Chocolate to Savour

What can you say about an event that hits you where you live !
I love tea events but tea chocolate well... for my money there is no equal.
Yesterday I had the pleasure to attend the book launch for Kirstan Tibballs' new book "Chocolate to Savour" and it was one for the record books!
Kirsten and her elves ( ok they aren't elves but it's more fun to think of them that way) worked for months to create a totally edible chocolate forest, trees, mushrooms, butterflies, assorted bugs that transformed their space in Brunswick into a magical wonderland of chocolate.

Now because I wanted to report back to you all fully I felt it was my duty to taste as much as possible so I left no chocolate stone unturned ( and yeah the stones were chocolate too... choc covered Almonds to be exact) to bring you the full scoop!
I know ... Truly selfless.
So as you can see from the pic above I was lucky enough to be there as they put the final touches to the display, standing there as the scent of chocolate, nuts, caramel, marshmallow wafted over me how could I not hum the "candyman"* and also touched by the trust Kirsten & Mark showed me leaving me alone with all that choc could have been very dangerous It could've been like Hershey Pennsylvania all over again... So many Peanut Butter cups...gone in moments after the security guard turned away for just a moment, luckily I've had lots of therapy since then. :-)

 Now don't think for a moment that the chocolate forest was the end of the event, no no my friends, not at all we have not even touched on the recipes from the book
(some which included SerendipiTea as ingredients)  
There were Macaroons, gold leaf coated crunchy thingies on a stick oh my so many flavors!
Listen do yourself a favor go get the book it is chocolate porn!
If you find yourself a bit short this month worry not ... you'll find a promo soon right here and you may win one!
Now I'd love to write more but they gave me some takeaways and I hear them calling my name!






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A trip abroad: The wild wild world of tea

Although it's not spoke of often enough tea & tea lovers have a culture that reaches across millennia, when you think about it that's not bad for one little plant.
While Camellia Sinensis has been on this planet far before recorded history and has remained pretty much unchanged Tea culture has changed, adapted and grown.
Asian, European and even American tea cultures have made incredible advances but they are all vary differently in their approaches but the one point that unifies is TASTE and while taste is wholly subjective there is still much commonality in the love of Black Teas, Green Teas, Pu-er, Oolongs, White Teas, Yellow Teas, even scented / flavored and bubble-tea should all have a place in the world of tea.



On my recent trip to America I had the opportunity to witness & sample many very individual approaches to tea and tea service, in the coming weeks i'd like to share some of my observations with you and see where you think tea culture is heading here in OZ.



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