Teas by Moods

‘Take some more tea,’ the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.

‘I’ve had nothing yet,’ Alice replied in an offended tone, ‘so I can’t take more.’

‘You mean you can’t take LESS,’ said the Hatter: ‘it’s very easy to take MORE than nothing.’

I am, by my nature, a very ritualistic person. When I sit down to write or work on my laptop, I try to have a cat by my side (although I admit, it is quite difficult to convince a cat to be with you most of the time),  a notebook with a pen, music and a cup of something to will along the afternoon.

I’ll be honest – sometimes I would have coffee even if it’s not the morning. I love coffee but there is a problem with coffee. Two cups in and you would be bouncing of the wall and I would be awake till about 3am.

Tea on the other hand.

I love my tea and I have been known to wander into random tea shops and buying up tea. So as you can imagine, my tea selection is large and I do get a bit stupid standing there trying to think about which tea to go for.

There really isn’t any fast and hard rule when it comes to tea – you could drink anything if you want to. But I do have some guiding rules  which can probably help you choose the right tea – depending on your mood.

English Breakfast – this is my go to option when I am very, very sleepy but I don’t feel like having coffee. A quick jolt of tea and I’m good to go without the caffeine crashing down on me.

Assam – when I want to have something strong but without milk or sugar. I love the malty taste of Assam.

Green tea – I make green tea when I’m feeling particularly ‘writerly’. Since I usually make tea with loose leaf, I get to do many infusions, which is perfect if I have a long project that I can’t leave my desk from.

White tea – This is one of my favourite teas because it’s so light and yet very flavourful. I don’t really need an occasion to drink white tea, I drink it all the time but I do favour it most when I’m unwell because I believe it makes me feel better. This tea also allows for multiple infusions.

Darjeeling – Darjeeling is my favourite tea in the world. But because it’s very expensive, I don’t drink it as often. I do drink it on special occasions, when I have a reason to celebrate or sometimes, on a day when I feel like I’m just worth it.

So what type of tea do you drink and when?

Assam Marbled Tea Eggs

I have to be honest. There are many who rave about tea eggs. I’m not one of them. Which of course, makes no sense at all. I love tea. And I love eggs. I don’t see why a combination of both would be terrible.

But at the mall, each time I walk by the tea eggs stall, I try not to gag. I can’t stand the smell of tea eggs especially when I walk by the stalls that sell the in the mall. Most likely, I’m unused to the herbal smell of the tea eggs.

People rave about them tea eggs and I don’t particularly like feeling left out over a culinary delight. So off I search for a recipe for tea eggs that I think I would like. While it seems silly to hunt for a recipe, since you can easily buy tea egg herbs in a packet at the store but I reckon these packets would put me off tea eggs since the ones in Malaysia, and certainly in Asia would have all the traditional herbs.

In my case, I was looking for something more savoury that would bring out the flavour of the spices I love and of course the tea in a hard boiled egg.

Of course, since it’s meant to be a Chinese recipe, it would be appropriate if I used a Chinese tea. But since I’m already planning on bastardized version, I thought it would be fun to try various types of tea. For this recipe I started with Assam FBOP. It's strong enough to hold up chai, it can sure handle tea eggs. 

The result was something lightly flavoured with a lovely spiced tea smell. The family was generally pleased, except for Dad who was expecting telur pindang. But that is another tea egg recipe for another day. 

Chinese Tea Egg with Indian tea

Recipe (makes 6 eggs)

Adapted from Steamy Kitchen

Ingredients

6 eggs

½ teaspoon 5-spice powder (optional)

¾ cup light soy sauce

3 heaped teaspoon of Assam FBOP

A few strips of tangerine peel

3 cloves

2 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

1 tsp brown sugar

Directions

1. Put your 6 eggs in a saucepan and fill up the pot with enough water to cover the eggs. Bring it to a simmer and simmer for 3 minutes.
2. Take the eggs out but don’t drain the water out. Rinse the eggs under cool water until cool to the touch. Using the back of spoon, lightly crack the shell all over the egg – you don’t want to smash the egg in.
3. Transfer the water, eggs and the remaining ingredients into a slow cooker. Cook it on high for 2 hours and then leave to steep overnight.

