Hong Kong 'silk-stocking' milk tea - Part 1

I'm in Hong Kong for the next week and am embarking on some research for the soon to be launched winter project of Brooklyn Soda Works. Hint - it will involve a giant tea bag that resembles an overstretched silk stocking.

'Silk stocking' style milk tea is a uniquely Hong Kong phenomenon; influenced by British colonial tea habits - it is a black tea sweetened with sugar and served with evaporated milk, it is available at all hours of the day at 'cha-chaan tengs' (Chinese diners that serve inexpensive Hong Kong style western dishes). It's much more than a simple cup of milk tea though; it has a uniquely fine and smooth texture that is due to the cloth that the tea is strained through repeatedly and the quality of the milk that is added. The reference to hoisery is due to the appearance of the cloth bag after a long period of use and the strong black tea has stained the fabric - supposedly the customers of one of the cha-chaan tengs started referring to it as 'silk stocking tea' and over time, the name stuck.

I've decided this is the year that I will try to make my own. It's a tough project though - it has involved a lot of caffeine and a few attempts to get grumpy old men to reveal their tea secrets. Each tea house has their own secret blend of tea leaves and every year there is a competition to crown the best silk-stocking tea maker. My first stop was to one of usual tea stops, Lan Fong Yuen. Perched on the edge of the market in Central, it was established fifty years ago as a 'dai pai dong' (an outdoor food stall). It's moved indoors but retains a tiny outdoor shack where the tea is made. Lan Fong Yuen has become a staple on the foodie tourist circuit, and its walls are lined with numerous food magazine reviews (if you go, try the pork bun and their French toast as well as their tea).

Their tea is strained 8 times through the large cloth bag and their tea is a secret blend of six different types of tea leaves. They do not use the usual 'Black & White' brand of evaporated milk that other cha-chaan-tengs commonly use, but another brand. The resultant tea is an stiff aromatic tea that manages to not be bitter and is well balanced with the evaporated milk and sugar, with a good silky texture.
The next day I went with my sister to Wanchai, a fascinating older district in Hong Kong Island and meandered through their large outdoor market that sprawls across several blocks in search of two well regarded cha-chaan-tengs (unfortunately because the tea is several times stronger than what you might commonly get in a standard coffee shop, you can only really have one or two cups a day). We settled on Tak Yu (17-18 Kwong Ming Street) a well kept quiet airy cha-chaan tengs tucked away on a quiet street in an up-and coming area where boutiques have started moving in. The staff are friendly and the older gentleman who was manning the tea shack was happy to chat a bit. They use Black & White evaporated milk, which is creamier and denser than some of the other brands. His tea was one of the best I’ve had - very smooth without compromising any of the intensity from the blend of black teas.

The other cha-chaan-teng that is considered a must-try in Wanchai is Kum Foong (or Golden Phoenix). I’ll be making a trip back over in a couple of days.

You'll notice the distinct fabric tea-bag and metal hoop that used - this is as integral to preparing the tea as the actual tea leaves and milk are. I asked the gentleman at Tak Yu cha-chaan-teng in Wanchai (see the photo above) where he got his, and he replied that their were made by hand years ago. The fabric I'm assuming is replaced regularly and a lot of traditional places still make sew theirs by hand. However if you don't feel like soldering your own hoop and sewing your own cotton bags, you can head over to Reclamation Street in Yau Mai Tei area of Kowloon where the street is lined with kitchen supply stores for commercial kitchens and restaurants.

 

There I picked up a couple of hoops and cotton bags, as well as a steel tea pot to attempt to make my own version.

Yau Ma Tei and the surrounding areas in Kowloon are filled with old historic streets and corners. One place in particular has become a fixture - Mido Cafe. It is a 3 story cafe that dates back to 1950 and lots of its original fixtures still remain from an old cashier to the menu on the wall and the clocks.

