A Visit to the Seattle Chinese Garden

One of the many great things about living in South Seattle is that the Seattle Chinese Garden (西華園) is not too far away. Since 2008 I have presented many wonderful tea tastings at the garden but it has been over a year now since my last visit. Earlier this month, on a drizzly cool Sunday, my family went back to SCG to attend an open garden event. Here are a few photos my wife took from that lovely morning. 

Young magnolias trees bloom outside the entrance to the 

Knowing the Spring Courtyard (知春院).

.

Yellow bamboo around a pretty pond.

Song Mei Pavilion (松梅亭)

My kids and friends on a Giant Fish!

My son and I watching the little fish.

Spring Garden Gallery

Here's a little peek at what's been going on around our yard these last few days!

I scored this massive pile of bricks from my neighbor. 

So much of my time has been devoted to the ancient art of "brick schlepping!"

 

Building a yellow brick road,

reinforcing this raised bed,

and thinking about putting a brick patio right here.

(That log back by the fence is my shiitake mushroom log. I'll let you know if it ever fruits.)

The front yard is looking pretty good, though it could stand some more weeding. Chives, kiwi, rosemary, mint, wintergreen, salal and many other plants are doing well here. Our little pear tree (in the middle, surrounded by fava beans) is a year old now and will be flowering soon!

Speaking of flowering fruit trees, our apple tree and 

our two cherry trees are currently producing tons of lovely buds.

Here's a pic of my daughter in one of her favorite places.
Hanging out (literally) under a cherry tree.


Also in the front yard we just planted carrots, beets and potatoes.


I currently have three tea plants. This one appears to be happy and healthy

and it has quite a few pretty new buds.


My other two tea plants look like this!
Any advice on how I can make them happy again would be greatly appreciated.

Hope you enjoyed my Spring garden gallery. Feel free to leave links to your own in the comments. I'd love to see your garden!

2012 Northwest Tea Festival

October 6th and 7th (and the weeks proceeding) were very busy for Cinnabar and me because, for the second year in a row, our tea company had a booth at the Northwest Tea Festival.

With the help of Chris W. (Phoenix Tea's official Owner-in-law) and Chris S. (Phoenix Tea's official pottery guru) Cinnabar and I brewed countless pots of tea for the hundreds of vibrant, beautiful tea lovers who make the Pacific Northwest tea scene so amazing.

The whole weekend was a happy blur for me... but some memorable highlights include: Meeting the cool folks from Portland's The Jasmine Pearl tea shop, drinking aged tea with Charles and Laurie Dawson, serving Kenyan black teas and Korean green teas in the tasting rooms, meeting fellow blogger Geoffrey N., seeing Matthew London's beautiful tea photos, and lecturing about tea basics to a large group of smiling tea lovers.

An infinite amount of thanks is due to Julee, Doug, Kyohei, Annie, Ken, Anne Marie, Brian, and several other hard working members of the Puget Sound Tea Education Association. These local tea lovers put in so much hard work and planning to pull off this grand event.

See you at Northwest Tea Festival

The Northwest Tea Festival is coming up soon and once again Phoenix Tea will have a booth! This year, I'll be presenting a Tea 101 lecture on Sunday and I'm also leading a couple of sessions in the tasting booths. I really hope to see you there!

Time
October 6th - 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
October 7th - 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Location
Fisher Pavilion at the Seattle Center

Website
http://www.nwteafestival.com/

South Seattle Tea Estate - 2012 Harvest Report

As the manager of the South Seattle Tea Estate, I am saddened to inform you that 5-year-old "Leafer," our oldest tea plant, died over the winter. The 3 remaining plants looked scrubby and beaten at the start of spring. For this reason I decided not to make spring 2012 tea.

Summer has been good to our 3 tea plants and they are now, for the most part, looking healthy and producing new leaves.

On July 15, 2012, I decided to make an experimental summer oolong. The harvest took place at 9:00 am. Due to a dearth of tender leaf and bud sets I decided to pluck more mature, lower leaves. In all, I selected 28 leaves for a total of 15 grams. The leaves were arranged in a single layer in a glass baking dish for withering.

After about an hour and a half of withering in the shade the sun broke through the clouds. At this point I moved the dish to the roof of my car for some full-sun withering. The day became quite warm with a nice gentle breeze.

2:00 pm - The leaves were a little bit limp but some bits were too crispy for my liking. Also, some leaves appeared to be getting a "sun burn" so I decided to bring it inside.

3:15 pm - I spent 3 minutes shaking and kneading the leaves.

8:00 pm - I spent another 3 minutes kneading, twisting, shaking and bruising the leaves. I felt like the leaves were getting too dry and brittle so I mounded them up together and covered them with an upside down bowl.

