That Pour Girl

Adagio's Pi Lo Chun

2011-08-15T07:00:00.076-04:00

How many of you know where your teas come from? I know I don't know where most of mine are from, especially the tisanes: all that lavender and cinnamon and ginger? Companies aren't always clear as to where their teas come from, though it's much more common to specify where green teas or black teas are grown.

Adagio is one of the companies that has taken an interest in acquainting people with not only where their tea blends are from, but also the individual farmers for some of the teas via their Roots Campaign. The farmer for the pi lo chun is Huang Jian Lin and you can find out more about him here. He talks a little about his typical day in the fields and also gives advice about how best to brew the pi lo chun. The name translates to "green snail spring", as it's harvested in the springtime and the leaves are then rolled into spirals much like a snail's shell.

[just how lovely tea fields can be - via hugolim]

As a sociologist, I find this type of campaign fascinating; this is probably also because I'm friends with a few folks doing work on agriculture and farms (hi Shawn!). So often we don't know where much of our food comes from, and tea is no exception. This obviously doesn't make tea a local crop, but it does put a face to the otherwise faceless tea producers.

My first impression upon opening the bag was just how grassy it smelled. I'm not typically a fan of green teas, because they usually smell (and taste) fairly sour to me, but this one reminds me more of matcha. They say it smells floral and a little smoky, which are kind of lingering in the background, but it's mainly just a pleasantly sweet grassy scent.

From their own description of the tea:

Green tea from Fujian, China. Made from the finest tender buds, hand-plucked and rolled. Perfumy and sweet floral, with a full body and slightly earthy and savory quality. Lingering, aromatic finish and delicate floral-smoky note.

I used a rather generous teaspoon and steeped it for 2 minutes at just under 200 degrees, per Adagio's instructions. Huang Jian Lin recommends it be brewed in an open glass container, rather than a teapot with a lid, because it needs to breathe more than other teas. I also tried really hard to keep the water temperature low. Part of the reason I don't make green teas is because they seem so finicky about temperature.

The other part of the reason I don't make green teas? I really just don't like them. They taste bitter to me, regardless of how I brew them. They're astringent and dry my mouth out. It's disappointing how little the aroma translates to flavor for this one, because it smelled like matcha (which I love) but tastes like everything I don't like about green teas.

This is a blogging project sponsored by the Association of Tea Bloggers, much like the monthly carnivals. We are a supportive organization designed to connect those who love tea and also happen to ~~blather~~ write about it. Other participating blogs:

A green tea for green tea lovers only who can get past the astringency and echoes of bitterness to appreciate the grassy florals and smoke. Sadly, I am not this person.

The Darjeeling Darling in Love

2011-08-12T09:30:00.000-04:00

You know what it means when a tea blogger disappears from the internet for two and a half months? It means that she has been traveling (California, Maui), doing research (i.e. my day job), reading 28 books since May (gotta make a dent in my to-read list sometime & summer's as good a time as any), and falling in love. The latter was accidental, but perhaps all the sweeter for it. Like when you put a spoonful of sugar in your cup, get distracted by something else, come back and add another, then take a sip? Yeah, kinda like that.

Best way to get a tea blogger to fall in love with you? Ask her out on a first date to go get some tea.

[via yoshiko314]

However, duty calls again! I'm traveling less and hope to be drinking more tea. It was, for a time, a scorchingly hot summer in which I couldn't even think about tea because it was so hot. Now it's cooling back down and I've discovered some lovely new teas I want to share with you all.

Tea Blog Carnival No. 8

2011-05-31T20:15:00.003-04:00

Tea blog carnival time! Sponsored by the Association of Tea Bloggers and graciously hosted by Cinnabar of Gongfu Girl. The topic being:

Write about how you brew one type of tea.

Since I have more tisanes than anything else, I think I'll focus on those. And since it's summer, let's talk about iced tea! (I've talked about it before too.) This method works with any tea, though I haven't had the best luck with white teas; they usually turn out bitter. So maybe less steeping time is in order. Certainly some summer experiments are!

Step one: pick your tisane.

And just think - these are only the bagged ones! I do tend to use bagged teas and tisanes for iced tea, just because of cleanup. Plus, Good Earth Original Sweet & Spicy will forever be my favorite type of iced tea. Unless I find something better (which at this point looks doubtful...and I've tried a lot!).

Step two: pick your teapot.

I painted this cute little pot and it works very well for iced tea. You can brew large amounts easily, provided you have a big enough container. The only thing I can really say about choosing containers is to make sure yours has a lid! Nobody wants refrigerator-flavored iced tea. (You know what I'm talking about...)

Step three: add water.

Note to self: clean faucet before taking photos next time.

Step four: put it in the fridge.

I brewed these two yesterday and they are just begging to be drunk today. Especially in the ninety-degree-1000%-humidity heat wave we've been having. The glass one is Tulsi's sweet rose (reviewed previously as a hot tisane) and the other is my favorite (how predictable right?).

Step five: wait 8-12 hours.

It will be hard, I know. But if you brew overnight, you (hopefully) won't have to think about it too much.

And yes, before you say anything, I know the numbers on my clock are crazy. Welcome to wonderland.

Then all you have to do is remove the bags and enjoy! I've kept iced tea in the fridge for two or three days and the flavor stays pleasant. Nice and simple. (Not that hot tea isn't...) But considering I can brew a new blend every night, and wake up in the morning to my pick of iced teas for the next day, I think it's pretty sweet. No pun intended, of course.

Good Brewing Practices

2011-05-23T22:04:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine recently commented that making tea was more complicated than she expected. Why was I so particular (she actually used a less pleasant word, but I prefer particular)? The easy answer is that I've had one too many bad cups of tea. The more thorough answer: I believe that every tea has the potential to be good tea when brewed well. Here are the three most important things about any tea.

[clearly bokeh is what makes the perfect cup of tea - via Xena]

Space
Tea leaves expand and like to roll around in the water. For this reason, it's preferable to brew in a basket instead of a tea ball or (worse!) a tea stick. If I'm brewing in something other than a teapot with a built-in infuser, my absolutely favorite is Lupicia's strainer. I bought one on a whim, and then went back to buy two more.

Time
Once you've added water to the tea, you need to know how long to steep it. Remember that steeping time varies, depending on whether you use bagged tea or full leaf, and what temperature you steep it at. Get a good timer to help you out. I really like steep.it a lot if I'm near a computer, though usually I just use Tea Timer on my android phone. It's absolutely the best app I've found: simple, elegant, never crashes. Suggestions for good iPhone apps welcome!

Temperature
Seems like everyone's opinion varies on temperature as well as time. In general, the manufacturer's directions about time and temperature have served me well. Start on the lower side of things, then progress from there. Trial and error will serve to give you the best tasting cup of tea possible. It's grueling, and maybe a little annoying, but it really does work. Generally, I tend to put both tisanes and black teas in a full boil (212° F or 100° C).

Other than that, sweeten appropriately (as previously discussed) and drink in a timely fashion. Also, make it a point to try new things. For a long time, I thought green tea was absolutely disgusting, until I realized I'd only ever had it brewed too hot and for far too long. It's all about the journey right? Keep looking for that perfect cup of tea, and I guarantee you'll find it.

Further Reading
A.C. Cargill on Tea Thermometers
Alex Zorach on Very Long Steeping Times
Republic of Tea: How to Brew Hot Tea
Republic of Tea's Citizen's Tea Library
Steven Smith: On Brewing the Perfect Cup of Tea
Tea Gadgets: Boiling Edition
Tea Gadgets: Brewing Edition
To Bag or Not to Bag

Recycle, Reuse, Redecorate!

2011-04-25T13:40:00.032-04:00

I generally only get to get new tea ware when the old stuff breaks. So I got to thinking, what else could I do with old teapots and cups? The internet yielded a heck of a lot of options. Some of these even seem plausible. Certainly some of them seem pretty.

chandeliers (here, here, and here)
planters
homes for hermit crabs (definitely the cutest option!)
dangerous but very lovely mobiles
giant unwieldy necklaces (see my previous post on this topic)
bird feeders
candles
pincushions
windchimes
lamps
sculptures

I even put together an Etsy treasury with some of these ideas. Quite a few of these artists are incredibly creative. I'm especially in love with that clock.

Clearly, some of these are more practical than others. I admit to being very tempted by the chandelier, but that probably requires more crafty dedication than I have. Got any additional ideas?

Tea & Quiet Time

2011-04-17T13:09:00.000-04:00

I don't have an excuse for my absence, other than obsessing over that April Fool's post of mine. It's true, Cheshire Cat doesn't exist. Yet. Maybe.

I've been toying with the idea of starting my own tea company almost since I started this blog. With what time? I have no idea. With what resources? I have no idea. But sometimes I dream about mixing tea by hand, getting to create the flavors I wish existed, and getting to share those flavors with other people.

This is nuts, right? I don't know anything about marketing, small business strategies, taxes for small business owners, etc. I don't know that I could hack it. I mean, I love tea, but do I love it that much? I've watched friends be driven nearly insane by their small businesses, selling things they used to love. Tea is my quiet time, and often it's part of a private ritual. How do I learn how to share that while still keeping something for myself?

Maybe this is just one of my crazy dreams that won't amount to much of anything, other than the occasional mix I'll put together for myself. Maybe it will, someday, when grad school gets a little lighter (does that even happen?). A tea-loving girl can dream.

Tricksy Tea's Cheshire Cat

2011-04-01T08:38:00.053-04:00

What a confusing concoction! Cheshire Cat is a black tea that includes miniature rosebuds, strawberries, a bit of mint, and pink sprinkles for sweetness. All of this in a rich assam black tea that can stand up to the clash of flavors. I highly recommend adding vanilla honey to enrich the sweet richness just a touch more, though it's definitely still lovely without it.

[via booyeh]

I love this blend because it combines two of my favorite things: tea (duh) and Alice in Wonderland. I let it steep for four and a half minutes, then sat down to relax. The sprinkles seem like they enhance the flavor of the strawberries, allowing it to blend nicely with the roses. The mint is only a refreshing aftertaste, so think twice before you mint-haters turn away. I can't find a single thing to dislike.

Sweet and surprisingly light, but with the kick of black tea. A lovely addition to any tea party.

P.S. happy April Fool's!

For the Love of Tea (Part I)

2011-03-23T10:43:00.000-04:00

Etsy is an utterly magical place. Being able to shop in an internet boutique consisting almost exclusively of handmade items is a trip. I try to do at least 90% of my gift shopping there. Pretty much whatever you want, someone will make it. Then when you get it and open the box, you'll usually find some sort of handwritten note thanking you for your purchase. Sometimes they send you samples of some other products, or business cards to other Etsy shops they recommend. Compare that to buying on Amazon, a thoroughly impersonal (if very convenient) experience.

This is the first post of an ongoing series of gift guides of sorts. I collected a sampling of some interesting looking teas, including a Mardi Gras themed black tea, white jasmine, and a kit with all the spices for making your own chai blends. Get to the first part of the series by clicking the photo preview below:

So tell me about your favorite Etsy shops: where do you go for your hand-blended tea?

Celebrations & Sparkling Tea

2011-03-15T12:49:00.000-04:00

Bottled teas are pretty hit or miss, but this one is definitely amazing. Billed as a champagne substitute, Golden Star's white jasmine sparkling tea is a charming alternative with a very low alcohol content. These lovely pale golden bottles are currently only found in brick-and-mortar stores in California, but you can order a case online. Order one with a few friends - it's worth the cost.

[yes, that's a Christmas tree in the background; I was drinking this on New Year's Eve]

It's champagne-colored and smells slightly fruity. The silver needle white tea base balances out the sweetness of the jasmine and the cane sugar. I don't find it overly sweet, though a family friend declared it a bit too sweet for his taste. I'm also inclined to drink tea-based concoctions whenever possible, so perhaps I'm biased. It doesn't taste particularly flowery to me either, just a light fruity flavor.

Lightly bubbly golden concoction with a lovely jasmine aftertaste. Perfect champagne substitute, though I don't know whether I can limit it to drinking it only on special occasions.

Tea & Chocolate

2011-03-09T19:32:00.003-05:00

I'm not advocating tea and chocolate; that's too much sweetness for one sitting (at least for me). But tea-flavored chocolate...now that's a whole other ballgame.

Knowing about my tea *ahem* problem, my wonderful upstairs neighbors gifted me with a Duke of Earl Gray chocolate from Heavenly Chocolate, a local hole-in-the-wall chocolate shop in a basement that is more worth visiting than you can guess. It was a mix of milk and dark chocolates, not tooth-achingly sweet, and subtly flavored like a very smooth earl gray. Yum! So I, of course, got curious about what other types of tea-flavored chocolate there might be.

The cream of the crop seems to be the chocolates by Smile Chocolatiers. Certainly they have the most exotic blends: milk chocolate and ginger tisane, dark chocolate with coconut green tea, and dark chocolate with pomegranate white tea (among others). The Kitchn wrote a nice little piece on them. There was also a second post about tea flavored chocolate, with things like milk chocolate jasmine and dark chocolate with green matcha and star anise. I like exotic chocolates.

[don't judge me! I was baking cupcakes and I needed all of those!]

Thus far, I've only been lucky enough to (regularly) be able to find Dagoba's chai chocolate bar. But I could wax poetic about that chocolate for days! Freakin' days! I made a cupcake dedicated to that chocolate bar: chai cupcakes with vanilla whipped cream frosting, with a slice of chocolate stuck in the top. I'll post the recipe for those a bit later, but in the meantime, you should go find a bar of this spicy gingery chocolate.

So what do you think? Would you try tea-flavored chocolate or is that just too weird for you?

Welcoming Winter: Stash's Christmas Eve

2011-03-03T14:04:00.003-05:00

Obviously it's not Christmas Eve (over two months past now, actually), but this tea is still tasty. This is a pretty unique blend: cinnamon, orange peel, spearmint, clove, and vanilla. This smells divine, especially if you are like me and enjoy spicy when mixed with mint. Especially when it's just a touch sweet. When brewing, the clove comes out more, but as I was waiting for the water to boil, I mainly smelled cinnamon and spearmint, with a little bit of orange-infused vanilla in the background.

[via hausfrauinmelbourne]

Brewed at around five minutes because the stronger the better when it comes to mint and cinnamon. This tisane didn't disappoint either: it has an unusual taste that is entrancing. It seems like it would be good when you're sick too: very soothing and spicy. The orange flavor doesn't come out strongly, but that's all right with me. The mint is a little drying on the finish, but that's possibly a side effect of brewing for so long. The cinnamon and clove add warmth without overpowering anything else. This is a very well balanced tisane that is so soothing I'm already brewing my second cup!

Juicy mint, spicy cinnamon, warm clove, and sweet vanilla. It's like Stash took all my favorite flavors for tea and rolled it into a tisane!

Welcoming Winter: Stash's Christmas Morning

2011-02-27T09:16:00.003-05:00

This is just a blend of various types of black teas: Ceylon, Assam, Jasmine, Keemum, and Sumatra. Perfect for a breakfast tea with milk and sugar. It smells rich and dark, like a good coffee (yes I know what good coffee is like - but tea is better). But I tasted it first without any additions, because I was curious. It's a rich black tea that's plain and simple. I imagine this would be a lovely morning coffee substitute.

[via Lali Masriera]

After adding milk and a small sugar cube, I feel myself waking up though I've already had my caffeine for the day. It's not bitter or drying, even before the milk and sugar. I love the convenience of having a morning in a tea bag, though generally I do prefer loose teas. And while looking outside at the piles of snow that probably won't melt before May, this tea is a cup of caffeinated comfort. Back to my morning: feet on the heater, cup of tea, and old episodes of Scrubs on Netflix Instant.

Slightly sweetened, this is a nice wake-up call. Conveniently in a tea bag, steeped for 4 minutes, and season appropriately.

Welcoming Winter: Stash's Merry Mint

2011-02-20T14:17:00.003-05:00

Yule has come and (long) gone, along with Chanukah, Yalda, Christmas, Saturnalia, Kwanzaa, Festivus, and Bodhi Day. (Tried to catch all the holidays that tend to fall in December, but let me know if I missed one!) But I can still drink Christmas-themed teas right, even though it's not December?

[via Jannette Roberge]

Merry Mint is a green tea blend that smells, well, minty. Surprise, surprise, I know. But it's not just plain old peppermint: it has wintergreen oil in it. And spearmint leaves too. So it really does smell more like the candies in the photo above than a regular old run-of-the-mill mint tea might. If it were just peppermint and green tea, I'd be expecting something very much like Republic of Tea's Moroccan Mint that I tasted last summer. It also has a touch of lemongrass and ginger, in addition to the variety of minty flavors, so it's a different sort of beast.

