The change of season heralds a change of products at the convenience stores. The Rose Pu Erh tea that Tod enjoyed this summer is gone, and we’re casting around for some new drinks to take us through the winter.
Tod came home with some Ucon Cha yesterday. It’s turmeric tea. I love Okinawan black sugar and turmeric candy and turmeric is a good tonic for the liver, so can you go wrong with turmeric tea? No, you cannot. It’s really tasty. This brand is mild and subtly nut-pepper-ginger-citrus flavored.
Turmeric has been used in Indian cuisine as a flavoring and a food dye for 2500 years. It works great as a dye in modern times, too, it stains the plastic bottle yellow!
Tod also found a tumeric tea with ginnemu, a weedy mimosa that’s used in the tropics to feed cattle. The ucon-ginnemu tea has a distinctive flavor. When he opened the bottle, it smelled a little bit like urine. I think I’ll stick to the Ucon Cha.
Another tonic tea on the market contains guava. Guava is supposed to be good for your blood sugar levels. I don’t understand that at all, but the tea has a minty-anise flavor that I enjoyed.
There are scads more new teas, mostly oolong and sencha variations. I’m sure we’ll try them all over the next few weeks.
Posted by kuri at September 28, 2003 09:09 PMI have that same dishtowel you’re using as a backdrop.
Tea all weekend here, and this morning. It’s chilly so I’m drinking the brit kind, done in the press. Milk? No way. Light cream only. I think that’s a good tonic for the heart?
Posted by: Jenn on September 29, 2003 09:20 PMI have fallen in love with tumeric. In addition to what you said, it is also good for (how can i put this nicely without losing the slightly rude connotations - both are true…) lubricating your body, eg between bones etc, helps prevent calcium deposits building up and restricting joint movement. And other things. Havent had any for a while tho, so i’d like to try that tea! I guess it is the big one in the middle that looks so orange…
Posted by: j-ster on September 30, 2003 08:16 PM