[astra]

Originally Posted by beppe

OOOLOOONG. i report a recent conversation with Astra.

astra :But which one of oolong? green? black, in the middle?
beppe : I have only one. Tie guang yin fermented at 10%.
astra : I guess it is close to green variety. Floral flavour? (like jasmine tea, not the flavour but the same idea?)

According to the pictures, it is the green variety. Chinese tie guang yin

Long time ago I promised Stitchawl that I am going to read about oolong and create a mind map. It still remains a promise only:

I am planning to separate Oolong too when I understand it better. Like Chinese:

Wuyi rock (cliff) tea (Wǔyí yán chá) from Fujian province
Iron Goddess Guanyin Tiě Guānyīn or Ti Kuan Yin


Taiwanese (China but...):
Oriental Beauty
Pouchong, (Bāozhǒng)

Then to complete confuse myself:
Ti Kuan Yin could be Chinese or Taiwanese

The Chinese Anxi Iron Goddess Tea - This oolong is typically close to a green tea, with only a little oxidation. With a very flowery and fresh delicate aroma character, the tea liquid is golden yellow.

The Taiwan Mucha Iron Goddess Tea - This traditional oolong is roasted and has a stronger taste and with roast nutty character, the tea liquid is reddish-brown.

Originally Posted by wannabee

Arrrrh! I worry about these tea drinkers. The tannins could tan their boots. Astra and Stitch must be tanned from the inside out.

Spot on Sir!
Obviously, I cannot speak for Stitchawl, but when I get tan and instead of looking like the proper Western European Jewish, I can easily be mistaken for the Proper Mexican, I retain the tan for a very looooong time. Now, you have giving me a food for thought. Tannins might be just right and the most plausible explanation of the phenomenon

Originally Posted by beppe

No Cumin . Will I be able to get it here? Eh.

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Relatively few Italian dishes use cumin

It explains why I like Italian food.
I cannot stand this spice. I can loose appetite if I smell the caraway seeds.
About half a year ago we got a new stall once a week on a gourmet market. They sell ray bread (Ray Bread in the UK? ). A few varieties in fact. One of them looked like it has got raisins. I asked the seller whether it was ray bread with raisins and he said: Yeah, caravan raisin bread and I bought it. Imagine my surprise when I came home, unpacked it, cut off a couple of slices for my smarter part and myself and she asked me why I was frowning. With a genuine puzzlement on my face I said that it smelled like caraway seeds but it surely was impossible! So, I tried it and spat it out. I broke the slice into small pieces and what I found?!? Caraway seeds!

Spoiler:

Now, taking into account that my listening skill in English is quite lousy, I thought he said something like: Caravan raisin ray bread. I took it for a specific name of the bread, for example, like: German ray bread. Later, I realised that the chap said: Yeah, Caraway raisin bread.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Initially my wife refused to believe me when I said that I smelled it and then tasted the caraway seeds flavour. She argued that it tasted absolutely fine and I imagined the whole thing. Demonstrations of the seeds didn't help much.
On the next market day I went to the stall and asked the same question and READ the sign for it.
The week after that, I grabbed her (my smarter part) by the scruff of her tiny neck, drugged her to the stall on marked and I shoved the sign with the bread name into her ...into her.... showed the bread sign and timidly smiled

Meanwhile, white yoghurt and plums.