July tea review Grey's Tea, Good Afternoon blend

Grey's Teas

Good Afternoon blend-


So maybe I am longing for some relief from the heat and wanted something that remind me of a cool fall day, campfires and the smell of dried leaves that hits me right around my birthday in October (18th, if anyone wants to get me a present).

This tea did just the trick, it is reminiscent of my grandmothers love for afternoon tea, and it really has a calming effect to the hustle and bustle of my day.

My first reaction was joy at the sweet woodiness of the leaves, followed by the undeniable smokiness that usually follows a good Lapsang souchong (one of my personal favorites) but with a bit more earthy sweetness. The liquor also had beautifully rich caramel redness to it, I have to say that it reminded me of a fall evening and I will be more than happy to relive that again and again. The taste was very full without being overpowering, it's warm flavor (not temp but, think brown sugar) and sweet almost (this may sound crazy) light artichoke like notes were very well balanced.

I have to give this very high marks for a very GOOD AFTERNOON tea.

Our Afternoon blend - Well chosen China and Indian teas are blended to give a light, fragrant liquor with a little smokiness. Once you have tried it you will not drink an average tea during the afternoon ever again! Can be drunk with or without milk.
Go to Grey's Tea

Below is a direct link to this tea
http://goo.gl/q7mIE

June Tea Review Obubu Tea Plantations, Sencha of the Earth

This month I am reviewing some lovely tea from the Kyoto Obubu Tea Plantations. 

Sencha of the Earth (Spring harvested Shincha)

This tea was very good, I mean its hard to wrong when you have a spring harvested Shincha tea. But this one has a very good quality liquor and a nice balance of vegetative sweetness with just a hint of the ever expected bite of a green tea.

I was pleasantly surprised with the earthy taste that this tea has, it really is worth trying.


From their Website:
Balancing sweetness with bitterness, the Sencha of the Earth or 大地の煎茶, was named because it comes from standard tea plants over 30 years old. The strength of these plants is simply amazing, and we can feel the power of the earth as we drink it. Grown on northwest facing slopes near the Wazuka River.

This Tea gets 4 out of 5 cups for me.

http://www.obubutea.com/store/sencha-green-tea/earth/

Tea 101, what makes a great cup

So I just realized after all I did with this blog last year (not that much) I never actually posted the basics of how to brew a good cup of tea.... so sorry, so here goes.

First things first, start with a good tea, but at this point it really doesn't matter what you start with as long as you are starting, for this example I will use some loose leaf Sencha Green Tea.

• The average cup of tea 8 oz, needs approx. 1 teaspoon of leaves (or one tea bag). 

• Put into your infuser or if you are bagging it set it in your cup. For this I am using an Adagio Tea ingenuiTea brewer (to the right though I am showing a typical wire mesh infuser). 

• Now lets boil our water.The quality of your water WILL affect the taste of your tea, so make sure if you have off-tasting water you use either a filter or bottled water.  Slowly boil this really will affect the waters taste

• For this part your tea will determine the temp that you boil your water at:
• Green tea bring your water (slowly) to around 150-160 F and only steep for about 2-4 minutes, 3 being a good average. 
• Black tea (as well as Rooibos, African red tea) you want to truly bring it to a boil and steep for about 5-6 minutes. 
• Herbal teas or Tisane should be around 5 minutes, now there are lots and lots of types so this may need a little testing to get it right. if its bitter it may need to be reduced in time a bit. 
• Oolong tea is a tea fermented between Green and Black its best temp is right around 190 F but steeped longer than Blacks at around 5-8 minutes. 

Its a good idea to have a thermometer handy if you don't have an automatic kettle (and even then sometimes its still a good idea). But if you don't a good rule of thumb (first keep thumbs away from boiling water... ouch) is small bubbles float on the waters surface at about 160-170 F. Then as it gets hotter around 180-190F you will start to see the little stings of bubbles form from the bottom of your kettle, after that the party gets started at a rolling boil of about 212 F. 

