Tea Shop - Press Tea

On my second visit to Press Tea, I had a full serving of rooibos. I enjoyed a sample of the tea when I first visited the tea shop with Jee of Oh How Civilized in June. At that time, I ordered an iced green tea and we shared several pastries: blueberry cheesecake, apricot scone, and a matcha sponge cake.

The tea making at Press Tea is innovative. The tea is pressed with modified espresso machines yielding fresh, intense flavors.

I also like the system of ordering: select a tea, choose a preparation, and add an optional flavoring.  I ordered rose syrup with my green tea (I think I thought I was ordering cherry).  This time, I ordered a featured beverage - the rooibos caramel latte - and the barista graciously iced it for me.  It was perfect! Cool yet warm from caramel and rooibos notes, creamy, and slightly sweet.

Although I was tempted by the cinnamon doughnut, I selected the blueberry cheesecake. It is delicious.  Lots of blueberries, a great crumble top, and the cake is moist with a hint of sour.  Oh, and the bottom crust was moist, too, but it held its shape well.  I'll be back.

Afternoon Tea: Tamarind Tea Room

Last week I took the train to 23rd Street to meet Jee for afternoon tea at the Tamarind Tea Room. I had planned to walk from my apartment to the tea room, before I knew it would one of the hottest days of the summer! The day's heat influenced my choice of tea. From the menu of 16 teas, I selected the Hibiscus Elder. The first cup was refreshing and it would have been more so iced. My second cup was cloyingly sweet. I had overstepped the tea. (Another contributing factor could have been that the tea basket was packed with tea.). The tea pot is from For Life - I really like the company's products.

The tea room is small but the mirrors above the banquet seating enlarge the space. The small bouquets on each table are elegant.

The food is not served on a tray. The savory option is a choice of a wrap. Since we ordered Tea for Two, our sandwiches were halved and we each received a half of each sandwich. I ordered the eggplant and Jee chose the chicken.  Our gracious server prepared for me an additional vegetarian sandwich - a curried Indian cheese sandwich. I preferred the cheese to the eggplant but Rotea gave the (leftover) eggplant wrap high marks.

The sweet option is a choice of rice pudding or Payasam, a pudding of vermicelli noodles flavored with saffron and cardamom. I ordered the latter though both were delicious (I am a big fan of condensed milk). The puddings were served with two cookies - lentil short bread and caraway seed - as well as a raspberry-filled pastry. These were good, too.

Next time I would order the mushroom sandwich which comes with a tamarind sauce (the namesake sauce perhaps) or maybe the salmon, if it's wild caught. And since it is an Indian tea room, a Darjeeling or Assam seems like a good bet, too.

You can read Jee's review of Tamarind Tea Room's afternoon tea at Oh How Civilized. Afternoon tea at this tea room has also been reviewed by Sara at Tea Happiness and by Kathy YL Chan for Serious Eats.

P.S. I called and asked about the brand of tea served in the tea room and was told the teas are imported from India.

A Pitcher a Day: Day 5 + Round-up

It's too hot to think about metal objects but this Hammered Metal Pitcher from West Elm Market is cool.

Catch up on the previous four days of pitchers: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4.  And because five days of pitchers is not long enough, here are two more:

• I associate hens with summer time.  Do you?  The French Hen Pitcher at Sur La Table would be perfect at a country lunch.

• This West Elm Market Dipped Pitcher is sophisticated but the material (stoneware) keeps it grounded. (The blue and white version is no longer available.)

Plus one more: Don't you wish you could lounge by a river today?  The Stour Pitcher at Canvas is named for a river in Wiltshire, England.

Iced tea recipe books

Iced Tea, by Fred Thompson, book cover via Harvard Common Press (source)

It appears that the book about iced tea is Fred Thompson's Iced Tea: 50 Recipes for Refreshing Tisanes, Infusions, Coolers, and Spiked Teas.  The book was featured on NPR in 2002.

You can find lesser known titles on Amazon using the search term "iced tea."

Takeya has published an  an iced tea recipe book for its Flash Chill Tea Maker.  Stash Tea has published a beautifully photographed summer tea recipe e-book titled Ice Days Ahead.

A Pitcher a Day: Day 4

It's hot in the Northeast but it is even hotter in the Southwest.  The Terra Cotta Pitcher by Crate & Barrel would be a perfect fit there, or Le Creuset's Stoneware Pitcher, available in five colors, sold by Williams-Sonoma.

View Day 3, Day 2, and Day 1 pitchers.

How to Make Iced Tea

Teana colada by Argo Tea

This week calls for iced tea!  Here are some recipes to make on your own as well as where to buy the finished product in NYC.

Numi Tea Do It Yourself Iced Tea - Quick Brew and Big-Batch Brewing

Two recipes from Oh How Civilized: Muddled Mint and Lime Iced Tea (tisane) and Iced Ceylon

Ice brew your next cup of gyokuro.  Tea for Me Please describes the method, also known as shinobi-cha.

Tea Happiness created a list of her favorite places for iced tea in NYC.

P.S. You can cold brew directly in a pitcher.  Try For Life's MIST Ice Tea Jug.

A Pitcher a Day: Day 3

Casual yet sleek, Muji's Heat Resistant Glass Pitcher. 

View Day 2 and Day 1 pitchers.

A Pitcher a Day: Day 2

Yesterday's pitcher had European elegance.  For a casual pitcher, consider Crate & Barrel's Airtight Pour & Store Pitcher.

A Pitcher a Day: Day 1

I typically don't post on Mondays but it's going to be a HOT week, again, and it seemed like a good idea to kick off the week with a pitcher! I will post a photo of a pitcher every day this week with a final round-up on Friday.

(Source)

This glass pitcher, the Hobnail by Anthropologie, has oomph!  (Hat tip: Real Simple magazine, July 2013 print issue.)

How to Make: Canelés

At Monday evening's French Your Day party, I jokingly asked Canelé by Celine founder Celine Legros for her canelé recipe.  Of course, it's a secret!

Canelé or cannele originated in Bordeaux and it can be difficult to prepare.  There are five essential elements, according to Pim of Chez Pim: (1) the molds (the traditional material is copper); (2) the beexwax (for shine and crispness - you wax the interior of the molds); (3) air (stir, dont whisk); (4) temperature (hope you have a precise oven); and (5) the rest period (this is not a spontaneous pastry - best results if you rest the batter for 48 hours).

Pim referenced Paula Wolfert's recipe, a shortened version of which is available here. An adaptation of Paula Wolfert's recipe was published on The Kitchn.

It is no surprise that Chocolate  & Zucchini has a canelé recipe.  The Bon Appétit canelé recipe is based on the Chocolate & Zucchini recipe.

And finally, what is better than a video of how to make a canelé? An actual baking course.  In the meantime, however, Chow has produced The Perfect Canelé video.

Will you make a batch of canelés?