Then I decided to try this (without milk) with salty food instead, and so I made another pot to drink this tea with my lunch, which was coq au vin, and it really complimented the savory food much better than with the cookie.
I think that this tea (without milk) would go well with spicy food, although I couldn’t test it because my stomach hasn’t been handling spicy foods very well lately. I definitely prefer this tea with savory foods rather than sweet. If I’d had some Chinese food in the fridge, I’d have tried that paired with this tea, because I think it would have gone well with it. And yet I could tell this was a much finer quality tea than what I drink in Chinese restaurants, so it would have been really nice to drink it with a Chinese dinner.
So, my impressions is that this is a good tea to drink with dinner or lunch. It’s a light tea, so it would go well with a lighter meal.
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