Right now we have about 50 varieties of tea. Black teas, green, white & herbal tisanes along with flavored teas in all the tea leaf varieties - black, green & white. Last spring we decided to try a few of the teas as iced tea. Lemon Mango, Berry berry & white blueberry were very popular.
This year we've added a green tea - raspberry bohemian.
How do we make it?
We put 1 cup of the tea onto a piece of cheese cloth & wrap it tightly, self-tied. When this tea ball is ready, we put it into a large plastic bucket (I recommend glass in your kitchen). We then add water at just below boiling, 1 1/2 gallons are added. The tea steeps for 1 hour or until the color is just right. Then the tea ball is removed with a slotted spoon. The tea is cooled & then refrigerated before serving. The tea ball is opened, the tea discarded & the cheese cloth air dried to be used again.
Cheese cloth - not only for cheese anymore.
At home the tea I favor for icing is the Red leaf, Provence. I have been making it for several weeks now & the patina that my cheesecloth is taking on is lovely.
Goes without saying, the tea is fab too!
Remembrances of the past year plus are with me tonight. I think the idea of a holiday and the memories of the last two years (one @ BR & one in planning for it) have juggled a few very vibrant memories from our opening weeks that juxtapose substantially with today's days.
In the first couple of weeks, we had a table of two - sitting at the front end of the banquette in the front dining room. (for some reason where people sit/sat is one of my most vivid memories tied to their visit). They had lunch. The fellow had a comment for me - I should let people know that I'm serving day old croissant. My heart sank. We were not serving day old croissant, yet at the time I had no track record of fresh & we did have a big problem with making our laminated dough in the kitchen. We stopped trying to make laminated dough until we had upgraded the AC in the kitchen.
Laminated dough is made by layering dough & butter and working them together to create the unique pastry that is croissant. Our kitchen was so hot that the butter was melting rather that working in & the resulting pastry was just not on. There was so much being created each day and it all needed a breaking in period, which we were doing live. I have no idea if that fellow has been back - hope so as the croissant now are delicious, consistently.
And then there were the cupcakes. Our plan was always to have a few items that would be low cost to our customers and would be great tasting all the time. We made 4 cookies & 3 cupcakes. The cupcakes sold, but we did not do a great job taking them off the shelf quickly if they did not sell. So, we had a takeaway story of 12 beautiful cupcakes, taken as a gift that, upon arrive were found to be not 100% fresh.
We kept a refund for this customer in our drawer for a month or more. She did not return to claim it.
WE make fewer cupcakes now & they are on the "shelf' for less than 24 hours. They are always totally fresh.
Occasionally someone will ask - is this made today? The answer now for all breads & pastries is "yes". All are made today.
Most recently we have made the move to breads on the shelf, along with breakfast pastries, at 7 am (when we open) or very close to it.
We are evolving as a successful bakery and each of the stories, interactions, calls from customers and repeat business are part of what helps us evolve and grow. We take it at the rate we can with the skill and manpower we have. We respect each of our customers points of view with regard to what we do well, where we can improve and how we can serve to the best
of our ability to meet the needs of those who speak up.
Rambling done!
No comments:
Post a Comment