Iron Monk

The study of Ceylon tea yesterday had me curious about other tea. Some of your only tea concerns are “do you have sweet tea”? Let me state right now I do NOT drink iced tea. You probably do not care what kind of tea is in those tall icy glasses. 

But I began to wonder about Oolong tea.

Oolong tea is Chinese and comes from the Chinese name 烏龍茶 which means “black dragon tea”. It falls in the middle of the tea scale. Black teas are fully oxidized and green teas are not oxidized. Oolong is rick in anti-oxidants called polyphenols, which keep your heart healthy and help prevent cancer, and is good for your teeth because it has anti –bacterial qualities. Folk myth tells the tale of Wu Liang after generations Wu Long and eventually his name morphed into Oo Long who had been hard at work picking tea from his fields being distracted by a deer. After hours in pursuit of the deer he returned to the fields only to discover that the freshly picked leaves had quickly oxidized in the sun. That is the key process in oolong tea, the unique oxidation the tea is allowed to undergo in the sun. There are many varieties of oolong tea from Nepali to Vietnam to Africa. Some have names such as Red Robe,

 Iron Monk,

 Iron Goddess,

 or Dong Ding Oolong whose name translates to Ice Peak.

I got my car back yesterday, feels weird driving after so many days of not driving. My grandmother never drove anywhere. However she did take a cross country trip once in the late 20s I believe. I have photographs I have yet to categorize and put together. I will show you as I do them. Her and her friends and a huge limousine looking ancient car; can you imagine how long it must have taken to drive from West Virginia to California and back in 1926?  I wonder if the roads were paved.

Lady Tamara has a photo shoot this morning so I am off to prepare.

Good mornting!!