In 2010, I met Kevin Rose at a Tea Convention. He spoke about many things including how tea businesses use technology, how

Headshot of Kevin Rose during a live filming of Diggnation (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

much he likes tea and his favorite teapot.  It was too bad that I was attending this convention without my voice.  I lose my voice just before the convention.   I did manage to talk to him with the help of my daughter Felicia.

What is Kevin doing these days?  As the founder of Digg, DiggNation, and several other successful companies, Kevin just got on board with Google.  Kevin has left Digg  since March of 2011.  In the last six months, he interviewed the founders and CEO of six technology companies setting himself up for the next big thing.  These interviews are all published from his Youtube Channel.  Was this moved to Google planned or just something that falls on his lap?

What’s new at Google plus these days? Circles, circles, and more circles.  They are many many changes. I tried uploading a list of friends just few days ago and was not successful.  I was just told few weeks ago I can do that.  The changes are coming quickly.  I created a profile, just in a few days, 2 new people found me added me to their circle.  They will have to do lots of catching up as Facebook might soon catch up on the number users in the google community. The average FB user spend at lease 30 minutes a day updating their status.  I enjoy chatting with friends there.  It is so easy to connect application such as Pinterest to my Morning Glory Tea fan page.

How might Google tap into the FB’s user time?  According to my FB community, they stay out of Google + because they have no friends there.  First, the number of tools google already have, voice, video chat, search engine, and much much more.  Currently, Google is not taking any percentage from developers who wants to add application to their already big list of tools.  FB is keeping 30 percent of the sale from developers.  Many of us already have Gmail accounts.  It would be great if Google automatically put all my contacts from m gmail accounts into my circles.  I like having multiple gmail accounts and what seem like endless storage. Google makes easy for us to stay in this social media a little longer.  I am looking forward to see the changes with Kevin Rose on board.

Victoria Chow, Tea Specialist

I made Grilled Cheese Sandwich for my daughter many times as she was growing up. It still is her favorite comfort food.   Now she enjoy it with a bowl of Tomato Soup.

When shopping for bread, read the label to see if the first ingredient is whole gain.  Item listed first means it contain the most amount of that ingredient in the bread and ingredient at the end has the lease amount.

This morning, I made a grilled Cheese on whole wheat bread with Mexican Style 4-cheese mixed, Pepper Jack, and Provolone cheese. Buttered the outside of the bread.  I used Smart Balance Light Butter (not this one in the photo).  It contain Omega-3. Grill the sandwich with a skillet is better then using the toaster oven.

This not the normal breakfast. Being it’s a comfort food, I just treat myself today.  Enjoyed it with a cup of black tea.

Victoria, Tea Specialist

Related articles

• Recipe | Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwich (selectism.com)

        

My friend Burl stop by to pick up some vegetable and flower seeds recently. March is a great time to start planting seeds.  It’s nice to have a cup of tea and look over all the seeds I have collected.  I especially like the heirloom tomatoes.

Few summers ago, I walked around the neighborhood taking pictures of flowers.  The pink rose if from my own backyard. If you spotted the prearranged flowers in a heart shape, that is a blessing.  I was hiking on a trail one day and just walk pass them. For some reason, I took a few step back and took a picture of these fuchsia color flowers. By the time I put these pictures in my computer, I notice the heart shape arrangement in these flowers.  If you didn’t get how much you are loved, slow down and pay attention to the subtle messages appeared in front of you.  If you still not getting it, just appreciate nature’s magnificent.

My friend Diane owns InBloom Flower shop in Eagle, ID. You can stop by if have a need for a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

Related articles

• Guide to Pruning Flowers for Spring (proflowers.com)
• Tips on Growing Flowers from Seeds (proflowers.com)

valentine's day chocolates (Photo credit: little blue hen)

Recent Tea and chocolate pairing session was very productive and enjoyable.  We tested five teas with five chocolates and here are the findings.

The first tea is a White Peony.  It came in a tea bag.  I do not stock many tea bags, but was trying to use a straight tea for pairing.  The tea itself has a light body, mild taste.  It steeps into a pink-yellow color.

With this tea pairing it with Godiva Vanilla Bean White Chocolate, the tea tasted flat.  No improve or contrast with either the tea or the chocolate.

White Peony with Lindt Bittersweet Dark Chocolate gives the tea a mild enhancement.  The tea has more body. The after taste is sour.

White Peony with Godiva Milk Chocolate enhancement the tea and give the chocolate a creamer taste.

Conclusion: White tea goes well with milk chocolate

Romeo Juliet Heart Press Green Tea steeps into an orange-red color.  It has a vegetal taste and smoky note.  It has full body.

The smoky note in the tea softened with the Godiva Vanilla Bean White Chocolate.   The contrast flavors smooths out the vegetal taste of the tea.

