I'm drinking my tea - thinking of thee - you have to agree - it's a good way to be
-This is from Cinnamon. She's drinking the Almost Awesome tea that I got from Adagio...

Little Tea Poem

A steaming hot cup of tea
Sits next to me
Offering its comfort, and caffeine
Bringing peace to a low ebb day
Helping to chase the blues away

Hooker's Tea Company

I'm not sure how much I like the modern tea shop, with its thousands of teas on the wall, and coffee shop/cafe atmosphere, any better than I like the frou-frou tea places, all girly and full of doilies. Somehow there's got to be a middle ground. Something unique about a tea room would be nice.

Hooker's Tea Company, in St Petersburg is the coffee-shop/cafe type place, with its thousands of teas on the wall. I had the Kennilworth Ceylon tea, and it was pretty strong stuff! Funny, but Ceylon tea tastes like, well, Tea. Unlike the variations on tea that are tea, like Yunnan, or Assam. It is the reference point, I suppose, that I go from when I think about what tea tastes like. It's the standard variety of store-bought, bag tea, that comes 100 bags to a box for a dollar. Of course, anything like loose tea is going to be of a much better quality than the store stuff, but the taste will be the same, nevertheless.

Hooker's is a good place. It's modern, black decor, mostly. Situated next to a restaurant on one side, and a little shop of curios on the other side. It's good to be dark inside, because so many hot, bright days in Florida can be a burden. The darkness lets you rest, and focus on the tea. There are a few soft places to sit, and a few more that are straight backed chairs and tables.

The only food items are sweets, except for quiche, which sells out, it would seem. Otherwise there are scones, and muffins.

Tea vs Tea

So I'm thinking about the difference between Mighty Leaf tea and Adagio tea. The Mighty Leaf teas, I'm realizing, are cut/curled differently than the Adagio, and I haven't made the transition very well from one to the other. The Adagio teas are more tightly packed, smaller leaves, yet still full sized, darker...whereas the Mighty Leaf teas are not as black, the leaves are bigger, not as tightly rolled, and they don't expand as much in the water after they are brewed. I feel like I don't know how to handle the Mighty Leaf leaves in their teas. So I'm feeling that I've been unfair in all the things I've said. I guess maybe it just goes back to figuring out how much, how it brews...this really is an art.

Fujian Baroque

So I got a gift certificate from a friend of mine for my birthday to Adagio. And I bought four different types of tea. When I get the tea, though, it's got a 5th! So I get 5 ounces of tea for the price of 4. Nice. :-)

The teas I got are Fujiuan Baroque, Yunnan Noir, Golden Spring, Keemun Rhapsody, and the St Patrick's Day tea...

I like how the leaves are actually black, and more compact. Makes measuring the tea easier. And dealing with it in general.

The Fujian Baroque had a great scent to it, almost peppery. I can't wait to try the others.

Just the right amount

What is the right amount? Normally I'm pretty good at eyeballing the correct amount of tea to make, but lately I've been having some pretty serious issues with putting in the correct amount. At first, it wasn't enough, and now, it's too much!

The other day I put in the perfect amount of Golden Monkey, and it was a rich, delicious brew. I was all about it. The other days after that, though, too strong! I have no idea what I did right, or what the right amount was, but it was just perfect. Rich is how I think of it. I cycle back and forth through the Yunnan, Golden Monkey, and the Black Gold. I did the Black Gold right the other day, too. But oddly it tasted like very weak coffee. Acidic maybe? It was really good, yet it had that flavor.

Today I made the Golden Monkey, and it was all right, but there was a powder residue in the shape of the infuser on my desk after I poured the leaves out of the bag...Maybe I should use the tiny tins I have, to keep the tea in the back from all being opened at once, and keep it from powdering so much. There's an idea...