Remember once you have brewed your tea if you are using a higher quality loose leaf you may get 2 or 3 steeps out of it. If you are using a bag tea, its only going to be good for one (more than likely).

Resist the temptation to "squeeze" your tea bag, that will only make your tea bitter. 

And know that its not like ribs, the longer you slow cook the better it gets doesn't apply here. Timing is everything here in tea, if you the tea in too long it will become over steeped and bitter. But the flip side is true too, if you don't leave it in long enough it will be weak tea... so experiment, find what you like.

Enjoy, I know I am.... I am drinking this cup right now 

*For Iced tea preperation, basic amounts can be doubled, then add ice... so brew double strength and add equal amounts ice and water to suit your tastebuds. 

Ninjas Can't Mess with me

This is really funny Contest entry for Calm-A-Sutra of Tea 2008.



For all you hater Ninjas out there. You better step off Cause I've been drinking my green tea.

Chuck Norris you aren't the only one who can do a round house NOW!!

Happy New Year!!

Tis the time of year to look back and look ahead, doing that at one time though can cause a really bad strain on your neck.  So part of me feels like I failed a bit, I didn’t get to blog nearly as much on tea as I wanted to. Life happened, what are you going to do. I enjoyed this last year of discovering many types of tea and I really had fun with the friends I was able to share it with. From our trips to the tea stores to just hanging around talking about different types of processing amongst other things. This next year I plan to continue with the journey, a bit more educated but nowhere near an expert. I still have much to learn grasshopper. And I will do my best to share it with you, please feel free to join in, I know I may have an unhealthy obsession with this, but I know that there are those out there just like me, and you know who you are (if you are reading this you may just be one of them).

If you want to know more about me personally you can follow one of my other blogs: http://livewellblessbetter.blogspot.com/ or my wife’s: http://thrillofthechases.blogspot.com/  her blog is more than likely going to be better than mine, just saying. 

Matcha A brief history and use

Please know I am not a Matcha expert and this is only the info that I have found so far. As with all of our blog this is designed to be a beginners walk along the discovery of tea. I am still learning and loving every bit of it. So here we go, into the wonderful world of Matcha we dive. 

Matcha is the oldest and most premium variety of green tea in Japan - the mother of all green tea!

Matcha has been used by Buddhist monks since ancient times. The monks produce natural remedies from different plants. Since tea was known as medicine from its discovery, it was natural for Buddhist monks to powder it as they would powder other plants to obtain traditional Chinese medicine. This is how Matcha was born.

In 1191 Zen Master Eisei brought the new and revolutionary idea of drinking tea from China to Japan. Eisai traveled throughout the country and planted tea. In his book "Kissa yojoki" Eisei writes "Tea is the ultimate mental and medical remedy and has the ability to make one's life more full and complete. Tea has an extraordinary power to extend someone's life. Everywhere people plant tea, long life will follow". From this point on, Matcha became the "secret medicine" of Buddhist monks and the imperial court.

In the 16th century another Zen-master shaped the image of tea in Japan: Sen-no-Rikyu invented the tea ceremony. This highly sophisticated cultural art of drinking tea has greatly influenced the image of Japanese tea in the west. The tea that is exclusively used in the famous Tea Ceremony is Matcha green tea. As the Tea Ceremony became more desirable as an art form, Matcha became popular among the powerful samurai class in Japan. For centuries, Matcha remained the secret tea of Japan's elite - now it has been rediscovered for modern times and Aiya is proud to share this luxurious experience with you.

http://www.aiya-america.com/corporate/matcha

Matcha is made from shade-grown tea leaves also used to make gyokuro. The preparation of matcha starts several weeks before harvest, when the tea bushes are covered to prevent direct sunlight. This slows down growth, turns the leaves a darker shade of green and causes the production of amino acids that make the resulting tea sweeter. Only the finest tea buds are hand picked. After harvesting, if the leaves are rolled out before drying as usual, the result will be gyokuro (jade dew) tea. However, if the leaves are laid out flat to dry, they will crumble somewhat and become known as tencha (碾茶). Tencha can then be de-veined, de-stemmed, and stone ground to the fine, bright green, talc-like powder known as matcha

It can take up to one hour to grind 30 grams of matcha.

