Before POG was a game in the ’90s, it was an acronym for a juice blend invented in the ’70s on Maui. The tart yet sweet blend of passion fruit, orange, and guava juices is nostalgic for many — especially my Dad.

(Oddly enough, the game “pogs” is named after the juice — in ’91 a school teacher used POG juice caps to  teach a modern version of a plantation-era game flipping ‘milk covas’ from the ’30s. My ’90s mind would have been blown!)

POG is relatively unknown on the mainland, and it is near impossible to find. I have only seen Aloha or Hawaiian Sun brands on the east coast, which are thick, syrupy, and lack freshness.

But, the POG experience can be re-created. For my sister’s rehearsal dinner in March we catered dessert from Taste of Aloha and the POG cupcakes were non-negotiable.

I asked baking kumu Amy if she would share her cupcake recipe so I could make it into a birthday cake for my Dad. Thankfully she obliged!

The POG cake was a hit (again!). Since I made cakes instead of cupcakes, the baking time was much longer (~40 minutes), but the cake was still incredibly moist and flavorful.

I also opted for 2 different fillings since there were 4 layers of cake. Filling 1 was a tropical fruit curd which consisted of: peach-passion fruit juice, palekaiko tea, ginger, orange puree, li hing powder. Filling 2 was the incredibly creamy and smooth liliko’i butter from Kahuku Farms that I recently lugged back from Hawai’i.

I covered the cake in toasted coconut because I didn’t want to make candied orange peel, but in hindsight it would probably be quicker to make the orange peel!

I was sent the 2-Tea per month subscription to review, with an extra bonus tea. Find out more about what’s included in each month’s shipment and other FAQs at PlumDeluxe.com.

Continue reading below to learn about the four teas I tried:

• Vista Blend Herbal Tea
• Heritage Blend Black
• A Dark Night Orange Puerh
• Easy To Be Herbal

Last month I traveled to New York for my yearly tradition of Coffee & Tea exploration at the New York City Coffee& Tea Festival. I was given a ticket courtesy of Starfish Junction Productions and my fellow tea-obsessed friend Stephanie graciously accompanied me. I’m glad I had another set of eyes to help me take in everything, jot notes, point out things, and take photographs. This year we spent a solid 5 (count ’em, FIVE) hours perusing the booths and barely had time to complete a “speed round” before the day was over. Each year new exhibitors are added as well as seminars and workshops.

I always enjoy visiting the festival to see old favorites as well as discover new products and companies. I’ll hi-light a few of the ones that we lingered at the longest or were particularly photo worthy.

Ippodo Tea, New York – 一保堂茶舗

Somehow this Japanese tea company’s aesthetic was not only humble and nostalgic, but clean and timeless. I enjoyed the matcha presentation using the traditional wooden ladle and metal pot as well as the individual-sized tea pots. They have a small location in New York City and the staff was incredibly friendly and knowledgeable.

MeiMei Fine Teas

I have a weakness for puerh tea and Mei Mei Fine Teas was singing the song of a siren. We spotted the beautiful cakes of tea from yards away and zeroed in. I walked away with a new-to-me puerh-stuffed young orange (to be brewed like blooming tea). The staff here were very friendly and warm, and later I found out they’re based out of the DC-area. Though their physical storefront isn’t open quite yet, I’ll be keeping a close eye on them.

Tea Dealers

Stephanie dragged me over to this table to admire their modern and clean packaging. This was one of the only times that we’ve seen Korean teas in a setting like this so we took the staff up on their offer to taste the iseul balhyo and it did not disappoint. In fact, we intended to go back and get a bag to share but we didn’t make it in time!

Live Vessel (LV)

While Stephanie had seen these on her travels in Taiwan, this brand of tea ware was new to me. You can tell the quality of the products is really high and the designs were traditional yet playful at times. Thank goodness I live in a small condo or else I would have bought a teapot (or two!) to take back with me.

Zhen Tea

Zhen Tea never disappoints. Whether with a beautiful tea ceremony, centering tea tasting, beautiful gaiwan, or warm staff, I’m always happy to see them. I still have some tea left from my last purchases, but I was tempted by a very fragrant rose black tea. They always have teas that I have absolutely never thought of, let alone seen at other vendors, including a tea almost as old as me!

Everlasting Teas

Everlasting Teas has gone through a huge rebranding effort. The founder visits every farm himself and has a new kickstarter for some hygge-inspired tea ware.

Ajiri Tea

I always enjoy stopping by this company’s booth. Each year they grow in size and their handmade packaging is truly whimsical and unique. I swear the fact that 100% of their profits go to employment and education in Kenya makes their tea taste better.

Sugimoto America

I really enjoyed SA’s booth. There were many types of approachable green teas and different brewing methods. The Sugimoto family started the company in 1946 and has been part of many generations. They have personal relationships with the farms and are very knowledgeable.

Joseph Wesley Tea

I’m not sure there’s a tea aesthetic that is more perfect for me than Joseph Wesley Tea. Simple, yet full of effort; modern yet not dated. Oh, and the teas themselves are full-bodied and well balanced. He knows how to make things taste good and look good and I feel like I want to be him when I grow up.

Silver Needle

Silver Needle is devoted to single origin teas. Everything about their packaging is refined and elegant, yet approachable. I want to have an afternoon tea party and buy myself flowers just because. That’s the type of mood their tea puts me in. This was another booth I didn’t get to go back to on “Round 2: Buy All the Things” because we ran out of time.

