The Morning After Tea (Q&A)

Dear Doctors,

The credit crunch is forcing us to entertain ourselves …. at home.

I would also like to add that we are regular readers of your blog. The other night my husband had an epiphany: “Hey Suzie, I just had an epiphany, lets ask Divine Tastes what they recommend for our home entertainment?”

My question to you is: What do you recommend?

Yours truly,

Susie & John Blob - British couple from - Britain.

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Dear Susie & John

Applause for “Britain”.

To Him: I assume by home entertainment you meant 70 inch flat TV, full HD Dolby Surround system, xbox 360… beer with the friends.

However, she probably hoped you meant for something a little bit more romantic – with her. Now, though a tea tasting evening with your wife (on a frequent basis) might be exciting …. if you live in Alaska, drinking tea before your “entertainment” might help boost your game play.

Examples of arousing herbs are ginseng, roseroot, cinnamon, cayenne, cardamom, ginger, damiana, horny goat weed, catuaba, maca, muira pauma and cuscuta.
The herbs can arouse you both by their taste, their scent and by a physiological stimulation on the nerves and blood circulation.

It is equally important to remember the Four Fingers rule…Eat, Exercise, Relax, and Sleep for a better sex life.
Better sex doesn't just involve technique. Keeping a fit mind and body can increase your enjoyment of bedroom antics. A cup of tea can help with both body and mind!

Don't forget to use some tea light candles for a more romantic atmosphere….

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The recipe for the world famous Arousal Tea*:

Use unsalted, raw peanuts which still have their skins. Look for stringy, old, but not dried root ginger rather than plump, young, juicy ginger.

20 raw peanuts
5-6 slices of root ginger
Tea of your choice
850ml (1.5 pints) of water

Wash the ginger and cut five or six slices across the root, each about 3mm (1/8 in) thick. Roughly chop these slices. Take 20 raw peanuts with their skins and use a pestle and mortar or food processor to grind them. Alternatively, you can chop them up roughly with a knife.
Put the ground nuts and chopped ginger into a teapot and add tea leaves to taste. Bring the water to a fast boil and pour into the pot. Leave to stand for 2-3 minutes before drinking.

Caution: Individual results may vary.
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To Her: Call me… ;-)

*Adopted from the book “The way of tea” by Lam Kam Cheuen – pp 123 “Peanut and ginger tea”

Joining nudist colony! Must sell washer and dryer $300.

The Olive Oil Gazette has produced yet another excellent article about the olive oil market. This time it is about the effect of the recession on the olive oil’s quality.
Quality? At 2.20 A Kilo?

I wonder what the situation would be / is like for small manufacturers of high quality tea. Will they survive? What will tea taste like when all is said and done? Will the art of tea be lost by tea experts finding new jobs? (The good news it survived the great Chinese famine)

In other news
Taliban suicide bombers kill …..
Anti-Semitism in Europe is at all time high ….
Iran has enough plutonium for growing mushrooms....
Joe the plumber beats Obama as the NYT best selling autobiography book...
Harry Potter is dead...

The Weather
“Your weather” is sponsored by the “Yellow Label” tea, voted the best tea for 2009-2010

Today will be cold, tomorrow colder.

"Yes we can!!"
www.the7species.com

An Olivewood Story

Italy Winter 1984/5

Reuters & DTs - Breaking News - Prolonged freezes across the northen Hempospheire.
Italy is not spared! Today the temperature in Tuscany reached -25C (10F).

Many olive trees have suffered a deadly blow. For some it would take years of hard work to revive.
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Freeze is one of the worst things that could happen to an olive tree. Trees are killed by it, others explode, at the very least their bark is split. The splitting of the tree leaves it vulnerable to insects and various diseases – much like a human being.


"Tuscan heat"


A closer look will show the huge split in the middle of the tree. (press picture to enlarge)


A tree that "survived" the Tuscan winter freeze of 1984/5 - pictured in 2007 on a lovey trip to the region. (press picture to enlarge)

Many trees were cut down due to the time and energy it would take for them to have a profitable yield.* At some places, due to the increasing popularity at the time (and today) of Italian wine, vine grapes were replanted where centuries old olive tree stood before.

