Drinking and 'eating' tea

Yum cha - drinking tea - Catching up with fellow tea connoisseurs to drink tea at Oriental Tea House was an eclectic experience of traditional and modern. The trad - White tea, green tea, black tea, oolong tea & Shanghai dumplings. The mod – happy tea, relaxing tea, tea cocktails, chilled Japanese plum wine and chocolate dumplings. The loudish music fitting with the cool Chapel Street location but not the Zen of the tea ceremony. So go for the tea’s or the vibe but for excellent yum cha try Shark Fin House, 131 Little Bourke Street Melbourne or Tai Pan in 237 Blackburn Road, Doncaster East, for fabulous tea try theteacentre.com.au and if you want to ‘eat’ tea try this recipe: Combine 4 tsp of your favourite tea, 300g brown sugar, 300ml water, 200ml of red wine, 1 cinnamon stick, 4 cloves, 4 whole allspice, 5 black peppercorns and the zest of I orange – bring to the boil then simmer for 15 minutes, strain then add 250g of pitted prunes to the syrup and simmer for another 10 minutes, remove prunes and reduce the syrup until thick and sticky. Serve prunes and syrup on ‘caramel’ yoghurt – lightly whisk enough brown sugar into creamy Greek style yoghurt to taste. Or alternatively use tea and rice as a medium for smoking some chicken.