It has a great corner spot with a nice view over the public square in front of the temple - the day we were there, a youth group was practicing a dragon dance for the upcoming Mid Autumn Festival (usually in mid to late September). While I wasn't blown away by their milk tea (there was some sedimentation at the bottom) it's a really nice place to hang out for an hour.

iced milk tea for a hot summer's day

Before I even wanted to start making my own blend of tea, I wanted to try one more place - Bing Kee in the Tai Hang neighborhood of Hong Kong Island, conveniently very close to where I live. Tai Hang has experienced a renaissance of sorts - it has always been a close knit quiet residential area with charming older residential buildings and narrow streets but in the past two years a large number of small restaurants, bars and coffee shops have moved in. Bing Kee (on Ormsby Street) is a small outdoors cafe (a 'dai pai dong') that has been around way before any of the artisanal cake shops.

it's another tea-shack! But as well as churning out cups of tea you can also get Hong Kong breakfast staples such as instant noodles with ham & egg.

Note the intensity of the color! A very pleasing cup of tea - great strong tea taste without any bitterness but I think I would have appreciated a bit more of a smooth milky texture.

Anyway, I still have a few places I want to try. I'm still working on my recipe and my technique but will post another blog post in a few days with my results. Stay tuned....

A day in the life of a Smorgasburg-er

Our talented Smorgasburg market lady, Nikki Brovold, is the contributor to today's blog post. Go say hi to her and Mary-Hannah this Saturday! And check out our new flavors, red currant & shiso, plus the crowd favorite grapefruit, honey & jalapeno, or the refreshing cucumber, lime + sea salt.

 

Life at Smorgusburg is good. We’ve been slinging Brooklyn Soda Works there for a few months now and the crowds are digging it. But again, what’s not to love about the great flavors coming out of the taps? Taps - that’s right, have tap, will travel to a gravel lot on the Williamsburg water front and sell artisanal soda every weekend at a food festival called Smorgasburg.

Some of our fav sodas as of late: classic Apple-Ginger, Root Beer, Rhubarb Thai Basil and Raspberry Shiso. Not to be a dick to the other flavors, but you don’t go through life without establishing a few preferences. A few observations:

The apple-ginger is a crowd pleaser, delicious, simple and great for a hangover. The market does start at 10 am. Not everyone is an adventurous food soul, and that’s okay, we won’t judge. This is the flavor we point them to - Apple Ginger is the gateway soda.

Okay, riddle me this - why do men of a certain age LOVE Root Beer? Sure, they’re attracted to the BkSW booth because they see taps (and my super-cute market-mate Marry Hannah) and think they’re getting a beer. Crest-fallen attitudes quickly escalate when it’s made clear Root Beer is available. These Root Beer ‘aficionados’ - call friends over to sample, generously insist on buying for everyone, tell stories of climbing birch trees as a boys to gnaw on the bark, because it tasted like our heroic soda. Root Beer has a distinct fan base.

So, am I allowed to say this? David Byrne loves our Rhubarb Thai Basil. Our flavors rotate week to week, and I had to disappoint the pop legend one Saturday morning after he ordered it by name. He settled for a glass of Grapefruit Honey Jalapeno. It’s hard being David Byrne, sometimes.

Some of our flavors have foam issues. Real issues. We’ve arm-chair-chemist concluded all berry based sodas are foam prone. The Raspberry Shiso soda last week was no different. It had a lovely pink hue, with a pearlescent green on the top. Never mind it took a solid four and a half minutes to get one decent 12 ounce poor, EVERYBODY wanted the pink foam. Little girls loved it, women were intrigued by the exotic shiso herb and once again, men thought they were getting a beer. We all had a good time. Our customers deserve credit for their patience, they all understood that if waiting a few extra minutes for local, artisanal soda was the problem, it still was a really good day. 

You can contact Nikki via twitter @nikkibrovold.  Make sure to tell her about any additional David Byrne sightings.
 

Drinks for your July 4th bbq!

If we were particularly market-savvy we would probably have figured out that we could have done a red/ white/ blue combo for this weekend. But instead, we went with what would be the most thirst quenching and what we would want to drink if we were going to a bbq (instead of working...)

So, while not red, it is sort of orangey: Grapefruit, jalapeno & honey. Bring a growler and we'll fill it up! It goes great with tequila too (we've been enjoying Centinela Tequila Reposado at home recently, available at Greene Grape in Fort Greene)

And we got a batch of really nice blueberries this week from Hector at Jersey Farm Produce. You can find him at Tribeca on Wednesdays and Smorgasburg on Saturday.

