Soo Chung

I am a tea specialist in Melbourne, Australia. I create resources to flourish tea culture in the world 🍵 @teacreativlife

Tea Creative White Chocolate Matcha Cookies

White Chocolate Matcha Cookies (20min)

White Chocolate Cookies

Bake White Chocolate Matcha Cookies with one recipe less than 20 minutes! You can subtract matcha (green tea powder) and reduce sugar by half if you simply want to enjoy White Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Are you the person who takes forever to cook? I enjoy listening to soft chill music, feeling sunshine, and cooking forever in my kitchen. However, sometimes, I want to move fast as if I am participating in a cooking show where a participant works super-fast.

In the world full of things to do.  
Try to cook or bake before you go to work or head out to somewhere. 

I know this sounds crazy.
Some of you might scream inside, wtf?????? are yoU for ReAL!!???????
However, you will surprise how much you can move faster. 

White Chocolate Cookies

Last week, I baked White Choc Chip Cookies before I went to work. I was getting ready for work and baking at the same time just before I had to leave. So my first trial didn’t turn out so pretty. However, I loved the taste, especially once they were chilled in the refrigerator.

White Chocolate Cookies

These cookies were simple to make, thick, and very tasty. I decided to use my leftover white choc chips to make another small batch. Then, I thought what about I add some matcha (green tea powder) to make white chocolate matcha cookies?

So I started my experiment.

Tea Recipe: White Chocolate Matcha Cookies

White Chocolate Matcha Cookies

I poured too much matcha powder than I origianlly planned while making.

White Chocolate Matcha Cookies

Which turned out how I exactly wanted.

White Chocolate Matcha Cookies

White Chocolate Matcha Cookies (20min)

Bake White Chocolate Matcha Cookies with one recipe less than 20 minutes! You can subtract matcha (green tea powder) and reduce sugar by half if you simply want to enjoy White Chocolate Chip Cookies. Are you the person who takes forever to cook? I enjoy listening to soft chill music, feeling sunshine, and cooking forever …

White Chocolate Matcha Cookies (20min) Read More »

Baking tea baking recipe, matcha cookie, matcha white choc chip European Print This
Serves: 1 (6-9 cookies) Prep Time: Cooking Time:
Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat
Rating: 5.0/5
( 1 voted )

Ingredients

  • 40g of room temperature unsalted butter
  • 20g of caster sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 of room temperature large egg
  • 80g of self-raising flour
  • 50g of white chocolate chips
  • 5g (1 tablespoon) of Matcha

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180C(360F). Line one baking tray with baking paper or aluminum foil. 

2. While the oven is warming up, mix all the ingredients 

3. Spoon 1.5 teaspoons of dough into small balls and place them on the baking tray. 

4. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown on the edges. 

5. Cool your cookies for 5 minutes until they form a cookie shape with breaking. 

This recipe is so simple. You can easily bake and share the cookies with other people. It’s a delightful way to lift everyone before work, meeting, throughout the day.

Stop Order White Fairy Tea (BạCH Trà Tiên)

Stop order White Fairy Tea (BạCh TRà Tiên) until locals find a solution to harvest the tea.

vietnam white fairy tea (BạCH Trà Tiên)

For the sake of my love for tea, there are two things I want to tackle in the tea industry.  

One is environmental issues that directly affect our planet and people’s health.

The other is human rights issue.

  • Environmental issue: is certain tea production harming the environment and people’s health? For example, tea pesticides, incorrect labeling, wasteful packaging, and mass production.
  • Human rights issue:  is certain tea production harming basic human rights? For example, child labor, minimum wage, hostile working conditions, etc.

I understand that these issues are very complex and cannot be fixed overnight.

However, these issues need to be addressed so people including tea workers can enjoy tea through generations.  

If you work in a tea field 12 hours a day and barely earn to support yourself. Would you be thrilled to drink a cup of tea? I would be so angry, I might throw a tea-cup! 

