Tea and Persian Sweets

I won't even get into my tea obsession for this post.
Really it would be too much.
But suffice to say my interest in tea
(high mountain Taiwanese oolongs in particular)
is actually rather frightening.

When people find out how much time, money, and work
I've invested in tea they look at me
as you would a well meaning deranged social outcast.
it's a look that's equal parts alarm, confusion, sympathy and pity.

So I will simply say that the tea in this photo is a formosa oolong
called Tung Ting Mi Xiang
it's like the Tung Ting except harvested later in the year
after cicadas are allowed to bite the leaves
the tea plants release a compound in response to the bites
that partially oxidise the leaves and gives them a unique sweetness.

The rest of the plate is covered with all the Persian sweets my
mom brought back from Iran, or made herself, or made by her friends.

The fruit roll looking thing is called "lavashack"
which my parents made from the plums in our backyard
it's freakishly good.

The marshmallowy thing is called "gaz"
and are sort of hard to describe,
kind of like firm mild marshmallows with pistachio nuts mixed in

The bready cubes are Persian Baklava,
distinct by their soft bready-ness and perfume of rose water

and the toffee looking thing is something called Sohan Asali