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A Nice Cup of Tea!

Richard Smith from the Kent Tea and Trading Company took Paul Stoneman and myself around his delightful tea factory in Pluckley, in Kent

Up until then we had thought of tea as being a simple comodity, cheap and cheerful that you add hot water and milk to, dunk for a few minutes and drink. But there is far more to tea than just that!

Richard, a partner of the above company, has been dealing in tea all his life and took the trouble to demonstrate the intricate qualities of different teas, leaves and infusions.

In the studio Stanley, my eldest son, sampled the first of the teas in our offical tea tasting week and that was Lapsang Souchong, with its distinct smokey aroma and charcol taste. It was certainly interesting to see hwo the kids would take to sampling to the different flavours. Notice the use of a spoon. Richard Smith demonstrated the way proper tea tasters go about their trade and we wanted to follow suit.

 

A spoon scoops up a little of the tea and is taken to the mouth. It is violently sucked in through the lips making a rasping sound and then conveyed to the taste buds. Traditionally it is moved about the mouth and savoured then spat out into a spitoon.

We didn't add milk to this particular tea, but had listeners suggest the use of lemon or vanilla pod to add adition flavour. If you ave tried this tea, I would value your thoughts and opinions. Send your emails to richard@vobes.com

The second tea we sampled the spicy smelling Bombay Mix. This was an usual tea containing a mix of tea leaves, Caramom. Nutmeg, Cinnamom, Cloves and Ginger. The aroma certainly filled the studio and with antisipation we all have a slurp. My old friend, Daisy, sample some at her house for us and suggested we had milk with this and it certainly made a difference to our very westen palates. Actually, it was very nice with a warming after taste. I think it would be perfect after a hot curry!

Third up was 'Gunpowder'. This tea more correctly named Zhu Cha is a green tea from the Zhejiang Province in China. The tea takes its name from the grey-green rolled-leaf balls, which closes resembled the type of gunpowder used by the British Navy in the 18th century, however in Chinese it is called zhuchá.

It is a tea that doesn't use milk or sugar. Just an infusion between the leaf and hot water. I personally find it very refreshing after drinking alcohol or over indulging in sweet cakes and candy. Green teas are said to have preventives against cancer, but I am not sure how truthful this is!

Gunpowder tea production dates back to the Tang Dynasty (AD 618 – 907) but it was first introduced to Taiwan in the 1800s.

When buying Gunpowder it is important to look for shiny pellets, which indicate that the tea is relatively fresh.

Next we sampled something a little unusal, Hop Tea. This is an infusion from pure kentish hops, dried first in the normal way, then steeped in hot water. Listeners, Geoff and Peggy Harris from Goring-by-Sea, Sussex, sampled the tea along with Jimmy and I and there was a bit of a difference of opinion as to what we thought. Jimmy, contray to what you might think, hated it. Geoff prefered the subtle flavour to Earl Grey, where as Peggy was a little reserved about it. The smell of hops ordinarily can be a little over powering, but when an infusion has taken place it is not so bad. The taste I found was quite pleasent although a sweetning agent might be prefered as there is a bitter back bite to it. Give it a try and let us know what you think?

Why not visit the Kent and Sussex web site to find out more about their fabulous selections of tea and coffees!

Kent Tea and Trading Company

Other Links

Places or people featured on the show

The Beer Show

Gran Stead's Ginger.

Kent and Sussex Tea Company.

The Naked Englishman audio journal

BBC Digital Citizen.

Richard Vobes video productions

The Harvest, local foods video.

Richard Vobes Wikipedia Page.

BBC website - always a useful source of information.