The following morning (today) at 6:30 am - I checked the tea. It had a sweet tobacco-like aroma and a mottled brown and green coloring like camouflage. After ~3 minutes more rolling and kneading. I mounded up and recovered the limp leaves with the same bowl.

9:00 am - I did even more kneading and rolling and then took this photo after which the leaves were then left uncovered.

11:00 am - I baked the leaves for 30 minutes at 250° F in a cast-iron pan. The leaves were mainly in a single layer. I gave them a gentle stir about halfway through baking. The next picture is of my finished tea. It weighed about 5 grams.

I fired up the kettle and placed half of my total harvest into a small gaiwan. My first steep was boiling water for 3 minutes. The color was a lovely golden yellow and the liquor had a sweet smell with notes of raw pumpkin, cooked yam and unlit cigars.

I was trying to make a darker tea, but I was still pleased with the outcome of this experiment. The tea lacked for mouth-feel but it surprised me with complexity. The raw pumpkin aroma stuck with it through 3 infusions but the taste kept changing. It was always brighter and fruitier than I was expecting. I even picked up some guava and nectarine notes as well as a syrupy sweetness.

I'm glad I have enough leaf left over for one more session. I plan to bring it to Phoenix Tea this weekend to share with other tea lovers.

Daddy-Daughter Tea Picnic

These last few days the weather here in Seattle has been amazing. Today, during my son's nap time, my daughter C and I went outside for a little tea picnic under the cherry trees. We spent a glorious, barefoot hour sipping Bai Mu Dan (白牡丹) and nibbling raisins and muffins. A gentle breeze stirred the wind-chime, while occasional blizzards of white cherry petals fell from above.

Bug's eye view.

C sips her tea.

Checking on the Tea Plants.

They appear to be happy.

Apple tree is in full bloom.

Cherry blossom snow.

Chris Shaw's Ceramic Art

Chris Shaw is a Seattle area ceramic artist specializing in tea ware. I've been a big fan of his work since I first met him in early 2010. Cinnabar and I are proud to carry a selection of Chris's work for sale at our tea shop, Phoenix Tea, and on our store's website.

Last Saturday, Chris stopped by Phoenix Tea to discuss his art while using it to brew tea for ourselves and our customers.

Chris has been working with clay for over 10 years. His background in design and engineering and his great love of tea and tea culture are clearly seen in every piece he creates. He is deeply in tune with each of his teapots. For example, Chris brewed our Shan lin Xi high mountain oolong in a certain tall pot to accommodate a larger group of customers but was not satisfied with the resulting liquor. He quickly changed to a smaller pot, one that he had originally felt would be the best pot for the job, and everyone was clearly blown away by the sweet, sparkly and floral complexity he coaxed out of the leaf using the latter pot.

Chris's work enhances the experience of fine tea. He waxed poetic about the layers of aesthetics he hopes to acheive during a tea session. His sincerity inspires me and his brewing style flows smoothly and artfully.

Beyond Phoenix Tea, local ceramic art lovers can view Chris Shaw's work at several galleries around town including Lundgren Monuments on Boren Avenue through the end of March.

Urban Herbs #4 - Blackberry Leaf

My Urban Herbs series is monthly chronicle of my continued quest to taste an infusion of every nontoxic plant I can find growing around my house. In this month's installment I've selected blackberry leaves.

These leaves were picked from a particularly wild corner of my backyard. I took care to select smaller, more tender leaves and not to poke myself on the wicked thorns. It is very important with all urban foraging to be sure you're harvesting in areas without any pollution. Lucky for me, Seattle is filled with such places.

Blackberry bushes can be found all over the northwest and in the late summer I certainly eat my fair share of their ripe sweet berries. I've never tried infusing blackberry leaves before but I've recently learned that many people do, and that certain medicinal effects are attributed to the beverage. Some sources suggest the infusion is a good source of vitamins C and E, good for fighting colds and flu and for relieving sore throats.

I chopped up eleven fresh leaves of varying size and steeped them for 10 minutes in ~6 ounce of boiling hot water.

The resulting brew was light yellow and had a delicate grassy, citrus aroma. The flavor of the infusion was similar. It yielded wild weed and grass-like notes with soft peaks of citrus peel and tart blackberry flavors. It was a little tannic but not unpleasant. I think if I were to drink this herb again I would try picking more leaves, drying them, crumbling them up and make it a bit stronger.

Urban Herbs #3 - Lemon Balm

Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) is all over the place here in Seattle and we can always find a few of these shrubs growing around our yard. My kids like to nibble the leaves. I'll sometimes nibble them too, but more often I'll just pick a few, rub them between my fingers and smell their nice lemony aroma. Until today I've never tried drinking a plain infusion of lemon balm (though I'm sure I have had them before in blended herbal beverages).