We try the green tea with Godiva Milk Chocolate.  It turned out very pleasant as the tea altered the taste of the chocolate adding a mild bitterness, creamy and nutty taste.

Another combination is this green tea with Lindt’s Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt. It added an extra bitterness and tart taste to the chocolate.

Conclusion: This experience is very personal as my client preferred the white chocolate over the other combinations; I like the milk chocolate with the Romeo Juliet Heart Press Green tea.  I didn’t care for tart taste.

Jasmine Ring Green Tea steeps into an orange-red color. It is scented with the Jasmine flower. It is a spring picked tea with a mild delicate taste.  It has a full body.

First pairing is with the Godiva Milk Chocolate.  This combination didn’t enhance the tea or the chocolate. The taste is flat.

The next combination is Lindt’s Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt. The result is more bitterness and more saltiness in the chocolate.

Pairing the Jasmine Ring with Green & Black Dark Chocolate blended with Ginger both enhanced and complement the tea and the chocolate.  There is an earthy note in the chocolate, the texture is smoother and the taste is more distinctive.

Conclusion:  Scented floral tea with the sweet ginger flavor dark chocolate gives a smoother combination of this pairing experience.

Organic Oolong from Hunan Province, China is the next pairing. The tea has a medium body, floral note, and salmon color.

Staring with lease flavor chocolate, the Godiva Vanilla Bean White Chocolate, this combination adds a sweet and sour after taste to the chocolate.

Oolong tea with Green and Black Dark Chocolate and Ginger brings out more spiciness from the ginger. I say it enhance the chocolate taste.

Oolong tea with Lindt’s Bittersweet Dark Chocolate creates a smoky, roasted note.  The apparent after taste and the note is roasted.  I believe this is an enhancement.

Conclusion: Starting the pairing with a good tea, there isn’t much that can go wrong. I like both of the dark chocolate pairing.

Black Huckleberry Tea is a full leaf with blended with raspberry, cornflower and rose hip. The note is citrus. It has full body and sweet under tone.  The liquid is coppery.

Pairing it with the Godiva Vanilla Bean White Chocolate gives the chocolate a milky and sour taste.

Pairing with Godiva Milk Chocolate, the tea adds a nutty taste to the chocolate. It is a complement.

This is the highlight, the Black Huckleberry tea with Lindt’s Bittersweet Dark Chocolate added boldness flavor to the chocolate and the floral, citrus note from the tea amplifies. This pairing both enhanced and complements each other.  After eating the chocolate, the scent of the tea is so strong.  The tea is very fresh.

Conclusion: Of all the teas and chocolate pairing in this session, the last one is the best combination of all. The citrus note and taste from the tea makes the creaminess of chocolate stand out.  The Black Huckleberry Tea will be with good with any chocolate dessert!

Related articles

• chocolates. (laurieanichols.wordpress.com)
• Mmmm, Chocolate (thecyndrome.wordpress.com)
• Check Out These New Snack Finds (snack-girl.com)

The tradition of sharing tea with friends goes back for centuries. While tea may not be your favorite beverage, friends and family are an important part of our life.  “Taking time for life” means making time for people who are important to us. Let us know how you cultivate these relationships.

If you have a story to share, it must be between 300 to 1200 words. Tell us how you nurture these relationships or friendships. If your story is chosen to be included in the book, you will receive tea gifts from Morning Glory Tea and a copy of Take Time for Life Book totaling value of one hundred dollars.

When submitting a story, be sure to include your contact information such as mailing address, phone numbers and email address. Provide a story that has not been published before. Keep a copy of your work before sending it to us. You can submit it by sending a typed copy to Morning Glory Tea at  3355 N Five Mile Road #220, Boise, ID 83704.  If your story is chosen, we will contact you by phone for a telephone interview. We will also request you to send us the story by email at that time.  Unpublished material will not be return.

If you would like to purchase a copy of the book when it is release, visit this page.  You will be able to contribute to the project here.  Thank you for setting this project in motion.

Image via Wikipedia

Camellia Sinensis, so rare to catch this beautiful flower open in January. From the famous tea bush, it is often snipped off to promote new leaf growth. My friend Virginia made this crochet for me to wear while teaching my tea classes. I am surprised that she have Camellia Sinensis growing her green house. It is now blooming in January here in Boise, Idaho. I am blessed and honor to have such wonderful friend. Virginia is a member of Golden Garden Club in Boise. If you would like to be a member, you may contact her at (208)939-2192.