I accidentally oversteeped this one, which usually makes green teas undrinkable for me. This one held up surprisingly well. The lemongrass actually comes through well too, which I didn't expect because mint is typically so strong. It's a little bit drying to the throat, but not so much so that I don't want to finish the cup. Green tea fans will probably enjoy this one far more than me, but I can certainly still appreciate it.

Minty, refreshing, and green. Holds up well to oversteeping and is refreshing without being too drying.

Welcoming Winter: Stash's Cinnamon Vanilla

2011-02-12T20:13:00.003-05:00

All things made of cinnamon and vanilla are good things: churros, cake, and this rooibos-based tisane. Interestingly, in addition to cinnamon and vanilla, Stash added sarsparilla. I think that's what makes it smell pretty much like root beer, only with slightly more cinnamon. Great if you like root beer, bad if you don't. Luckily, I do.

[via D. Sharon Pruitt]

I let this one steep for five minutes, on the upper end of the range of how long they recommend. I figured the longer I let it go, the more cinnamon would hopefully come through, since I've had bad luck with vanilla tisanes in the past. While it smells slightly cinnamony when fully brewed, it just doesn't taste like it. Instead, it's just sort of like hot water with a teensy hint of vanilla-cinnamon. It's also very drying compared to other tisanes, which is not a characteristic I find endearing. I was hoping for something akin to sucking on a cinnamon stick. Maybe vanilla just doesn't like me? Or I don't like it as much as I'd thought...

While an interesting combination, the flavors just aren't strong enough. The result is a cup of a weak and astringent tisane that tastes only vaguely of cinnamon.

Welcoming Winter: Stash's White Christmas

2011-02-06T16:10:00.002-05:00

Being in California for the holidays made me miss snow something fierce. There was no white Christmas for me this year. Luckily, we have plenty of the white frozen stuff here in Massachusetts. This blend is simple: white tea, peppermint, and ginger. And while perhaps you wouldn't think of those as being a particularly wintry blend, upon opening the tea bag, it actually smells like snow. Kind of. In a pepperminty kind of way. I used to imagine snowflakes tasted like peppermint patties when I was a kid.

[via Julie Falk]

I'm a sucker for white teas and this is no exception, even if you can't really taste the white tea beneath all that ginger and peppermint. I wouldn't, however, recommend steeping it for as long as it says to on the package (3 to 5 minutes); I let it go for two minutes and even that is longer than white tea is normally steeped. This blend mostly tastes like peppermint, with a ginger aftertaste. It's a combination I don't think I've had before, and it's pretty tasty.

Unique combination of flavors, very smooth, and little tannins or astringency.

Welcoming Winter: Stash's Peppermint

2011-01-25T15:36:00.002-05:00

Another day, another peppermint tea. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. This is a true one-ingredient tisane, nothing but peppermint leaves from Oregon. (Apparently, Oregon produces a lot of peppermint. Like, the leading U.S. state to grow it: a couple hundred thousand pounds per year. Whoa.)

[via Sylvie]

We all know what peppermint tastes like by now; it's in toothpaste, mouthwashes, and lots of very good teas and tisanes. It's too strong for some drinkers, but I think it makes for a refreshing cuppa. Plus, I've yet to over-steep peppermint anything and have it turn bitter the way nearly everything else can. Maybe that's part of the reason why I love peppermint so much.

This is a really rich peppermint, even though it seems like it's at risk of being really plain and boring. It manages to leave my mouth feeling really clean without the medicinal tang of mouthwash. I imagine it would be brilliant with honey and perfect for someone who's sick. I will fully admit to using peppermint tisanes to treat everything from a headache to an upset stomach to a sore throat. This one seems like it would fulfill these duties beautifully.

A simple peppermint tisane, no bitter aftertastes, and will rise to the challenge of almost any usage you can think of.

Welcoming Winter: Stash's Holiday Chai

2011-01-18T23:31:00.022-05:00

Chai is probably one of the spiciest teas you'll ever have. As it's generally some combination of cinnamon, star anise, ginger, cardamom, and cloves, this isn't too surprising. Peppercorns also make the occasional appearance in chais as well. This chai is a more unique blend than most I've seen; in addition to most of the usual stuff, it also has gingerbread and Jamaican rum flavors in it. It smells mostly like nutmeg though, so I'm not too sure about it as I much prefer heavily cinnamon-based chais.

[via houseboat eats]

After brewing for four minutes, I find myself underwhelmed by the taste. Not because it's bad - it's not - but because it's not strong enough. However, this may make the perfect chai for someone who doesn't want too spicy a tea. I tried it plain, then added milk and a teensy bit of sugar. Even with the additions, it tastes primarily of a very subtle nutmeg-gingerbread blend. Not what I think of when I think of chai, but it's pleasant enough. Stash took a stab at a nontraditional chai that didn't hit all the marks for me, but I have to give them credit for trying.

Not for spicy chai fanatics like myself, but good for tentative sippers. Primarily a subtle nutmeg-gingerbread flavor.

Welcoming Winter: Stash's Cranberry Pomegranate

2011-01-13T16:08:00.003-05:00

A vividly red cranberry-pomegranate rooibos-based blend that I get to drink from a vividly red teacup. It smells very much like pomegranates and cranberries when dry. However, when steeped, it smells...like nothing. How could it go from smelling ruby-juicy to hardly anything at all?

[via petunia21]

It's a strangely tart brew, which seems like an odd statement about something that contains cranberries. Cranberries are obviously quite sour on their own, and pomegranates aren't exactly super sweet either. But this is a tartness that isn't actually accompanied by any particular taste. This is something I've encountered with other rooibos-based tisanes before: it's like the rooibos sucks all flavors out of things. Or maybe my tongue is broken? Its' tartness isn't overwhelmingly awful the way C'est Parfait did, so this may be very good for fans of hibiscus.

Tart but near tasteless. Smells deliciously juicy, but doesn't live up to its' olfactory promises. Not my thing but probably delightful for fans of hibiscus tisanes.

Welcoming Winter: Stash's Pumpkin Spice

2011-01-05T14:33:00.011-05:00

Stash Tea sent me a box of samples of their winter teas a little while back with nine different types of tea to try. I feel I must remind my readers at this point that I'm not paid to write these reviews, nor am I compensated in any other way. I just write about what I thought of the teas, with effusive praise at best and constructive criticism at worst. Anyways, before I unwrapped it - and before Professor Balthazar Warnick, tea-hating furless feline extraordinaire, attacked the string - it looked like this:

This tea actually smells more like autumn than winter to me: it's mostly pumpkin and nutmeg, with a teensy bit of cinnamon. I'm in California, which I thought might make me not want tea, but it's been chilly here (for the area) - it hit freezing last night. And my parents are less than inclined to heat the house than I would be, so tea sounds great. Pumpkin Spice is a decaffeinated black tea, which makes me like it even more: as a recovering caffeine addict, I can only have so much caffeine at any given time.

[an impressive line of jack o'lanterns - via mahdian]

Tasting this is sort of like drinking a liquified pumpkin pie, if that didn't have such disgusting connotations. It's spicy, ever-so-slightly sweet, and rich because of the black tea. And when steeped for a little over three minutes, there's surprisingly little astringency or tannins in this tea. I'm not usually a black tea sort of girl because of those issues, but this one is quite tasty.

Nutmegy, cinnamony, pumpkiny goodness. A filling but decaffeinated black tea, so it's still good for just-before-bedtime sipping.

Tea Blog Carnival No. 6

2010-12-30T15:49:00.001-05:00

The question: what is the most uncomfortable place where you have prepared tea (work, traveling, in a place without suitable equipment, etc.) and how were you able to overcome the difficulty?

The answer: I'm all about the Easy Teatime. When I make tea, I just make it: stove + kettle + tea + cup + me. Oh, and water, obviously. Up until recently, I didn't even bring technology into the equation: I avoided electric kettles like the plague, because I believed in the pure zen-like qualities of what I had termed my tea ceremony.

All that said, if I were to challenge myself, I'd be doing something like this, but with tea:

[via Brent]

Upside-down tea would make for a picture perfect mad tea party! The practicality of it is up for debate though...

Tea Cabinet Organization

2010-12-19T18:16:00.000-05:00

My teas used to be strewn all over the place. Originally, I had them helter skelter in cabinets and cupboards all over the house. Then I moved into my own apartment and decided I needed things to be a bit more organized: I threw all my teas into a cupboard right next to the stove and shut the door.

However, me being me, my tea collection kept growing. I am guilty of buying new teas long before I finish old ones, so the collection expands on a regular basis. Finally, I couldn't fit any more teas in the cabinet. And the ones that did fit in there, I couldn't see - tins were stacked every which way, one in front of the other in front of the other, and I could never find what I wanted. I put up a "tea menu" on my wall to keep track of what I had available, but that didn't make it any easier to find in that mess of tins.

So what's a girl to do? Go to Home Depot and buy some wood. I had this crazy idea one Saturday that I would build an internal shelving system for the tea cupboard. Everything that wasn't tea that was being stored in that cupboard got moved elsewhere. I bought some boards, nailed them together, bought a large set of matching tins so everything would be the same height, and put everything back in. Look how tidy everything is now!

Now I can find everything when I want it. Victory! The tins were an especially nice idea, and were purchased from Custom Magnetic Spice Rack (I also bought magnetic tins for my spices, so I could stick them on my fridge and have them in a convenient location). I won't show you the actual construction of the shelves; I admit to them being very slapdash. But they're beautifully organized, non? And check out my handwritten labels. Nice and concise and easily understandable.

I am way too excited about all this.

Pai Mu Tan...Bai Mu Dan...What's the Difference?

2010-12-04T21:17:00.000-05:00

Currently sitting in a wonderfully eclectic local cafe drinking a pot of pai mu tan and already contemplating the next pot of this wonderful white tea. And ohhhhh I've been absent for a while haven't I? Blame it on the master's thesis (and no, it still isn't done), which produced the lack of time to brew tea and drink it and enjoy it, which produced the dearth of posts in this lovely little place. Almost but not quite forgotten! *gaspshockthud*

But I've finally reached my breaking point and decided it's time to take a break I most definitely don't actually have time for and talk about some tea: the aforementioned pai mu tan. At least that's what Haymarket calls it; it's also known as white peony, white hairy monkey (side note: ew), and bai mu dan. White peony sounds the prettiest though, at least to me. Not that that has anything to do with the quality of the tea itself.

[besides, peonies are some of my favorite flowers - via Marieke Kuijjer]

This is a really mellow white tea, which is really saying something as white teas are quite mild in general. There's no astringency at all, not even a trace. It's lightly floral without resembling a drinkable perfume. And something odd is happening, the farther through the pot I get: I find myself relaxing. Despite the fact that I'm here at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night trying to finish up this draft of my master's thesis before Monday afternoon, when ~~it's time to sing the doom song~~ it's due, I'm a little more relaxed than I was when I arrived. Now that's the mark of a good tea, white or otherwise.

Pleasant light florals and no astringency? Yes please! Relaxing to the point of absurdity, given that it's "just" a tea.

Lupicia's C'est Parfait!

2010-11-16T12:34:00.000-05:00

C'est Parfait smells quite fruity, which shouldn't be too surprising as there's dried blueberries and strawberry leaf in the mix. It also smells strongly of herbs, almost like rosemary, but not. The rose hips maybe? Or the cassis? (Which, incidentally, is another name for blackcurrants. Why they call it cassis instead of blackcurrant is anybody's guess. Makes it sound a little more exotic maybe.)

[blackcurrants! they look like black pearls - via Ian Harding]

Unfortunately, it tastes nowhere near as good as the above photo looks. This tisane is so tart as to be completely undrinkable. It's also sour, like every sour candy you've ever eaten. Well...maybe not quite that many. But still: when I feel like my taste buds depend on adding sugar to a tisane, that's not a good sign. I suspect the tartness is based on the combination of rose hips and hibiscus, both of which are tart on their own, but when combined they make Super Tart. Actually, that sounds a bit like a bad heroine who wears slutty clothing and capers about at frat parties. Hrm.

Added one sugar cube - not enough. Added two sugar cubes - getting there. Added three sugar cubes - finally! It's drinkable without puckering up like I've sucked on a raw lemon. It still doesn't taste nice though. The primary taste is sour, but now it's a sweetened sour that almost tastes rotten. I really wish there were more redeeming features to this, but it just isn't working for me. Don't judge Lupicia on this tisane alone; they have lots of other teas that taste fantastic!

From so sour your taste buds cry out for mercy to a rotten sort of sour? Ugh, no thank you. Beautiful color though, but that's not enough to make up for the taste.

Lupicia's Siesta

2010-11-08T16:06:00.000-05:00

If you're looking for a passionfruit-punch-to-the-face, you've found your tisane of choice. Opening the tin made my nose take a step back (figuratively, obviously); this is strongly fruity. Intensely fruity. Deeply...well, you get the idea. This one is a green mate base flavored with (you guessed it) passionfruit. Green mate, as opposed to the toasted leaves that make up yerba mate "tea", is drunk mostly in Brazil. At least, this is what Wikipedia tells me; I actually couldn't find any other sources on green mate.

[a bombilla from Argentina - via urbanmkr]

As the name suggests, siesta is really soothing. It may smell like ALL PASSIONFRUIT ALL THE TIME, but it doesn't taste like it. Lupicia's description of green mate as "drinking salad" isn't far off the mark. It's not that it tastes exactly like a green salad, but it is certainly reminiscent of a slightly sweet variety of lettuce. There's no bitterness in this one, and it's not overly sweet, which is nice for those of you that hate sweet teas.

I prepared it hot, but Lupicia also suggests it is good for making iced tea. I suspect they're right; the sweetness might come through even more in an iced preparation. Either way, I think this one's definitely worth a try, especially for people who claim they don't like tea. One thing I will say that I don't care for is how dry it makes my mouth feel, but that can be overlooked in light of the fact that it has all these other good features.

Nice and mild, with a distinctive salad-like flavor. Not too sweet, no bitterness, and despite its' incredibly fruity smell, it's a mellow cuppa.

Taking Back the Tea Party

2010-11-02T06:49:00.005-04:00

Let's talk about the tea party! Not the one filled with all the bigots, but the one that some of us would like to reclaim. I remember hearing some talk among tea bloggers about reclaiming the search term "tea party" from the ~~Fuckwittery~~ Tea Party Movement. (Conveniently I can't find any of these blog entries right now, so if anyone wants to let me know about theirs, I'd love it!)

At the recent protest in Washington - the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, there were a hell of a lot of good signs about tea and tea partiers. And yeah, maybe this single post won't change the fact that when I type "tea party" into Google image search I no longer get pretty girls in dresses with pinkies raised, but instead I get old white people who don't seem to have the capacity to parse facts from offal. Still, it's nice to remind ourselves that the words "tea party" was not always synonymous with "supreme evil".

I really hope this was a tea blogger with this sign!

Awesomely adorable child win.

All images found via BuzzFeed.

Tea Blog Carnival No. 5

2010-10-27T20:52:00.000-04:00

Oh my, time for another tea blog carnival already? Like all previous months, this event is sponsored by the Association of Tea Bloggers. This month is graciously hosted by Jason Walker of Walker Tea Review. The topic is:

Why do I write about tea?

Tea makes me happy, therefore I write about it. Funny thing though, I don't blog about other things I like. I adore bellydancing (I'm even in a show or two come November!), aerial silks rock my world, sociology is my favorite topic (which is why I'm getting a PhD in it), but I don't blog about these topics - I blog about tea.

How the idea for the blog came up was quite sudden, like most of my extracurriculars. I was sitting at my parent's house in late November, and couldn't stop thinking about blogging for the public. I've been blogging for myself and close friends since 2002, but never had material that was for public consumption. All of a sudden I had an idea that I wanted to communicate with people about (tea) and some time to cobble together a website. I picked Blogger because Google is good at simplicity, and because I don't really like all the mess that comes with hosting your own domain (believe me, I've done it before).

But why tea specifically? Frankly, it seemed like a topic that enough people would be interested in. People all over the world drink tea; it's not a phenomenon that's specific to one geographical region. I like the universality of it, but also the vast variety. Wherever you go, there you'll (probably) find tea. Besides, blogging about tea gives me the impetus to keep trying new kinds of tea. Being a committed tea dilettante is the best kind of dilettante.

