Blest Tea

Rich Glasgow, 2008.

My brother Rich and his wife Alisha went on a camping trip to Yosemite recently, and despite Rich having to battle a bad sinus infection at a high altitude they had a great time. After they left Yosemite they went on to visit San Francisco where they bought the family gifts.

Now it must be said that over the years Rich and I have had mixed success in buying each other presents. We've been known to buy one another an album we wanted for ourselves and exchange them at Christmas, and I'm sure I'll never hear the end of it about the Tonga aftershave I gave him one year that resembled a big bottle of blue Gatorade (hey, I was young). Anyway, the Tonga has kept its place of honor among the bad family present all-stars with the "School Lunch Victim" t-shirt and the leather hat my dad once gave me that would have been better suited to say, Rick James. The last time Rich and Alisha went out west they were delighted to present me with a large raven puppet. While it was admittedly quite cool I was arsed to know what to do with it.

This year however my "prize" was a luminous, copper-plated aspen leaf and a big tin of Blest Tea's Jamine Green Tea. This tea is just gorgeous. The scent is delicate and earthy, and the jasmine is perfect - not sweet, just fresh and deep. The directions tell you to brew the tea for only 30 seconds and that the leaves can be used up to six times, which I have yet to test. Once brewed, my tea scented the kitchen and I put it in the fridge to cool. After lunch I had some iced tea and was please to find that while the flavor of some teas will muddy after a long step, this tea had maintained its crisp floral edge through brewing and chilling. Excellent stuff.

I then took the process one step further by making a simple syrup with a quick brew up in an enameled cast iron pot, followed by a double straining to remove the bits of tea leaf, and a slow boil to reduce liquid and compound the flavor. Do I need to say this syrup combines with dairy really well? Try this syrup over yogurt and fresh nectarines, or in a custard dish. I used one part tea to two parts sugar, but next time I may not use so much sugar, or may add a tiny bit of vinegar to give it a bit of a bite.

Thanks to Rich and Alisha! Blest Teas do not have a website, but you can reach them at 415.951.8516.