Maria Behind the Camera!!

Certain laws prevented me from driving and taking pictures on the way home from St. Louis on Memorial Day. Some of the sites were to stunning to pass up so I enlisted the help of my sister Maria. I told her what settings to use on the camera and she snapped about 123 pictures. Taking pictures from a moving vehicle is always a risky situation but Maria got pretty lucky and got some good shots including some of a big rainbow. She snapped the photos and I did the post-production and together we created some real stunners!

Gunpowder Tea

Gunpowder tea does not get its name from the amount of caffeine it contains - in fact it only has about 1/4 of the caffeine of a regular cup of coffee. The name is actually derived from the Chinese zhu cha which translates to "pearl tea" or "bead tea". The leaves for this green tea are dried and then rolled into tiny pellets that resemble gunpowder.

Tea was introduced to Morocco in 1854 and soon after the tea ceremony was taking place in every Moroccan home from the palace to the Kasbah. The "tea ceremony" is something is celebrated when there are guests in the home. It is a symbol of national pride and hospitality and it is considered very bad manners to refuse taking a sip of the fragrant tea. Moroccans serve the tea in small slender glasses that are typically decorated with gold or engraved designs. It is also the tradition in Morocco to serve the tea with rinsed mint leaves and sugar or honey.

While I was in Morocco in 2009 the tea ceremony became part of my daily life. As we were visitors, the tea ceremony was a constant form of greeting for us. I really enjoyed the unique flavor. I wish that I had purchased a tea set like the one pictured above while I was there but - There is always next time I suppose!

Sources

Morocco DK Eyewitness Travel Guides

Wikipedia: Gunpowder Tea

stashtea.com