[via melanie]

On the Association of Tea Bloggers

2010-10-14T19:26:00.000-04:00

In the midst of my three jobs, two graduate classes, and one master's thesis to be written, my little tea blog has become a teensy bit neglected! And in all the confusion, I forgot to mention that I have been accepted into the Association of Tea Bloggers. This also resulted in my designing a logo of sorts for this blog space:

What's really nice about the Association of Tea Bloggers is that it's a way for us tea freaks to network with one another. The beauty of the interwebs is that it's a way to come into contact with people you might otherwise not be able to find. I feel incredibly lucky to have this opportunity. Plus it makes me feel professional and whatnot.

So, this is partially a celebratory post for finding a community of people who love what I love, and partially a way to let other tea bloggers know about this resource. It's an amazing community of people, and an incredible resource. If you haven't already, join! Or at least consider it. We have scones, maybe some cookies, and definitely a wide variety of tea.

Tulsi's Licorice Spice

2010-10-04T15:27:00.024-04:00

Tulsi has had a bad rap with me lately. This one, however, redeems Tulsi for me, which was a nice surprise. It's sweetly spicy without being overwhelmingly so. Quite a few of my friends have told me that they're not fans of licorice, but I don't think the licorice is the most prominent flavor; cinnamon is (and even that's a light flavor). It's a sweet cinnamon, almost like ceylon cinnamon - and if you don't know what ceylon cinnamon is, you better try it soon! It's like red hots candy turned into a delectable and arguably more natural spice.

The taste is a bit more subtle than the flavor, which was subtle to begin with. It's pleasantly sweet, refreshingly spicy, and no one flavor is overpowering. It's basically a healthy blend of licorice and cinnamon, with hints of mint. I think this would make a nice tisane for when you have a mild cold, but you'd still have to be able to taste things at that point. Severe colds would require something with a bit more oomph to it. I definitely prefer my tisanes to have a stronger flavor, but this is a good one for lovers of subtle spices.

A gentle introduction to licorice tisanes. Mostly licorice and cinnamon, though it hints at a refreshing mint. Wish it were a bit more strongly flavored.

Lupicia's Jardin Sauvage

2010-09-27T16:08:00.000-04:00

How very tropical of you! Jardin sauvage (which translates from French to "wild garden") is a lushly scented rooibos-based tisane. The mangoes are the first thing you smell , and then I catch whiffs of lemon, lime, and orange. This is a non-fermented roobios, so it's called a green rooibos. When steeped, it takes on a little bit more of a vegetable smell.

[via Lupicia]

The taste, however, leaves a bit to be desired for me. I brewed it hot, steeped it for two minutes, and started feeling a bit like I was drinking an expensive perfume. There's very little taste of mango, just something akin to a dried citrus fruit that comes through faintly. The mango is mostly in the aftertaste, which is nice when you breathe in just after drinking, but subtle.

Smells better than it tastes, though it doesn't taste bad. Pay attention or you'll miss the lovely subtleties in this one.

Tea Parties Taken Too Far

2010-09-23T20:52:00.000-04:00

A necklace made of a child's tea party set? Perhaps one step too far over the tasteful line. Anyways, Regretsy's estimation of the necklace was that it was useful for keeping bears out of your campsite (among other things).

Originally posted by Regretsy.

Sunning Your Tea: Is It Safe?

2010-09-15T15:40:00.000-04:00

My mom's sun tea is what got me into tea in the first place, but lately I've read some chatter about sun tea being dangerous to drink. I do wonder how much store to put in these concerns though. Let's examine!

First off, sun tea is tea bags and water left out in the sun to steep for a long time (I remember periods from dawn until sundown when I was a kid in New Mexico). The concern is that the 130 degrees or so that the water will reach is an ideal condition for harboring bacteria and promoting growth. The Kitchn specifically points to "the bacteria commonly found in tap water", which may grow in sun tea as it lacks the boiling of traditional tea. But wouldn't this endanger us with any tap water that was not boiled first? And if there's bacteria inherent in tea leaves that also requires boiling to kill, which is what some of the other sources point out, how would cold-brewed tea still be safe?

[via Danielle Davidson]

Several commenters on the linked articles pointed to Solar Water Disinfection, which the World Health Organization recommends to sanitize water in developing countries. If you're still worried, just cold-brew your tea and forget about it. Though if someone who's anti-sun-tea could explain to me how cold-brewing tea is going to kill the bacteria that's supposedly inherent in tea leaves, that'd be great.

The one credible source I could find was from Colorado State University that cites the CDC as having advised against sun tea. But even they don't give links to other sources, so I remain skeptical. Plus, in light of the recent obsession with kombucha (which is a culture of bacteria and yeast), I suspect that sun tea is not a serious health concern. In fairness, I haven't tried kombucha, but the idea of a giant bacteria cake that's combined with tea squicks me out something fierce.

Final thoughts? I'm thinking of making some sun tea, then buying some sort of bacteria test kit and/or befriending a chemistry major, and settling this myself via the old fashioned scientific method. If anyone has any good (read: scientific) sources that prove or disprove this, I'd be grateful.

Resources

Tea Guys Strawberry Kiwi

2010-09-05T16:45:00.000-04:00

If you want a refreshing and intensely fruity tisane, you've come to the right place. The tea guys are a local tea company that makes a variety of tisanes and teas with very interesting flavors (e.g. maple sugar black tea, papaya ginger white tea, a carrot cake tisane, etc). They were founded in 2002 out of Hatfield, Massachusetts. I cannot rave enough about this company, particularly that when I buy from them I get the added bonus of supporting local business. (I've got some things to say about sustainable and local tea purchases, but that's another post entirely.)

[yes I drank my tisane outside, because it's not much cooler inside]

This is their strawberry kiwi tisane, which I brewed cold. They recommend adding it to lemonade, which would also be amazing, but it's just as good by itself. I added a teaspoon to a pitcher of cold water and left it in the fridge to steep for about eight hours (but in reality it might have been more like ten). Drank it the next day in 90+ degree heat/humidity and enjoyed it immensely. I added a bit of sugar, but you don't have to.

A lovely balance of sweet and tart, though more strawberry than kiwi. It's also versatile, since it could be added to lemonade.

Tea Blog Carnival No. 4

2010-08-29T22:16:00.001-04:00

I know, I know, it's been a while! One month was cancelled, and then the next I missed the prompt. This month, though, the topic is: a memorable outdoor tea drinking experience.

When I was much younger, I hosted tea parties in the garden for the local faeries. Back then, tea meant "water mixed with a goodly amount of sugar" and drunk out of tiny cups with delicate saucers. And let me tell you, those tea parties were well attended! I served lilac sandwiches and dew-topped tea cakes. But I must confess: since then, I haven't had any memorable outdoor tea drinking experiences. *gaspshockthud*

[via nordicteem]

However, this topic reminds me of my February plan: when it was warm enough, host a large-ish tea party in the park across the street from me (literally across the street - my living room window looks out on a beautiful row of trees shrouding grassy hills). I've been dreaming of pitchers of iced tea in varying flavors and sweetnesses, alongside small sandwiches and a batch of cookies. (No cupcakes - the icing would melt in this heat!) But now the summer is slipping away, even though it doesn't feel like it at the moment. Proper Victorian attire optional but highly encouraged. Hmmm. A plan for next weekend perhaps?

Many thanks to Black Dragon Tea Bar for hosting!

Republic of Tea's Coconut Cocoa

2010-08-24T17:00:00.001-04:00

I can sum this tisane up incredibly briefly: the best dessert tea I have ever had. I don't use that phrase lightly either. Behold!

[majesty on the windowsill]

This is an incredibly rich tisane, and so chocolate-y! I'm surprised there's so much chocolate flavor actually; you could use it as a substitute for dessert. I didn't add milk or sugar, just boiled the water, let it steep five to seven minutes (I think I left it in for six and a half), and drank. This stuff is like someone took a bunch of haystacks (you know, little wonderful mounds of chocolate and coconut?) and liquified them into a very smooth drink.

You will not like this if you are not a fan of coconut, chocolate, or sweet teas in general. I am a fan of all three, so it's really quite perfect for me. I do wonder what it would be like iced: I'm thinking a blender full of this tisane, some milk, and lots of crushed ice. And what if it were blended with coffee and topped with whipped cream? Why hello there Starbucks, I do believe your frappuchinos have found a home-brewed rival.

Rich chocolate coconut - absolutely delicious!

Cold-Brewed Iced Tea

2010-08-19T14:45:00.028-04:00

Darlings, let me tell you how much I adore cold-brewed iced tea. You just put a tea bag or a filter with your tea or tisane of choice, fill your vessel with cold water, leave it in your fridge for eight to twelve hours, and voila! In the morning, or just in time for the long hot evening, you have iced tea. I've been making three or four different varieties every night. Quite literally, in the last three days I have brewed a strawberry kiwi tisane, a melon oolong, Good Earth's sweet & spicy original, a three mint tisane, and a black tea with strawberries, peaches, and lychee. Rest assured there will be some reviews, but for right now it's too hot and I'm about to leave town for somewhere even hotter.

[via Frederick Jacobs]

The one thing I will tell you is that I've had problems with cold-brewing white teas and oolongs. I left them in for about ten hours each and they turned out much bitterer than I would have liked. Not entirely sure what's wrong, but I will try letting oolongs and white teas steep for shorter amounts of time in the future. Tisanes, however, have all been real winners for cold-brewing. Black teas have also turned out really nice.

If you, for whatever reason, don't want to cold-brew your iced tea, you can also brew them hot more or less as usual, let cool, and serve them over ice. Here's some links to help you out with your quest for a cold drink. Stay cool!

References

Tea Gadgets: Brewing Edition

2010-08-11T12:30:00.000-04:00

So last time we had the boiling edition of gadgets, this time we've got all the things that help you brew the tea in various geeky ways. Brewing is even more important than boiling, given that this is what will affect the flavor of the tea the most (quality of tea aside). These are a few of the more impressive ones I've found lately.

Thermometers are important if you're concerned about water temperature. Different teas will sometimes call for different water temperatures (e.g. black teas are generally steeped in boiling water, but you'll want a little bit lower temperatures for green and white teas). This thermometer from 52Teas measures both the water temperature and can be used as a timer to achieve the appropriate steeping time. [via 52Teas]

Here's an interesting idea: brew the tea IN your travel mug. Mighty Leaf Tea makes just such a cup, which seems to work with tea bags only. There's a dome in the lid to pull the tea bag up out of the water when you pull on the string. So long as the string doesn't come undone (which I have had happen, so beware), it should work beautifully. So there's a nice way to take twelve ounces of tea with you, and keep it hot on the way. [via Mighty Leaf Tea]

There are lots of filters out there. I've always found the metal ones to be most useful, but here's a silicone one that looks pretty slick. The Tea-Cha filter, with a drip base, comes in nine different colors. I like the lavender (shown here) because purple is the best color (even though most of my tea stuff ended up being some shade of green). [via Tea-Cha]

The MugStir spoon is a little spoon that rests on the side of your cup, allowing you to avoid those disposable stirrers. This is sold through Quirky, which allows you to purchase newly invented products before they're widely available. Each product needs to reach a certain amount of buyers before it goes into production. Quirky reminds me a bit of Etsy, which is another great place to get (handmade) tea stuff. Anyways, this little spoon will launch on 22 August at $12.99. [via Quirky]

For when you have to make a large amount of loose-leaf tea, how about a nice pitcher with a built-in filter? Bodum makes the bistro iced tea jug, which I had my eye on before they started making it with a plastic filter; there used to be a stainless steel filter available, but I can't seem to find it anymore. I do like the lid though, because then the scent of whatever you're brewing won't seep out into your fridge (and the rest of your food). Trust me: been there, done that, lids from now on. [via Bodum]

Another from Quirky, though this one hasn't yet met its' minimum number of buyers (let's help them out!): the Steeper Keeper. It's a mug that keeps the paper tag on teabags from falling into your cup. Ingenious, when you think about it, considering how much of an annoyance most of us consider that little tag to be. It's $8.00 right now in presale, which is a steal for such a functional mug. [via Quirky]

Tea Gadgets: Boiling Edition

2010-08-05T08:57:00.007-04:00

Brewing tea can be a relatively straightforward process. You put water in a stovetop-safe something or other, you boil said water, you pour boiling (or near boiling) water on top of tea leaves in a cup, steep for the desired amount of time, and you're done. Sounds simple right? In fact, much more simple than buying a coffeemaker, peeling out a filter each time you want some, grinding beans, washing the filter, leaving it open so it doesn't get moldy, learning how to set the timer, remembering to turn it on, remembering to turn it off...I mean, really! A person could get bored just thinking about that.

But I digress in my teensy coffee-making rant (truly, I like coffee; I just can't drink it regularly). I wanted to show off some tea-related gadgets that make the process easier in some ways, and more complicated in others. Devices for waking you up with a cup of tea, automatic brewers, and the like.

I am a gadget freak in other areas of my life (I was an early adopter of the amazon kindle, and was pretty quick about getting the first phone running android as well), but for tea, I like to keep it pretty gadget-free. Give me a nice infuser whose holes are neither too large nor too small, a pretty kettle to boil my water in, some extraordinary teas, and a mug with saucy sayings or pretty pictures on it. All the same, below are some advanced options for how you might go about brewing your morning, evening, or afternoon tea.

Even though this one is not yet in production, the one by vessel ideation is a combination kettle/pot - you can boil the water, steep the tea, and serve from this single piece. You'll know the water is boiling when the graphics become fully visible. Attach the magnetic trivet to the bottom, and serve. You're able to pick it up without a handle because of the silicon coating around the neck. There's convenience for you! [via Design*Sponge]

How about a nice mug that boils water in it? Do away with the kettle entirely? Well, I am a fan of simplifying tea. Meet the Kug, a mug that will boil your water for you. mug that boils water (needs new name though - kug is not appetizing). There's not too much information available about it yet, but it seems like a really cool idea. Unfortunately, it's not yet in production, but hopefully will be soon. [via Unplggd]

An alarm clock that wakes up you with tea brewing? Oh yes please. Sure, coffeemakers can do this (go off at a certain time that is), but putting it by your bedside might be a little bit weird. It's called a Teasmade and is also very simple. Put the tea bag in, fill the kettle with water, and set the alarm. A lovely way to wake up: with a cup of tea already ready (unless of course you also wish to add milk and sugar). About $90 is a little pricey for an alarm clock for me (I use my phone), but it does have some really awesome features. [via Unplggd]

This electric water kettle and steeper made me drool, though I can't afford the $250 it costs. It's definitely for the lazy tea makers among us, as this reduces the water temperature to perfect levels. Certainly it's a very accurate way to make tea. Unplggd did a thorough review of it, which was how I found out about Breville's One-Touch Tea Maker. (Actually Unplggd mentioned it twice, but the first is just an FYI-type post.) Tea Guy Speaks also has a good video review of its' features. [via Unplggd]

Try My Chai: Three Tastings in One

2010-07-26T21:41:00.002-04:00

To begin with, the translation of "chai" is "tea". So you can all stop saying "chai tea", because I will chuck a teapot or three at you the next time you do so in my presence. (Kidding. Sort of.) Masala chai is what most people are referring to when they mention chai, which is generally a combination of black tea and a variety of spices. There's no set recipe for masala chai, which makes it quite nice because you can adjust things to your own taste. Still, something that has earned a title deserves some sort of guidelines.

Things that are often, but not always, in masala chai: strong black tea (usually Assam), sugar (though honey can also be used), milk (can use condensed milk and omit sugar), and the ubiquitous "spices" (cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, star anise, peppercorns, nutmeg, rose, liquorice, and/or cloves). Obviously, this list is somewhat flexible, both in terms of the proportions and the number of ingredients used. I'll hazard a guess to say that, at least for the Americanized versions of chai, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, and anise are most popular.

Two things of note: all of these are sad imitations of tea. They all come in powder form and you scoop them out of a can, then dissolve them in hot water the way you do powdered hot chocolate. That said, they still taste really good. The second thing to note is that most chai in the U.S. has been westernized, toning down the spices and turning up the milk/sugar aspects. The three I review herein are fully guilty of this.

Trader Joe's Spicy Chai Latte

It smells like sugar and cinnamon, maybe a little bit of clove. And it tastes...thick, if that makes any sense. It's slightly spicy, but hardly reaching anything beyond cinnamon-like levels of spice. It's comforting and warm and tastes fairly nice, but it doesn't taste how I think chai ought to taste. It's hardly spicy. Also, I am sad to report, I don't detect any ginger or anise. Reaching the end is a bit unpleasant though: your tongue feels heavily coated and usually the powder has left some clumps at the bottom, no matter how much you stir at the beginning.

