Tea Plantation and becoming certified tea specialist trip, part 5b

Part 5b.  How tea is made or CTC black tea is made in Charleston Tea Plantation.

Oxidizing

Off to the drying phase

Looks like the drying phase is finished or is finishing

Finished CTC black tea in the green metal bin.  It drops from the shoot on the side into the bin, but I could never get a picture that showed the tea dropping.  Boy did I try, oh well

Chicago bound, dishes to be found

Hopefully my great deals will continue.  On Thursday I called a company that advertised on Craigslist $10 file cabinets and went to pick them up Friday morning.  I took my mom along because I thought she might want one too.  The file cabinets did not have locks for them so instead of buying two I only got one and my mother got one too.  Thank goodness I took my mother along because she asked if they had anything else for sale.  The lady mentioned a few things and one of the things were tea mugs like the ones I will use for my place and some water glasses.  In total I got over 80 tea mugs and around 40 water glasses for $2.

I highly doubt I will get that great of a deal in Chicago, but hopefully a good deal anyways.  Tomorrow I will be heading to Chicago to look for soup cups and bowls, maybe silverware too.  I got a great deal on plates (dessert/salad plates and dinner plates) when I was in Chicago last time.  Been kicking myself for not getting the soup cups and bowls I saw then too and hope they are still there or something comparable.

Do you remember a great deal you have scored?  Did you ever score a deal in an unusual way?  Like most people it feels great to score a great deal and it is hard to not brag too much about the deal.  Hopefully I haven't bragged too much and thanks again mom!

Thunder and Lightning

It is thundering and lightning outside and I am hoping that it does not hail.  It was originally a warm and sunny day, but I knew it wouldn't last (saw the weather report).  It is now raining cold and dreary makes me want some hot tea to comfort me.  The brownies are out of the oven and cooling, so I am trying to decide what type of tea should I have with my warm brownie?  Since it is late at night I was actually thinking about a rooibos tea, caffeine does not work for me late at night and the chocolate was probably all the caffeine I could handle right now.  Debating on a West Cape Chai rooibos or a peppermint rooibos tea.  Hmmmmm, do I want the spiciness or something soothing?  Do you ever get that dilemma?

Well, after thinking about it for awhile I decided on the peppermint rooibos because I wanted something soothing and it was the right choice.

On a good note the rain should help the cool weather veggies I planted in the garden and hopefully I can plant the warm weather veggies soon.  It has been a cold spring (I use the term spring loosely) here and I was late in putting in the cool weather veggies.  If the weather seems warm I would have planted tomatoes in late April, but would not even consider that this year and am hoping I can get them in before June.

Tea Plantation and becoming certified tea specialist trip, part 5a

Part 5a How tea is made or CTC black tea is made in Charleston Tea Plantation.  This will be in 2 parts because I believe it is important to see the process.  Please excuse the fuzzy pictures, it is hard to take pictures with glass in the way, especially the first few pictures until I found a better way to take the pictures.

Processing fresh tea leaves. 

Withering

Only other places in the US that have tea plantations are Hawaii and starting some in Oregon, but they are very new.

About to be Crushing, Tearing & Curling (CTC)

Crushing, Tearing & Curling (CTC)

CTC to Oxidizing, see above picture for detail of the bottom right

Mother's Day

What should I write besides Happy Mother's Day?  It is hard to think of anything clever.  I did some research on Mother's Day that may have nothing to do with tea, cooking or gardening, but is interesting nonetheless.  

One of the oldest Mother deities worshiped was Isis from Egypt.  She was considered the Mother of the Pharaohs.  Later In Greek mythology there was Rhea the mother of Zeus and considered the Mother of the gods.  This evolved into celebrating the Mother Church and Mary by early Christians.  The English in the 1600s broadened it to include real mothers.  In the late 1800s the start of what we consider Mother's Day in the United States is forming.  After the bloody Civil War Julie Ward Howe wanted Mothers to protest the killing of their sons.  Soon afterward it evolved into honoring your mother and a national holiday in the United States in 1914 that spread to many countries across the world.

This is a very brief synopsis of an article I read on the internet http://www.mothersdaycentral.com/about-mothersday/history/.  It also tells briefly how other countries celebrate Mother's Day, including exchanging teas in Australia for Mother's Day.  Well I guess tea does get mentioned after all.

Herbed Carrot Soup

Made a great herbed carrot soup a day or two ago from carrots that over wintered in my garden. The carrots were super sweet and the herbs added a savory touch and a nice balance to the soup. I wish I used fresh herbs, but that will not be for a couple more weeks (the chives maybe). The next day it tasted even better.  Added some roasted, slivered almonds for some crunch and contrast to the pureed soup. I should have written down what I put in it, but was not thinking at the time and just added things that would go well together.  


When you make soup or other foods do you use a recipe, do you modify a recipe or do you just wing it?  Does it depend?  Like for baked goods, I am more likely to use a recipe, but sometimes add or subtract some ingredients.  Rarely will I use a recipe and follow it exactly, but know many people who follow a recipe exactly and fret when they do not have a ingredient that is in the recipe.

Tea Plantation and becoming certified tea specialist trip, part 4

Part 4 Where in the world is Jennifer Nowicki?

Can't get there from here....

Hopefully someday, sigh....

These are the places I want to go when I win the lottery.

Here's hoping next week....

Using the same basic equipment Japan does because human labor is too costly

My new ride....