Elixir Fine Tea

TEA IS GOOD FOR FOODIES.

Who or what is a foodie? According to the Wikipedia, "foodie" is an informal term for a particular class of aficionados of food and drink. Foodies are hobbyists who simply love food for consumption, study, preparation and news. Foodies want to learn everything about food, both the "fine cuisine" and the "street food", and about the science, industry, and personalities surrounding food. For this writer, the general term "food" includes yummy beverages and tea definately is "umami". Tea figures prominently in cuisines of many different cultures. Take a look at just the names of theses savoury dishes: sea bass with papaya mango salsa and forbidden black rice, carribean bouillabaise with assam infusion, jasmine risotto with sweet peas and prawns. In these dishes, Chinese black tea interplays with latino (salsa) flavours, Indian assam with lively Carribean and floral jasmine with hearty Italian.

Tea can accent, supplement or can be the flavour. You can enjoy a jasmine with white chocolate or have the white chocolate infused with a jasmine green. By pairing tea with food, foodies can explore the intricacies and interplays of tea flavours and savoury foods. Your taste buds can embark on a worldwide excursion without you leaving the dinning table. The Chinese tea sage, Lu Yu, once said: "In the end, goodness is for the mouth to decide."

TASTING TEA

Elixir Fine Tea has had the pleasure of hosting a number of tea tastings in February. The following, based on material by Michael Coffey ( yes, despite the pronunciation of the last name, he is a tea geek indeed ), might enhance your tea enjoyment:
1. Use All Senses. Listen while the water boils, feel the gaiwan and the heat of the water, observe the tea liquor as it brews for its color (and the infusion afterwards), and of course smell and taste the tea.

2. Slurp. Making loud slurping noises when you taste tea gets lots of oxygen into the liquid, and oxygen helps to bring out complexities in the flavour. Oxygen does to flavours something similar to what a prism does to light - it spreads it out so you can more easily perceive the component parts. Slurping also cools down very hot tea.

3. Breathe Out Through Your Nose. You've actually got taste buds in your throat as it goes up into the back of your nasal cavity. Plus, your nose is a filter, and some flavor compounds just don't make it in. When you swallow, breathe out through your nose, and you'll get tastes and aromas that you didn't get sniffing or tasting directly.

4. Wait and Appreciate. After you've breathed out, wait a moment before sipping again and pay attention to your mouth, nose, and throat. Notice the overall shape of the flavour--did it have a strong "attack" but faded away as soon as you swallowed? Or was it kind of boring to taste, yet had a long and complex aftertaste? Did a sweetness (or bitterness) develop after the swallow? Was the aftertaste different from the main taste? Just sit with the experience and, well, experience it.

5. Don't Worry about Putting It Into Words. A quirk of the human mind is that it can remember experiences better if you don't put it into words. As soon as you attach words, your mind starts remembering the words and forgetting the experience.

6. Look For Changes. Some teas change while you're drinking them. Others change from steeping to steeping. Others are pretty consistent, but may develop very different character depending on how they were brewed. None of this is "right" or "wrong" or "good" or "bad" - it's just something to take note of. Many a beginning tea drinker has found that an "awful" tea can be exquisite by making some variation (changing water temperature, or brewing time, or throwing out the first infusion and just drinking the second, etc.)

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News

You can now purchase tea from us online, and enjoy exclusive specials, not available in store!
Visit elixirfinetea.ca!

HAPPY HOUR | FREE TEA SAMPLINGS – Available Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Hang out & chill or read a book and sample teas for FREE * from 11:00 am – Noon & 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
* Up to 2 house choices
Details available (403) 270-4377 or @ www.elixirfinetea.ca

Purchase your T-Starter Kit Today!
This consists of one large infuser basket, and 30 grams of 3 select teas. This ia a "mobile" tea pot that can be adapted for different size beverage mugs. We assume that everyone has a favourite mug somewhere in the kitchen cabinate. If not, please check out our selections.
Retail $25.00+tax

Come on in and enjoy 3 brand new teas!

Green Pomegranate
Green tea carefully blended with raspberries and rose hips and the antioxidant-rich essence of pomegranate. Sweeten the senses with a tart and tangy rush to the palate.

Jasmine Blueberry
Organic white tip green tea infused with jasmine petals and succulent organic blueberries.

Vanilla Berry Truffle
Our Vanilla Berry Truffle is a caffeine free blend of succulent black currants, rooibos, organic hibiscus and creamy white chocolate blossoms blended to create a full, rich taste to compliment any meal.

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Tea of the Month

Green Pomegranate
Enjoy 15% OFF all bulk tea purchases of 50 grams or more

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Events

Fast Approaching: Friday, March 5, 5:30PM-9:30PM
An Exhibition of Photography by David Blaine
All photo sales will go to the 2010 Alberta Ride to Conquer Cancer
Come, enjoy and support a good cause.

Sunday, March 14, 3:30 PM- 5:30 PM | The Meaning of Tea
Price: $10 per person
This features the 74 min. documentary "The Meaning of Tea" by Scott Hoyt, followed by exchanges/discussions. Of course, tea and savoury treats throughout.
Please RSVP (by March 9) by calling (403)270-4377 or emailing info@elixirfinetea.ca
Limited seating.

Sunday, March 21, 2PM-4PM | Chinese Black Tea Tasting
Price: $10 per person
Join us in sampling 5 black teas from China. Each tea is paired with savoury treats.
Please RSVP (by March 16) by calling (403)270-4377 or emailing info@elixirfinetea.ca
Limitied seating.

Elixir Fine Tea will be closed for Quantum Leap Events on:
Thursday, March 4, 6:30PM-8:30PM
Tuesday, March 9, 6:30PM-8:30PM
Thursday, March 25, 6:30PM-8:30PM

Please visit www.elixirfinetea.ca for any revisions and updates to our March 2010 event schedule.