Divinity Chai Vanilla Chai

If you'll ignore the repetitive label and get down to business, this variety of chai smells a.m.a.z.i.n.g. It smells like a whole heaping of vanilla layered over spices and black tea. Tastes about the same too. I tried this one chilled because it's getting hotter than blazes outside. It's a little more complex of a flavor than the Trader Joe's variety. It doesn't leave my tongue feeling fuzzy which is a nice feature in a chai. It's also less clumpy than the first chai, which is a plus as well.

Divinity Chai Spicy Chai

This one smells incredibly spicy and complex, even when dry. I fixed this one chilled as well, though I accidentally added too much milk. Still, it was _very_ good - nice and rich and just enough sweet without being overly sugary. This one is definitely my favorite of the bunch. Unfortunately, I have found Divinity Chai to be quite difficult to find. If anyone wants to share where they buy theirs, please do. I can't wait to try it warm this winter.

I also recently went to Samovar in San Francisco and had one of the best masala chai blends I have ever had in my entire life (seriously). My review is up on Steepster, and I'll soon be buying a canister of it so I can have that perfect blend of spices and black tea at home in Massachusetts. Also, I have several varieties of bagged chais as well, so those will be reviewed at some point in the future. And someday I hope to try my hand at making my own blends of chai. Oh, the opportunities!

Battle of the Mint Teas: The Drink-Off

2010-07-20T09:51:00.006-04:00

What I'm looking for: my dream mint tea (or teas). I like to have a nice blend of peppermint and spearmint, rather than just one or the other. It doesn't have to be a tisane, though most of these are. We'll see which one ranks first. The competitors, with links to reviews on Steepster:

We know one mint tea that's already lost the contest before it even began: Inko's Hint of Mint. While bottled mint teas can be fantastic, this was definitely not one of them. It tasted like water that had a vague flavor of mint but nothing more. Decidedly underwhelming.

Simply Mint
Freshly unwrapped, this spells strongly of spearmint and nothing else. It's a light sweetish mint with none of peppermint's overpowering minty scent. The ingredients are "organic Moroccan mint". Ironically, there is no variety of mint that is named Moroccan mint, so I suspect they're missing some subtlety with ingredients here. Moroccan-style mint tea is usually a blend of green tea and [pepper]mint, so I'm going to assume it's the same here despite the spearmint smell. They recommend steeping for 4-6 minutes, which seems quite long for green tea, but I'll give it a shot.

Admittedly, this tea is quite old (don't even ask just how old), so I'm not surprised that the tannins come through quite strongly. It also may be that five minutes is just plain too long to leave it steeping. It definitely smells more like peppermint when brewed and left a pleasant, if light, aftertaste of mint. But given the bitterness of the tannins, as well as the age of this tea bag, I think I'll give it a low rating until it can prove it deserves otherwise. This was one of my first favorite types of tea, so I'm willing to give it another chance at a later date.

Mint Oolong
I already tried this one so I won't review it again (original review found here). I do have a hard time believing that any mint tea could beat this one out, at least for pure peppermint teas.

Moroccan Mint
Originally bought for a Moroccan semi-alternative Thanksgiving feast (don't ask - long story), until somebody reminded me that full leaf tea is a bit of a dangerous gift to give people who aren't really big fans of tea. So I bought them bagged stuff instead, which was slightly sad for me but they were just as grateful. So now I have Moroccan mint tea to try. This is a blend of gunpowder green tea and mint (peppermint specifically). Sniff the dry stuff and you get a predictable blast of peppermint and a grassy sort of after-scent that I assume is the green tea. Not quite as minty as the mint oolong, because of the mitigating scent of green tea, but still decidedly strong.

It tastes like a nicely balanced blend of green tea and peppermint. While quite strongly peppermint, it doesn't measure up to the minty strength of the oolong above. But the green tea is a pleasant flavor, being just grassy and fresh enough to offset the mint, without getting bitter. For green tea lovers, this will probably be a four pot rating (or higher!), but since I'm not one of those I'm giving it three pots. Certainly worth trying if you like green tea mixed with a pleasantly crisp peppermint.

Peppermint Rooibos
Ok, so the photo focuses more on the flowers than the tea maybe. Gimme a break - I got a shiny new camera and took way too many (read: nearly 500) pretty photographs in the last two days since I received it (the occasion was my twenty-fifth birthday). In any case, this tea is strong the way the mint oolong was strong. Imagine crushing up those delightful little peppermint candies you get after some restaurant meals. Now imagine if it were pleasant to snort that dust. That's what this rooibos-based tisane smells like. My eyes actually started watering when I stuck my nose down in the jar after I opened it.

It's a lovely color, all green and red pieces, and brews to a rich amber. It smells a little bit bitter, but luckily doesn't taste like it. It is, like the oolong, very peppermint-y! Please note that rather than steeping 5-7 minutes, as the tin instructed, I steeped for 4 and it was perfect. Start steeping at shorter periods of time, then work your way up from there. This tisane made my breath wonderfully fresh and I imagine it would be very pleasant in the winter, or brewed cold for warmer weather. The one complaint I have about it is that the pieces of rooibos and peppermint are so small that they quite often go straight through whatever you're using to steep in (even the extremely fine mesh tea bags!), so you'll end up with a fair amount of sediment in the bottom of your cup. But if you can overlook that, I recommend this peppermint tisane for sure.

Mint Fields
This is one I've been looking forward to since I heard about it. Mint fields is a blend of spearmint, peppermint, and lemon balm. This tisane smells like a very well-balanced blend of peppermint and spearmint, with the lemon balm sort of lurking (in a non-creepy way) in the background. Steeped for four minutes, my cup is full of a very toasty mint smell and LOTS of little pieces. It's mint, so it's not like it's going to be bad to chew on it, but still; it annoys me immensely when my cup ends up full of tiny little shreds of tea and herbs. Still, it is a very refreshing mint tisane, with that blend of spearmint and peppermint that I love so much. The lemon balm is very subtle and doesn't cancel out the mints at all.

The final scores:

Simply Mint (Numi Organic Tea) - nice for a lightly minty bagged tea

Mint Oolong (Naivetea) - winner for the purely peppermint category

Moroccan Mint (Republic of Tea) - a very nice balancing of green tea and peppermint

Peppermint Rooibos (Rishi) - good caffeine-free peppermint tisane

Mint Fields (Republic of Tea) - one of the most refreshing blends of spearmint and peppermint

Battle of the Mint Teas: The Introduction

2010-07-14T09:06:00.004-04:00

Remember how I said I was obsessed with finding the perfect mint tea when I drank Naivetea's peppermint oolong? Well that one ranked very highly, but it also reminded me that I have a habit of collecting mint teas in search of the perfect blend of mints. Because while peppermint is all well and good, there's more to mint than just peppermint. Allow me to explain.

First off, the mint family (more properly known as Lamiaceae) consists of somewhere between 6900 and 7200 different species! Some very familiar cooking herbs come from this family (e.g. basil, thyme, sage, & rosemary), but my primary interest is in herbs that taste like...well, mint. So I'm talking about the mentha genus in particular, which has about 25 species. Much more manageable than seven thousand I should think. Though really there are two types of mentha that are the most popular, as I'm sure you well know.

[labeled as spearmint but I think it looks more like peppermint - via salbendr]

Peppermint is actually a hybrid blend of spearmint and watermint, but this is the plant most people think of when they talk about mint. It's known for soothing the stomach and the skin and is used to flavor or scent a wide variety of products. On the other hand, spearmint, so named because of its' spear-shaped leaves, tastes slightly sweeter than peppermint in my opinion. It's less sharp and more sugary, at least to me. Spearmint is often used in conjunction with peppermint. Apple mint is fast becoming a favorite for mint lovers as well, though I don't know that I have much experience with it yet. There doesn't appear to be a whole lot of information on it, other than that the taste is considered superior to spearmint (whatever that means), so if you know something about apple mint, shoot that info my way. Additionally, Alex Zorach (a fellow tea blogger) recently made a post about his foray into growing and brewing orange mint.

[via genesee metcalfs]

A brief aside: quite a few of us think of wintergreen as a mint flavor, but it's not from the mint family; it's from the gaultheria species. The difficulty is that one of the ingredients in wintergreen oil can cause allergic reactions, whereas mint is (as far as I know) pretty safe for almost everyone. Interestingly, two of the common names of the plant are "teaberry" or "mountain tea". I find wintergreen to taste slightly more medicinal than peppermint, but occasionally it's also sweeter than spearmint. However, I think I'll stick with the plants in the true mint family.

My interest in mint teas primarily stems from two things: a) I like the taste of mint, and b) they work served both warm and cold. Hell, I even like a warm mint tea that has cooled off! Peppermint has a long and rich medicinal history, having been used to treat everything from upset stomachs to depression. It's good for soothing symptoms of the common cold, as well as upset stomachs and rashes. Prepared hot, it feels like it makes me breathe easier. When cold, it's a welcome drink when it's hot outside.

Because mint teas are so valuable in many ways, and because I seem to own quite a few different kinds, I thought I'd have a mint tea drink-off (sort of like a walk-off but not). Besides, I can't think of anything that mint doesn't go with. The next time you hear from me, I'll be reviewing different types of mint tea and we'll see which one comes out on top. To tide you over, I'll leave you with a sample list of mint teas that are currently on my to-sip list.

[via maverick]

References

Tulsi Vanilla Crème

2010-07-06T14:58:00.001-04:00

Let's face it: vanilla beans are ugly. But they taste really really good.

[via the purple foodie]

Tulsi by Organic India has proved to be a really dynamic group of tisanes. I first discovered the brand when my local co-op market was giving away samples. I tried sweet rose and was totally hooked thereafter. However, the first sniff of this one is not pleasant, at least for me. It smells fermented somehow, very sharp, almost like my mother's brandied sugarplums. I'm not a huge fan of alcohol so this is a little bit foreboding. I expected something very light and vanilla-like, almost like a very girly perfume. But no, it's quite strong and alcohol scented instead. Hoping for the best.

When finished brewing, it smells inifinitely less disgusting than straight out of the bag. It's a nice light vanilla scent, as expected, that is slightly spicy. It reminds me a bit of Good Earth original, but less spicy. Unfortunately, the taste does not live up to the smell; it's not sweet or spicy, just kind of...there. I don't even taste vanilla in it! It does taste a little bit like alcohol, but otherwise it's just warm water that happens to be dark orange.

No vanilla (despite name) and no real taste other than slightly alcoholic. Such a disappointment, especially compared to their other teas. Skip it!

Republic of Tea's Pomegranate Vanilla Red Tea

2010-06-24T16:28:00.000-04:00

A few months ago, I ordered a handful of samplers from Republic of Tea and this was one of them. Red tea is another name for rooibos, so this is a tisane. It smells like tart pomegranate tinged with vanilla when the tin is first opened. It has hibiscus in it as well, which smells sharply sweet (or perhaps it's tartly sweet?).

You're supposed to steep this one for a whopping five to seven minutes, so I figured I'd start at five then figure out if it needed more time. Usually, the only tea that can be steeped so long is rooibos or another type of tisane, as camellia sinensis will get bitter if left to brew for so long. The color is a very deep orange-red that's bordering on brown and is so dark you can't see the bottom of the cup.

[via Terri Tu]

It tastes like pomegranate seeds that have been dipped in vanilla, or maybe sprinkled with vanilla sugar. The vanilla tastes almost smoky and is not overpoweringly sweet. I find it a little tart, but that is mediated by the vanilla aftertaste. I think that some hibiscus syrup would really make the hibiscus flavor stand out. It might benefit from steeping for six minutes, though, instead of five; the flavor was only good, not fantastic.

Definite flavors of pomegranate and vanilla, but neither are particularly stunning. It's a nice blend, given that it manages to be not too tart and not too sweet.

Bigelow's Sweet Dreams Herb Tea

2010-06-15T09:32:00.000-04:00

An oldie but (I hope) a goodie. I've had this tea since before I started college (pre-2003), so this is dicey. Most teas are supposed to be discarded after 6 months to a year, but I figured since it's pre-bagged and it's Bigelow (the mundanest of mundane teas), what's the worst that could happen?

After all, it's not like tisanes ripen to arsenic or something equally poisonous with age. And a good thing too, considering how many old teas I have in my collection. I really must start drinking them faster. The problem is that when I get a new tea, I want to drink that tea and only that tea forever and ever. Until I get the next one of course. A bit of a dilettante? Guilty as charged.

Sweet dreams is a blend of chamomile, hibiscus, peppermint, rose, spearmint, orange blossoms, and the mysterious "spice". It smells mostly like pepperminng and a tartness I take to be the hibiscus. I'm also catching whiffs of cinnamon, which might be included in the ubiquitous "spice". And apparently Bigelow's formula hasn't changed since then.

[bed by Shawn Lovell Metalworks, via liquidskyarts]

How could you not have sweet dreams in a bed like that?! I'm just sayin'...

I am not, as a rule, fond of chamomile, but this tea was a pleasant surprise as it tasted nothing like chamomile. More than anything, I taste peppermint, which was probably the strongest herb to begin with. I suspect it got stronger over time. There's something slightly bitter or just generally "off" in the background, something that did not age well. It smells like chamomile, but doesn't taste like it. Probably if it were not ancient, it would taste better. Still, I decided I wanted to be adventurous tonight and start the process of clearing out my tea cupboard!

While pleasant, I'm glad this was the last bag of this stuff. I can do better for peppermint teas. If it were not past its' prime, I suspect this tea would taste mostly of chamomile and peppermint, with a little hibiscus tartness.

To Bag or Not to Bag?

2010-06-07T13:54:00.000-04:00

How do you drink your tea? Are you one of those elitist drinkers that insists on whole leaf tea and no dirty tea bags are allowed in your presence? (Yes, sometimes I am this type of person.) Or are you a big fan of the convenience of tea bags? (Usually there are at least four different types of tea in individually wrapped bags in my backpack, at any given time.)

[via McKay Savage]

Good tea needs room to expand. It gets growing pains. This is why tea balls are not ideal, unless they are particularly large. Pack it too full and there is not enough space for the tea to expand properly, so it pushes open and then you have a cup full of leaves (been there done that). Don't use enough tea and you won't get the full flavor. So things like tea sticks and the like shouldn't be your first pick, however convenient.

The other thing tea needs is enough contact with the water. That means there has to be enough holes whenever you're steeping. Things like tea bags and mesh filters definitely give you enough holes, but some ceramic infusers only have a couple of holes. If you're industrious, you can make your own tea bags. I've never done this, so I couldn't tell you much about them. Theoretically, however, you could make small pouches with plain cheesecloth and tie them off with twine. Easy peasy.

The Kitchn recommends T-Sac filters, which are biodegradable and come in four sizes. Since they have various sizes, they can be used for single teacup brewings all the way up to brewing an entire pot (or several, if you're using oolong!) of tea. Their review states that these sacks leave enough room for expansion and do not leak tea leaves, both of which are (obviously) very good features.

[via Teatulia Teas]

A few years ago, there was an article in the New York Times about the changing shape of tea bags: from that familiar not-quite-rectangle shape that's made of paper, to a pyramid made with a very fine white mesh. The more familiar tea bag only allows for what is essentially the leftovers from tea production to be bagged, which often leads to a very bitter taste. (Which is, I'd argue, why some people claim they don't like tea - that tannin taste is all they've known of tea!) That said, the mesh pyramid design allows for higher quality teas because they have room to expand in that sort of bag. I quite like Lupicia's bags, which are a silky white mesh that is so fine it doesn't allow small particles through.

But let's assume you want to use looseleaf, rather than pre-bagged tea. For steeping looseleaf tea, you have a couple of options. You can use an infuser pot, make your own tea bags, use a tea ball, or just dump the leaves right into your mug if you feel like doing some fortune telling. I tend to use infuser pots, though on occasion I have been known to use an infuser ball. Generally I like infuser pots because then I'll boil my water on the stove, but still have something nice to pour it into for serving.

[I figured my teapots might need a little floral company]

I have the De Chine infuser pot from Bodum, as well as a little dark blue Beehouse teapot I picked up from Whole Foods that has a stainless steel mesh strainer. I like the fact that the Bodum one is made of glass, while the one from Whole Foods has very small holes in the infuser, so as to not allow small particles to escape into the tea I drink. Generally I prefer to use a glass infuser in a glass or white ceramic cup; I like to know what color tea brews because I'm nosy like that.

