This week marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen. What a perfect time for a Jane Austen celebratory tea. “Pride and Prejudice” is downloadable for free from Parade magazine and Amazon. Invite your friends for an afternoon of discussion and enjoyment. Discuss the book or watch the movie while you enjoy refreshments. You might even want to dress in period costume and read portions of the book in review. Tea Party Girl describes the setting for the tea party and gives recipe ideas. Food TV has a great collection of recipes. Even Pinterest has a collection of wonderful ideas for a “Pride and Prejudice” tea party. Jane Austen is celebrated at Jane Austen.org with free online copies of her books, a virtual tour of the settings of her books and information on the fashions of the time. Jane Austen died at the age of 41, before afternoon tea became fashionable. I’m sure, however, she would have enjoyed the tradition. While time may be too short to actually get the invitations, the costumes, the setting ready for a tea this week, there is time to fix a cuppa,and maybe a scone, find a cozy couch and lap robe (maybe even a lap cat, too) and begin reading “Pride and Prejudice.” Let yourself drift back in time and enjoy one of the most famous regency writers ever.
Tea For a Crowd
I love books. I miss my Borders store greatly. So I was thrilled that one of the local churches and the county library had book sales on the same day. Because I love bargains, too. Old cookbooks are a favorite. So, I now have “The Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Cook Book” from 1959. I must have been a popular book because I saw three that day. While there are some recipes that make me cringe. One is for “Hurry-up Hot Tea” which, believe it or not, recommends that you keep a jar of instant tea handy for a bracing cup of hot tea. Measure the tea into each cup according to the label directions; fill with boiling water; stir. Oh, come now. Really? Instant tea must have been new then. However, there was one recipe that I think will come in handy for the holidays. It’s “Tea for a Crowd”. It’s a recipe for tea concentrate. And I quote. “Planning a tea? A tea concentrate make serving large groups easy. At teatime, all you have to do is pour a little concentrate into each cup and fill with ho, hot water. The tea can be strong or weak — its’s the amount of concentrate that makes the difference. Or just before serving you can combine the concentrate with the hot water in a large teapot — 1 cup concentrate to 6 cups boiling water.
“Tea concentrate for 40 to 45 servings: Bring to a high bubbling boil 6 cups freshly drawn cold water. Remove from heat and promptly add 1/4 pound loose tea, stirring in leaves. Cover; steep 5 minutes. Strain into teapot.
“Concentrate cloudy? Add the hot water at teatime will make it sparkle again.”
That’s a pretty good start. I have a couple of suggestions. You can strain or you can put the tea leaves in large tea filters – paper or mesh. Four ounces equals 113.36 grams (for those of you metric folk) or 1/4 pound. For the purposes of this recipe and the time period it is from, I can safely assume this is black tea used int he recipe. As the size of the tea leaf varies with the quality of the tea, weighing is recommended. And as black tea weighs more than others, for green tea you would use about 2/3 the weight and for white only about half. And, I would suggest that while you may chill the concentrate and add to hot water a cooler tea will result. Perhaps a tea too cool. Another idea is to place the concentrate in a thermos or airpot. And finally, I would suggest that instead of a “high bubbling boil” that the water just come to the boil to conserve as much oxygen as possible. By making the tea ahead – I would not suggest it be more than 2 or 3 hours – you do save a bit of last minute grief and it is easier to carry. Enjoy.
Tea and Star Trek
It’s hard to believe that 46 years have passed since James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock first started their five-year mission to seek out new life and new civilizations. I was young enough to be a Chekov fan then. Then came Star Trek – Next Generation. Jean-Luc Picard and Will Riker expanded the galaxy even more. Not only that, but Captain Picard reintroduced me to tea, specifically Earl Grey.
Growing up I shared Bigelow Constant Comment and Plantation Mint with my mother. My grandmother drank Lipton. If I was lucky in the summer we found Plantation Mint instant and had iced tea. Once I got to college, however, there were a lot of “all-nighters” studying for nursing exams and writing a 32 page paper for each patient I would be caring for – 4 a week, plus term papers, and the other classes. I needed caffeine. Lots of caffeine. The sorority house where I was a dormie – they didn’t have enough sisters to fill the rooms – always had a coffee pot full. Granted it could be 15 hours old, but it was coffee. And when I began my nursing career, there was coffee in the unit kitchen. And when anesthesia school started and we attended EVERY delivery – that’s when a lot of them occurred in the middle of the night – and took call – well, you grabbed what was there quickly. It was that pot of 15 hour-old coffee. I learned to drink coffee hot or tepid or cold.
But, there was Jean-Luc Picard. Walking up to a wall and saying “Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHsgt4NN9GA in case you’ve forgotten. And I became intrigued. Just who was Earl Grey and why did he have a tea named after him? And what did it taste like?
The Earl Grey that the tea is named for was the 2nd Earl and he was a British Prime Minister in the 1830’s. He received a gift of black tea flavored with Bergamot oil, which is from an Italian orange. According to one legend, a grateful Chinese mandarin gave it to him after one of the Earl’s men saved his son from drowning. This is highly unlikely as the Chinese did not know about Bergamot oil. Jacksons of Piccadilly claim to have invented the recipe and have had it in constant production since. The Grey family says the tea was specially blended by a Chinese mandarin for Lord Grey, to suit the water of Howick Hall, the ancestral Grey home. The bergamot was to offset the lime in the local water. Lady Grey used the blend to entertain her London guests and it was so popular she asked if it could be sold to others, which is how Twinings came into the picture.
Earl Grey tea is not only good as a drink, but has been used as a flavoring for many types of cakes, chocolate confections and even in savory sauces. Here at the store Inggrie of TehKu Teas has blended Earl Grey and added mallow flowers. Earl Grey de la Crème. My favorite. Of course, now , the doctors say I have to limit caffeine.
So, thank you, Jean-Luc, for reigniting my love of tea and expanding my horizons.
Tea at the Unicorn Wine Guild 