There was a time I might have answered “Where’s this tea from?” with “Kroger.” For my new favorite black tea blend, the answer is India, Malawi, and Pittsburgh.
Breakfast in the Strip (the meal) is a Pittsburgh tradition. When I was in grad school, sometimes on Saturdays a few of us would head for the Strip District, a gritty mix of warehouses, markets, restaurants, and tourist shops. We’d wait in line at Pamela’s or DeLuca’s, order coffee as soon as we were seated, and peruse the menu over that first glorious cup, which was as vibrant as the sounds and sights of open-air shopping up and down Penn Avenue. Then we’d join the festive throng, hunting and gathering fresh produce from various vendors, cheese and bread and olives from the Pennsylvania Macaroni Company, fresh fish from Wholey’s, candies of our childhoods from the late Fort Pitt Candy Company.
Breakfast in the Strip (the tea) is a signature blend from De Fer Coffee and Tea, a new Pittsburgh vendor. It’s a mixture of three black teas from Satemwa Tea Estate in Malawi and Heritage Tea in Assam, India. Its tasting notes say “Malt, Bold, Creamy Body, Citrus.” I say it tastes layered, three-dimensional—analogous to the way mirepoix smells, greater than its sum of onions, carrots and celery.
I didn’t have to go around the world for this tea (which has some of the longest and most crisply dried tea leaves I have ever seen). I didn’t even have to get in my car and drive to a local coffee shop or the nearest Giant Eagle grocery. All I had to do was walk to my neighborhood farmers market, and there was the De Fer tent (in between the kettle corn guy and the olive oil gals). On the left side of the table was an array of coffees in beautiful packaging featuring painted coffee plants on an aqua background. On the right side, steel tins of teas, with a small canister of each open for sniffing. Behind the table stood Matt Marietti, one of the five young Pittsburghers who formed the company.
He’s happy to answer questions. De Fer is French for “of iron,” literally and figuratively what Pittsburgh is made of. Marietti said Breakfast in the Strip came from fond memories of when he and his not-yet-wife were dating and just beginning a serious interest in coffees and teas.
Until a few weeks ago, farmers markets were the only place to find De Fer wares—green, oolong, and herbal teas, coffees like Eliza Furnace (named for one of the area’s most well preserved blast furnaces). Now some of their responsibly sourced coffees, teas, and select accessories can be ordered from their website.
Some of their teas, though, are made in such small batches that they’re still only available by coming across the De Fer tent in Lawrenceville or Bellevue or any of the distinctly flavored neighborhoods where they rent weekly market space.
I went to the market last week, thinking I might try one of their white teas. But they were gone, a hummus vendor in their usual place.
The market only has a week to go. Soon, and through the cold winter months, long after the market has closed up, I’ll open a silver steel tin of Breakfast in the Strip or Lavender Earl Grey or Jade Needle, place some of those crisp long leaves into an infuser, and drink to the memory of the happy shopping and ambling crowds of summer.
Photo by vhines200, Creative Commons license via Flickr. Post by Laura Lynn Brown.
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Sandra Heska King says
I’m glad the Strip District wasn’t what first came to mind. I had to look up mirepoix, cuz I’d never heard of it. I love that I got a tour of Pittsburgh and history lessons right along with learning about a new 3-D tea. I wait all month for your posts…
Laura Brown says
The Strip is on a level strip of land between the Allegheny River and some bluffs. Strip-shaped.
Isn’t mirepoix a beautiful word for diced vegetables slowly sauteed? The smell of sauteeing onions, carrots and celery is one of the best kitchen smells, the overture to a symphony of a meal.
Katie says
Laura,
Absolutely reveled in this statement of yours:
“The smell of sauteeing onions, carrots and celery is one of the best kitchen smells, the overture to a symphony of a meal.” (especially the last phrase!)
You write so lyrically. Am still savoring your post. 🙂
Gratefully,
Katie
L.L. Barkat says
I love the naming of the coffee, after Eliza Furnace.
And, am agreeing with Sandra about the delights of the Pittsburgh history lessons you seamlessly thread through these tea quests.
The way you led us to the absent tea stall was perfect. I felt a sudden and strong disappointment, as I suspect you did, too, upon encountering hummus where tea had once beckoned.
Great piece, Laura. Like a trip to the open air, in words.
Laura Brown says
I was disappointed! As I was a few weeks earlier when the Tiny Seed Farm people disappeared. I experimented with some new-to-me vegetables because of them.
Can I tell you a secret? That paragraph came in revision, thanks to an editor who rightly noted a gap that needed filling.
Megan Willome says
I love the idea of tea at a farmers market!
Really, you’re doing so much jn these tea pieces, Laura. And I sense that each one could be even further expanded into your own experiences in Pittsburgh, both then and now.
Like you, I usually prefer whites and greens. But every now and then I crave a good black tea–finding one is such a treat.
Laura Lynn Brown says
There’s also a matcha vendor!
Thank you, Megan. These black teas are as far from Lipton’s (not that there’s anything wrong with that) as, well, Assam is from Pittsburgh.
Sandra Heska King says
I’ve been drinking mostly green cuz of the health benefits. (And D has been drinking it iced now.) But frankly I’ve got some really good black ones that I kind of prefer. I feel a little guilty, though, if I drink more than a cup of black a day.
L.L. Barkat says
Black is good for you, too. Why feel guilty? 🙂
Sandra Heska King says
Okay, today I’ll have two cups. 😉 I got this new one from Plum Deluxe–Carefree Coconut Black with pineapple, rosehips and hibiscus–and coconut. Yum! (I guess I just always feel like green is better from me. And coffee doesn’t satisfy like it used to. :D)
L.L. Barkat says
Ah. 🙂 I drink 3 cups of green daily for the health benefits, too. But on Fridays through Sundays I add up to 3 cups of flavored blacks to my day, for the weekend lushness of it. 🙂
Sandra Heska King says
That sounds like a plan I could live with. Though maybe I should save most of my “jacking up” for Monday. 😀
Laura Lynn Brown says
I feel jacked up if I drink more than a cup of black a day. 🙂
Sandra Heska King says
LOL! Then you better stay away from coffee. 😀
Maureen says
Last weekend’s ‘Illuminasia’ event celebrating the reopening at the Sackler-Freer included tea tastings. I discovered one called ‘Harmony’ and purchased a package. It’s a refreshing blend whose all-natural ingredients never overpower each other.
A lovely essay, Laura.
Laura Lynn Brown says
It sounds like a well-named tea.
Thank you, Maureen.
Bethany R. says
A beautiful read. Love how you crafted the ending.
Laura Lynn Brown says
Thank you, Bethany.
Debra Hale-Shelton says
Add me to the readers who love your tea posts. If it hadn’t been for reading them, I’d have have watched an Anthony Bourdain program about Pittsburgh. (I’ve watched only part of it, but so far it’s not nearly as interesting as your pieces.)
I just drank some jasmine tea, one of a few loose leaf varieties that I bought when we adopted Annie in China. Yes, it’s old, but I checked and it’s still safe and good since it’s been well-sealed. The color was amazing.
I’m still learning about teas and the kinds I best like. I know they’re not really tea, but I do like some spicy herbal blends.
Debra Hale-Shelton says
Meant to say I’d have never watched that program otherwise.