Pecan Pie Tea

How do you pronounce Pecan? Pee-can or pay-cahn? If you live in Louisiana, Texas or any of the Southern States the debate can get red hot as both sides of the verbal divide try to claim the nut as their own. But really, there’s no need to argue, there are enough of the nuts to go round! The annual Pecan crop of the United States is usually between 300 – 400 million pounds. Like we said, there are enough to go around. Still, if you are going to argue about them, perhaps we should refer to you as a Pecan, a term that in parts of Louisiana has come to replace the word “nut”, as in crazy person. Ok, but what of Pecan tarts? Well if you’re Canadian, or have ever been to Canada, you may have tried the butter tart, a small round pastry found in every coffee shop from Vancouver to St. John’s. They’re great eh! It’s believed that the recipe found it’s way back into Canada via the Cajuns, French Canadians who long ago settled in and around New Orleans. The Cajuns are believed to have been the first people to concoct the deliciously nutty and buttery Pecan tart by using local nuts and adapting a traditional French tart recipe. We decided to further adapt the wonderful sweet, buttery and nutty flavor of the Pecan Tart and have blended what is slowly becoming one of our office favorites. Brew a pot and taste the sweetness of the Deep South, er, the Great White North. Delicious eh!

What type of tea do we use, how do we flavor the tea and why do we use natural flavors?

Firstly... we only use high grown teas from the top 3 tea growing regions of Sri Lanka - Nuwara Eliya, Dimbula and Uva. These three high-grown districts produce flavorful teas that have classic ‘Ceylon’ tea character which is noted by floral bouquet and flavor notes, touches of mild astringency, bright coppery color and, most importantly - perfect for use as the base tea of our flavored teas. (We have tested teas from various other origins around the world as base stock for our flavored teas, but none of these teas made the grade.) Dimbula and the western estates of Nuwara Eliya have a major quality peak during Jan/Feb, whereas Uva and the eastern estates of Nuwara Eliya have their peak in July/Aug. This ‘dual peak period’ allow us to buy the best for our flavored tea blends several times during the year, ensuring top quality and freshness.

Secondly... we use flavoring oils not crystals to give the tea drinker an olfactory holiday before indulging in a liquid tea treat.

Thirdly... we specify natural flavors. High quality tea tastes good and natural flavors do not mask the natural taste of the high grown Ceylon tea. (The norm for many making flavored tea is to use overpowering artificial flavors, which can be used to hide lower quality tea). Natural flavors do not leave an aftertaste giving the tea a clean and true character. It should be noted that natural flavors tend to be somewhat ‘soft ‘ and the flavors slightly muted, but for many this is a refreshing change and one of the desired attributes of our naturally flavored teas.

Hot tea brewing method: Bring freshly drawn cold water to a rolling boil. Place 1 teaspoon of tea for each cup into the teapot. Pour the boiling water into the teapot. Cover and let steep for 3-7 minutes according to taste (the longer the steeping time the stronger the tea). Even though milk and a dash of sugar help enhance the flavor character on this tea, it is perfectly acceptable to consume this tea ‘straight-up’

Iced tea brewing method: (to make 1 liter/quart): Place 6 teaspoons of tea into a teapot or heat resistant pitcher. Pour 1 1/4 cups of freshly boiled water over the tea. Steep for 5 minutes. Quarter fill a serving pitcher with cold water. Pour the tea into your serving pitcher straining the leaves. Add ice and top-up the pitcher with cold water. Garnish and sweeten to taste. [A rule of thumb when preparing fresh brewed iced tea is to double the strength of hot tea since it will be poured over ice and diluted with cold water]. Please note that this tea may tend to go cloudy or ‘milky’ when poured over ice; a perfectly normal characteristic of some high quality black teas and nothing to worry about!