Tea Recipes #3

These recipes, and much more, are found in the fabulous book Eat Tea by Joanna Pruess.

GREEN FRUITS IN JASMINE TEA SYRUP

• 2 t. jasmine tea leaves
• 1/2 c. sugar
• grated zest of 1 lime
• juice of 1 lime
• 3 kiwi, peeled and sliced
• 1 ripe honeydew melon (approx. 5 lbs.) , scooped into balls or diced
• 8 oz. seedless green grapes, stemmed, washed, and halved
• sprigs of fresh mint for garnish

Bring 1/3 c. water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the jasmine tea, remove the pan from the heat, and infuse for 4-5 minutes. Strain into a clean pan, pressing to extract as much liquid as possible, and discard the tea leaves.

Add sugar and lime zest to the pan. Over medium heat, stir until sugar dissolves, then bring liquid to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer syrup for 1-2 minutes. Remove pan from heat and stir in lime juice.

Place kiwi, melon, and grapes in serving bowl and pour on syrup. Cover and marinate in refrigerator for 4-6 hours. Remove from refrigerator 20 minutes before serving, toss gently, garnish with mint.

COCONUT-SCENTED YAMS

• 4 medium yams
• 1 c. coconut milk
• 2 T. rose hips tea leaves
• salt
• toasted shredded coconut for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 F. Bake yams until tender. Meanwhile bring coconut milk to a simmer in saucepan. Stir in tea and infuse for 5 mintues. Strain, pressing to extract as much liquid as possible. Mash yams, stir in the tea-infused coconut milk, season to taste with salt. Garnish with coconut.

Tea on Horseback

Tea on Horseback

With five tons of Pu'er tea, a team of 120 horses and mules led by 43 stablemen from Southwest China's Yunnan Province arrived in Beijing after more than five months of travelling.

An auction of the tea will be held with proceeds going to the Project Hope.

The event, started on May 1st, is aimed to promote Pu'er tea culture by reviving the tradition when Pu'er tea was transported on horseback from Simao, hometown of Pu'er tea in Yunnan Province, to the royal court in Beijing.

At that time, horses were one of the most convenient means to transport, the transportation itself was one of the processes in making the fine Pu'er tea. It is said the unique taste of Pu'er tea was developed during the month-long horseback transportation when the tea-leaves would begin to ferment in the humidity and release a strong, fragrant aroma.

This is the first horseback transportation of Pu'er tea along the same route from Simao to Beijing since the practice died out 166 years ago. There have been four tea auctions along the way in Kuming, Chengdu, Xi'an and Taiyuan. Beijing was the trip's final stop.

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