Sunday 4 October 2009

Oolong from T2, iced; also Not For Purists, III

Well, not exactly iced - it's a little too chilly for that today, although the sun is now out - but I did cold-brew a jugful using the last of my T2 oolong, garnishing it with chopped pears and sliced blood orange to serve at room temperature this morning. The orange slices were a lovely addition, especially after they'd been steeping in the tea for a few hours.


As I think I have said before the T2 oolong is not a terribly exciting one - it's pretty heavily roasted and not particularly fragrant or anything like that, but it does cold-brew nicely, and is also very pleasant hot - can even withstand a few infusions. I won't be buying it again in a hurry; but it is a useful 'everyday' type of tea to have around.

Another thing I like to use the T2 oolong for, actually, is to add a tablespoon of finely-ground leaves (which I do in our small mortar and pestle, they're pretty dry and crumbly and grind down very easily) to a banana smoothie. I first got this idea from the Teas.com.au website - they recommend using their White Dragon Oolong, but I've never tried that particular tea. I like to add a sprinkle of ground cinnamon to the smoothies I make with the T2 oolong - the flavours seem to complement each other nicely. Sometimes I use soy, sometimes regular milk, depending on what I have on hand - both are very tasty (I suspect almond milk would be too). This makes for a great breakfast drink or snack. Given that the recipe calls for quite a substantial amount of dry leaf, I'm not sure if I would like to make it with an oolong or other tea that I really loved drinking on its own, or that was very expensive, but for a middle-of-the-road-okayish kind of tea, it's a good use.

10 comments:

  1. I would never have thought of putting pear and orange into tea! I love your posts Verity...they are educational as they are entertaining! AND I am LOVING the Chai Masala I got from you!

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  2. At least it looks tasty in the picture!! I am loving your apple pie tea.

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  3. Thanks for the lovely comments you guys! :) So glad you are enjoying the teas... they are some of my favourites as well...

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  4. Great recipe for Iced Tea. Have you tried Lipton Green Tea Sparkling for when you don't have time to make your own? I'm the community manager for for the product and am interested in what Iced Tea drinkers think of it.

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  5. Thanks for the link Robert!

    Kate, thanks for your comment! I haven't tried the Lipton green tea you mention - to be honest I'm probably unlikely to, I find that commercially made, bottled iced teas are usually much too heavily sweetened for my taste - and there is very little tea flavour in them, and I may as well buy soft drink (which I don't drink either).

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  6. I didn't know iced tea was acceptable in Australia. Is that because American culture is cooler there than in the UK? Because I hear from tea people in the UK that iced tea is practically heresy. --Teaternity

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  7. Jason, I don't think iced tea is exactly heresy here, but it's not quite as acceptable in Australia as it is in the States - at least, not in terms of being widely available, freshly made (like sweet tea is in the south of America, as I understand it?).

    A wander through any major supermarket though will reveal a wall full of commercial bottled iced tea (I will try and remember to take a photo next time I go to my local supermarket!) and there are also quite a few 'bubble tea' places round and about, particularly in the city - this is probably at least partly because of the substantial Asian population we have here.

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  8. does anyone know where I can find T2 in the States? Reading so many great things about it but can't try it.

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  9. Siobhan, thanks for stopping by. I am not 100% sure if T2 has any stockists in the states, but I just checked their website www.t2tea.com.au, and if you click on the green button on the front page that says 'T2 International', it takes you to a couple of pages where it explains that while they can't take online international orders at the moment, they can do mail order. You can contact them at online@t2tea.com.au to find out more, apparently! Hope this helps.

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  10. Hi, thanks for a great read and mentioning of teas.com.au. I have to agree T2 oolong is not very exciting for oolong lovers. The white dragon oolong will give a slight more "milky" touch to the milkshake since it is milky flavoured oolong. I recently tried a Tie Guan Yin latte from cha tea kiosk. I should have told them to go really light on the sweetness, but the basic flavour is kind of nice - they of course use the cheaper variety of heavy roasted Tie Guan Yin. It's so much fun playing with tea in kitchen ;)

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