The Tea Diaries

Faux Pas and A Nice Cup of Tea

2012-05-23T14:46:00.000+10:00

Oh dear. Dear readers, just yesterday I made the most unforgivable of tea-related faux pas. Let me relate the tale...

My fellow tea lover and great friend, we shall call him Master M, called by my house yesterday (to watch a fantastic show called Legend of Korra, and if you aren't watching it you should be). I have been a bit lax with my shopping this week, so all I could offer food wise was half a chai tea cupcake before we journeyed off to Prahran to support a friend's band.

Imagine my horror when Master M pointed out, as we were lining up for the gig, that I had failed to offer him tea! Without fail, when I have visited his house I have always had tea (granted this is mostly at my own insistence). I am a terrible host!

To soothe my anquish, Lady J sent me through this piece this morning which I thought I would share with you all. It is from Mr George Orwell...

A Nice Cup of Tea

If you look up ‘tea’ in the first cookery book that comes to hand you will probably find that it is unmentioned; or at most you will find a few lines of sketchy instructions which give no ruling on several of the most important points.

This is curious, not only because tea is one of the mainstays of civilisation in this country, as well as in Eire, Australia and New Zealand, but because the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes.

When I look through my own recipe for the perfect cup of tea, I find no fewer than eleven outstanding points. On perhaps two of them there would be pretty general agreement, but at least four others are acutely controversial. Here are my own eleven rules, every one of which I regard as golden:

- First of all, one should use Indian or Ceylonese tea. China tea has virtues which are not to be despised nowadays — it is economical, and one can drink it without milk — but there is not much stimulation in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it. Anyone who has used that comforting phrase ‘a nice cup of tea’ invariably means Indian tea.

- Secondly, tea should be made in small quantities — that is, in a teapot. Tea out of an urn is always tasteless, while army tea, made in a cauldron, tastes of grease and whitewash. The teapot should be made of china or earthenware. Silver or Britanniaware teapots produce inferior tea and enamel pots are worse; though curiously enough a pewter teapot (a rarity nowadays) is not so bad.

- Thirdly, the pot should be warmed beforehand. This is better done by placing it on the hob than by the usual method of swilling it out with hot water.

- Fourthly, the tea should be strong. For a pot holding a quart, if you are going to fill it nearly to the brim, six heaped teaspoons would be about right. In a time of rationing, this is not an idea that can be realized on every day of the week, but I maintain that one strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones. All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong, but like it a little stronger with each year that passes — a fact which is recognized in the extra ration issued to old-age pensioners.

- Fifthly, the tea should be put straight into the pot. No strainers, muslin bags or other devices to imprison the tea. In some countries teapots are fitted with little dangling baskets under the spout to catch the stray leaves, which are supposed to be harmful. Actually one can swallow tea-leaves in considerable quantities without ill effect, and if the tea is not loose in the pot it never infuses properly.

- Sixthly, one should take the teapot to the kettle and not the other way about. The water should be actually boiling at the moment of impact, which means that one should keep it on the flame while one pours. Some people add that one should only use water that has been freshly brought to the boil, but I have never noticed that it makes any difference.

- Seventhly, after making the tea, one should stir it, or better, give the pot a good shake, afterwards allowing the leaves to settle.

- Eighthly, one should drink out of a good breakfast cup — that is, the cylindrical type of cup, not the flat, shallow type. The breakfast cup holds more, and with the other kind one’s tea is always half cold before one has well started on it.

- Ninthly, one should pour the cream off the milk before using it for tea. Milk that is too creamy always gives tea a sickly taste.

- Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round.

- Lastly, tea — unless one is drinking it in the Russian style — should be drunk without sugar. I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tea-lover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a very similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water.

Some people would answer that they don’t like tea in itself, that they only drink it in order to be warmed and stimulated, and they need sugar to take the taste away. To those misguided people I would say: Try drinking tea without sugar for, say, a fortnight and it is very unlikely that you will ever want to ruin your tea by sweetening it again.

These are not the only controversial points to arise in connection with tea drinking, but they are sufficient to show how subtilised the whole business has become. There is also the mysterious social etiquette surrounding the teapot (why is it considered vulgar to drink out of your saucer, for instance?) and much might be written about the subsidiary uses of tealeaves, such as telling fortunes, predicting the arrival of visitors, feeding rabbits, healing burns and sweeping the carpet. It is worth paying attention to such details as warming the pot and using water that is really boiling, so as to make quite sure of wringing out of one’s ration the twenty good, strong cups of that two ounces, properly handled, ought to represent.
First published in The Evening Standard, January 12th, 1946

A Quest for Scones - Winchelsea Tea Rooms

2012-05-21T16:09:00.000+10:00

I have a dear friend, let's call her Lady J, who is a knitter. A voracious knitter, you could say. You will rarely find her without a half-knitted something in her bag. I will admit I've taken advantage of this over the short time I've known her, having acquired a pair of socks, gloves and two hats (all very cosy).