We'll be pairing it with mint this Saturday at Brooklyn Flea and Smorgasburg (we are taking Sunday off so we are only selling on Saturday July 2nd). We haven't tried doing a cocktail with this one yet, so if any one has any ideas, let us know.

In addition, we'll also have root beer and apple + ginger available.

Strawberry, hops & pink peppercorn! More rhubarb!

It's that time of the year - the first strawberries are making their way up north from south jersey to New York greenmarkets.  We did a strawberry, balsamic & black pepper last weekend that went over wonderfully well, so it's time for the more adventurous strawberry, hops & pink peppercorn!

Our strawberries are from a stand over at Smorgasburg; Hector at New Jersey Farm Produce has come through with four flats of gorgeous strawberries each week. The hops are an interesting new American variety called Bravo (thanks to the Brooklyn Home Brew people for their help) - it's used as a bittering hop variety, and has a nice burst of citrus aroma.

So our flavors this week and where you can find them:
Saturday Brooklyn Flea
-Rhubarb & Thai basil (this sold out last year by 2:30pm!)
-Apple & ginger

Smorgasburg (on Saturday in Williamsburg) AND Sunday Flea:
-Strawberry hops & pink peppercorn
- Rhubarb & Thai basil
- Apple Ginger
- Root Beer

Smorgasburg this Saturday! plus foraged spruce shoots!

We're happy to announce that we will be part of Smorgasburg this Saturday (this in addition to our usual booth at the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene). Run by the Brooklyn Flea people, this market will be only focused on food, both prepared & cooked food as well as farmers from the Greenmarket. Come by our booth this Saturday on North 6th between Kent & the East River. Check out this nice article in the New York Times that has a full list of vendors.

(our foraged spruce shoots!)

We will have four flavors for this Saturday and will have our spiffy new draft system in place. One of these flavors is our experimental foraged spruce shoot soda - made entirely from foraged spruce shoots from New Jersey, and flavored with Liberty hops with just a touch of ginger and molasses to balance it out.

In addition - it's rhubarb season! We've been using this wonderful green rhubarb that is a bit earthier and funkier than the usual red rhubarb from Phillips Farm in south NJ. Come by to get your taste of rhubarb & star anise.

Tomorrow - New Museum's StreetFest!

We're very excited to be a part of the New Museum's first ever StreetFest this Saturday May 7th (part of their Festival of Ideas for a New City).

We'll be debuting our new flavor with a kick: black pepper, indian preserved plums & cardamom.

Come by this Saturday from 11am to 7pm and say hi. Our booth is located on the Bowery, right above Stanton Street.

Help us design our flag! Open call for flag design!

We've doubled our presence at markets this spring and will be doing more and more outdoor events & markets this year but it's always a challenge trying to create a space that is uniquely yours, as well as being highly visible in a busy market, when everything has to be able to be easily set-up, taken down, as well as fitting into a Toyota Camry. So we're putting out an open call for a flag design.

flag for the Isle of Man

 the pirate Blackbeard's flag

 

 the flag of the Benin Empire








Guidelines:

• The flag should be highly visible from a distance away
• Imagery should relate to us and/ our product somehow, however abstractly
• If you have text, include any fonts you used
• If you're using any Pantone or web colors, make note of it somewhere
• The final size of the flag will be roughly 2-3 ft x 1-2 ft (this is a very rough estimate) but this does NOT mean the flag design has to be rectangular. We are very flexible and are happy to consider flag designs for anything from triangles to hexagons.
• Include your preferred dimensions for the flag 
• Ideally the final design should be a vector image, but don't worry if it's not - a high res jpg is fine. You can create the flag design any way you like (even a scanned sketch is okay). 
• File size should not exceed 8MB
• Include your contact info and send to brooklynsodaworks@gmail.com
• Deadline is June 1st, 2011

What you get from this:

•  Our eternal gratitude
• We'll fly your flag proudly as many chances as we get. We are at the Brooklyn Flea every Saturday and Sunday, as well as a number of other outdoor events throughout the year.  
• Free soda at all our outdoor markets for the entire year (if you live outside of NYC we'll do our best to ship you a comparable prize)
• A customized growler for you to use to fill up our fizzy beverage with
• A profile in our June newsletter and on our blog

Our one year anniversary! Spring season starts!