Another option for a teapot is Teavana's cast iron teapots (very similar to the photograph at bottom right below). These are by far the most expensive brewers I've found, but since the antioxidants and other nice things build up in them the more you use them, it may well be worth it. If I had the spare cash lying around, I really like the shogun and the vine teapots. I haven't used these, but the fact that they can keep the tea hot for so long makes them quite attractive.

Obviously, you have lots of options to choose from. Now you know that tea leaves need room to expand, perhaps you'll think twice about that old tea ball that's been around for as long as you can remember. Consider investing in a nice infuser mug or pot, or some well-shaped tea bags that you can fill yourself. Or, if you are so inclined, just toss those tea leaves on into your mug. Go forth and brew!

[from left to right: via shunafish, Irene2005, JungleFrog, & Aiko Afriel]

Tea Blog Carnival No. 2

2010-05-29T08:26:00.002-04:00

Tea Blog Carnival is basically a way for tea bloggers to network with one another and have conversations, in a sense, via their blog entries on a particular topic. It's sponsored by the Association of Tea Bloggers and is what all the cool kids are doing this summer (and beyond). I missed the first topic by a day and a half (curses!), but luckily I caught the tail-end of this one. This month's topic is:

How do you manage to fit tea into your day to day life?

Short answer: really really easily. My daily life and my tea love are well integrated, sometimes frighteningly so.

Long(er) answer: I'm a graduate student. As such, I'm a bit nomadic. There's tea in my car in the winter, in my office, in my pockets (not kidding!), and once I found a tea bag in my winter hat. (I have no idea how that one got there.) My backpack usually has at least five different types of tea bags in it at any given time. My office at school is well stocked, also with pre-bagged teas. I'd rather stick to disposable bags for simplicity's sake in terms of cleanup, even if it means having to wait until I get home for the really amazing teas.

Drinking tea has become second nature. If someone in a room mentions tea, my ears perk up and I usually swivel towards that person at an alarmingly fast speed. If someone is sick, I hand them a tea bag and instruct them on steep times. A good friend of mine recently defended his dissertation prospectus on sustainable and local farming (which will be a great project) and I ended up managing to insert tea even into that conversation.

For me, tea provides a momentary refuge from outside stresses. I get to sit, wait for the water to boil, wait for it to steep, and then take that first zen-like sip. It reminds me to slow down. When drinking tea, I often apply one of my favorite quotes:

[original image via Evelina, text added by me]

The only appropriate way, in my opinion, to prepare and drink tea is to do that and only that. Focus on the graceful arc of water from the spout, the way the steam rises along with the scent, and the way time seems to trickle as you enjoy the perfumed drink. Try focusing on your tea the next time you drink it. You might be amazed by how quiet your brain becomes.

This month is sponsored by Adam from The Sip Tip. Interested in seeing everyone else's thoughts on this? Go here.

Tea Blog Carnival No. 1 (independent)

2010-05-27T13:05:00.000-04:00

Tea Blog Carnival is basically a way for tea bloggers to network with one another and have conversations, in a sense, via their blog entries on a particular topic. It's sponsored by the Association of Tea Bloggers. I may have missed the original deadline for this prompt, but I figured it would be a fun exercise in writing anyways. The first month's topic was:

What is your favorite piece of teaware and why?

I must admit that my tea collection itself far surpasses my teaware collection. However, I think my cabinets would be far bleaker without my Alice in Wonderland teacup and saucer.

I painted this set when I still lived in California, at Petroglyph, a place I used to frequent whenever possible. There is something soothing about painting pottery, even though I'm not really a painter. Having always been a [rather rabid] fan of Alice in Wonderland, I wanted a tea cup that related to the theme. I painted "curiouser & curiouser" across the sides of the cup, complete with daisies to evoke the garden setting while still remaining whimsical. And the bubble pattern on the inside was done using a mixture of paint, water, and soap. I blew bubbles through a straw, then smoothed them onto the interior of the cup and let them pop, leaving colorful outlines behind.

This cup is huge, so it takes quite a craving for tea to fill it. Fortunately, I often have such cravings. While my infusers are indispensable to making tea, the teacups I own all have a story behind them. This one is particularly dear to my heart, since I painted it to suit my whimsical wonderland sensibilities. Besides, drinking cup from a tea cup with a saucer feels traditional, even if this mug is anything but. Perhaps I'll tell the stories behind my other mugs in the future.

This first carnival was hosted by Gongfu Girl and a summary of participating bloggers contributions is available here. I'm an especial fan of Gongfu Girl's fascinating teapot shaped like a hand.

Sweetening The Pot

2010-05-23T21:39:00.000-04:00

Say you're a sacrilegious tea drinker like me, in that you often like your tea sweetened. -- And yes, there is actually a Facebook group dedicated to sugar not belonging in tea. Clearly I am not a member. -- So with options like sugar (cubed, superfine, brown, syrup, or cane by the way?), honey (which kind? and in what form?), ginger syrup, and agave nectar, how's a discerning tea drinker to choose?

Sugar Cubes
I like demera sugar cubes personally, instead of white sugar, but either one will work. These are the quintessential addition to a proper tea party. Alexander Pushkin put it best: "Ecstasy is a glassful of tea and a piece of sugar in the mouth."

[via howzey]

Ginger Syrup
Another wonderful product from the Ginger People, this sweetens teas with ginger in them quite nicely. Or if you want to add a ginger flavor to your tea. What can I say except that: a) it's sweet ginger, and b) I love ginger in pretty much anything. The Kitchn recently did a review of this syrup as well.

Superfine Sugar
Also known as castor sugar, it dissolves easily in hot or cold tea. This is essentially just plain white sugar that's just easier to stir in. Not much to say about it, other than to note that it's too sweet for some people. Definitely add it little by little, instead of all at once, mixing and then tasting after each new addition.

Simple Syrup
Quite simply, simple syrup is one part sugar to one part water. I bought a bottle of it from Trader Joe's, which has a strange chemically aftertaste, so from now on I'll make my own. This is easier to use with iced tea than sugar in crystal form, because it doesn't take as much work to incorporate it. You can use either white sugar or raw sugar (I'd use the latter). If you boil it, the syrup will be thicker, but you can also just mix sugar into water. Easy enough.

[via Vermont Lenses]

Honey
Ah, a classic. Most people use honey in its' liquid form - or crystallized form if your honey has matured a bit - but I recently discovered Honibe honey drops. Honey drops are individual packages of semi-solid honey that melt into gooey messes in your teacup. It's nice to have for tea on the go. Don't even get me started on the different types of honey (i.e. lavender, black sage, clover, etc); I refuse to be that hoity-toity. The one thing I will say is that I've heard very good things about tupelo honey. But personally, I just buy plain old clover honey. Unless I can find cinnamon honey. Then I'm all over that.

Condensed Milk
I've never tried this one, but if Vietnamese coffee is anything to judge by, it would be really good and really sweet. I suspect this would need a strongly flavored black tea to stand up to the overwhelming sweetness of the condensed milk. The Kitchn recommends pairing it with almond tea or masala chai. I think that, used in moderation and with a strongly flavored tea, this would be stellar.

Agave Nectar
When I discovered agave nectar three years ago, I was very into it. After reading The Kitchn's words of warning, I am not so into it. Apparently agave nectars on the market are often not actually made from the agave plant and have more harmful stuff in them than high fructose corn syrup (the big bad wolf that everyone seems to be talking about). After reading the articles linked in the references section, and doing some other poking around, I chucked my agave nectar. Besides, I found it to have quite a strong flavor that I wasn't fond of.

[via Jordan Shugart]

Hibiscus Syrup
I'm a fan of flowers in tea. Even more so when they're candied. Having not tried this one personally, I can't tell you as much, but it's on my to-do list given the reviews. I imagine hibiscus syrup would be sweetly tart, so it would go very well with fruity tisanes; I have a strawberry kiwi tisane from a local company that's languishing in my cupboard and I think it would go beautifully with this type of sweetener (if, of course, it needs it at all). Torani also makes a hibiscus syrup, though then you'd be without the actual petals.

Obviously there will be some things I didn't mention (case-in-point: stevia leaf). Feel free to tell me about other options in the comments! I also wanted to highly recommend the "Some Like It Sweet" series from World Tea News, by the very talented author of VeeTea. My top picks for sweeteners at the moment are definitely the ginger syrup and the sugar cubes.

References

Lupicia's Soba Seed Stem Tea

2010-05-08T22:05:00.001-04:00

Every time I shop at Lupicia, I get a mystery sample (or two)! They are identified only by number, and some Japanese characters. Since I only speak French and English, I couldn't immediately decipher what this one was. Luckily, their website allows you to search by number.

Soba seed stem green tea!

*pause*

Wait, what?

Never fear, it's a very likable flavor. When dry, it smells of buckwheat, which is a sort of flat but pleasant grain-like odor. This is due to the soba grains in the tea itself. It came packaged in one of their mesh pyramid bags, which function very nicely. I steeped it for two minutes per their website's directions. It smelled a bit like wheat toast when brewing, but obviously has a green tea base given the color of the brew. Though it's more of a golden lime color than the pictures let on. Think of gilded lime rinds. Or um...something like that.

It smells like it's a whole meal in a teacup, and sure enough it tastes very filling. If soba were marinated with green tea and then turned into a tea...I quite like the unexpected toasty flavor. Another plus is that it doesn't have any bitter aftertaste, and that it doesn't need any sweetener. I think adding sugar or similar would be like topping whole wheat pasta with sugar. Blech!

I ended up chilling it, because I brewed it without realizing I had to immediately leave the house for an appointment. Oops. But it turns out that it's also quite good chilled, as well as hot. The soba flavor intensifies when it's cold, which I find refreshing. Though there's less of a toast taste. Try saying that five times fast!

Nice thickly flavored tea that would be a welcome complement to a light lunch. Not sweet, but also not bitter or overwhelming. Very simple.

Singing the Praises of Tea Cakes

2010-05-03T09:18:00.000-04:00

To break the silence, I feel like I should confess: I'm not just a tea aficionado. I also love to bake. Cupcakes and the like are what I end up making most often.

So a little while ago, I made apple tea cakes from Design*Sponge. The original recipe called for apricots, but since I had apples to eat, I sliced up two braeburns instead. This recipe makes fantastically sticky little cakes. Fresh fruit and raw sugar, plus almonds and miniature pie tins? Count me in.

[tragically, my tea cakes were devoured before any photos could be taken - via Sabra Krock]

The reason I'm telling you about these addictive little flour-sugar concoctions is that they'd pair beautifully with.....tea! Maybe a milky black tea with honey? Or perhaps a nice rooibos-hibiscus tisane is more to your taste? I chose the Republic of Tea's apricot honey tisane, which was a nice lightly tart contrast to the cakes, but next time I bake them, I'll probably try a different tea (Zhena's Gypsy Tea's coconut chai, perhaps?).

The Twelve Days of Oolong: Day 12

2010-04-20T21:02:00.001-04:00

On the twelfth [and final!] day of oolong
my teapot gave to me
twelve passionfruits,
eleven orchid bunches,
ten golden lilies,
nine imperial beauties,
eight pomelo peels,
seven osmanthus blossoms,
six leaves of mint,
five wen shan bao zhongs,
four types of flowers,
three sprigs of lavender,
two strawberries,
and a single cup of juicy lychee.

Today's tea: Passionfruit Oolong, from Naivetea

Talk about a whirlwind week-and-some of tea tasting! I'll typically have a cup of tea every couple of days, maybe once a week, but wow...this mini-project really had me drinking a lot of tea. Not complaining, mind, given the high quality of the teas I got to drink, but I think I might skip reviews for a bit in favor of other content. Unless, of course, someone has strong objections to this. In the meantime, diving right into the next cup of oolong...

And wow, I'm glad I left this one till last. The smell is incredible! If there's one tea I wish you all could smell, it would be this one. The passionfruit scent is intense, and has actually permeated my kitchen. If you've never smelled a passionfruit before, you ought to now. It's lusciously tropical, and richly creamy. Imagine a tropical bird that has crashlanded somewhere unexpected and looks utterly out of place with its' colorful plumage. Next to the smell of regular old apples and oranges, that's what passionfruit is.

[getting up close and personal with passionflowers - via Stewart Lines]

It continues to smell just as divine when brewed, albeit less intense. This has not been the case with some other teas, which smell amazing dry but when brewed just smell like boring old wet tea leaves. But this one stays impressive. The first brew, at one minute, yields a hint of passionfruit that deepens as the water cools. This tea is slightly drying, but for the flavor, I am willing to put up with it.

With each subsequent brew the passionfruit flavor comes through more, though never enough to be overwhelming. It stands up well to multiple brewings, though at a certain point I had to stop drinking simply because I'd had enough. The passionfruit flavor remains lovely and sweetly fruity. I don't taste a lot of oolong in this, though obviously it's there. I do wish I had more of this tea, so I could make iced tea and add some hibiscus syrup (just enough to lightly flavor it). Then it would be like taking a dip in a tropical ocean somewhere. Yum.

And that's that on my ooolong series! Thanks again to Naivetea for graciously providing samples of their delicious teas. Once again, I feel I should remind my readers that while they did provide me with samples, they did not dictate how these reviews were written nor bestow compensation to me. I reviewed these teas honestly and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Refreshingly fruity without being all fruit. A bit of dryness, but certainly no bitterness. Good hot, and I suspect it would also be good iced.

The Twelve Days of Oolong: Day 11

2010-04-18T22:05:00.001-04:00

On the eleventh day of oolong
my teapot gave to me
eleven orchid bunches,
ten golden lilies,
nine imperial beauties,
eight pomelo peels,
seven osmanthus blossoms,
six leaves of mint,
five wen shan bao zhongs,
four types of flowers,
three sprigs of lavender,
two strawberries,
and a single cup of juicy lychee.

Today's tea: Delicate Bouquet, from Naivetea

While this is supposed to smell primarily of orchids, I keep catching whiffs of lemon. A nice, juicy one too, almost reminiscent of lemonade. Maybe I don't remember what orchids smell like? Naivetea describes this blend as fragrant with a long sweet aftertaste, which sounds similar to the last two teas of theirs I've tried. I'm not complaining, mind you; sweet aftertastes and fragrant teas are lovely, and even lovelier when combined.

The first brew, left to steep for a minute, smells much more like orchids. It also tastes like orchid, which is interesting since I assumed that scent wouldn't translate well to taste. It does. The floral flavor reminds me a bit of their rose violet calendula blend, only not as strong. It is indeed pleasantly sweet.

[via Jari Kaariainen]

The orchid flavor continues to be pleasant and mildly floral on both the second and third brews (and presumably beyond). Curiously, the floral aroma disappears while the taste remains. I keep expecting these floral or dramatically flavorful teas to brew different colors, but they are always the same pale gold color. Overall, this tea is very nice, but the flavor just isn't distinctive enough for my taste.

While lovely, it is subtle enough to ultimately be a bit less exciting than some of their other teas. This is a very light floral tea, which is pleasantly sweet and neither bitter nor drying. For that, I can appreciate it, but I wish the orchid popped more.

The Twelve Days of Oolong: Day 10

2010-04-17T21:00:00.001-04:00

On the tenth day of oolong
my teapot gave to me
ten golden lilies,
nine imperial beauties,
eight pomelo peels,
seven osmanthus blossoms,
six leaves of mint,
five wen shan bao zhongs,
four types of flowers,
three sprigs of lavender,
two strawberries,
and a single cup of juicy lychee.

Today's tea: Golden Lily, from Naivetea

Golden Lily, a type of milk oolong, which has a subtle milky flavor, smells quite creamy when it's dry. It's supposed to smell a little like pineapple, which I didn't catch when sniffing. However, when I tasted the first brew, I did catch a bit of pineapple mixed in with the milky flavor. And while the combination of pineapple and milk might sound disgusting, I assure you it's not. It's very smooth and soothing. There's also a sweetish aftertaste, the way that good water tastes slightly sweet. It's a refreshing sweetness.

[via bluehazyjunem]

As you continue with the brewing, it gets a bit stronger in terms of the milkiness. In general, this is a tea that's on the plainer side. Still, it's very nice that it doesn't need anything added to it to sweeten or otherwise dress up. And it leaves no nasty aftertaste in your mouth, the way some teas can. Golden lily is definitely a mild tea and makes me slightly sleepy. Which is possibly why this post is so short.

A subtly sweet and milky tea, perfect for after meals. This is a pleasantly light tea that is soothing without the traditional chamomile added.