As it would happen, Lady J's birthday is coming up and there was a particular wool shop she wanted to visit near Colac, so as a bit of a pre-birthday expedition we set off on the weekend on a quest for wool and scones. Because every good road trip should include scones and tea at some stages, no?

We did a bit of "pre-research" and decided the Winchelsea Shire Tea Rooms looked like the perfect place for our mid-morning stop, being set in a lovely stone building that was the old shire offices.

Looks promising...

Cafe Review: Winchelsea Shire Hall Tea Rooms
Where: 28 Hesse St, Winchelsea

We arrived around 10.30, and there was only one other table occupied in the spacious room. It was beautifully fitted out, reminiscent of a proper old English tea room with luscious red carpet and crisp white table cloths. Lady J and I order a pair of scones to share, and a pot of English Breakfast, all full of anticipation.

For anyone who's already skipped past all this to check out the final score, you'll know already know this anticipation was.... misplaced.

Ok, I realise I can be picky about my tea, but I do think if you are a "Tea Room" there are two things you should be able to do well - tea and scones.

The tea was...odd tasting. I can't put my finger on it, but it was not at all enjoyable. It probably didn't help that the small zero Japan tea pot was absolutely stuffed with tea leaves. I did appreciate having a small pot of hot water provided if we wanted a second cup, but I would have preferred a bigger pot with that amount of leaves.

Sadly, the scones were also uninspiring. They were lovely and warm, but mine was overcooked on the bottom and Lady J and I both agreed the texture was on the overworked side.

I won't pick on the poor serving girls because in my opinion they probably hadn't been trained well enough, but Lady J would like me to add that the collection of items for sale in the side room was as disappointing as the tea, and the thick, cheap china didn't add to the tea drinking experience.

All in all, I would advise travellers in the area to give it a miss. There are enough tea rooms littering the high way without trying this one. I really think, given it's an iconic building and the elegance they are clearly trying to aim for, it could have been so much more. The luke-warm, random tea from flasks Lady J and I had for afternoon tea, with a home made chai tea cupcake (recipe coming soon!) was infinitely more satisfying, though that could have been due to the turn of weather in the afternoon? Tea is all about company and atmosphere after all.
(Incidentally, if you are a wool enthusiast, I can't say enough good things about Tarndwarncoort. Even if you just go to walk around the garden.)

Can't beat tea and a cupcake
on top of a car

The Rating
Atmosphere: 4/5
Available food: 2/5
Tea range: 2/5
Tea had: 1/5

Overall: 9/20

Return and Covet

2012-05-15T15:00:00.001+10:00

Alright, I will be the first to admit - after the amazingly heavenly experience of Monk Bodhi Dharma, which I really didn't think I could top, I put the blog on hold. In the year I've been away I've moved, travelled to China and drunk a whole lot of tea.

The Melbourne tea scene surely seems to be heating up in my absence, with a new tea cafe in Fitzroy and plans for ones in Northcote and West Brunswick. It is to these ends that I am back, navigating the oft times disastrous path of the tea connieseur in the hopes of easing the way for those that follow.

So! Where will we start today?

The problem with so many cafes in Melbourne is that they go to the effort of sourcing a nice tea, and then pour scorching water from the espresso machine over it. I have to say, I'm guilty of a similar crime at work where the only hot water comes out of a dual boiling/chilled filter. So when I was reading a magazine and stumbled across this all I could think was "WANT". What am I coveting this week?

The TeaTotal

Ok, not actually finished development yet, and more for the cafe scene, but can you imagine how this little baby will change the tea drinking experience?

Cambridge Consultants, the brains behind this device, say: Users, in the form of cafe patrons, home consumers, or those at a vending machine, select the preferred loose-leaf tea variety, temperature, and strength level. Instead of walking away with a tea bag attached to a string dangling out of a to-go cup, the tea drinker becomes witness to the process itself: the tea is introduced to the water, where a stirring mechanism facilitates consistency and steeping efficiency. When ready, the finished tea is funneled into a waiting cup

What a completely brilliant idea. Never again would a tea drinker be served a burnt, over brewed tea bag. Fantastic!
Check out more on the TeaTotal here

Just died and went to tea heaven - Monk Bodhi Dharma

2011-01-29T20:25:00.004+11:00

Cafe Review: Monk Bodhi Dharma
Where: 202 Carlisle St, Balaclava

Wow. Just...wow. I think I've actually found a really good tea house (slash cafe) in Melbourne. Seriously THE best cup of tea I've had in a long time.

