Tea time........

The man who use to be on Yan Can Cook, is now doing  a daytime PBS series about the southwest corner of China.  He has shown the different ways that the people live in the different parts of that area.  It is very interesting as it has such a strong set of traditions, each area is a little different.

One area is famous for it's tea and he shows where tea is packed and stored for hundreds of years.  When they package a packet of aged tea it can sell for a thousand American dollars.  The tea is packed tightly, compressed into doughnut shapes the size of dinner plates.

The package that I am showing you today is one of my container collectible items. I don't really know where I found it.  It may have been in an auction box, or from a pantry of an old household in my past.

What I have found inside is that it is half full of tea.  The container is paper based so I am not sure it is tea that would not have taken on some of the taste of it.  I had no intention of trying it as I don't know it is clean.  I doubt it, but the show did make me think that it might still be viable.

This is one other view of the container. It stands six or seven inches high and is large compared to the tea containers that we can buy today.

I did learn from a shop in Kansas City, that one should prerinse the tea leaves before actually brewing it so as to release it's oils and flavor. The sales person poured a third of cup of hot water over the tea and tossed the water and then proceeded to brew the tea from the dampened leaves.

I will leave you guessing as to whether I will try the tea.  I have had the container over thirty years now maybe longer.

Thanks for stopping by..........