Rose Pouchong Tea by Jane Gottelier*
Rose pouchong is traditionally served in the late afternoon or early evening, and it should only be accompanied by the lightest of foods, so as not to spoil its exquisite taste. The tea should be taken without milk, but a slice of lime and a little sugar can enhance the delicate flavor.
Rose pouchong tea tastes best when consumed from fine porcelain tea cups. It is said that when you drink from a delicate china tea cup, the slightly curved “lip” sends the tea to a different part of the tongue - hence the difference in flavor.
Vessels for making and drinking tea evolved in China from bronze through stoneware to porcelain. From the end of the seventeenth century, porcelain teapots were exported to Europe in the ships that brought the tea. Most of these teapots were painted in blue and white. When European potteries began to produce teapots, they were inspired by these Chinese designs.
Bone china was invented by Josiah Spode in England around 1800. The addition of animal bone to the kaolin produced china ware with a high degree of translucency, whiteness, and strength.
In the same way that tea drinking has varied throughout history from the refined to the popular, the history of knitting has encompassed the use of techniques, traditions, and materials that vary enormously from the mundane to the exotic. Today, the most sophisticated array of yarns is available-alpaca, merino, silk, and bamboo-and are all used by the twenty-first-century knitter.
Knitting with fine yarns, accompanied by a delicate china cup of rose pouchong tea. What an exquisite combination!
