#Asian tea

[bewitchedbotanical]

Some New Stuff In The Shop! Tea, Spell Bottles, Smoke Sticks, Palo Santo, New Kratom Blends. www.bewitchedbotanicalkratom.com

[gagesfall]

[prostayaeza]

I am tea-person. My morning always starts with tea.

This blue tea change color after adding lemon. Magic✨

[morethansalad]

Jasmine-Infused Water / Nam Loy Dok Mali / น้ำลอยดอกมะลิ (Raw Vegan)

[fullcravings]

Hong Kong Butter Cookies

[ranilla-bean]

culture tips for writing asian settings: tea varieTEAs

atla's got major Tea Guy representation in iroh but let's be real, even non-tea guys are going to be drinking tea in an asian-inspired setting—you'd be served it instead of water most places. so, what kind of tea are you picking for them?

as an east asian reader, it can take me out of the setting to see the characters drink something like chamomile (from europe/west asia) or... most herbal teas, to be honest. ngl it was weird to see iroh in the show, characterised as a huuuuuuge tea snob, drink stuff like jasmine (it's fine it's just basic, is all! imo!) or like.... a random flower he encounters in the wild.

when we're talking tea, real asian tea, we're talking about the leaf of the camellia sinensis plant. the huge variety we have of tea is actually from the different ways of processing that exact same leaf. popular varieties include:

green: the leaf goes through minimal processing, can have a bright and even leafy/grassy flavour (examples: gunpowder, longjing aka dragon well, matcha, genmaicha)

white: also undergoes minimal processing, with a lighter flavour than even green (examples: silver needle, shou mei)

oolong: the leaf is semi-oxidised, curled, and twisted—can be characterised by a tanniny flavour with a bright aftertaste. my personal favourite! (examples: da hong pao, tieguanyin, dong ding, alishan)

dark (black): note this isn't the same as black tea as we think of it in english. the leaf is fermented to produce an earthy tea with a flavour like petrichor (examples: pu'er)

all the teas listed in the "examples" are fairly credible teas that i think a real tea snob like iroh would drink.

ok, but what about...

"black tea" as we know it in the west—assam and ceylon etc? this variety is actually called "red tea" in chinese. we don't drink it with milk but to be honest, i've just... never really heard of anyone drinking chinese red tea? which is why i've kept it off the list. (there's lapsang souchong, but i associate that with bri'ish people...) anyone who does drink it, let me know! on the other hand something like assam/ceylon, while extremely delicious and also asian, is a product of british colonialism and is consumed with milk. i think if you wanted to massage some of the traditions & have chai-drinking indian-influenced characters, though, that's cool!

do you actually not drink herbal tea? we do... but a lot of it is considered medicinal. we've got stuff like herbal "cooling tea" with ingredients like sour plum, mesona, or crysanthemum; tea that warms you up like ginseng or ginger. the whole concept of hot/cold in chinese medicine though... that deserves another culture post

camellia leaf murdered my family & i have a grudge against it; what else can my blorbos drink? there'a some good, tasty stuff made of wheat, barley, buckwheat, even soybean. wouldn't be egregious for the characters to drink that!

is milk sacriligeous? a real tea snob would think so, but a lot of asians nowadays are chill about milk in tea—usually in western-influenced red tea. hong kong, thailand, india, taiwan, and malaysia (among others) have their own cultures of milk tea, which has even become a democratic rallying point.

what do you think of iroh inventing bubble tea? my main issue with it is it's anachronistic! it was invented in taiwan in the late 20th century, but atla's set in the equivalent of the mid-19th century... you could also make arguments about whether iroh's too snobby about tea to invent it LOL

there's soooo much more i can say about all this so: keep your eyes peeled! i'll talk about medicine & tea ceremony in the near future <3

disclaimer | more tips

[daily-deliciousness]

Green tea mochi

[julieterbang]

[qc-wiggles]

happy birthday and two days to my first jmart, may ye rest in your freshly out of genshin phase peace…

[maschaorsomething]

I like this piece a lot, outdid myself a bit :)

Follow me on Instagram @maschaorsomethin to see me post so much more regularly <3

[bunibelles]

Been busy but here’s some daily life doodles + meal :>

[bewitchedbotanical]

Use code HH20 for a free 20g of your choice. www.bewitchedbotanicalkratom.com

[arthistoryanimalia]

#ThreeForThursday:

Tea Service in the Shape of Quails

Gujarat (formerly Baroda), India, 1920-30

Silver, gilded silver, ivory

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts display

“The British were not India's only patrons of elegant silver.

Native princes - always engaged in dynamic cultural interchanges with their British overlords - also commissioned silver of the highest quality. Such patronage was nowhere more prominent than in western India, where the rulers of the state of Kutch were champions of their silversmiths. These leaders ensured their region's silver became the best known of India's styles through sponsorship at international exhibitions, beginning with London's Great Exhibition of 1851. This stylishly whimsical tea service in the shape of richly feathered quails was produced by Oomersee Mawjee Jr., son of Kutch's most renowned master silversmith, after he shifted to the employ of another western Indian ruler, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III of Baroda.”

[yourcoffeeguru]

Vintage EIT England Ceramic Mug || SWtradepost - ebay

[sensazioneultra]

Keiko Tsushima as Setsuko

お茶漬けの味 | The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952) dir. Yasujirō Ozu

[fullcravings]

Cookie Butter Taiyaki Waffles