Slurp and Spit! ... My kind of Fun (Tea Tasting)

Dream job: Slurper and Spitter.  

Um, I mean tea taster.  What exactly is a tea taster and what do they do?  Here's a great video by the folks at Yorkshire Tea that explains it.

The best way to learn the different characteristics of each type of tea and to develop your palate is through practice or tasting.  Like learning the piano, practice makes perfect.  Examining the leaves, dry and wet, smelling them, and tasting the steeped tea (also known as the liquor). 

I don't go to tea classes every week any more (my sommelier courses at George Brown College are long over) so to help keep my palate sharp with fresh memories, my tea friends and I do tea tastings when we can.

Tasting of Hankook Tea's lovely Korean teas

Or when possible attend a master class for further educational development.  The photos below are from the "The Art of Tea" fundraising event that took place in Toronto's historic St. Lawrence Hall on June 18, 2011. 

Dilhan Fernando of Dilmah Tea is preparing their very fine teas for tasting.  Steeping the teas in cupping sets (white cup, lid and bowl).

Examining and smelling the leaves

Time to taste!

And finally, I will let international tea taster, tea author, and co-owner of Montreal's Camellia Sinensis Tea House, Kevin  Gascoyne, explains how to properly taste tea like a pro.  Kevin has over two decades of experience in the tea industry.  Now, that's a lot of slurping and spitting!

An Elegant Charity Afternoon Tea with Soroptimist International

The Soroptimist International of Toronto presented a lovely charity afternoon tea featuring a colleague of mine, fellow Certified Tea Sommelier and Culinary Consultant, Ingrid Folkers.  How fitting that on Mother's Day weekend, this group of business and professional women will use the proceeds of the event to help local women and young girls, in this case, the 416 Community Support for Women. 

Ingrid, a classmate for quite a few of the Tea Sommelier classes at George Brown College, has been a member of Soroptimist for four years.

Ingrid Folkers (left), Rosita Mandeville, organizer (right)

Ingrid received comprehensive hospitality training (including chef training) in Austria prior to her coming to Canada.  She makes all the foods for her afternoon teas, even the macarons!  Although her oven wouldn't cooperate, so she had to use Ruelo Patisserie's macarons for this event.

It was a lovely afternoon tea, yummy treats and good tea in company of friendly ladies for a great cause!

 

Two teas were served:

Dilmah's Ceylon Earl Grey and Ingrid's own sommelier blended Bourbon Street Vanilla Rooibos  for the non-caffeinated choice.  

The Earl Grey was well blended, strong and rich brew with just the right amount of bergamot.  You can click here for a video to find out the story of Earl Grey tea.  

The rooibos tea was enjoyable with a mild, warming, earthy taste, rich Bourbon vanilla notes, some spices, and had a sweet finish. 

Both teas paired well with the foods.  Yes, I saved bites of food to try with each tea... it must have been quite a funny sight for the other ladies at my table watching me with my camera snapping photos, taking bites of food, sips of tea, taking notes...

Citrus ginger scone, refreshing Lychee Spritzer and Earl grey tea 

the scone was light and tasty

 The afternoon tea tier had many goodies

 from bottom to middle: Mustard Pork loin with chutney on rye, Smoked salmon wheels

from left to right: curried chicken medallions, egg salad, cucumber/dill sandwiches

Mustard Pork Loin with chutney on rye

The sandwiches were really tasty, I particularly enjoyed the pork loin with chutney on rye, not a typical afternoon tea sandwich.  The cucumber sandwiches were very enjoyable too, perfectly thinly sliced, soft bread, nice dill flavour.  The curried chicken medallions were creative with the slices of egg and carrot infused bread.  The breads were slightly sweet, the curry chicken filling was mild, interesting. The egg salad and smoked salmon were more typical afternoon tea style sandwiches.

The sweets: lavender matcha tea cookies, Pot de Creme, French macarons, black velvet cupcakes. 

The rich red velvet cupcake, if you were a cupcake fan, you'd like it very much.  The lavender added a nice touch to the matcha cookies, which I quite enjoyed.  The macaron were yummy, a little bit chewy, lovely raspberry with the chocolate ganache, oh my goodness! 

I really liked the pot de creme, rich dark chocolate cup with light raspberry creme and fresh ripe raspberry, slight bitterness of the chocolate with sweetness of the berry creme, mmm.

Pot de Creme

And of course, what would a charity afternoon tea be without fancy hats and facinators!

A couple of us forgot ours though, aww darn ...

DTL & Aroma's Adventures in the Land of Tea

Happily sipping hojicha as a digestif after a yummy Thanksgiving weekend feast of turkey, pot roast, all sort of veggies, and Gordon Ramsay's Leek Risotto, I settled in to relax and let my tummy digest.

As I slowly sipped the warm toasty, well-rounded flavours of my Japanese roasted green tea, noticing the slight caramel finish on my tongue, I read news on the Internet.

Hojicha leaves

go ahead, have a sip

Flipping from page to page on some of my favourite tea sites, I found something for kids to learn about tea! 

Well, really kids of all ages... I stumbled upon ' new website for tea kids!   I had met one of the owners of Dilmah Tea, Dilhan Fernando and tasted many of Dilmah's wonderful teas at the Art of Tea event back in June, so was very curious to check out the site some more.

In DTL & Aroma's Adventures in the Land of Tea, I followed the cartoon characters named  DTL and Aroma on their journey into the land of tea, their visit to Dilmah Tea Gardens in Sri Lanka, meeting the owners, learning the process of making tea, and of course, enjoying tea.

There are quizzes and games to test your tea knowledge, or if you are new to tea, a great way to start your education of the second most popular drink in the world, after water!

So, go ahead, and check out Dilmah Teakids' site!  Read a comic so you can follow DTL and Aroma's journeys, play a game, or give yourself a pop quiz... and have fun on your journey into tealand...

http://teakids.mydilmah.com/

The Art of Tea

On a sunny day, back in June, I joined a group of Certified Tea Sommeliers, Jane Pettigrew, the famous tea expert from U.K., and Dilhan Fernando of Dilmah Tea Estate , plus many others at Toronto's historic St. Lawrence Hall for "The Art of Tea", organized by Carol Mark in memory of her dear friend, Hema Abeygunawardena.

Through tales of her childhood in Sri Lanka, where tea ran deep in its people's lives, Hema would unknowingly ignite a new meaning of tea in her friend, Carol Mark.  Hema recalled how as a little girl on the first day of school, being among strangers was a little scary...until a family member would bring her a cup of tea.  Ah, the comforting smell and taste of tea... of home.  Tea...such a seemingly simple thing...yet it can bring great comfort.

When Hema died of cancer, Carol had promised to help fulfill her friend's wish to help give back to those less fortunate in her home country.  Carol wanted to honour her friend's memory through tea, since tea was such a constant throughout her friend's life, and thus "The Art of Tea" Event was created. All proceeds of the event were donated to the MJF Charitable Foundation.
 
It was a most fun and informative day, starting with a master class for Certified Tea Sommeliers and Tea Sommelier students before the event. 

Feel free to grab a cup of tea and enjoy, as you follow this link to my summary of the day's events (posted on the Tea Guild of Canada's website), http://teaguildofcanada.ca/news/pettigrew-in-toronto/the-art-of-tea