Note that only ground tencha qualifies as matcha, and other powdered green teas, such as powdered sencha, are known as konacha (粉茶, lit. "powder tea")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matcha#cite_note-2

My personal love for Matcha goes beyond its great health benefits, it has a wonderful vegetative flavor with a smoothness that I have not found in any other tea. Now it also comes at a high price, Matcha is one of the most expensive teas out there, but it is worth it.  

HOW TO PREPARE

Prior to use, the matcha is often forced through a sieve in order to break up clumps. There are special sieves available for this purpose, which are usually stainless steel and combine a fine wire mesh sieve and a temporary storage container. 

A special wooden spatula  called a Chashaku is used to force the tea through the sieve, or a small, smooth stone may be placed on top of the sieve and the device shaken gently.

If the sieved matcha is to be served at a Japanese tea ceremony, then it will be placed into a small tea caddy known as a chaki. Otherwise, it can be scooped directly from the sieve into a tea bowl.

 Pour 3 oz. of  hot (not boiling, about 80 °C or 176-185 °F) water .

 The mixture is then whisked to a uniform consistency, using a bamboo whisk known as a chasen. There must be no lumps left in the liquid, and no ground tea should remain on the sides of the bowl.  Make sure that you whisk from the center of the bowl in a M pattern breaking any large bubbles and remove the whisk from the center of the bowl. 

                                                    

        

Since Matcha is a power it will not dissolve in the water it is simply suspended in the hot water so try not to wait to long when drinking it will begin to settle in the bottom of the bowl. 

this is a mixture of my own photos and ones I got online: 

http://i545.photobucket.com/albums/hh381/IdentiTEA/Pics%20for%20Blog/UjiMatcha4.jpg

http://www.matchasource.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matcha#cite_note-2

http://www.opushotel.com/newsletter/images/Matcha2.jpg

Back in the saddle

It has been quite a while since I last posted anything, partly due to the heavy school load I had last semester, and partly because I was really busy with work. Now School is over (at least until next semester) and work is well still work, I own a CPR, First Aid & safety training company... sooo if anyone out there in Blogland needs to be certified... (and it wouldn't hurt if you were in the Dallas area) then shoot me a comment, I would love to train you and I can come to your location. I love groups.... O.K. commercial over.

For Fathers Day this year my Lovely bride bought me an ingenuiTEA infuser by Adagio Teas. I have to say I love it. I have been brewing in a Boum glass infuser so far but this cup at a time infuser is amazing.

I have so much to share soon. for now however I am just glad to be back in the tea saddle.

Speak Fluent Tea

This is a list of some of the terms commonly used by many in the tea world.

·         Aroma: the fragrance of the tea liquor (liquid) and the infused leaf.

·         Astringency: the dry mouth feel that some teas give off

·         Balanced: when all of the flavors are well rounded

·         Body: the feel of the tea on the tongue, some have a heavier body than others

·         Botanicals: the Herbs that are made up of the leaves, roots, barks, berries, grasses, petals, and peels.

·         Brightness: Crispness of the flavor, and clarity of color.

·         Brisk: The bite of a tea, akin to the Astringency of the tea.

·         Character: The signature attributes of a tea from a given region. For example, a tea from Darjeeling that doesn’t have the floral or nutty notes one would expect to find is said to “lack character,” even though it may taste very good.

·         Chewy: A tea with a dense, complex, full flavor. Not just a character from star wars.

·         Colory: Describes a tea that exhibits great color but not necessarily great flavor.

·         Common: plain, thin liquor that has no distinct character.

·         CTC: A grade of tea, Cut, Tear, and Curl (CTC) is an alternative to the orthodox leaf styles, and has more pronounced thickness of flavor. Leaf size is more granular, with more surfaces exposed.

·         Delicate: Used to describe teas that are subtler in flavor, yet still complex.

·         Dull: Describes the flavor of an old or poorly manufactured tea.

