Making a Southern Soul Tea. I learned this tea from the Algebra House up in Cleveland.
Tea from the Yunnan region of China, grated fresh ginger, grated fresh orange, orange slice and dark agave. Using my $8 glass tea pot from Mission Thrift.
I picked up this Yunnan Pu-erh tea in Asia Plaza in Cleveland. I love this place. I have been up there three times. I always find great teas there...and the Dim Sum place is incredible too.
The tea is a cake or brick. I use a special "knife" to cut off chunks of tea.
I put in about 4 teaspoons of loose leaf tea in my tea bag. Since it is Pu-erh, I had the water temp around 200 degrees and I steeped for about 4 mintues. You steep this tea 8-10 times before it looses its flavor.
Pu-erh teas age and improve with time. Many Pu-erh teas can keep their freshness for up to 50 years.
Pu-erh tea is post-fermented, which means that the tea leaves go through a microbial fermentation process after they have been dried and rolled, causing the leaves to darken and change in flavor.
The older the tea gets the less caffeine it has in it. But, also, the longer you steep it, the more caffeine will come out. Each cup will have less and less caffeine in it.
I let the tea steep and then I add the "extra" ingredients. I added Blue Agave, fresh ginger, and fresh orange zest and juice.
When I had the tea at the Algebra House they did not give me a recipe. I am only going off of what the menu said was in the tea. So, this is kind of a Kerrie Creation. My take on a Southern Soul Tea.
I grated fresh ginger right into the tea while it was steeping.
I zested an orange into the tea as well.
I put orange juice and orange pulp.
I added blue agave to the tea too.
When it was finished steeping I removed the tea.
I left the orange pieces in the tea, but strained them so that they did not fall into my tea cup.
I don't often make entire pots of tea for myself, but I wanted to try my new glass tea pot out. I enjoyed using the pot, it felt more special to use it than to make just one single cup of tea.
The tea was really good. There were nice citrus notes as well as the ginger. I did not add much agave, since I don't like super sweet teas- so I may have enjoyed this more when I made it than at the Algebra House. The pu-erh tea was nice as well. This was a winner for me.
I enjoyed sipping my tea with my cat, Earl Grey, snuggled up beside me.
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