Literally nothing of interest happened today.

[conuly]

Except that I got a desire to have even more loose tea in my pantry. I'm not saying I will purchase more loose teas at this time, we have a bit of an overflow issue, but does anybody have any recommendations? Non-teas like fruit or herbal teas are also okay.

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Comments

[dine]

I am not a huge tea drinker, but I have several friends who are extremely fond of Adagio teas - if you're not familiar, they have a variety of teas, and their themed fandom blends are both tasty and entertaining

[conuly]

I want the fandom blends just for the tins, not gonna lie.

[elainegrey]

I'm enjoying the Colombian teas that Upton Teas carries. I'm about out so i ordered some of the marvelous Keemuns from them and Mélange de Chamonix Black Tea (for my birthday).

[redbird]

I am extremely fond of the Golden Assam (Khongea Estate) that McNulty's carries; I used to walk in to their store on Christopher Street, and now get it by mail order.

"Extremely" meaning that this is the tea I drink about 95% of the time at home, the other 5% being when I forget to set it up until the kettle boils, at which point grabbing a tea bag may be easier.

This is a strong black tea, good either with or without milk.

[conuly]

Thank you.

[redsixwing]

I like Dryad Tea, particularly some of the floral blends (Glashtyn is my particular favorite: cinnamon, rose, and oolong.) I know they have some fruit teas and tisanes that are well thought of.

[conuly]

That sounds yummy, thanks.

[thewayne]

Sweet tea brining chicken breasts, great way to use excess or older tea. Recipes on the interwebs.

[conuly]

Interesting, interesting.

[thewayne]

This is a recipe that we used. Obviously you do not reuse the brine liquid: discard the solids and pour the rest down the drain. And there’s huge room for improvisation based on ingredients on-hand or whatever you’re feeling like doing. Slicing the onion and lemon you’re looking for thin slices to maximize surface area in the brine solution to max out flavor transfer.

Sweet Tea Brined Chicken Prep Time: 1 hour Cook Time: 1 hour Adapted from Southern Living

Ingredients 3 The Republic of Tea Limon Black Tea Pouches 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 sweet Vidalia onion, thinly sliced 1 lemon, thinly sliced 3 garlic cloves 2 sprigs fresh rosemary 1 tablespoon crushed black pepper 1/4 cup salt 2 cups ice cubes 3-4 pounds bone-in chicken breast

Instructions Boil 4 cups of water in a large stockpot. Add tea bags and let steep for 10 minutes. Add salt & sugar and stir until completely dissolved. Add the garlic, lemon, onion, rosemary and black pepper. Add 2 cups ice and let brine cool completely. Place chicken in large plastic bags and let sit in the brine, refrigerated for at least 24 hours. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Pour 1/4 teaspoon of olive oil in cast iron skillet and spread around. Place skillet in oven and let heat for about 10 minutes. Remove chicken from bags and wipe dry. Discard brine. Using a knife, gently pull skin away from breast meat. Place 1 lemon slice and a partial sprig of rosemary between breast and skin. Place chicken in skillet. Roast for about 1 hour, flipping over every 15 minutes. Cook until the thickest part of the chicken breast reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees F. Remove skillet from oven and cover loosely with foil and let rest 5 minutes. Serve with pan juices from the skillet. Notes Prep time only includes about 20 minutes of active prep time. 24 hours of total time is for the chicken to sit in the brine. Only about 30 minutes total active time.

[thewayne]

Also, making hot Earl Grey then pouring it over ice is a very interesting flavor experience.

[conuly]

Tea. Earl Grey. Let's mix it up!

[thewayne]

It would be unimaginable the fan freakout if Stewart made a fanvid short of him in captain’s costume, on-set, saying “Tea, Earl Grey, iced.” I think England would rise about 5” from all of the brains exploding.

[conuly]

It would be unimaginable the fan freakout if Stewart made a fanvid short of him in captain’s costume, on-set, saying “Tea, Earl Grey, iced.”

Is that a typical construction for you?

[thewayne]

I’m writing a short story at this very moment where one of the two speaking characters has had a stroke and has a really weird speech pattern.

[conuly]

Ah, and it's bleeding through?

[thewayne]

Verily! Plus he’s foreign, living in America, so my brain is sort of jumbled at the moment.

[thewayne]

Oh, and he’s going to end the world. With a watch.

[conuly]

Huh.

[thewayne]

But the world might get better. We’ll see what my page count permits. We’re supposed to be 5-10 pages, my last short story was 13 (and featured Coulson and Fury, but the reviewers didn’t realize that) and I didn’t get dinged on that, but I’m trying to bring it in under 10. We’ll see what happens.

[elisi]

Our tea (and like, this is what we sort of 'invented' if that's the right word) is two parts regular tea (Sainsbury's Gold blend) and one part Early Grey. Loose leaf of course. Make a pot several times a day. :)

[conuly]

So a little bergamotty but not much?

[elisi]

Yes? It's lovely.

[elf]

My favorite Adagio teas include Warm Hugs (chocolatey), Bone Daddy (appley), and East Spice of Ix (spiced chai). I've bought all of those more than once.

[conuly]

Chai, mmm.

[greghousesgf]

I like English Breakfast tea a lot. I also like Coconut Pu-erh from Republic of Tea.

[conuly]

Thanks :)

[bitterlawngnome]

Did You Know ... ?

https://specialtyteaalliance.org/world-of-tea/us-grown-tea/

I didn't until yesterday.

[conuly]

Tea in New York!?

[bitterlawngnome]

Weird eh? and there's a tea farm just across the water from us on Vancouver Island too. I had no idea.

[kareina]

My favourite "tea" is to pick leaves from our black currant bushes and dry them. It is perfect in that one can leave the tea ball in the water forever and it never gets bitter, just tastes nicely of black currant. If I make a full pot and get distracted and don't drink it I put it into a glass bottle and put it in the fridge to drink cold later, and it is really yummy that way too. It also doesn't take much (like 1/4 teaspoon of leaves in a 1.5 liter thermos) to make a nice tasty tea.

[chez_jae]

You can never have too much tea.

:D