Tuesday Teacup - Lapsang Souchong.

Lapsang Souchong is a tea with a very distinctive flavour, I like to think of it as the cowboy of the tea world because it is bold, smokey and untameable. I have to admit to you that I am not a massive fan of this tea, I do like it occasionally but I find the flavour just too much. Ed, on the other hand, loves this tea. Lapsang Souchong is made from the leaves a few steps down from the bud, it gains its unique flavour from the drying process. Usually tea is air dried but this is smoked above pine wood fires, pretty special huh?

I used an infuser to brew this tea, a teaspoon of leaves is more than adequate to make a tasty cup. I bring the water to the boil, leave for a little while to cool then I pour the water into a cup with the infuser. I brew this tea for about 2-3 minutes, I find that this makes quite a robust tasting drink, just taste as you go to find the right strength for you. I would strongly advice not putting milk with Lapsang, would you bathe a cowboy in milk?

This tea embodies everything that I love about tea culture, it just makes me feel so special. When I buy good quality tea I can just imagine all the care that has gone into getting this simple pleasure into my cup. And it can be reasonable cheap as well, I bought a 100g of Lapsang for £3.99! Which will easily last a month, having a couple of cups a day. 

Hope you enjoyed meeting Lapsang Souchong. What teas have you been drinking lately?

xkx  

Antique Shop Treasures.

I absolutely love meandering around antique shops in the little sleepy town near to where my mum and dad live, it is so relaxing. They also have some good charity shops there too! These are my gorgeous treasures that I found in the antique market today. The first thing I saw was this rather peculiar fruit bowl. I think my mum thought it was a bit odd looking but I adored it! I thought the colours were muted and this reminded me of the Sawley 'ugly pots' that I have a slight addiction to. The whole fruit pile does lift off to so that means that I can use the bowl to hide special things in. 

I could not resist these celebratory cups, I blame my dad for this because last year he gave me a cardboard box of old jubilee cups that he had collected many years ago. They had been sitting in the garage for ages and were covered in cobwebs, but they scrubbed up wonderfully. So now I have a whole little shelf dedicated to these treasures and I just can't help but add to them. My favourite was the cup from 'The Great World War' from 1918, to just think that this cup has been in this world for nearly 100 years is incredible and it really stimulates my imagination to what it would have witnessed over the years. I think it has been broken a couple of times and glued back together, but it was £2 and I was in love so I really wasn't bothered. 

What are your favourite antique treasures?

xkx

Lemon-balm-ade

As it has been such a lovely warm day again I couldn't resist to splash up some lemonade with a slight twist. This is a super easy recipe! To make around a pint all you need is 4 unwaxed lemons (if you use waxed you will get icky scum floating on the top), some sugar, around 1 pint of boiling water, some ice cubes and a little bunch of lemon balm.

I zested the four lemons, then chopped them in half and squeezed the bitter juice out of them (a handy tip is to roll the lemons or put them in hot water for a few minutes to get more juice out of them). 

Next I ripped up and added a small bunch of lemon balm. Then I spooned 3-4 tbs of sugar into the fragrant mix and poured over about 1 pint of boiling water. It is good to taste how sweet it is at this point (be careful not to burn your mouth though) if it is still a bit tart then add more sugar but I always think it is best to have it a bit sharper tasting because this tastes delicious when it is chilled. Then I left this in the fridge to cool. Once it is chilly I strained it through a sieve and chucked in a few handfuls of ice. 

I served this lovely-ade out of my little cottage teapot, in china tea cups with plenty of ice and some sprigs of lemon balm. I also made a little cocktail for Ed by putting a splash of gin into it which was rather yummy as well.