·         Fermentation: Also know as oxidation, this is the process of exposing fresh tea leaves to oxygen in order to turn them from green to black tea.

·         Flush: the period when tea bushes develop tender new shoots for harvest.

·         First Flush: The early-season harvest in many tea-growing regions, most notably Darjeeling.

·         Flat: Used to describe a tea that lacks flavor and character.

·         Flavory: Used to describe a tea that has good flavor but may lack color.

·         Intense: Most often used to describe a tea that has unusually robust or concentrated flavor and aroma.

·         Liquor: Brewed tea is regarded to as liquor in tea tasting.

·         Metallic: An undesirable coppery quality found in some lower-quality black teas.

·         Orange Pekoe: Refers to a finely manufactured full leaf grade, not a tea type. No one knows why the word “orange” is used in this context.

·         Orthodox: Refers to tea processed in the orthodox method of being mechanically rolled, resulting in a twisted leaf. Typically lighter and more delicate than CTC’s.

·         Origin: Where tea is grown and manufactured.  

·         Original Line: An unblended lot (or invoice) of tea ranging from 500 to 2,000 lbs that posses its own unique flavor and aroma characteristics.

·         Oxidation: The process where crushed tea leaves exposed to oxygen begin to turn a dark red-amber color and develop complex flavor.

·         Pekoe: (Pee-ko) is a leaf grade typically made from a coarser plucking.  “Pico” is a boulevard in Los Angeles, not a tea term.

·         Personality: Indicates whether a tea is the outgoing, life-of-the-party type, or the more introverted and given to quiet contemplation.

·         Plain: Characteristic of the liquor of a dull or thin tea.

·         Pluck: Describes a person with courage and spirit, but with tea it simply means to pick.

·         Rolling: The process of manipulation tea leaves in order to change their shape and break down cell structure; leads to enzymatic reactions that allow flavor development. (And you thought it sounded simple).

·         Second Flush: The second leaf harvest period of the season. Second-flush teas have more body, color and intensity.

·         Strength: Used to describe teas that have a lot of flavor, color and aroma. Also refers to the extraction level of teas resulting from steeping time.

·         Tea Shaman: A title given to one who after many lifetimes achieves the ability to create teas of extraordinary taste, as well as interpret the subtlest nuances of nature and balance plates on his nose.

·         Thickness: Similar to body or strength.

·         Varietal: Refers to an unblended tea from a particular origin: e.g. Darjeeling.

·         Vegetative: Green teas often have qualities that remind people generally of green vegetables. It is a sign of freshness and quality.

·         Wallah: One who is a master of a particular craft or skill. Chai wallahs have honed their skills by serving chai to wandering souls for centuries. And you just thought it was a place in Washington.

·         Withering: The process of allowing tea leaves to lose moisture and become soft and pliable immediately following plucking; usually takes 10-16 hours.

      This great resource came from the good people at Tazo Tea,  www.tazo.com

The Origin and History of Tea

Kicking off this year with a bit of history is just the way to start our journey into the world of tea, now remember there will be a test at the end, just kidding. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did, learning about a new culture or should I say a very old culture is a great deal of fun, and to think that tea has played such a huge role in history makes our cup of the day a little more awe inspiring. So sit back steep yourself a cup and enjoy the read of the Origins and History of Tea.