It started with a 1 and a half hour drive to Balaclava (damn you Hoddle St, are you ever not crowded?) and then a good ten minutes of searching. Monk Bodhi Dharma. It's like a little converted two room house down an alley way off Carlisle St - I don't think you'd know it was there if you weren't looking for it.

The first thing I'd like to say about Monk Bodhi Dharma is: it rocks. I don't know about you, but there are some places I walk into and I think "wow I am SO not cool enough to be here" (mostly because it's full of hipsters) but this place isn't like that. It's got an eclectic clientele - we were sat between some hipsters and and two lovely old ladies. There is a great atmosphere, everyone seems really happy and there are fantastic solid wood tables and orchids everywhere.

Secondly, I recommend turning straight to the last page of the menu. Oh sure, they have your regular english breakfast, earl grey etc selection on the second page, but the last page is where the amazing teas are. I've been to tea houses that have 200+ teas, and I had more trouble choosing tea today than I've had anywhere else.

Each tea is accompanied by its estate of origin, an almost wine review of its flavour characteristics (think along the lines of "melon flavours with a crisp after taste") and an approximate brewing time. This turns out to be very helpful because there appears to be only one kettle boiling. My friend's tea comes out a good 5 minutes before mine. But you know, I don't mind because both pots have been brewed perfectly. Brewed to the right temperature for the right time. I am almost left speechless by the care taken with this.

My friend orders the long well, while I get the jin xuan. Oh. My. God. This tea comes with subtelties. It takes me a few minutes, but finally identify plum flavours under the earthiness of my tea. My friend's comes with a sort of rosemary, almost roast lamb, scent and refreshing floral flavour. I am in absolute heaven.

We also notice that Monk Bodhi Dharma has an amazing breakfast menu, and a coffee list to rival their tea selection. I highly recommend checking out this little hide out. I'm only sorry I didn't get any photos, but hey, that's just a reason to go back again.

The Rating
Atmosphere: 5/5
Available food: 4/5
Tea range: 5/5
Tea had: 5/5
Overall: 19/20

Questing over the river - Le Bon

2011-01-24T09:28:00.007+11:00

Cafe Review: Le Bon Continental Cake ShopWhere: 93 Acland St, St Kilda

Living on the north side of Melbourne, I don't tend to venture "over the river" very often. Well, ok, to the National Gallery and casino and southbank, but that's about as far as I go. But in honour of my mum coming all the way down from Canberra for a visit, we did a special quest down to St Kilda in search of fabled cake shops.

After a very, very long tram ride and a very confusing wander around the streets (tip of the day: no matter how confidently she says she does assuming your mother knows where the cake shops in a city she's only been to once is folly) we found Acland Street. There's a strip with about 4 or 5 european style cake shops with the most amazing window displays. It is seriously drool worthy.

I will admit we chose the cake shop entirely based on what we wanted to eat, not the tea available. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the one we chose, Le Bon, served a brand of tea I've been reading about lately called "Stash Tea". It all looked very promising, with about 12 different types of tea ranging from green or earl grey to raspberry or orange spice. We ordered a vanilla slice, a macadamia tart, and two pots of orange spice and it was all going quite well.

Ah, alas. Tea bags. I wasn't actually expecting loose leaf tea at this place so I wasn't too disappointed. Until I opened opened it. I think I've been spoiled with those lovely silk tea bags with the high quality tea (when I dare to drink them) - what we had here was the old fashioned paper filter filled with fannings. To make matters worse, while they did put bits of orange peel in to flavour the tea, they used clove flavouring instead of actual cloves. I seriously do not understand this. Stash looks like a pretty upmarket tea company, why are they using flavouring instead of actual cloves? The tea itself was weak and not very tasty, despite the delicious aroma wafting off it.

So the tea was a disappointment, especially at $4 per pot. Luckily the cakes saved the day (though the vanilla slice wasn't amazing, the macadamia tart made up for it). I suppose I was expecting more because I'd built Stash up in my head as a really good tea brand. I am prepared to give them another go because hey, maybe I just chose a dud tea?