If you drink a tea that was covered by tea pesticides that can be poisonous to your body. When you end up in a hospital, will you be able to see your tea the same as before? 

vietnam white fairy tea (BạCH Trà Tiên)

This morning, I read an urgent post from Ha Giang Tribes and Tea through the International Tea Talks

vietnam white fairy tea (BạCH Trà Tiên)
Photography ⓒ Ha Giang Tribes and Tea

AN URGENT CALL FOR YOU FROM VIETNAM TEA MOUNTAIN

Starting along with the mountain range of Tay Con Linh in Hà Giang Province.

 You will disappoint to find that some very big plantation tea trees – two or three people can barely join hands around the trunk with thousands of years old– had been cut down to collect these buds, called: ” White Fairy tea” – Bạch Trà Tiên.

A kind of special/unique Shan tea and very good quality

I call proposal for you guys, as responsible consumers/buyers/tea lovers/…you should stop order that kind of tea until the local people find a solution to harvest the tea without cutting down these trees!


source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1647370545538088/permalink/2461768967431571/

vietnam white fairy tea (BạCH Trà Tiên)
Photography ⓒ Ha Giang Tribes and Tea

What is White Fairy Tea – Bạch Trà Tiên.?

To understand what is White Fairy Tea, you need to know what is Shan Tea.

What is Shan Tea?

Shan tea is a preciously distinctive tea plant that only inhabits in remote provinces of far North Vietnam, especially in Ha Giang. 

Those ancient wild tea plants have been known to reach heights of nearly 15 meters and boast diameters of two meters.

People have to climb up the tea tree to pick the buds. It is said that in earlier times, trained monkeys were used to collect tea leaves from inaccessible places.

Shan tea’s buds and young leaves are covered in a thin layer of snowy hair, which creates the name “Trà Shan Tuyet”- or Snowy Shan Tea.

Being cultivated organically and harvested naturally, Shan tea is sold at a high price for its superb characteristics.

source: https://www.vietnamonline.com/best-of-vietnam/3-most-popular-tea-varieties-in-vietnam.html

White Fairy Tea is a type of white tea that is more rare and special Shan tea. 

It is heartbreaking how people are irresponsibly cutting down the ancient trees to collect the buds for the White Fairy Tea.

 I urge you to STOP your purchasing of White Fairy Tea, BạCh TRà Tiên as requested until the locals in Tay Con Linh in Hà Giang Province find a solution to harvest the tea without cutting the ancient trees indiscreetly.

Are you supplying ethically sourced White Fairy Tea? Do you know further information about how the ancient tea trees are surviving?
Please leave a comment

TDIA Tea Meetup at Adore Tea, Canberra

adore tea tea meet up
800

Hi Beau-tea-ful people!

I have been hibernating. It’s been a while since I posted a tea meetup announcement.

There are many exciting tea scenes happening in the Canberra area.

This week, I am determined to visit a teahouse in Canberra!

Have you ever been to Adore Tea in Nicholls, ACT?

Adore Tea offers a selection of over 200+ teas with awards winning tea-infused menus.

This will be my first visit. I will be at Adore Tea between 2 and 3:30 pm depends on how busy the cafe is.

If the cafe is busy and I am myself, I will leave before 3:30, so other people can be seated.

A tea drinker, tea connoisseur, tea snob, anyone is welcome as long as we talk tea.

Menu: https://adoretea.com.au/menu/

Choose what you like, pay for your own meal and beverage

RSVP: https://www.meetup.com/Tea-Drinkers-in-Australia/events/266553409/ 

How To Make Oat Milk

How to Make Oat Milk or Any Plant-Based Milk (5min)

Do you add milk to your tea? I do sometimes. Try making your own plant-based milk at home with this simple technique. Find out which one is your favorite. My favorite is oat milk.

I don’t remember when was last time I used the entire milk I purchased, because I only needed little. Making homemade milk is simple, superb, and sustainable. If you don’t use milk often, how about making plant-based milk at home? When you make your own milk, you can control ingredients, which means you can also control taste, flavor, texture, and quantity 🍶

how to make oat milk
A stainless strainer is enough to filter oats
how to make oat milk
I wanted to use the cotton to enjoy rustic feeling while making the oat milk
oat milk
Yum!
oat bubble tea
I usually make milk to make bubble tea at home
oat bubble tea