However like all Olivewood stroies there is an happy ending - of some sort.
Rather than burn or shred the wood, as many growers did, an enterprising group of artisans preserved it.

The result of this can be seen in almost any shop through out the Tuscany. The character rich wood is now a days in almost every Tuscan kitchen, decorating all sorts of homes and shops.







*The quality of the olives has not been adversely affected.

"One Lattea, one Latte and a decaf please"

Things I heard/saw recently;

One Lattea

In the begining there was no Lattea - in England.

Towards the late 17th century when tea became insanly expensive and favoured by anyone to have ever set his or her lips on it (and probably even more so by those who have only heared of it from a friend of a friend of a friend) milk was introduced - for better and most definetly for worst.

It was done mainly to dillute the bitter taste (my suspicion is that there were evil reasons for it being so bitter). Very soon, milk became what Mercedes, Private jets and loli pops are today, mainly a symbol of statue.

Put simply: if you had a lot of milk you were poor - (Apart from tea being expensive, I guess the quality of tea one bought was so bad one had to add the cheaper condiment - milk).
whearas the wealthy took their tea undiluted, the middle class poured the expensive tea and diluted it with a bit of milk.
The lower class filled the cup with cheap milk and then added a splash of their precious tea.

So how do you have your Lattea - do you first add the milk or tea?

One Latte

Have a look at this amazing video on Latte Art.

and a Decaf

Did you know that approximattely 80% the tea's caffeine content is released wihin the first thirty seconds of steeping?

Indeed this means that you can Decaf your own tea to enjoy at a minimum cost to flavour. *

* Please see your tea doctor for more details.

The crying olive

"The crying olive" is a children tale I keep hearing/reading on my research into the olive.

It is interesting to note that all the three main monotheistic religions adpot a similar story to fit their history and culture. However one thing is contant, the unique way for the olive (King of trees - that's already another tale) to cry and the importance the olive plays in all three monotheistic religions.

The following is an original version from a children stories book titled: The Seven Species, Stories and Recipes Inspired by the Foods of the Bible, by: Matt Biers-Ariel.

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For hundreds of years, olive faithfully served Israel until the tragic day when the Romans conquered Israel and destroyed the Second Temple.
The Ner Tamid (the Eternal light) was extinguished and Olive was no longer needed.

The Jewish people mourned their tragedy by replacing their fine clothing with scratchy sackcloth. They sat in ashes, fasted, and cried out to god. Perhaps God would change the decree and speedily bring the Messiah to set things right.

The plants of Israel also mourned the destruction by dropping their leaves. The land was no longer green and fertile, flowing with milk and honey. It was brown and lifeless. In all the Land of Israel there was only one tree whose leaves remained on its branches: Olive.

Word quickly spread that proud Olive was too vain, too uncaring to mourn the disaster thet had befallen the Jewish nation.
Olive said, “it is not that I do not mourn. Who but God can look inside and measure a being’s suffering?”

The plants were unmoved. “All of Israel sits in sackcloth and ashes. We have all shed our leave, while you stand tall and proud, as if nothing happened, as if the Temple still stood, as if our kings still reigned.”

Olive replied, “Some mourn on the outside and it is easy to see their tears. Others cry inside. Look closely and you can see that my tears are shed from within.

Yes, my leaves and my fruit remain. They remain for one purpose. They remain in the hope that the Messiah will come speedily in our day. When the Messiah comes, my oil will be ready to anoint him or her. Perhaps the Messiah will desire a garland leaves to signal to the world that peace has arrived.”

The plants had to agree that Olive spoke the truth.
Eventually, the leaves returned to the plants of Israel. The only tree still shedding tears for the destruction that took place two thousands years ago is Olive.

To this day, olive trees do not hold themselves tall and proud. As they age, their tears hollow out their insides, making them gnarled and bent over.

Thus they will remain until the Messia arrives and Olive will once again be called upon to serve Israel.