The Twelve Days of Oolong: Day 9

2010-04-16T22:22:00.001-04:00

On the ninth day of oolong
my teapot gave to me
nine imperial beauties,
eight pomelo peels,
seven osmanthus blossoms,
six leaves of mint,
five wen shan bao zhongs,
four types of flowers,
three sprigs of lavender,
two strawberries,
and a single cup of juicy lychee.

Today's Tea: Imperial Beauty, from Naivetea

So obviously this tea's name is a little less descriptive than the other have been. Naivetea describes it as smelling "[intensely] fruity, with hints of honey and caramel". I found it smelled like caramel to me, but I didn't catch the fruity notes. Because it's a more traditional-smelling tea, rather than an infused one like most of the others have been (with the exception of the wen shan bao zhong), I decided to brew it for a little shorter amount of time: a mere minute for the first brew, then adding an additional minute for each brewing thereafter.

[via kounellis]

The first brew smells strangely like champagne to me. As for the taste...it's difficult to describe because my first impulse is to say that it's just tea. But really it's a little more than "just tea" (and really, what does that even mean?). Let's say that honey is a faceted jewel. If that were true, then this tea tastes like the slightly dull unpolished version of that jewel. It has no bitter aftertaste at all, just a slightly floral one that's maybe also a bit sweet. Very very good.

The second and third brews result in an intensification of the caramel scent. It's not a super-sweet tea, and I suspect that an addition of honey would really bring out the honey tones in the tea itself. This seems like it would be a good tea to pair with shortbread cookies or tea bread. I do wonder whether these more subtle flavors would come out in an iced tea version of this.

Tasty plain tea for people who enjoy just plain teas. No bitterness and very little dryness. Lovely subtle honey and caramel flavors, as well as some nuttiness.

The Twelve Days of Oolong: Day 8

2010-04-14T17:13:00.001-04:00

On the eighth day of oolong
my teapot gave to me
eight pomelo peels,
seven osmanthus blossoms,
six leaves of mint,
five wen shan bao zhongs,
four types of flowers,
three sprigs of lavender,
two strawberries,
and a single cup of juicy lychee.

Today's tea: Yuzu Oolong, from Naivetea

Though yuzu can refer to a unique species of fruit, depending on what region you're in, in this case it references the pomelo peels in the tea. Pomelo usually tastes like a grapefruit, only sweeter, and is native to southeast Asia. It's quite high in vitamin C, which is a plus if you're trying to fight off a cold. When the tea is dry, it definitely smells as sour as lemons, which is a good thing in my opinion. Then again, this is from the girl who used to eat whole limes in the summer. I ♥ citrus.

This tea smells strongly of grapefruit (a good grapefruit too), and the slightest hint of a tart mandarin orange. Seems like that would make it a good wake-me-up-on-cloudy-mornings type of tea. Brewed the first time for 2 minutes at water just under boiling. The citrus flavor doesn't come through very strongly at all. It's mostly in the aftertaste. Pleasant enough flavor of oolong, as I've come to expect from this company, but the citrus is very subtle in the first brew. Oddly, the citrus flavor got stronger after I had poured it into the cup and it sat for a little bit. Not sure how to explain that.

[via plecojan]

Forgive me for the fact that the above photograph isn't exactly of pomelo? It was too pretty to pass up, and all the pictures I could find of pomelos were blah. I'm sure you'll forgive me, so onto the second! The second brew resulted in a smidge stronger citrus flavor, but still not the same as the intense scent of the tea. It's a mild citrus that very much resembles grapefruit, minus any bitterness.

[my, but what a lovely golden color you are!]

The third brew, steeped again for two minutes at just-under-boiling water, is the same smooth citrus flavor as the other two brews. Still very soft (considering it's citrus), but at least it's not bitter or drying. I just wish the pomelo came through as a major taste, rather than as an aftertaste.

For a very mild citrus flavor with your tea. Might be intensified by adding fresh slices of fruit, but that would drown out the subtler flavors here. Worth a sip.

The Twelve Days of Oolong: Day 7

2010-04-13T22:25:00.002-04:00

On the seventh day of oolong
my teapot gave to me
seven osmanthus blossoms,
six leaves of mint,
five wen shan bao zhongs,
four types of flowers,
three sprigs of lavender,
two strawberries,
and a single cup of juicy lychee.

Today's tea: Osmanthus Oolong, from Naivetea

Other than being difficult to say quickly, the species of osmanthus (osmanthus fragrans, for the plant geeks among us) most likely used in this tea is a type of flowering shrub whose flowers smell sweet and fruity. There are thirty species of osmanthus and all but one originate from Asia. It's sometimes referred to as fragrant tea olive or sweet olive. The name "osmanthus" literally means "fragrant flower". It's apt.

[via estmsk]

This tea smells amazing. Like a combination of peaches and apricots and nectarines, with a tiny slice of buttered toast on the side. Think spring breakfasts near a farmer's market. I kept wanting to breathe in deeper, to get the full effect of the scent. I couldn't quite put my finger on what the first brew tasted like. Slightly peachy, slightly buttery, very smooth. If tea could be velvet, it would be elegantly draped across the tongue. (A tongue dress? Ok, now that's just getting weird.)

In all seriousness, the flavor is fascinating, because I really can't put my finger on what exactly it tastes like. Which, of course, makes me want to keep drinking it to try and figure it out. It's not bitter, it's not drying, but neither is it particularly sweet. First brew was for two minutes at just under boiling. I increased the steep time to three minutes for the second brew. Oddly, it seems to dry my mouth out more with the second brew than with the first. The flavor is also not as vivid. So perhaps three minutes was too long.

Third brew back down to two minutes and just under boiling still yielded a desert-mouth experience. *sigh* The flavor is still interesting, though it comes through less strongly with each brew. If it were a little stronger on the osmanthus flavor, I think it would have earned the full five pots.

The flavor is so intriguing that you have to keep drinking it in order to figure out what exactly it consists of! I appreciate the uniqueness of this tea, but the flavor needs to be a teensy bit stronger.

References

The Twelve Days of Oolong: Day 6

2010-04-12T21:08:00.001-04:00

On the sixth day of oolong
my teapot gave to me
six leaves of mint,
five wen shan bao zhongs,
four types of flowers,
three sprigs of lavender,
two strawberries,
and a single cup of juicy lychee.

Today's tea: Mint Oolong, from Naivetea

I'll admit, I'm a sucker for anything with mint in it, and as I already like oolong, this was a blend I was really looking forward to. And this is where I feel I should put the disclaimer: if you are not a mint lover, this tea is not for you! No, really. Fresh out of the bag, it smells like a gigantic field full of nothing but peppermint. Personally, this is my bliss, but if you're not a peppermint fan, this will not be your thing. Trust me on this one.

[via kali.ma]

For what it's worth, it smells like the slightly sweet natural scent of mint, rather than the nasty medicinal mint smell that's all chemicals. Also, do not make the same mistake I did and stick your nose into the pot to sniff it after it has finished brewing. The menthol assaults your eyeballs in a none-too-pleasant way. In any case, I brewed it with near-boiling water, maybe a little hotter than the other oolongs have been, and for two minutes the first time. Better not to overdo the mint on the first pass.

What I got for my trouble was a fantastic cup of mint tea. There is quite a bit of sediment in this tea, so be prepared for your cup to have a teensy specks of what I'm guessing is shredded mint leaf at the bottom. But really, that shouldn't bother you. It's not a particularly sweet mint, but neither is it bitter. It gives that nice refreshing feeling when you breathe in after taking a sip. The second brew, at just under boiling for two minutes, was just as good. And the third brew continues in the tradition of being a thoroughly enjoyable cup of mint tea. It does get a little more subtle on the third brew, and a tiny bit sweeter as well. Oh, and most importantly? This blend doesn't dry out your throat as many mint teas are wont to do.

My suspicion is that this would be good however you decide to fix it: warm or cold, with or without sugar, added honey or not, added ginger syrup or not, mix with another herb or not, etc. And since, as an oolong, it's good for multiple brews, this is probably the best bang for your buck in terms of mint tea. I enthusiastically recommend this tea to any of my fellow mint lovers.

This was minty love at first sight (taste?). I am always looking for new and fantastic mint teas, and this one fits the bill. A perfect balance of tea and mint flavors.

The Twelve Days of Oolong: Day 5

2010-04-11T18:14:00.002-04:00

On the fifth day of oolong
my teapot gave to me
five wen shan bao zhongs,
four types of flowers,
three sprigs of lavender,
two strawberries,
and a single cup of juicy lychee.

Today's tea: Wen Shan Bao Zhong, from Naivetea

No link to purchasing info yet, because this is a sneak peek tea! Oh, I love sneaky teas. Whether they punch you in the face with a flavor you didn't expect (preferably pleasantly), or if you're one of the first tasters, it's always a sneak attack sort of experience. First, a little bit about wen shan bao zhong so you're not utterly confused about what I'm drinking today.

It's a tea that is only grown in a particular area of Taiwan. Wen shan bao zhong is a lightly oxidized oolong that has hints of green tea. (Because remember that oolong is more oxidized than green tea but less so than black tea.) For this reason, it is sometimes referred to as a green oolong. The leaves are often larger than the small balls of oolong we've been seeing, as evidenced by the photograph above.

Fresh out of the bag, it smells very much like green tea, with a slightly nutty scent as well. It actually smells like it's been toasted. The leaves are long and vary in color from a very dark green to a lighter green that has yellow tones in it. The first brew is a slightly darker gold than the other oolongs have been and has a strong vegetative scent to it, very similar to the green teas I am familiar with. It tastes like vegetables, though I can't put my finger on exactly what it is, and has no bitter aftertaste or drying effect on the throat.

The gold color deepens slightly with each subsequent brewing. I used water that was just shy of boiling for all three brews. The first one steeped for only two minutes, but I decided to let the second one steep for three. The vegetable flavor mellows out quite a bit, leaving the primary taste of a green tea & oolong blend. It's less astringent than green tea, which is good news for people like me who dislike most green tea on the basis of its' slightly bitter flavor.

The toasty scent that I noted when the tea was dry doesn't really come through in tasting, or if it does it's very faint. The tea's flavor gets more subtle with each brewing, which makes for a nice soft cup of tea by the third brew. The plain flavor would be good for people who don't want a lot of different flavors in their tea (read: not me, though this is very nice). I think this would be a good tea to pair with a meal because the taste wouldn't overwhelm the flavors of the food.

This is a nice plain tea that tastes like tea. No nasty aftereffects: no dryness in the throat or mouth, no bitterness, and not too wired on caffeine. The perfect combination of green and oolong tea flavors.

References

The Twelve Days of Oolong: Day 4

2010-04-10T10:00:00.007-04:00

On the fourth day of oolong
my teapot gave to me
four types of flowers,
three sprigs of lavender,
two strawberries,
and a single cup of juicy lychee.

Today's tea: Rose Violet Calendula, from Naivetea

[see the flower petals?]

Though only three are listed in the name (rose, violet, and calendula), there's also jasmine in this blend. It's another day full of flowers, after the lavender yesterday. It smells bloody wonderful, with the sweet rose coming through the strongest, followed by the violets. Even better than the lavender. This is like going walking in an English garden in springtime. Except I'm, erm, sniffing a tea.

Onto brewing!

[left to right: via Sandra Qin, Az~Kate, & fiikus]

I let the water get close to boiling and steeped for two minutes. The first brew tastes primarily of jasmine and roses, with a strong oolong background. It dries your mouth out a little bit, but not too badly. I sort of feel like I'm breathing perfume out my nostrils after drinking, which sounds unpleasant, but it's actually not. It just seems like when drinking this, your skin might smell of flowers afterwards. The aftertaste is mild violets.

The second brew is much more heavily floral, with jasmine and rose still being very strong. The bitter dryness goes away in the second brew, and disappears entirely with the third steeping. The flower flavors blend well together and it's a pleasant, if strong, floral tea. I'll leave you with Laura's (positive) comments on the tea.

It's like a really fancy soap that you drink.

Strongly floral but not too bitter. Dryness remains, but it's a true floral tea, in the sense that it tastes the way a garden smells.

The Twelve Days of Oolong: Day 3

2010-04-09T16:06:00.001-04:00

On the third day of oolong
my teapot gave to me
three sprigs of lavender,
two strawberries,
and a single cup of juicy lychee.

Today's tea: Lavender Oolong, from Naivetea

I know, I know: I'm late with this one. Forgive me; I decided to go outside and enjoy the 70 degree sunny weather that felt so much like early summer. And a good thing too, since it was pouring rain this morning when I woke up! Since it's gone back to being chilly and rainy (more like a typical Massachusetts spring I suspect), I'll be much more motivated to drink tea.

This smells like a very fine perfume. It's a smooth lavender, rather than a sharp one. There's something almost fruity about it, which strikes me as a bit odd. I'm usually not a fan of lavender, precisely because it is too sharp, but this one is really soothing.

[via Erasmus T]

I think I heated the water a bit closer to boiling than usual for the first brew, but it tastes all right. When wet, the leaves smell like pretty typical wet tea leaves, though the lavender comes through even then. Unfortunately, the tea itself doesn't really taste of lavender. The primary taste is TEA, with all the drying properties that entails. I left the second brew in for two minutes instead of three and it's still drying, albeit less so. But it still tastes primarily of tea to me, and not of lavender.

The third brew, on which I hung most of my hopes, was indeed an improvement. Much of the bitterness and dryness disappears and the flower taste comes through a bit more. The third time it is more like drinking a fine perfume, though not in that disgusting sharp alcohol tang sort of way. It's like drinking what you're smelling, if that makes any sense. I left half the cup of tea and put it in the fridge, to see what it would be like when chilled. The lavender taste seems to intensify the longer it stays in the fridge.

This is not a bad tea; I just like my teas to taste like something more than tea. I don't think the lavender was strong enough to overcome the taste of the oolong. The flavors were pleasant enough though. I usually like my teas to beat me about the head with flavor.

The Twelve Days of Oolong: Day 2

2010-04-06T22:28:00.001-04:00

On the second day of oolong
my teapot gave to me
two strawberries
and a single cup of juicy lychee.

Today's tea: Strawberry Oolong, from Naivetea

Whoa! Strawberry smack to the face when I sniff the dry stuff. I'm a little wary of this, if only because strawberry doesn't exactly scream "good tea!" to me. But ok, I'll go with it. It looks like there are strawberry seeds in the tea itself, which is reassuring, since that means it's not some creepy artificial strawberry cough syrup flavoring.

I expected the brew to turn pink, because of the strawberries, but was surprised yet again when it remained a pale gold. I used water that was not quite boiling and brewed it the first time for about three minutes. Tentative sip and I am once again pleasantly surprised by how delicate the flavor is, despite how strong it smells. It's really more of a strawberry aftertaste than anything, and the distinctive taste of a high quality oolong tea for the most part.

[via iamhomosquirrel]

Second brew was at the same temperature, also steeped for three minutes. I am amazed at how much the leaves expand. Make sure you have plenty of space for these leaves to expand. Probably better to brew this one in a teapot infuser than any sort of tea ball. The leaves will just burst the tea ball open in their effort to expand. The second brew has a hint of flowers again (maybe honeysuckle?) and that pale strawberry aftertaste. This tea does make your throat a bit dry, for what it's worth. I'm not particularly bothered by this, but some might be.

Third brew: same water temperature, same amount of time. I also added a little less than half of a demerara sugar cube, which reminded me of dipping freshly washed strawberries in a bit of sugar. The flavor gets a bit lighter again on the third brew, so the strawberries don't come through quite as much as I'd like. I suspect this would be fantastic iced. Add a little bit of sugar, and you've got a lovely tea party picnic for early summer. Yup, that's the plan. Especially since it's supposed to hit almost 90 tomorrow. Clearly summer has decided to arrive early this year.

Such a delicate taste, you don't have to be a die-hard strawberry lover to appreciate this tea. Heavier on the oolong than the strawberry. Seems like it would be an ideal tea to brew cold.

The Twelve Days of Oolong: Day 1

2010-04-05T22:54:00.009-04:00

On the first day of oolong
my teapot gave to me
a single cup of juicy lychee.

(And no making fun of my bad spoof poetry. It'll be a running theme for the next twelve posts, so just have a private giggle or three about it.)

Today's Tea: Lychee Oolong, from Naivetea

First off, a bit of an introduction to oolong. It is a true tea, in the sense that it's made from the camellia sinensis plant. The leaves are oxidized more than green tea, but not quite as much as black tea. It's generally brewed with about 2 teaspoons of tea, with water that is not quite boiling and it is steeped for three to four minutes. An unusual property of oolong is that it is brewed multiple times, with the third or fourth infusion usually considered the best. It's a tea often associated with weight loss, though that's not my primary (or even secondary) interest in it.