How to Make Oat Milk

Do you add milk to your tea? I do sometimes. Try making your own plant-based milk at home with this simple technique. Find out which one is your favorite. My favorite is oat milk. I don’t remember when was last time I used the entire milk I purchased, because I only needed little. Making homemade …

How to Make Oat Milk or Any Plant-Based Milk (5min) Read More »

Beverage milk, plant-based milk, oatmilk, zero waste European Print This
Serves: 1 (500ml) Prep Time: Cooking Time:
Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat
Rating: 4.0/5
( 2 voted )

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 2 cups of water
  • blender
  • cloth, strainer, or something to filter oats

Instructions

  1. Add rolled oats into the blend container
  2. Add water into the blend container
  3. Blends for 30-45 seconds.
    * Make sure you don't over blend. It becomes slimy.
  4. Filter oats
  5. Enjoy your home-made milk

Notes

Basically, with water and your choice of grain, you can make your own plant-based milk. Depends on an ingredient, it may take longer (for example soy needs to be cooked if you want to make soymilk).

tea creative harvard cooking and science class

Harvard University Cooking & Science Course (FREE!)

Are you interested in cooking and curious about the science behind? I highly recommend the Harvard University Cooking & Science course while it is still open for free.

Isn’t it wonderful to live in a world where you have access to endless options to learn and grow?

At the beginning of this year, I enrolled in the Harvard University Cooking & Science course through edX, an open platform with 2000 free online courses from 140 leading institutions worldwide including Ivy Leagues. 

When I first started the course, I was all pumped to see the world-famous chefs and well-respected researchers. Then, I soon lost my interest.

Studying alone after work or during weekends was demotivating.

So, I created a study group to complete the course together between October and November.

Cooking & Science 

Top chefs and Harvard researchers explore how everyday cooking and haute cuisine can illuminate basic principles in chemistry, physics, and engineering.

Learn about food molecules and how chemical reactions can affect food texture and flavor. 

Modules

Module 1: Molecules, moles, flavor, and pH

Includes a discussion by Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park in NYC on flavor, pH, and the secret to his famous duck sauce, and scientific discussions on the major molecules of food, flavor, moles, and pH.

Module 2: Energy, temperature, and heat

Includes a welcome drink by Dave Arnold of Booker and Dax in NYC to toast the course, and a scientific discussion of how to cook a perfect egg. This module will focus on one of the most commons ways to cook – adding energy in the form of heat to increase the temperature of a food and thus change its internal structure.

Module 3: Phase transitions

Joan and Jordi Roca of El Celler de Can Roca, recently voted the best restaurant in the world, will explain how they manipulate phase transitions when cooking through techniques like sous vide and rotovapping. The scientific discussion will focus on what causes phase transitions in foods from a macroscopic and microscopic perspective. 

Module 4: Diffusion and Spherification

José Andrés, chef and owner of minibar, Jaleo, and The Bazaar, will introduce us to the remarkable dishes he creates with gelling agents. Dominique Crenn of Atelier Crenn in San Fransisco will make carrot jerky, and America’s Test Kitchen will show us their secret to making excellent scrambled eggs and coleslaw. Scientific discussions in this module will include gelation, modernist thickeners, and diffusion, which make some remarkable dishes possible.

Module 5: Heat Transfer

Carme Ruscalleda, chef and owner of restaurant Sant Pau, will cook steak and other culinary specialties that illustrate the special attention chefs pay to heat diffusion when cooking food. Nathan Myhrvold will share his method for cooking the perfect burger, and America’s Test Kitchen will show us their secret to cooking perfect French fries. The scientific discussion in this module is about heat transfer, and explaining why it is so hard to cook a perfect steak from both a microscopic and macroscopic perspective. We will also explore heat-dependent chemical reactions, and how they impact food taste and texture.

Module 6: Candy

In the final module we will discuss solubility and the science of candy and chocolate. Joanne Chang, from Flour bakery, will talk about the stages of sugar, and Enric Rovira from Xocolaters de Barcelona in Spain will show us some marvelous chocolate creations and we will discuss the underlying science of chocolate tempering and the different phases of chocolate.

What you’ll learn

  • The scientific concepts that underlie everyday cooking and haute cuisine techniques;
  • How to apply principles of physics, engineering, and chemistry to cooking;
  • How to become an experimental scientist in your own kitchen;
  • How to think like a chef AND a scientist.

