Alpine green tea helps the existential crisis

Green tea packed in anti-somethings from Alpine Tea Co, 33 Kiewa Valley Highway, Tawonga, Vic 3997

I didn’t know that tea was cultivated in Victoria, let alone the alpine valleys. I should’ve guessed it having iced my nuts at a hill station in India in January. But I didn’t as I was spending too much time on my existential crisis that you may have read about.

Existential crises are the sort or things that feed on themselves so I decided it was time to leave my cold, dark cave and smell the cheese. And I invited that consumer of all things cheese Jess Ho along for the ride through the drizzle and mist to meet Naomi at The Butter Factory in Myrtleford for a cheese making workshop. (Plus a superb tweet-up with all of us later at Provenance guzzling down the food of Michael Ryan and quaffing chardonnay while its maker sat on the next table.)

Eating and cheese making will be another story, but the process of converting unpasteurized milk from a single origin cow to curd and whey gives you a lot of time to think about these things, get all ADHD with twitter, take pictures for a story and after too much 6am coffee relax into a calming green tea.

The tea, which has no additives whatsoever, comes from the Alpine Tea Co in Tawonga. I wish I discovered it before because it’s brilliant.

The secret is in the making. Allow the boiled kettle to cool for a couple of minutes before infusing the large dark green leaves for another couple and a bit more.

That’s all. I’d run out of green and I’m very glad it is back on what I hesitate to describe as my routine (which also includes the superbly spicy Butter Factory made Chai).

But I’m going to stop now before becoming all Alain de Botton on you and suggesting that I become the writer in residence up there.

Coming soon: How food blogging can help cure your existential crisis

Tagged as: Alpine Tea Co, Existential crisis, green tea, Myrtleford, The Butter Factoiry