The Origins of Tea Lore take us to China around 2737 BC, during the Reign of emperor Shen Nung, a scholar and trusted herbalist, as the legend goes, he knelt by a fire, boiling water in a small pot when the breeze blew the leaves from the top of a bush into his vessel, creating a flavorful aroma that caused the emperor to investigate. When Shen Nung tried this brew he was amazed and delighted.
Like Art Tea has its periods and its evolution may be into three main stages Boiled Tea the Whipped Tea and Steeped Tea, we moderns belong last school. The Cake tea which was boiled the Powdered tea which was whipped, and the Leaf tea which was steeped mark the distinct emotional impulses of the Tang the Sung and the Ming dynasties of China If we were inclined to borrow the much abused terminology of art classification we might designate them respectively the Classic the Romantic and the Naturalistic schools of Tea.
The tea plant a native of southern China was known from very early times to Chinese botany and medicine It is alluded to in the classics under the various names of Tou Tseh Chung Kha and Ming and was highly prized for possessing the virtues of relieving fatigue delighting the soul strengthening the will and repairing the eye sight It was not only administered as an internal dose but often applied externally in form of paste to alleviate rheumatic pains The Taoists claimed it as an important ingredient of the elixir of immortality The Buddhists used it extensively to prevent drowsiness during their long hours of meditation. By the fourth and fifth centuries Tea became a favorite beverage among the inhabitants of the Yangtse Kiang valley.
It was about this time that the modern ideograph Cha was coined evidently a corruption of the classic Tou. The poets of the southern dynasties have left some fragments of their fervent adoration of the froth of the liquid jade. Then emperors used to bestow some rare preparation of the leaves on their high ministers as a reward for eminent services. Yet the method of drinking tea at this stage was primitive in the extreme. The leaves were steamed crushed in a mortar made into a cake and boiled together with rice, ginger, salt, orange peel, spices, milk, and sometimes with onions. The custom obtains at the present day among the Tibetans and various Mongolian tribes who make a curious syrup of these ingredients. The use of lemon slices by the Russians who learned to take tea from the Chinese caravansaries points to the survival of the method.
Luwuh’s celebrated work the “Chaking, The Holy Scripture of Tea” in which he formulated the Code of Tea consists of three volumes and ten chapters. In the first chapter Luwuh treats of the nature of the tea plant, in the second chapter he disuses the implements for gathering the leaves in the third of the selection of the leaves, The forth chapter, he talks about the equipment of proper Tea making, in his book he describes 24 specific pieces beginning with the tripod brazier and ending with the bamboo cabinet that contains these items.
In the fifth chapter, he describes the method of making tea. He eliminates  all ingredients except salt. He dwells also on the much discussed question of the choice of water and the degree of boiling it. According to him the mountain spring is the best the river water and the spring water come next in the order of excellence. There are three stages of boiling the first boil is when the little bubbles like the eye of fishes swim on the surface, the second boil is when the bubbles are like crystal beads rolling in a fountain, the third boil is when the billows surge wildly in the kettle. The Cake tea is roasted before the fire until it becomes soft like a baby's arm and is shredded into powder between pieces of fine paper. Salt is put in the first boil, the tea in the second, and at the third boil a dipper full of cold water is poured into the kettle to settle the tea and revive the youth of the water.

In the Sung dynasty the whipped tea came into fashion and created the second school of Tea. The leaves were ground to fine powder in a small stone mill, and the preparation was whipped in hot water by a delicate whisk made of split bamboo. The new process led to some change in the tea-equipage of Luwuh, as well as the choice of leaves. Salt was discarded forever. The enthusiasm of the Sung people for tea knew no bounds. Epicures vied with each other in discovering new varieties, and regular tournaments were held to decide their superiority. The Emperor Kiasung (1101-1124), who was too great an artist to be a well-behaved monarch, lavished his treasures on the attainment of rare species. He himself wrote a dissertation on the twenty kinds of tea, among which he prizes the White Tea as the rarest and finest of quality.
In the middle of the fifteenth century the Ming Dynasty was harassed by internal troubles, and China again fell under the alien rule of the Manchus in the seventeenth century. Manners and customs changed to leave no vestige of the former times. The powdered tea is entirely forgotten. We find a Ming commentator at loss to recall the shape of the tea whisk mentioned in one of the Sung classics. Tea is now taken by steeping the leaves in hot water in a bowl or cup. The reason why the Western world is innocent of the older method of drinking tea is explained by the fact that Europe knew it only at the close of the Ming dynasty.