[see that lovely pale golden color?]

The lychee oolong smells incredibly juicy, even when dry. I almost don't smell any tea, just the overwhelming (and amazing) smell of lychee. If you've never smelled lychee, it's a very candy-like scent. Though it's probably only candy-like to me because I remember eating some lychee gummy candies that were incredible. There's also a slight scent of sweet flowers, almost like sweet pea.

Lychee is a reddish-pink, but the tea brews more of a pale gold color, like weak spring sunlight. First brew is a lovely tea taste, without any tannins, and a faint taste of lychee and flowers. I brewed it at just shy of boiling for three minutes. It's not overly sweet, and I didn't add any sugar or anything because I'm afraid of overpowering the taste. Second brew tasted and smelled more of flowers than of lychee. Third brew, which I did for four minutes instead of three, and it was indeed the best of the three. More lychee than flowers for this brew, and still not overly sweet. I never did add any sweetener, though I think it wouldn't be hurt by maybe half a sugar cube if you like.

Brilliant lychee flavor, though not overly sweet. Definitely a tea, but thankfully devoid of tannins. It does indeed get better with more brews, so feel free to have three or four cups.

References

Need an Air Freshener? Try a Bag of Tea!

2010-04-03T00:48:00.001-04:00

Think about it: tea generally smells pretty good. It's not laden with nasty chemicals or artificial odors, so why not use it as an air freshener. This is probably a particularly useful tip for a bathroom, but could also work in other rooms of the house. What about a small cluster of tea bags hung from the pot rack in the kitchen? You could also make tea bag curtains if you were so inclined, though that would require a little more work on your part.

[image from aapje595 on flickr]

Some suggestions for types of tea to use were Good Earth spiced tea, some sort of mint, chai, and lemon tea. I would also throw in Tulsi's rose tea or perhaps something with pomegranate in it. It all depends on what kind of scents you like. It's a nice alternative to potpourri or spray air fresheners, and will allow you to change the scent as often as you like.

(via Apartment Therapy)

Coming up next: the Twelve Days of Oolong, courtesy of samples generously provided by Naivetea. (Though note that I am not in their employ; I just really like tasting teas, particularly ones I didn't have enough of in my own collection - oolong.)

Lucile's New Orleans Spiced Tea

2010-03-22T21:17:00.001-04:00

My upstairs neighbors let me go through their tea drawer and I found a treasure. A little black bundle of strongly scented cinnamon tea immediately jumped out at me. It's apparently from a little cafe in Colorado. Smells less strongly of cinnamon when brewed, but it's definitely a cinnamon kick in the face. I could smell it through the tin. It reminds me a little bit of Good Earth Original in its' spiciness, but this one is less complex flavor-wise.

I think the first time I brewed it for far too short a time (I only left it in for three minutes). This time, I left it in for five minutes. A base of traditional black tea, with a cinnamon punch at the end. Quite good, though it's much more traditional than most of the teas I like. I'm having bread and butter, which goes well with this tea. Added a single sugar cube to sweeten it, and though I didn't add milk to it, I think that would be good as well.

Brewed right at boiling (with a pre-heated mug, because my neighbors treat me well!) for three minutes, which was definitely not long enough. Five minutes worked much better, with boiling water again. This seems like it would be a good breakfast tea.

Definitely don't drink this one if you don't like cinnamon! This is traditional black tea but with cinnamon. Add a little bit of sweetener and some milk and you've got a lovely cup of almost-traditional tea.

Inko's Hint of Mint & Blueberry White Teas

2010-03-14T11:33:00.003-04:00

Whoa, two reviews in one! Clearly I have too much time on my hands. (Actually, it's because I was cleaning out my fridge and figured what better time than to drink some bottled tea and blog about it. That's how I roll.) Besides, what can I really say about bottled teas? They're ready-made, they're usually a golden-caramel brown, and they vary in drinkability.

(P.S. Did I mention I'm not really proficient with making graphics? But I needed something pretty...)

Hint of Mint
This is unsweetened white tea with mint in it, or so the label tells me. It's somewhat flavorless, slightly bitter, and not as minty as I'd like. I added some sugar syrup to sweeten it, thinking that might improve the flavor. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth, but maybe that's the syrup rather than the tea itself. In any case, sweetened or unsweetened, this is like drinking water that's masquerading as tea. Maybe it had a quick brush with a mint leaf, but then shied away for fear of actually tasting like mint. Highly disappointing, especially considering how good it smells.

Don't even bother picking the bottle up. It's water that vaguely tastes of mint, not tea! A disgrace I say.

Blueberry
Still leaves a bit of a bitter taste, but at least this one is sweetened. It tastes like it smells: blueberry white tea. It's refreshing, and for a bottled tea is pretty convincing. I admit that I'm usually a purist and would rather brew it myself, but this is one that I would drink again. Definitely an early summer/late spring type of tea. Can you tell I'm trying to rush winter away and find spring already? First the matcha, now this.

Yum! Juicy blueberries and white tea, I can almost roll the berries in my mouth. Perfect for days that are just warming up.

Rishi's Sweet Matcha

2010-02-27T12:41:00.002-05:00

I have never tried matcha before. I had heard that it's an acquired taste, so I figured it's about time that I acquired it. Except...what is matcha exactly? Essentially, it's powdered green tea. Rishi's original variety has cane sugar added, hence the sweetness. Plain matcha will be a little more bitter. It's also a fairly expensive form of green tea, being of high quality tea leaves that were grown in the shade and then hand-picked.

Opening the pouch resulted in a little puff of wasabi-colored green powder (heavens, I hope it doesn't taste like wasabi! though that would probably be good for my cold...) and the scent of early spring grass. Sweetly green, maybe even a little like flowers mixed with hay. This requires no tea bag, just a half teaspoon to a tablespoon of the powder whisked vigorously with boiling water, so it's nice for convenience's sake. The amount you use depends on how strong you want the tea, and how much you're making. I used a tablespoon, and will probably use a little less next time. But oh my, look at the color it turns when fully whisked (it's done when there are bubbles on top):

Not quite emerald and not quite lime, but some fabulous combination thereof. Such a gorgeously rich green! It smells very grassy when brewed (whisked? prepared?), though it doesn't taste quite as thickly grassy. It's grassy, sure, but also a nice amount of sweetness, and a little bit of strong flavor in the background. Quite pleasant, though I don't see how this would have to be an acquired taste. (Granted, I'm drinking the sweet variety, with sugar added, so maybe that's it.) Can't wait to try it iced this summer. I'm also looking forward to trying the other two varieties: ginger and genmai.

One word of warning: mine got very strong at the end. Turns out that I either didn't whisk it thoroughly enough, or that the powder may settle after a time. But this is only at the very end, and for the taste of spring in a cup, I'm willing to put up with it. I wonder what this would be like paired with Tulsi's Sweet Rose tea?? Something to experiment with later.

Another thing that makes matcha (sweet or otherwise) very attractive to me is that it's supposed to be good to use for baking. As baking is one of my other favorites, I have also been looking forward to that. After having drunk this matcha, I'm thinking that I could whip up some very nice ginger-matcha cupcakes sprinkled with cinnamon. Or perhaps some matcha-honey cookies with almonds?

There are some recipe ideas on the package itself, which includes suggestions of sprinkling it over ice cream or adding it to lemonade. Which made me curious about what else is out there (in addition to my own cooking fantasies above, of course). A handful of recipes, to inspire you:

Whisk it, drink it, love it. No steeping times to worry about, just a nice cup of spring fields with a little bit of sweetness.

References

E-How on Matcha
Matcha & More
"The Little Black Book of Tea" by Mike Heneberry
Wikipedia

Republic of Tea's Orange Ginger Mint

2010-02-19T13:00:00.003-05:00

Billed as a tea for after a meal, this is a soothing blend of flavors that you might think of as strong individually. Luckily, they complement each other very well, none overpowering the other. I think the ginger and the mint are the most prominent flavors, with orange hiding in the background. And it's definitely not a sour orange, it's a sweet orange! I like it with ginger syrup (another wonderful product from the Ginger People). I have yet to try it cold, but I suspect that will also be quite good with ginger syrup. (Because really, what wouldn't be good with ginger syrup?)

[image from Republic of Tea]

Ingredients in this charming tisane are ginger, orange bergamot mint, lemon thyme, anise hyssop, anise seeds, and blackberry leaves. The Republic of Tea wins again! Everything I have tried by them lately has been wonderful (reviews to come, I promise). For those of you that don't like anise (how can you not though?!), it isn't an overwhelming flavor in this tisane. Rather, it just leaves a nice aftertaste that seems to make the air taste a little sweeter. It's the same with mint; no toothpaste-style strength here.

A little more on the individual ingredients, because I got curious what makes this tisane so satisfying for almost every occasion:

ginger - good for fighting off colds, motion sickness, and stomach upset
mint - calms the stomach, soothes coughs and headaches
thyme - gets rid of headaches and sore throats, helps with congestion, used as an antispasmodic
anise - relieves coughs, helps with digestion, and sweetens breath

I've brewed it for five and seven minutes, and those seem like pretty good times. I've even left it in for (gasp!) ten minutes, and it still doesn't turn bitter. It's not overly sweet though either. This will make a lovely iced tea this summer, assuming summer ever arrives in Massachusetts. (Currently it's very windy and is in the thirties before wind-chill. Just in case you're curious.) With the addition of the ginger syrup (which I am thinking more and more ought to be a must), the ginger flavor obviously comes out strongest.

I bought this tea out of sheer curiosity a little over a month ago, and am a quarter of the way through the tin. That should give you some idea of how wonderful it is: it's one I keep coming back to, despite all the other varieties in my cupboard that still need exploring.

That's right, the first five pot rating! I think this is a tisane that can do no wrong. It's light enough to be nice after meals, warm enough to be good if you're sick, and has no nasty aftertaste. AND it doesn't have to be sweetened. Yum!

References

"Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs" edited by Claire Kowalchik & William H. Hylton
"The Complete Guide to Herbal Medicines" by Charles W. Fetrow and Juan R. Avila
The Herb Spiral

Zhena's Gypsy Teas Ambrosia White Plum

2010-02-10T16:05:00.002-05:00

As a rule, I am not a green tea kind of gal, favoring white teas, tisanes, and rooibos-based brews in general. Zhena's Gypsy Teas Ambrosia White Plum blends white and green teas, as well as plums, strawberries, and roses. It says it also have stevia leaf in it, which should mean it's sweet, but all I can taste is green tea bitterness. Green tea and I clearly don't get along.

Upon opening the canister, it smells like white tea and plums, with a little hint of strawberries and roses that have been mushed together. I hardly catch green tea at all, just a pleasant garden-like sweetness. It's supposed to inspire vitality and pleasure, and I can see the vitality. It reminds me of spring, if spring were put in a can and given some plums to hold. Which is why the brewed product is such a disappointment.

I tried to like it. Really I did. It brews to a lovely cheerful deep marigold. The plum smell comes through, though not too strongly, when sniffing the dry blend. Sadly, when brewed, I get nothing but the green tea bitterness overpowering everything else. I can't tell there's white tea, I can't tell there's strawberries or plums or roses, or even any sweetness. Added a sugar cube. Even that didn't cut the bitterness or the drying factor. It's just...tea. In that, "I'm a slightly bitter tea that's going to dry out your mouth and throat as much as possible." Not so nice.

Steeped for one to three minutes in water that was boiled and then left to cool slightly. It didn't really smell "done" after 2 minutes, so I left it for a teensy bit longer. Maybe there's my problem with the overwhelming bitterness? Let's try brewing for only 60 seconds.

Ah! Much improved. Brewed for precisely 60 seconds, the flavor is much more manageable. Not nearly so dry, and the plum flavor is _almost_ present (but still too shy to be discernible). I appreciate that it's no longer so incredibly dry I have trouble drinking it, but this tea still isn't winning any huge appreciation from me. It's pleasant enough, but there's no "wow" in it. *sigh* I really need someone with whom to trade teas. Get some [more] variety into my tea cupboard. Any takers?

I would say don't bother, but perhaps you like green tea and were dreading the plum element of this tea. That element is non-existent, much to my dismay. Very plain, dries the throat when overbrewed, not sweet, tastes primarily of green tea.

Choice Teas Northwest Blackberry

2010-02-02T22:11:00.005-05:00

Today is Imbolc, a pagan holiday that's all about the first showings of spring (though I don't think there's any here in Massachusetts yet). Imbolc, which means "in the belly", celebrates the Celtic triple goddess Brighid. One of the herbs associated with Brighid is - you guessed it - blackberries! So I thought what better occasion than to brew Choice Organic Teas northwest blackberry tisane.

[this essentially describes my evening]

I have been on a quest to find this tea ever since I used to drink it in California. They served it at a popular café and I ordered it every time I went, regardless of what I was eating. Then one day they stopped serving it, shortly after I had bought a box of it from a local market. After finishing that box off, I hadn't been able to find it, regardless of how many local organic markets I went to. Finally I stumbled across it, when I wasn't even really looking for it, at a local co-op market and was very pleased with the prospect of having my blackberry tea again.

This is a richly fruity tisane that brews to a very rich ruby color. It's tart, but not unpleasantly so. The company suggests that you sweeten it with apple juice; I usually drink it plain. I think it's a virtue when a tea can be drunk without additional sweetener, so this one scores highly. This summer I have plans to try it iced, which should also be amazing. It smells strongly of blackberries both before brewing and after, just as it should.

Blackberries, blackberries, and more blackberries. Don't drink this if you don't like fruit tisanes. Pleasingly tart and sweet enough without being cloyingly so.

Tea With a Bite

2010-01-29T17:03:00.001-05:00

Ok, my apologies for the bad puns. But this tea infuser concept (which unfortunately is a joke and not a real product, so far as I know) has a shark fin on top. This would be great fun with a rooibos, or a tisane with strawberries.

[images from Design Boom]

Tales from the Tea Kettle

2010-01-28T20:33:00.002-05:00

Brewing the water for tea is a step that is obviously essential, but people may not think too much about how they do it. For example, do you know what your kettle is made out of? Do you like electric or stovetop? Glass or metal? What type of metal? Do you brew the tea in a separate teapot, or in the cup itself? Do you have different teapots for different teas? Do you brew flowering teas? My search for a tea kettle ended quite well, even if it was rather lengthy.

I used to be a very utilitarian sort of girl when it came to brewing. My old tea kettle was a Copco stainless steel one that ended up rusting. I keep water in my kettle all the time because you never know when you're going to run into a tea emergency (ok, really, it's because I'm lazy). The thing never whistled, though the company claims there's a whistle in the lid, just made a sort of low annoyed buzz-hum. The one good thing about it was that the handle never got so hot you couldn't touch it (a complaint I've heard about a good deal of kettles). However, once I noticed rust on the spout and a funny taste to the water, it was off the stove. It also never quite came clean, no matter what I tried, after an unfortunate encounter with splattering hot oil during cooking.

Rule no. 1: Always take your kettle off the stove when cooking!

The search began for a new one. What I really wanted was: no plain metal on the inside, pretty color; pleasing shape; preferably whistling; a spout that wouldn't spill and was easy to open; a heat-resistant handle; and a top that stayed on firmly. The latter was especially important to me since I just got my first bad steam burn due to somebody not putting the kettle lid back on firmly (and that somebody was not me - I know better).

I love the aesthetic of glass kettles, so I immediately beelined for those and found two to my liking: the Bodum Clara glass kettle and the Adagio Teas glass kettle. The Bodum only has two and a half stars on Amazon - not a good start. Quite a few people complained about the sides being printed with warnings about boiling water in four languages. Seems excessive, but I could live with it...except then a few others also complained that the glass on their kettle had cracked. Moving on to the one from Adagio Teas. Four stars on Amazon (a promising start), but again quite a few people express their concern with breakage (or the potential for it). I would've gone with Teavana's Alasdair kettle, but couldn't find enough reviews of it to satisfy me (plus, yet again, the reviews that did exist expressed concern for how breakable it was). I also couldn't find any information about whether the handles on any of them were heat-resistant.