I guess in the end this has been me judging Stash Tea and not Le Bon for providing the tea, and I think it's great they were branching out from the usual T2. But in my opinion, cakes are just supposed to with tea. I think it just makes sense, when the cakes are so beautiful, to make sure you have a tea that compliments them.

The Rating

Atmosphere: 2/5

Available food: 4/5

Tea range: 3/5

Tea had: 1/5

Overall: 10/20

Bad Tea makes KD Sad :( - Brunetti

2011-01-17T08:56:00.004+11:00

Cafe Review: Brunetti

Where: 194-204 Faraday St, Carlton

Maybe I'm being to harsh but what a terrible tea experience. Yes, I'm well aware that Brunetti is known for its tasty tasty cakes and biscuits, but seriously. I'm of the opinion that a decent (even semi-decent) cup of tea is not that hard to make.

It starts when I order. Brunetti only stocks about 6 types of tea - this isn't a problem, I don't expect a big range in cafes (though honestly, are they're any cafes in Melbourne that don't T2? I almost feel like changing the blog name to 'T2 Review'). I order the China Jasmine. Yes, I definitely, clearly said China Jasmine. The serving girl gives me a quizzical look and puts it through.

So imagine my surprise then when I end up with a chamomile tea. And to make matters worse - it's a tea bag. I've got nothing against tea bags when there are no other options, but Brunetti is trying to pass itself off as refined and taking food seriously (am I wrong?) so why do they have tea bags?

The next lovely surprise comes when I try to pour the hot water from a very pretty metal tea pot into my cup. Disaster. It's a dripper. I end up with a small lake on my table, and my companion has to pilfer napkins from the next table to stop it flowing onto our chairs.

Add to this a dirty teaspoon, and Brunetti has lost some major points with me. I'm so disappointed I'm not even going to put up a photo of the experience. Go for the tea and cakes, but don't stay for the drinks.

The Rating

Atmosphere: 2/5

Available food: 4/5 (Brunetti's only saving grace)

Tea range: 1/5

Tea had: 1/5

Overall: 8/20

Cookie time

2011-01-12T22:09:00.004+11:00

Ok, I've been looking a lot at cooking with tea recently (combining my two passions, food and tea omg). I listened to a really excellent podcast the other day interviewing Robert Wemischner (the author of Cooking with tea) and he really inspired me.

So here we go, a little cooking experiment.

I made two batches of cookies. One with earl grey tea, and the other with a toffee tea I just bought (which smells DIVINE - can't wait to drink it). Still working on the recipe, but bear with me, they taste pretty good.

First off, you want to infuse the butter with tea. A lot of recipes for tea cookies suggest you crush tea and put it in to the cookies - but seriously, who wants to eat bits of tea leaf?

Infusing butter with tea

You will need two grams of tea per tablespoon of butter.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan until just melted
Add the tea leaves and simmer for about 5 minutes
Turn the heat off and leave the tea to steap. The longer the better I think
Now you have delicious smelling, tasty butter. I'm not sure if you can put it in the fridge and reuse it. I think it is best to use straight away.

Note that is it is best to use a really strong tea for this. Delicate flavours get lost in the butter.

Ok, now you have amazing butter infused with whatever flavour you want. You'll need about 250 g for the following recipe, so I'd say you'd need about 20g of tea.

Earl Grey Cookies with Orange, Toffee Tea Cookies

The basic cookie recipe is thus. You can use whatever flavour of tea you want, just remember they won't come out super strong.

Ingredients
150g icing sugar
250g tea infused butter
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg, lightly whisked
375g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Method

Cream icing sugar and tea infused butter in a bowl until light and creamy
add vanilla essence (if making earl grey cookies, add the zest of an orange here) and keep beating
add the egg and mix until everything is combined and glossy
sift flour and baking powder into the bowl, and gently combine with wet ingredients
turn dough onto a lightly floured surface, and roll in to a tube. Cover with cling wrap and set in the fridge for about an hour
cut into rounds about 2cm thick and place on a baking tray. Sprinkle with raw sugar if desired (it adds a nice crunch)
Bake at 180 degrees celcius for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

Alright, there we go! I slightly overcooked mine so they were on the crunchy side, but still damn tasty (especially the toffee tea ones).

Theine

2011-01-09T21:58:00.003+11:00

Dear Theine,

I do not accept you as a real word.

Your close cousin, Theanine, I have no problem with. He actually appears to have a place in the world of tea.

Please stop appearing in otherwise well-written and interesting books on tea, trying to pass yourself off as your cousin. It's embarrassing for us all.