Lemon balm tea is considered a healthy infusion for colds and flu as well as a calming and soothing beverage. It makes a nice addition to aromatic and medicinal herb gardens and has the added benefit of attracting beneficial bees who help to pollinate nearby plants.

I picked ~10 fresh tender leaves and minced them up with a knife. I steeped them for 5 minutes using 5 ounces of boiling hot water. The resulting infusion had a pleasant grass and citrus aroma and a pale watery yellow-green color.

In my opinion it tastes great. Like most herbal infusions, lemon balm is probably hard to over steep. Next time I going to use more leaf and a longer steep time. The flavor was not at all bitter and was too weak to be perceived as tart. I was reminded of lemon juice, lemon peel, rose hips and meadow flowers. It left with a nice aftertaste and feeling in my throat. I can easily see myself drinking this infusion often throughout the winter and sharing it with my two young children.

Northwest Tea Festival Wrap Up

This weekend my business partner Cinnabar, her husband, and I, were all at Northwest Tea Festival to represent our business Phoenix Tea. On Sunday, we were joined by our talented potter friend Chris Shaw who displayed his work at our booth. We all had a great time, met many new tea lovers, and saw a lot of old tea friends too.

Many thanks are due to Julee, Doug, Kyohei, Annie, Ken, and Anne Marie. These local tea lovers put in a ton of hard work and months of planning to pull off this grand event.

I'd also like to thank the thousands of lovely folks who attended. What a beautiful, diverse and vibrant tea scene we have in the Pacific Northwest!

Here's a peek inside our booth.

And another peek.

Beautiful clay teaware crafted by our buddy Chris Shaw.

Northwest Tea Festival

I'm very excited that the Northwest Tea Festival is coming up in just one week. My tea business will have a booth and I'll be teaching a Tea 101 class and leading a session in the tea tasting booths. I really hope to see you there!

Time
October 1st - 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
October 2nd - 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Location
Fisher Pavilion at the Seattle Center

Website
http://www.nwteafestival.com/

Urban Herb #1 - Wild Chamomile

This is the alley behind my house.

It is filled with many urban herbs. One of which is wild chamomile (aka pineappleweed).

As it turns out this useful and tasty plant can be found all over Washington, especially in sandy soil near trails and paths. I've gotten into the habit of picking a little flower and crushing it between my fingers because it really smells amazing.

Wikipedia says: "The young flower heads can be used to make tea by steeping a handful of the flowers in hot water for ten minutes and then straining."
OK. I can try that.

I used about one teaspoon of flowers in a half full gaiwan with boiling water. After a ten minute infusion the liquor is a pale yellowish-green color.

The smell is lovely in my opinion. It's like the freshest chamomile aroma I've ever smelled with a twist of ripe pineapple juice. The flavor is sweet, soothing and floral like any great chamomile flower infusion would be.

If you dig chamomile tea then you would probably like this.

It's very relaxing.

[Yawn]

I am starting to feel pretty sleepy.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

CommuniTea Kombucha

Today is a beautiful, sunny day here in Seattle (Happy 4th of July btw!) and my beverage of choice is CommuniTea Kombucha. It is a fizzy, crisp, refreshing, local micro-brew made with organic green tea.

I've enjoyed this Kombucha many times over the last few years but yesterday evening I finally met Chris J. (the man behind the brew). We drank some Makabari estate Darjeeling green tea together and talked for quite a while about running a sustainable, community based small business, biodynamic farming and several other shared interests.

I'm happy to announce that this Saturday and next I'll be helping Chris sell his Kombucha at the University District Farmers Market!

What's new with me, you ask?

I was unexpectedly terminated after 9.5 great years working at Teacup. I do not agree with any of the reasons given to me for the termination. I love Teacup and all my old customers with all my heart and I'm very proud of all the work I've done at Teacup up to my very last minute. I wish Teacup nothing but the best as it goes forward into its 3rd decade.

Garden Tour Spring 2011

Our house is a very very very fine house...
with two raised beds in the yard...


...and two kids too!


Here's our newest garden (still under construction).
It's home to the blueberries and the tea.

Welcome to Potatoville.

Here is our back deck, apple tree and two Rainier cherry trees.


And this is the new strawberry patch!


How about a little peek under our umbrella-shaped birch tree...

...where you'll find a little stump table and a fiery red rhododendron in bloom.

On the left we have peas, nasturtiums, cilantro and green beans.
On the right we have lettuce, kale, beets, onions and carrots.

Yum Yum.

The sun is shining and the lilacs are blooming.
Spring is officially here.

And let's not forget my two tea plants.
They had a pretty rough winter and I don't plan to make any tea this season.
I'm sure they'll be fine...

... and here is my proof!