Victoria Chow, Tea Specialist

Morning Glory Teahouse

“Our body is an alkaline entity by design…” Blood                     7.35 – 7.45 slightly alkaline Spinal fluid             7.30 – 7.50 Saliva                     6.50 -7.50 Gastric                   1.00 – 3.50 Duodenum             4.20 – 8.20 Feces                     4.60 – 8.40 Urine                      4.80 – 8.40 Liver Bile                7.10 – 8.50 Gall Bladder Bile     5.50 – 7.70 Pancreas                8.00 -8.30 These fluctuations of pH of our organs are alkaline by design. For instance throughout the holidays we tend to over indulge in processed foods, sugars, meats, and alcohol which are all acid producing. Acid leaches minerals that are stored in our bones, muscles, and elsewhere; blood levels of minerals also rise and the excess may be deposited in the kidneys in the form of stones. Primarily the respiratory system and kidneys maintain control over the pH of the body. Yogic deep breathing alkalinizes the body by getting rid of excess carbon dioxide (co2). And one the kidneys’ jobs are to prevent metabolic acidosis, which is does by pulling potassium, magnesium, calcium, and trace minerals from our bones and other tissues to buffer the acidity. Again the fluctuations of pH of our organs are by design; to keep something else from going over-stressing our system to the point of disaster. In fact, if blood pH goes outside of the range of 6.8 to 8.6 for more than a few seconds, coma and/or death will result. These fluctuations are built-in to prevent this from happening. It is important to drink enough water to cleanse our internal system.

Image by garlandcannon via Flickr

I enjoy good food and have many tips for planning a menu for weddings or for parties.  I like the notion of serving finger food because it make it possible for your friends to have conversations and eat at the same time. For this reason, I believe serving Hors D’oeuvres are the best.  The bite size food is uncomplicated to make and can be prepare to look stunning on serving plates.

I also like the glazing style. This self-serve setup is like a buffet. It is much easier for the host. People tend to eat less with this setup. Topically, prepare 4 to 6 Hors D’oeuvres per person. You can pick a theme or select a color theme like you do with the wedding. Set up food, dessert, and drinks stations. The linens and lighting can create the environment you want. Glazing can be self serve or serve by wait staff.

When preparing the menu, begin with a food theme. For example, food items can be by country, vegetarian or meat.  Does the budget allow for seafood?  Is alcohol on the menu?  Will you have no host bar or will it be included with the party?  Will it be lunch or dinner? Once all of decisions are made, begin to identify the main courses. If you have 40 guests, plan 40 of each Hors D’oeuvres you are serving. Begin picking 4 main Hors D’oeuvres, 2 dessert choices, add drinks to calculate the total cost per person . If you are within budget, add more Hors D’oeuvres, desserts, drinks, etc.

Be sure to have servers keeping all the stations clean and filled. This is your party, make sure you are not the one to worry about the details. Pick items that can be serve hot or cold. If serving hot food, can it be reheated just before serving. For example, if serving finger sandwiches, they are usually serve cold, but needs to be seal really well so the bread do not dry out. Also the juice/sauce from the sandwich are not soak into the bread.

Bread is versatile, economical, and can shape into many forms. Here are a few ideas that can turn bread into a fancy meal. With so many recipes on the Internet today, it will be easy for you to find the recipes you need. If not able to find them, you can contact me by via my website.  Listed below are four bite size finger food options.  This is a good start for a small party.

Boutique of flowers

• Use crestless marbleized bread to create a stand up roll
• use yogurt and horseradish sauce to make a bread spread,
• toss thinly sliced apple in lemon juice,
• layer bread with your choice of beef (very thin cut) and apple, leaving one edge of the bread with no meat or apple so the bread can stay together.
• use watercress, edible flowers to create vase like roll with flowers and leave coming out of the top of the roll.

Caviar on Blinis

An substitute to using bread is making Blinis. They look like dollar size pancakes. It can be make in advance. Again, search the Internet for Blinis recipe. Cook all that you need in advance and reheat to room temperature when serving. Top it with sour cream and colorful caviar.  Once the topping is added, serve it quickly.

Smoked Salmon

Use small cookie cutter of your choice to cut out bread pieces. Spread bread with dill cream cheese and top with smoked salmon, then fresh dill or parsley. Like the Blinis above, they are serve open face.

Sweet Nutty Carrot

Mix 1 cup of finely chopped carrots, 3/4 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese, half cup of toasted chopped pecans, 1/4 cup raisins, 1/4 cup chopped parsley, bind all ingrediants with 8 ounce of cream cheese. Use water down honey to coat 24 pecan halves and roasted them. Spread creamy mixture on firm bread of your choice and top it with more string carrots and honey toasted pecan.

Here is an idea for beverage that can look just as good with all of the bite size food above.

Look for a fruity, floral green tea,  like our Long Island Strawberry green tea. Use about 6 teaspoon for 2 quarts of iced tea. Use one quart of hot water to steep the tea. and add 1 quart of ice to cool off the hot tea. Chill iced tea until serving time.  It’s best to make this one day in advance.  Use a fruit juice to make heart shape ice cubes. Just before serving, add heart shape ice cubes to the tea for sweetness and presentation.