For anyone who might not know, Theanine is an amino acid especially found in green tea that gives it that kind of sweet taste (check it out ), while Theine is a "tea specific" word for caffeine (What am I a talking about, of course you all know this).

Let's go for a ride - Ici

2011-01-08T12:16:00.007+11:00

Cafe Review: Ici

Where: 359 Napier St, Fitzroy

My housemate and I decided to go on an epic bike ride for the recent public holiday - all the way from Coburg to Lake Albert and back again (alright, maybe not that epic to seasoned riders, but pretty huge for us).

Along the back alleys and sidestreets of Melbourne we came across a little corner cafe with people literally spilling on to the street. Well, that was enough to make us want to see what the fuss was about, and in we went.

Ici in Fitzroy is a popular place, and there were no free tables. After chatting to a very helpful (though very busy) waitress, we were allowed to pull up a couple of stools on the pathway outside. Getting a seat though turned out to be the easy part.

Ici stocks T2 teas, a range of about a 20 - my mind was not equipped to handle such an unexpected range of choices, and the poor waitress had to stand there for about 5 minutes while I pondered my decision. I eventually settled on a French Earl Grey (though I was tempted by a Turkish Apple based iced tea).

Service was quick and the tea was delicious - I had mine without milk (naturally). I will complain that they use Zero Japan teapots (this is a personal gripe because I think they always drip everywhere, but don't let that put you off if you have a fondness of these teapots). The first cup was a rich, clear brown like translucent chocolate, the taste just lightly tanine-y with a hint of bergamont and roses. The second cup (poured about 15 minutes later, I know waaaay too long) was too overbrewed for me, but my housemate happily drank it.

I have since been told that Ici has an excellent breakfast range to go with your morning cup of tea. I thought it was a really good little cafe, with a great vibe (though maybe this was more due to unexpectedly getting a decent cup of tea?)

The Rating

Atmosphere: 4/5

Available food: 3/5

Tea range: 4/5

Tea had: 4/5

Overall: 15/20

NB: Just in case someone gripes about me rating food I didn't have, let me just say the food LOOKED really good and I've heard good things about it. If we hadn't just had breakfast I would have happily tucked in to any one of the plates coming out.

My Water Tastes Like Cucumber- A Minor Place

2011-01-01T09:34:00.003+11:00

Cafe review: A Minor Place

Where: 103 Albion St, Brunswick

I've been meaning to go to A Minor Place for a while, and finally got there the other day after picking my housemate up from the airport at crazy o'clock.

Alright, first things first, the positives. I love the atmosphere there. It's like a converted terrace house, very relaxed and friendly. The breakfast menu is pretty extensive and full of interesting dishes (my housemate had a bagel with avocado and dahl).

The tea range is big for a place that is better known for coffee - there are your standards like English Breakfast and Earl Grey, and a few more interesting ones like peppermint, liquorice and ginger, and a red rooibos.

I go for the gen mai cha and a piece of organic fruit toast. We also get some water which, sorry I'm going to get hung up on this, has cucumber in it. I can get behind lemon or whatever in my water, but cucumber? I don't want my water tasting like cucumber.

The drinks come out. Bonus - they use tea leaves. Hoorah! And the tea pot is very cute in a bubble kind of way. But the tea pot is dirty with tanine staining all up the spout. Mmm, nice.

The tea is a lovely pale honey colour when I pour it and has that good roasted rice smell. Alright, all going well. Then I drink it. You know when you cook rice on the stove and it goes crusty and brown around the edges? Yeah, that's what it tastes like. Over cooked, crusty rice.

At least the fruit toast was nice. But overall, not the best tea experience, and I just couldn't get over my weird tasting water. I'd recommend going for coffee and breakfast, but stick to the plain teas and lemon water.

The Rating

Atmosphere: 4/5

Available food: 3/5

Tea range: 3/5

Tea had: 2/5

Overall: 12/20

First post!

2011-01-01T09:07:00.003+11:00

Hello, and welcome to the New Year, and a new start for The Tea Diaries. I moved to Melbourne a few months ago and was astounded to discover that despite an incredibly coffee culture, it is really difficult to get a decent cup of tea here. So! I have decided to start this blog/review to document all things tea in Melbourne.

If you've stumbled across this site then I can only hope you are a fellow lover of tea, or at least enjoy the odd cup, and I hope you will find it a helpful and interesting insight into Melbourne's tea world.

There will be a couple of different reviews on this blog.

Cafe review - a review of one of Melbourne's many fine establishments, taking in tea range and quality, and types of food available.
Tea review - a review of a bought tea prepared at home.
Tea accessories review
Tea recipes