& Everything Else

The rest of the booths were diverse and interesting including iced teas, kombucha, mushroom coffee, chai, empanadas, cold brew, pumpkin milk, green coffee, tea soap, and even some tomato dip. It was a grand ol’ time where we were able to unabashedly indulge in tea nerdiness while learning new things and visiting old friends. If you’re in the area, I would definitely recommend the tea festival, or the Philadelphia version.

Description

Do I really need to say anything else? Maybe just this: DO NOT drag your feet on this one; it is going to go FAST! Ingredients: Honeybush, coconut, natural flavors

Avail­able through: 52Teas | Face­book

Tasting Notes

Jumping back into tea tasting with a good ‘ol #sipdown! The smell of the dry leaf is sweet, roast-y, with hints of caramel. Once steeped for six minutes the smell mellows with just a faint lingering coconut sweetness at the end.

Surprisingly, this tea tastes stronger and sweeter than the smell would suggest. The first hit is of tea–similar in flavor to a weak black tea, blended with rooibos but without the itchiness that I usually associate with it. Where astringency should usually end the sip, instead the taste rolls into toasted coconut with some oil slightly coating the mouth. There is no cheesecake flavor. As it cools the coconut takes a more prominent role, turning the tea sweeter, though there is still no cheesecake.

Until then, pardon my dust.

Bagels are one of the final frontiers of baking I have yet to dabble in. We love a good bagel, but they’re hard to come by in the DC area. Whenever we go to New York we bring empty containers and fill them with bagels from our favorite shops and gift them to relatives and co-workers.

Recently the Washington Post charted a path to homemade bagels that made it seem more approachable. Sadly, the bagels just didn’t have the right chew or flavor, even when doused in everything seasoning. I’m going to blame my amateur bagel skills rather than the recipe, as many did receive good results with their recipe. I think the key is to develop the gluten more by rolling them more consistently. In the meantime, I have my eye on the more tricky looking ChefSteps version.

Grab the recipe from Washington Post’s RecipeFinder here →

Last month my friend Stephanie came down from Pittsburgh with a delicious surprise — these custom cookies from local artist Jasmine (Yummyholic).

Not only were these Totoro cookies spot on in terms of appearance, when I finally was able to bring myself to eat them, they tasted great! I’m picky when it comes to baked goods, especially cookies, and these were soft and chewy yet firm. Surprisingly, the dough didn’t taste store-bought but instead had a nice, light citrusy touch! These also weren’t total sugar bombs and had a perfectly balanced level of sweetness.

If you ever find yourself in the Pittsburgh area, don’t hesitate to get some treats. Yummyholic’s site is currently expanding, but will be back soon with an online store. In the meantime, check out her Instagram for photos to tide you over.

P.S. Sweets in the background: Fleurir Chocolates; Olivia Macaron

Yep, I am going to completely blame this un-intentional hiatus on the fact that in the past few months we’ve not only fostered and re-habilitated a tortie from the streets of Baltimore but adopted another cat of our own.

After losing Leopold, we were paired with a skittish declawed tortiseshell named Cindy Lou Who. We taught her to trust humans again and she regained her confidence; in return she helped our hearts heal and filled some of the emptiness losing Leo left. After 3 months we met with a family that was interested in adopting her and the next day she went to her forever home. On the day we transferred CiCi (as we affectionately called her) to her new family, we picked up Rémy (formerly Patrick) from the cat shelter. In truth, we had been courting him and visited him several times in the weeks leading up to his formal adoption.

As you can see, Rémy loves being the center of attention, which can make being on the computer difficult at times (he’s still learning what “Work from Home” means). As he continues to settle in and gets into his routines, I’ll return back to mine ^_^

For this month’s Secret Recipe Club I spent a long time perusing Susan’s Australia-based blog, My Whole Food Family, bookmarking recipes such as Cappuccino Brownie Bites,  Palmiers, Pear Tea Cake,  Christmas Cake, and Caramel Cheesecake. I had my heart set on re-creating this daring Bûche de Nöel and even bought a silicone mold for it, but time got away from me.

But then I remembered that over a year ago I had purchased a madeline pan from World Market and still had not used it. Additionally, I had all of the ingredients for these Earl Grey Tea Madeleines on hand, including a brand new tin of Cream of Earl Grey.

I took a batch of these over to our veterinarian as a thank you for all of their help during Leopold’s last days.

These madeline cake-cookies were the perfect treat for tea-time. The fruit zest is bright and the madeline texture is springy without being greasy. The tea flavor was lost on me, but it might have been the tea I used (even though I added more than the recipe called for) or the fact that my lemon zest was extra “zesty”. The original recipe calls for the zest of half a lemon, but the recipe printed in Bon Appétit lists only a packed half teaspoon, which I would recommend to have more balanced flavors.

If you are planning to make these, remember to allow the batter to chill!

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Back in August of last year our cat Leopold had a scary incident where he couldn’t walk. After a visit with the neurologist and a MRI we decided that he was having a feline vestibular episode. While we were monitoring him for the week while he was visiting with the doctor and recovering, we were under a sort of house arrest and made a few recipes, including 45-second strawberry frozen yogurt. We also made a big pot of this romesco sauce to get us through lunches and dinners.

This sauce is very simple to make, yet has a depth of flavor that tops jarred sauce. We used it as pasta sauce, topped chicken with it, and even spread it on sandwiches.