Marco Polo records a discussion in 1285 in about the tea-taxes, it was more commonly spoke of by Far eastern travelers Giovanni Batista Ramusio (1559), L. Almeida (1576), Maffeno (1588) and Tareira (1610)
By 1636 it had reached France and then Russia in 1638. England opened itself to  Tea by 1650 and spoke of it as “That excellent and by app physicians approved China drink called by the Chineans Teha, and by other nations Tay, alias Tee.” It was however not met with all positive remarks, a Heretic Henry Saville (1678) denounced drinking tea as a filthy custom.  Jonas Hanway (Essay on Tea, 1756) said that men seemed to lose their stature and comeliness, women their beauty through the use of tea. 
Tea has played an important part of our modern history; Colonial America lived under heavy oppression until a group made a stand in Boston to heavy taxation on Tea. To this day we see cultures that still observe tea time and still hold true to the mindset that a day without tea is a day  not lived well. I will leave you with this quote from The Book of Tea, that much of the information that we have learned in this blog today came from.

The Philosophy of Tea is not mere aestheticism in the ordinary acceptance of the term, for it expresses conjointly with ethics and religion our whole point of view about man and nature. Pg 4

Okakura , Kakuzō “The book of Tea”.  New York: The Shilling Press, 1906. Print

This is a brief but maybe deep history of tea, I hope that you enjoyed learning of its roots as much as I did in reserching it. I find the greatest joy in discovering somthing new that I didn't know about before, this has been one of those situations, I learned a great deal also.

New Zen Tea

Starbucks is introducing new sachets with loose leaf tea instead of the paper teabags, I just got a preview of the new Zen, and I have to say that it is a much much better cup of tea, the aroma is very full and the flavors jump out of the cup, in a side-by- side comparison to the old Zen tea bag there is no comparison hands down a better cup of tea. Rumor has it they will be doing away with African Red Bush and Wild Sweet Orange, so if I were you I would stock up now, much like Sweet Cinnamon Spice (RIP) one of my personal favorites I still have a few bags left, I have been rationing it out only for just the proper time.  

great holiday treat

So I just had something that I had to post, quite possibly my new favorite tea combination drink, its a combination of black tea and rich dark chocolate powder, it makes a very rich dark drinking chocolate experience like none other. For starters I took a bag of Tazo Awake black tea, I have to stop myself by saying that I will be getting into the joys of black tea in a few months, but I had to post this before then,  steep black tea properly for 5 minutes. Different tea types steep for different times to properly bring out the flavor, steep to long and you may get bitter tea, to short and you will loose the fullness of  its liquor (that's tea talk for the liquid of the tea),  then I added two tablespoons of Starbucks mocha powder, this is the kind that you can buy on the shelf, mixed it with just a splash of cold nonfat milk, the type milk used is always very important to the flavor outcome, the higher the fat content of the milk the richer the flavor will be, however sometimes the higher fat content can cause you to loose some of the subtle notes of some teas, just be aware.  mix them together and the dark undertones of the black tea combined with the subtle bitterness of the coco make a wonderful combination. Try your own combination of chocolate and black tea and comment on it, let me know what you think. Remember whatever you do enjoy your tea, keep clam and carry on.

In a nutshell:

• Awake Tea steeped for 5 minutes
• 2 tablesoons Starbucks Mocha powder
• 1/4 cup of nonfat milk
• Sip by a fire
  

Welcome letter, soon to start

Welcome to 365 Tea, this is a new endeavor that we are going to embark on, the goal is to bring the world of tea to those who haven't traversed her sweet and sometimes spicy hills, to open the doors of a land of tastes and flavors never thought to have existed. I hope that in this year we will all learn and grow, we will try things this year that we may have never thought of and we must be willing to expand our horizons on the fields of tea and herbal infusions, as well as other delicacies that go with the world of tea.

This blog is geared for the new beginner in the world of tea, as well as others more experienced. We will start with the basics from the history of tea to the different types of teas, brewers, and pots as well as foods and candies that pair well with teas, much like fine wines, teas have different flavors bodies, and textures. Lets work our way though till we reach the summit of the art of tea.

I want to have feedback from your experiences and your ideas, I would love to see what things you have learned along the way and I hope that we all can grow to enjoy tea by the end of this year.