Abalone Season Winding Down

So Abalone season is technically open till till the end of November, but it's cold and more often than not conditions are not diveable, so we've pretty much shut down. I also didn't make it up to John and Lisa's farmhouse for heirloom tomato harvest. But Alex did show Donna and me his dry ice frozen, deli sliced abalone, which is just superb.

Pretty pictures of tea and spice

Chai Extracts

Can liquid chai extracts, basically, brewed chai (spice plus tea), typically at a concentrated level, be good chai? I mean, if this works, then why don't we see gourmet liquid tea extracts?

http://www.harmonychai.com/
http://oregonchai.com/

More on My Chai Idea

16 Chai Combination Kit, $47
4 spice compounds x 4 teas
spice compounds: spark, cozy, balance, nirvana
teas: earl grey black, assam black, tung ting oolong, lemongrass tulsi tisane
makes about 44 cups
net weight approx 8 oz (226g)

36 Chai Combination Kit, $57
6 spice compounds x 6 teas
spice compounds: spark, cozy, balance, nirvana, quaint, savory
teas: earl grey black, assam black, tung ting oolong, genmaicha green, lemongrass tulsi tisane, rooibos tisane
makes about 66 cups
net weight approx 12 oz (340g)

My Chai Spice Ideas

Chai Spice Compounds
(1) SparkTM - Ginger with fennel, cardamom,
clove, cassia cinnamon
(2) BalanceTM - Cassia cinnamon with clove, fennel, cardamom, black pepper
(3) SootheTM - Cardamom with fennel, cassia cinnamon, vanilla
(4) NirvanaTM - Star anise with cassia cinnamon, cardamom, dried mango


Teas
(1) Assam (a traditional chai black tea)
(2) Earl Grey (another black tea)
(3) Tung Ting (oolong, an offbeat choice)
(4) Lemongrass & Tulsi Tisane (herbal, non-caffeinated)

Steeping Tea

Steeping Tea
Black – boiling water (100°C/212°F) for 3-5 mins
Oolong – near boiling water (90°C/195°F) for 2-4 mins
Green –hot water (80°C/180°F) for 2-3 mins
White –hot water (80°C/180°F) for 1-2 mins
Herbal tea/tisane –near boiling water (90°C/195°F) for 5-7 mins

Steeping Spice

Steeping Spice
Steep for 10+ minutes in boiling water. The spice compound comes in a coarse grind. If you use a tea ball or strainer, you will get some spice floating in your chai (all the more authentic). If you don’t want these floaties, try a muslin bag.

General Chai Directions

Directions
Makes two 8 oz cups of chai tea.
Steep using a tea pot, tea ball, strainer or French press. Note that a French press may not stop extraction when you press the plunger down, so you may want to decant the liquid right after plunging.
(1) Choose one chai spice compound and one tea from your chai kit.
(2) If using two separate pots:
Steep 2 tsp (10 ml) of chai spice compound in 8 oz (1 cup) boiling water for 10+ mins. Steep 2 tsp of tea in 8 oz (1 cup) hot to boiling water for 1-5 mins. Mix the liquids 1:1.
If using one pot:
Steep 2 tsp (10 ml) of chai spice compound in 16 oz (2 cups) of boiling water for 5+ minutes. Add 2 tsp (10 ml) of tea and steep for another 1-5 minutes.
(3) For traditional chai, add milk and sugar. For a refreshing change, try without the milk or sugar. You can even try the spice compound water without the tea!

Is Tea and Herb or Spice?

Is tea an herb or a spice?
There are no utterly precise, categorical definitions for the terms “herb” and “spice.” Generally, however, an herb comes from the leaf of a plant, whereas a spice comes from elsewhere (seed, bark, etc.). Herbs typically can be used in their fresh or dried form (think cilantro or thyme) whereas spices must be dried or fermented (cumin, pepper, etc.) Herbs often come from temperate zones, spices almost always from the tropics (hence the Spice Route). Since tea is from a leaf, but must be fermented, it is difficult to place in herb/spice duality. We like to think of tea as a special herb or spice, in that it needs delicate, specialized treatment (i.e., proper steeping time and temperature). Coffee, likewise, also would be a special spice.

While the term spice covers a host of ingredients and doesn’t have an entirely fixed meaning (some would consider orange rind to be a spice, others would not), unless you have a special delicate spice such as tea or coffee, spices are generally pretty bulletproof. Most of them can be extracted for long periods and at high temperatures. Therefore, we suggest you just throw your spice compounds in boiling water for 10 or 15 minutes -- you can even steep them more than once. By contrast, you should be extremely attentive to the manner in which you steep your tea. Hints for steeping your tea can be found in this brochure and on our website. Note that herbal teas/tisanes, typically are dried herbs.

Element Spice takes this gourmet concept even further by providing you with several spices compounds and several teas to choose from. If you have the 4 spice compounds x 4 teas kit, you have 4 x 4 = 16 chai combinations to choose from. If you have the 6 x 6 kit, you have 36 chai combinations.

Note that the term “herbal tea” as applied to chamomile or lemon grass, among others, means a non-caffeinated tea substitute, i.e., not tea at all. To avoid confusion, we prefer to use the term “tisane.”