How To Brew The Perfect Cup of Black Tea

The thing about making tea is that well, you never really think about it much, do you? Well, at least I never did. It’s one of those – well, how hard can it be, right up there with boiling an egg? Just toss it into boiling water. Boom, done. Tea.

I never thought that tea making could be well, serious business until an incident that happened a few years back to a friend of mine. My husband’s housemate back in uni was preparing tea in the kitchen while the plumber worked on the kitchen sink. The housemate in a true Malaysian fashion, took a big plastic jug, filled it up with hot boiling water and then tossed in a couple of bags of tea. And then he took a couple of tablespoons of sugar, tossed it in and stirred it around.

The plumber who who did not even acknowledge the housemate’s presence in the kitchen, turned around and screeched! He exclaimed, that was NOT the way to make tea. He grabbed the plastic jug from said housemate, tipped it down the newly fixed sink before making them proper tea.

Truth to be told though, it seemed like everyone in England knew how to make a proper cup of tea. I had a housemate who made making a cup of tea part of her evening ritual.

I loved watching her do it. First she would use fresh water in the kettle. And then she would boil the water and as the kettle was about to reach boiling point, she’d stop the water from boiling, tip in the hot water and swirl into her mug before tossing the water out. She would drop a bag of tea into the mug, cover the mug with a saucer, to keep the cup warm (and pile biscuits on the saucer). And then she’d bring the kettle to a boil again, remove the saucer from the mug and pour in the boiling water into the mug. She always added milk later before going off and watching Eastenders.

I never actually bothered until years later, after reading an article on the BBC about making tea and out of curiosity, decided to brew tea correctly. The taste was amazing – sprightly and bright, compared to just tossing tea into hot water (or vice versa). In case it might just be in the mind, I did a blind taste test on the husband, who is not a tea enthusiast and even he remarked the difference in flavour.

So what are you waiting for? Don’t defile your tea anymore!

Firstly, make sure you have all your equipment ready for making tea. Here we have a kettle, a teapot, teaspoon, a strainer, a mug and tea leaves. Toys are fun but not a necessity for brewing tea.

Bring the kettle filled with water to an almost boil. 

As soon as the water begins to gurgle into the kettle, tip the hot water into the teapot to warm it up. Swirl the hot water around and then toss the water out. Replace the kettle back on and let it boil further.

While the water rolls into a boil, quickly add one teaspoon of tea into the warmed teapot. You need one teaspoon of tea leaves per person. (It's the same for teabags!)

As soon as the water begins to boil furiously, pour 1 cup of water for every teaspoon of tea. Leave it to steep for 1 or 2 minutes, depending on how strong you like your tea. Don't leave them in for too long, or it'll be bitter.

Strain the tea as soon as you've steeped it. Leaving it in would make for very disgusting tea. You can always add milk and sugar, depending on the type of black tea you are drinking. Now find a friend and enjoy!

This method works perfectly well for a cup of black tea. Depending on your black tea, you can always add milk or sugar or both! But if you're drinking a Darjeeling, it's best enjoyed plain. Remember though, this method is only meant for black tea, white tea and green tea have to made in a different method which we will explore in other blog entries.

Happy drinking!

First Post!

I think without a doubt, everyone gets very awkward when it comes to the first post. Like, what exactly are we supposed to write about? What are we meant to say here that would mean something to our readers?

I suppose it's no different for us, the first post even for The Good Tea Company will be just slightly awkward. But I'd like to welcome all to the official blog of The Good Tea Company. Here we will be posting various articles that we hope would be interesting to all the tea loves out there - from reviews of teas that we will be bringing in, to Tea 101 where you could browse to learn more about tea and my personal favourite, tea recipes and tea pairing where we will pair different types of teas with different kinds of foods!

So check back often, we'll be publishing a bunch of new and exciting stuff in the world of tea for your reading pleasure!