You can find our tea blog for more recipe ideas. Beautiful Tea For Two pillow gift boxes are available from our website.

Related articles

• Low Tea on a Sunday (scaredmom.wordpress.com)

Image via Wikipedia

Base on the previous tea articles, you might learned that the last step in making tea is adding flavors and scent.  Tea can be infused with many fragrances. Chrysanthemum, Gardenia, Osmanthus, Rose, Magnolia are just some of the floral scents. By far, Jasmine is the most popular fragrance of them all. It is also my favorite tea. Jasmine teas are produced in Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Zhejiang Provinces. Other tea producing countries can also make Jasmine tea.  It may not be the same tea that is from China.  For example, I tasted a Jasmine tea from Sri Lanka, while the aroma is very good, it comes from the oil from the flower and not the scent of the flower.  Due to the favorable weather conditions, Fujian Province is excellent for tea farming . This area is also known to develop excellent Jasmine and Oolong tea.

Most of the time when you find Jasmine tea, it utilizes a green tea base.  The process of making Jasmine tea will take two steps . The first step involves picking young tea leaves in the spring. Harvesting continues to fhe Fall in many regions . The young leaves from the Spring produces a very light delicate flavor. It is stored in a cool location until the Jasmine flowers mature in the summer. The skillful farmers keep the tea leaf open with just the right heat and get them ready for the scent of the flowers.

The second phases is adding the scent of the Jasmine flowers. Jasmine flowers are plucked during summer months. To be exact, they are plucked between July and September, from noon to 4p.m. by skilled workers. They look for half inch blossoms that just turn from ivory to a white color. The blossom still closed with all of its scent inside. For the next 4 hours after plucking, the Jasmine flowers are kept at a warm temperature with the base tea. This encourages the flowers to open and the scent to infuse with the tea. To create a strong scent, some tea receives many infusion of the flower scent. This needs more Jasmine blossoms. When infusion is done, the flowers can be discarded .  Picking unopen blossoms and infusing tea multiple time is labor intensive.  This is one factor that distinguish a higher price tea from a lower price tea.

Adding Jasmine tea to food offers it the extra luxurious aroma. Try this delightful Jasmine syrup on fruit salad. Brew 2 teaspoons of Jasmine tea leaves in 1/3 cup of hot water. Melt 2 tablespoons of honey and the add zest and juice of 1 lime. Marinate fruits for just one hour before serving.

Another way to use Jasmine tea is to add it to rice. Just replace 2 to 3 cups of the water you use to cook the rice with tea. This gives the rice the extra nutrients of the antioxidants as well as the aroma of the Jasmine flowers.

Morning Glory Teahouse now has Jasmine First Grade, Jasmine Ring and Jasmine Dragon Pearl from Fujian area . These teas had received multiple infusion and has excellent fragrance.

Related articles

• The Perfect End to a Long Day (teasconesandcowboyboots.wordpress.com)

Image via Wikipedia

Each year, tea connoisseurs, tea shop owners educate themselves with new products and new teas that enters the market place.  I took a different route and learn about the oldest tea from China.  The rare tea from Wuyi Mountain was on the top of my list.  Some say that this is the first tea that was exported to Europe in the early 17 century.

What makes these Wuyi tea plants so special lies in its geographical location.  Wuji Mountain is located in Fujian Province, Southern China. Like our rare Jasmine Ring tea, it also come from Fujian Province.

Wuyi Mountain has 36 peaks.  The river that runs through this area has 9 bends.  To harvest tea in these mountains, farmers have to hike the steep terrains and some narrow paths.  Some tea plants are deep into the gully where they do not get enough sunlight.  Starving for sunlight, the tea plants reach into the rich soil for nutrients.  Like the Matcha tea from Japan, the tea plants are kept from the sun 30 day before harvest.  Within the gully of  Wuyi Mountain, this is a natural phenomenon.  The soil contain high mineral content, rich in potassium, manganese and other trace minerals.

A tea master knows what is the best tea to make from these old tea plants.  Wuyi has been famous for Oolong teas.  Like Dragonwell, tea named by its location, some of the tea from here are Nine-bend River, Da-Hong-Pao, Tie Luo Han, Bai Ji Guan, and Shui Jin Gui. The teas from this region are usually very expensive.  Each serving can steep 3 to 15 times.  They are not sold in supermarket as the quantity are limited.  It might be a tea you can sample in one of our focus Tea Tasting Class.  Do stay tune for class schedules.

Victoria Chow, Tea Specialist

Related articles

• Tea, in the Gaiwan Style (via Steep. Sip. Smile.) (therapycollect.wordpress.com)
• I drink Oolong tea almost every day, well almost… time to get back on it TODAY! (katbite.wordpress.com)