Glass Kettles

Pros: lovely aesthetic; possibly boils water more quickly

Cons: delicate; mostly they don't whistle; not enough positive reviews

So no glass kettle. *pout* It would've been beautiful, yes, but I'm more interested in keeping my body from coming into contact with boiling water to risk it. So what about electric kettles? I've seen a few friends using them and while they boil water speedily, there's something about them that seems overly modern to me. I like the simplicity of putting water in a kettle, turning on the stove, and going away to do something else (for a watched kettle never boils). But I looked into them anyways and discovered two clear winners: the Adagio UtiliTEA kettle and the Capresso H20 Plus glass water kettle. The Adagio one has two temperature settings (180°F for white, green, and light oolongs or boiling for dark oolongs, black, or tisanes) and has 98% positive reviews (out of nearly 260 total). The Capresso gets points for being glass with a very minimalist appearance.

Electric Kettles

Pros: boils water very quickly; don't need a stove to use them; can be cordless (which means tea literally anywhere!)

Cons: mostly more difficult to control the temperature; seems less ethereal than stove-top kettles

Finally, the last category (with which I am most familiar): enamel-coated steel kettles. Among many others, the ones I was most drawn to were from Reston Lloyd, another Copco (yes, I never learn), and a Kitchenaid. I have a thing for rounded kettles with curvy spouts, and especially if they have a harmonic hum whistle, which is supposed to be less piercing than the more traditional whistle. And while cast-iron pots get very high ratings in general, I just don't really like cast-iron cookware. Obviously I spent way too long looking at kettles, considering how massive this post is getting.

Enamel-Coated Steel

Pros: pretty colors; durable; usually has a heat-resistant handle and a whistle

Cons: can boil quite slowly

My final pick? After probably spending far too much time reading tea kettle reviews, I went with Le Creuset's Zen tea kettle in kiwi. It has a lovely color (lime green, which I've always said is my confidence color), with a whistle and a lid on the spout that is easily flipped up, without burning yourself, when it comes time to pour. The handle has stayed quite cool and it looks really elegant sitting on my flat-burner stove, especially when it's next to my old Copco.

Feel free to wax poetic about your favorite tea kettle!

Why Steepster Rocks

2010-01-24T16:58:00.000-05:00

Steepster is a social networking website for tea drinkers, which my close friend Jamie introduced me in October 2009. The rating system is simple, with a sliding scale and smiley faces to let you know where to place each tea on said scale. It also lets you mark at what temperature you should steep the tea in question, and for how long. I use Steepster as a way to keep track of what teas I have, what teas I want to try, and what teas I have tried. Think of it as a complement to this blog, in addition to my tea wishlist.

Another way I keep track of what teas I have is a tea menu that's written in lime green dry erase marker on my pantry cupboard doors. I apparently have thirty-five teas in my cupboard at present, plus a mystery tea. It's an old Teavana blend (old as in, I still lived in California when I bought it - so at least over a year old). Consider that one reviewed and apologized for in advance, given that I don't know what it is. But the thirty-four teas I have left to try are:

Some of these are teas I've already tried, but haven't written a review for yet. I'll get there. I did notice that my collection tends towards tisanes and rooibos, with white teas coming in second. One thing I think I need more of is flavored black teas, as well as traditional teas (things like earl grey, English breakfast, etc) and oolongs. The current to-sip list (also known as the shopping list on Steepster) includes forty teas, and is ever-growing. Does this constitute an addiction yet? I'll get back to you on that one.

Feel free to friend me on Steepster! I suspect it would be a great way to set up tea trades and compare notes.

Tulsi's Sweet Rose

2010-01-23T21:25:00.004-05:00

May I start by expressing my apologies for being absent. The semester started and I got a little overwhelmed. But anyway, these reviews just keep getting better. And I'll have a non-review post quite soon as well. AND there are two reasons that I'll be able to write regularly this semester: 1) I'm only taking one class, and 2) I'll be working on my master's thesis so I will be drinking a lot of tea.

Both my grandmothers loved roses, and managed to pass that love onto me. After finding the perfect rose perfume (The Peacock Queen 2009 by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, if anyone's curious), I went in search of a lovely rose tea. Sounds strange, considering most people prefer roses bunched into bundles in a vase than drinking them, but I'm eccentric. I can accept that. And since I don't have cut flowers in my home (my cat eats them), I figured why not try for a tea.

There's a sweetly pink tag on this teabag and when first opened, it smells of a garden full of roses. On second sniff before brewing, there's something more spicy, almost liquorice-like, that I can't quite identify. I used to love these mints when I was a child, that were rose on the outside with an anise center, so this smells promising.

Drinking it (and burning my tongue in the process), it tastes like hot rose petals resting on your tongue. It tastes the way roses smell, if that makes any sense. The manufacturer's website says it's a blend of tulsi, roses, lemon myrtle, and stevia leaf. Tulsi is another name for holy basil (ocimum tenuiflorum for the plant geeks among us), which is in the mint family. Its' other nickname, the Queen of Herbs, is apt after tasting it in a tea. It is mint-like, though decidedly not basil-like. Stevia is a sweetener derived from a plant in the sunflower family and is a sugar substitute, so this tea needs no additional sweetener. It's notable that there has been some concern about stevia being dangerous is large quantities; the FDA has rejected stevia as a mainstream sugar substitute several times. (Though I'm a little skeptical of how good an indicator of safety FDA approval is, considering they didn't start regulating things like ephedrine until far after they should have.)

Lacking instructions on the package (this was a freebie from a local organic market), I steeped it for 3 minutes in boiling water that had been taken off the stove for about half a minute. I like that it's caffeine-free and flavorful without being overpoweringly so. This might be a good palette cleanser between courses at a long meal (though really, who does that anymore?), because the taste is so light and it's not overly sweet. It's not a dessert tea, which baffles me because I thought it would be, but it's also not one of those teas that would be really good for sick people. I didn't add sugar or other sweeteners, and I don't think I'd recommend that; the rose taste would probably be lost entirely. It's definitely not bitter, so it doesn't need the sweetening anyway.

It's just what it says it is: rose tea. Nice, simple, sweet. Not overwhelmingly flavorful, but not boring. Oddly, it makes me smile for no reason. I think it would round out a garden tea party very nicely. So good, I went and bought a box of it after trying the sample.

References

Teavana's Peachberry Jasmine Sutra

2010-01-16T23:54:00.002-05:00

I was really excited about this one when I smelled it in the store. It smelled like berries and peaches that you're eating at the end of the day after they've been warmed up by the sun on an early summer day. You can also smell the jasmine when it's dry, though it's fainter than after it has been brewed. On sniffing a second time, after getting it home, I found that it smelled more like berry-peach with a little bit of green tea. That green tea scent is quite elusive, having been drowned out by the peaches and berries and jasmine. Not bad, just complex.

This tea brews reddish-pink with brown highlights, like a nice Indian ruby. Teavana recommends you use a teaspoon for each brewed cup, with the water at 175° F. I have yet to start measuring water temperature that accurately, though perhaps I should start. Expect to steep this one anywhere from two to four minutes, though the company recommends three to four minutes. I found it to be a little too bitter when left to steep for three and a half minutes.

[image from Teavana]

This is a green tea base, though you wouldn't know it immediately upon sniffing after brewing. It smells primarily of jasmine, with peaches and a little bit of berry hiding in the background. Strangely, there was little to no peach taste, with jasmine and tart berries dominating. Please note the word "tart" there, because it is definitely tart. Cheek-suckingly so. Tart jasmine flowers, with a green tea base, is what it ultimately tastes like to me. I didn't add any sweetener because I was worried about overwhelming the jasmine flavor, so maybe that would help next time. I think this one would tone best with sugar, rather than honey or agave nectar, since the latter two both have distinctive tastes and this tea has a lot of delicate flavors that shouldn't be canceled out. I'd also brew it for two minutes, instead of anything longer.

I had hope for this one, because the tea rates pretty highly (see steepster reviews), as well as on the Teavana website. So maybe I'm just too picky. A fair few of people end up mixing it with the strawberry lemonade tisane from Teavana. I'm not sure how they're doing this, considering how tart the peachberry jasmine sutra is already.

Clearly I'm a tough tea drinker, the way I'm a tough grader. I think this one smells better than it tastes. In any case, if you want a simple tea, this is not the one for you. Peaches and berries and jasmine and green tea, oh my!

Lupicia's Momo Oolong Super Grade

2010-01-13T18:42:00.004-05:00

Whenever I buy a certain amount of tea from Lupicia, they throw in a few free samples. Unfortunately, they don't label the samples in English! So I've had two samples sitting on my tea shelf (yes, I have an entire shelf for my teas, and no, I won't apologize for it) for a little while, with no idea what they are. None of my guests have been brave enough to take me up on "mystery tea #1 or #2" when they ask for tea, so I figured I'd just have to try them myself!

[image from Lupicia's website]

I figured out that I can look up teas by product number, so I looked up mystery tea #1 and found out it was momo oolong super grade. Even though it says it's an oolong base, it smelled and tasted like green tea to me. I was under the impression (and you should correct me if I'm wrong!) that one of the Japanese meanings of the word "momo" is "peach tree". This tea smells like peaches, but the peach flavor doesn't come through very strongly. There is, however, a strong floral finish when drinking that was reminiscent of roses. So, if you can imagine some rose vines that grew twined around a peach tree, you've got the gist of it. Minus the tea flavor that overpowers both.

For brewing, it's recommended that you use 3 g or 0.10 oz of the leaves, combined with boiling water and left to steep for two to two and a half minutes. That steeping time certainly doesn't leave much room for error. Don't leave it to brew and then go read my blog (you know, or any one of the other things that might consume your time).

It was a little less flavorful than I would have liked, but not bad. I'm glad it was a free sample, as I don't think I'd drink it again. I admit my weakness for flavored teas and flavored teas alone.

Teas for the Sniffles

2010-01-10T15:48:00.001-05:00

You know what I love when I'm sick? Tea! I mean, I love it all the time, but I especially love it when I'm sick. It soothes my throat, stops me from coughing (as much), and if I brew it strong enough I can actually taste it. Tasting things is nice, so anything that's strongly flavored enough without being vile rates highly.

My favorite of all of these is probably liquorice peppermint by Choice. It sounds bizarre, and everyone who I rave about it to cringes inadvertently, but drinking is believing! It's sweet, without adding anything, and the peppermint and liquorice combine to open up your airways. It relieves congestion, headaches, stress, and muscle pain. I know I'm making it sound like a new agey-y herbal medicine thing, but it really is worth drinking, sick or not.

There's an Asian fusion restaurant near me that brews the best ginger-honey tisane I've ever had. I assume they use fresh ginger, since there are always fresh curls of ginger floating on top, and a good bit of honey since the sweetness matches the spiciness. They serve it hot or cold (I honestly can't decide which I like better).

Good Earth original, what my mom makes her killer sun tea out of, is one of the few boxed teas that you can leave the tea bag in the water forever and it doesn't turn bitter or sour on you. The taste is definitely spicy, with a sweetness in the background. I always thought of it as a good way to burn the cold out of me (so to speak). Obviously delicious served hot or cold (so if you're sick in the summer, you're not out of luck).

Yogi Breathe Deep tea is a new discovery (as in, within the last month). I went to California to visit my parents and immediately managed to get sick. I decided I wanted tea, so we went to the grocery store in search of my liquorice peppermint stand-by. Unfortunately, we couldn't find it anywhere. I was desperate and decided to try this kind, hoping it would alleviate some of my symptoms. It definitely did, and even though it has some odd-sounding ingredients (black pepper and basil?!), it tastes primarily of peppermint and cinnamon.

Simply Mint by Numi is my old favorite for a nice plain mint tea. It pairs better with sugar than honey in my experience, though I have yet to try it with agave nectar. I don't know what more to say about it, other than it's mint, and you can't really leave the teabag in too long the way you can with other teas. It will just result in more minty goodness.

Lastly, a very simple tisane my mother recently passed on to me for sore throats. Take a whole cinnamon stick and let it soak in cold water for an hour or two (or more if you're feeing adventurous). Supposedly, cinnamon will soothe your raw throat. Don't take my word for it though - I have yet to try it (because I haven't been sick enough). I'll let you know when I get that sick again (hopefully not any time soon though!).

These teas are all rated at three or above. In-depth reviews to follow at some point in the future. As though you hadn't guessed.

Bigelow's Sinfully Cinnamon

2010-01-08T19:53:00.008-05:00

Apparently Bigelow doesn't make this kind of tea anymore. My mom's had this stuff in her tea stash for as long as I can remember (maybe a decade?). Which may explain why this tea rated quite low. Most teas should last about a year or two before changing flavor, provided they're kept in dark cool conditions with airtight lids. However, I like to break rules, so I keep mine far longer than that. They're usually all right.

After opening the tea bag, I caught the scents of cinnamon, a bit of apple, and maybe some lemongrass or barley. This is a caffeine free herbal tea, and turns a medium caramel brown when steeped. It might've been oversteeped at five minutes, because the taste was definitely lacking. It was disappointingly bitter and slightly sour, kind of like apples that have gone south. It smelled strongly like apples and cinnamon when brewing. I think their cinnamon apple herbal tea is the newer version of the Sinfully Cinnamon, though having never tried it I couldn't say for sure.

In general, grocery store teas are not my favorite, particularly Bigelow. After trying looseleaf teas and artisan tea blends, I turn up my nose at the more common teas. Once I get a taste for something rich, I tend to never look back. It's a bad habit. Turn back while you still can!

I wouldn't drink it again, but perhaps the lack of distinctiveness won't bother you (if you can find it!). The tartness isn't bad, just common with teas that have apple in them. I wanted more of the cinnamon to come through, especially given the name.

The Ratings

2010-01-08T18:47:00.006-05:00

The original idea behind this blog was to keep track of my taste in teas - what worked, what didn't. For this, I figured it'd be best to come up with a standardized rating system. Like any good rating system, this one is represented by symbols that pertain to the topic at hand: teapots!

Toss that tea! This isn't worth keeping around, except maybe to clean the floors; apparently brewed tea makes a good wood floor cleaner (who knew?).

Not my cup of tea but might be yours. I'm not a huge fan of certain types of teas and tisanes: rooibos for example, and most things that have chamomile in them.

Brew a cup. Good enough to drink every now and again, when the mood hits.

Brew a pot. A lovely tea in most all respects, worth brewing by the potful and sharing with your friends.

Tea utopia! The best, with lovely color, scent, and taste. I am particular, so I suspect few teas will make the cut for this rating.

Tea or Tisane?

2009-12-31T22:51:00.006-05:00

Oh Darjeeling--
how I oolong for you!
(unknown author)

Seems like everything is labeled as "tea" these days. A skeptical someone once made a comment that if it doesn't have tea leaves in it, then it isn't tea. The colloquial definition seems to suggest that anything you can pour hot water over and then drink after some period of time counts as tea.

What exactly is tea? "True" tea can be the leaves or leaf buds from the camellia sinensis plant. This includes white tea, oolong tea, black tea (e.g. assam, ceylon, & darjeeling), and green tea (e.g. matcha, gunpowder, and sencha). Black tea has the most oxidation (and the most caffeine), followed by oolong, green and pu-erh, and finally white. I confess that white tea is my favorite, closely followed by oolong.

So what's a tisane? Quite simply, a tisane is an herbal infusion and is made with anything that isn't from the camellia sinensis plant. This includes familiar names like rooibos and yerba maté.

How do you pronounce that exactly? Tisane is a French word and is approximately pronounced "tih-zahn".

References (because I am an academic geek)

The Kitchn (see also here)
"The Little Black Book of Tea" by Mike Heneberry
Darjeelingtea.net
Wikipedia (good starting point)

Why Tea? Why Not?

2009-11-27T20:47:00.001-05:00

Coffee is a mere beverage; tea is a way of life.
(Miriam Novalle, a tea merchant)

I started drinking tea in high school, though I drank my mother's sun tea as a child. She used to take 5-7 bags of Good Earth Original and put them in a big jar with southwestern designs on the sides. Then that jar would go out in the backyard in the abundant New Mexico sunshine for the entire day. I used to watch as it turned darker, imagining the cinnamon-like taste settling into my tongue.

As a perpetual dilettante, tea has earned the honor of being one of my longest love affairs. (In case you're wondering, reading and writing/journaling are the others.) Tea has made bad books better, ended days that were otherwise un-saveable on a sweet note, and set aside moments to make magic in a cup with nothing but water and dried plants.

To introduce your hostess (i.e. me): I'm Kay, with 24 years of messiness under my belt, a sociology PhD student who makes the most time for tea, blogging, baking, and reading. I like to sink my teeth into life, which may explain my dilettante nature; I'm in a constant state of fascination with the world. I'm a serious sociology nerd, feminist, poet, anachrotechnofetishist, bibliophile, and a little bit of a weirdo. You lovely readers are more than welcome to give me feedback on what you'd like to see more of (or less of) on this bloggity project.