It may not feel like spring yet, but we'll be outdoors at the Brooklyn Flea both Saturday and Sundays this spring. The Saturday Flea is back at its outdoors location in Fort Greene on Lafayette & Vanderbilt; the Sunday location is in its brand new Williamsburg spot, on north 6th & Kent avenue.

And hooray! we made it one year! thanks to everyone who has supported us, from our beginnings as a Kickstarter campaign to our still very humble kitchen which we have been slowly breaking in.

Our one year anniversary flavor available this weekend: Salted lemon & ginger. Some of you may remember an older post from last year where I experimented with salted lemons in Hong Kong. We decided to salt our own lemons this winter, and after 6 weeks they're ready to face the world. Come by with a growler and we'll fill it up for you.

And we'll have our crowd favorite, apple & ginger, as well as our root beer on tap.

New York Times profile!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks of attempting to repair the kitchen floor, trying to figure out how to patch cement and working out what type of steam kettle to buy. It was such a wonderful surprise to see this profile on us come out this past Sunday by the NY Times Business reporter, Natasha Singer.  Thanks for everyone's support this past year. We can't believe its been almost one whole year of fizzy beverage madness.

We're hiring! Part time kitchen and market help wanted

We're hiring! Please pass along to anyone who may be interested. 

Brooklyn Soda Works, a young beverage company focusing on carbonating fresh fruit juice and creating unconventional flavors (we sometimes develop a new flavor a week), is looking to hire its first employees. We seek motivated, reliable individuals to help both in the kitchen AND/ OR for markets. This is the perfect opportunity to grow with a small company working from the ground up. 

About Brooklyn Soda Works;

Formed in early 2010 by an artist and a chemist, we focus on carbonating fresh juice - never using syrups - to make sodas. We have adventurous palates and more interested in investigating herb & spices, pairing them with fruit, rather than trying to recreate syrupy overly sweet sodas. We primarily sell at weekly markets fresh from the keg and also work with select restaurants such as Blue Hill Manhattan & Palo Santo. We are building out a kitchen and expanding this spring so this is the perfect opportunity for a motivated, ambitious individual to contribute to every aspect of a new food business.

You will be working in close collaboration with the co-founders Caroline and Antonio and there will be opportunities to have a bigger role in the company as it grows.  You will also be regularly interacting with lots of great food people.  Our current account list is small but it includes great restaurants like Blue Hill and great bars like Beer Table.  2011 is already shaping up to be a year where we expand into many more high-end restaurants.  You will also quickly become an expert on local fruit- meeting many local farmers and learning who has the best stuff and when.  Nothing beats actually being a part of the burgeoning NYC food scene by working the markets where we've had the pleasure to work next to many great vendors big and small from Porchetta, Good Fork, Red Hook Lobster Pound and Mast Brothers to a constantly refreshing list of up and coming companies like ourselves.

2 main responsibilities (please indicate which you think you are best suited for)

-making soda (chopping and juicing fruit, kitchen prep, cleaning and boiling/extracting spices, kegging and carbonating, some bottling)

Requirements:  basic kitchen skills, an interest in developing flavors, ability to lift a 50lb keg of soda, reliable

AND / OR

-selling soda at markets (Saturdays in Fort Greene, Sundays in williamsburg from 10am - 5pm, some one-off markets)

Requirements: personable, reliable, an interest in interacting with customers explaining the product and how its made. Able to lift some heavy equipment, and assisting with setting up and dismantling equipment. 

Additional opportunities for motivated individuals include:

-flavor development- suggesting, making and testing new flavors, improving existing flavor ideas

-ingredient sourcing, interacting with local farmers, possibly even foraging/picking in spring/fall

-accounting/scheduling     

-delivering soda bottles and kegs to our regular accounts, setting up new accounts, delivering samples to press, restaurants etc

-working events and collaborations with other food vendors/trucks, restaurants, bars. (New Museum event, making mix drinks with the soda for parties, etc)

-kitchen design/organization (we're in the middle of building out our new kitchen)

Start date: early/ mid March 2011

If this sounds good to you please reply and come meet us!  Let us know whether you are more interested in retail work at the markets or kitchen work (or both) . Email us : brooklynsodaworks@gmail.com

Time: 10-15 hours a week.