Enroll

https://www.edx.org/course/science-cooking-from-haute-cuisine-to-soft-matter-science-chemistry-2

Tea Poached Pear Porridge (20min)

easy tea recipe

Treat yourself with a cozy warm breakfast. The poached pear syrup with black tea will energize you inside and out.

Black Tea Poached Pears Porridge

Treat yourself with a cozy warm breakfast. The poached pear syrup with black tea will energize you inside and out. Cooking Tea Recipe Breakfast
Tea Poached Pear Porridge Recipe | Tea Creative
You can easily make tea poached pear porridge
Print This
Serves: 1 Prep Time: Cooking Time:
Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat
Rating: 5.0/5
( 1 voted )

Ingredients

  • 2.5 teaspoons (5g) black tea
  • 100 ml/3.8 fl oz water
  • 45 g/1.5 oz caster sugar
  • 1 small pear, peeled.
  • 50 g/1.75 oz oats
  • 125ml/4.25 fl oz water

Instructions

1. Add black tea to 100ml just below boiling water and infuse for 3 minutes. 

When you brew tea, make sure to turn off the stove, so you have enough liquid to poach a pear.

2. Strain tea leaves, then transfer brewed tea to a small saucepan. Stir in sugar to dissolve.

3. Cut a pear in half. Add divided pears to tea and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until pears are softened.

4. Place oats and add 125ml boiling water. Stir until it becomes porridge. 

5. Place poached pears and drizzle the tea syrup over the porridge top. 

Notes

If you want to poach a pear without cutting in half, you can multiply the quantity (preferably to serve 4) and poach the pear as a whole.

Four Sisters Tea

Joining Sydney Tea Meetup at Four Sisters Tea.

August 18, 2018

The next day I first arrived in Sydney, Australia, I joined one of the tea meetups hosted by Sydney Tea Meetup and had cosy tea time.

Adeline, the organiser of the Sydney Tea Meetup, is brewing tea.

Whether you are visiting or trying to settle down in a new place, Meetup is a great way to find people you can share interests and make connections. I was so thankful to find the Sydney Tea Meetup.

Although I had to travel an hour from the Sydney CBD to Four Sisters Tea where the meetup was occurring. I didn’t hesitate to sign up for the meetup. I was excited to join. How exciting to meet tea people in a country you are not familiar with?

I took a bus to stop at the Museum Station (only 2 stops)

It was a chilly cold morning.

Nice sunshine though

When I arrived, the owner of Four Sisters Tea was preparing tea until Adeline was arriving.

I am writing this review two years after I visited, so I don’t remember which tea I drank. But I remember the feeling how everyone was welcoming.

Tea & snack <3

White Tea – Baihao Yinzhen 白毫銀針

White Tea – Baihao Yinzhen 白毫銀針

White Tea – Baihao Yinzhen 白毫銀針

White Tea – Baihao Yinzhen 白毫銀針

Baihao Yinzhen, also known as Silver Needle, is a white tea produced in Fujian Province in China.

Oolong Tea – Tieguanyin

Oolong Tea – Tieguanyin

Oolong tea – Da Hong Po

Oolong tea – Da Hong Po

Oolong tea – Da Hong Po

Black Tea – Lapsang souchong 正山小種

Black Tea – Lapsang souchong 正山小種

Black Tea – Lapsang souchong 正山小種

Black Tea – Lapsang souchong 正山小種

Black Tea – Jin Jun Mei

Black Tea – Jin Jun Mei

Black Tea – Jin Jun Mei

Four Sisters Tea has a community vibe

There were several teawares for selling. I liked this colourful teacup.

However, if I remember correctly the cup was around 750-800AUD so I put it down…lol

You can purchase samples

I visited Mabroc tea factory in Sri Lanka in 2017. I was surprised to find Mabroc tea here.

I didn’t know what this was. The owner told me it’s good for losing weight and increase health.

It’s a fun tea house with lots of varieties.

The weather was gorgeous on the way back.

When I looked up the sky looked like a heart shape. I felt like the city was welcoming me.

Four Sisters Tea