A busy tea weekend

To start with, I had some of the Darjeeling from Mighty Leaf, and it tasted like, like...cut grass. What is it with the grass? Or maybe it was more along the lines of just tasting like weak tea. Maybe I didn't make it strong enough? I don't know...

Saturday night I went to a community event in Dade City, FL, and there's a tea room there, and they're open! I actually went inside, and bought another teapot. And some kind of tea measuring device, but it measures by volume, rather than weight. I'll have to take a picture of it or find one like it on the internet. And I'll have to do a complete review of the place when I go back. It was very frou frou, though. They don't have a website, which is bad, IMO. I offered to help them with it, but I'm a limited amateur, so I'm not sure they'd want me to "help" them...The reason I didn't get a full impression of the place is because I was playing watchdog w/ my son, because there's so many breakables in there. But they had a nice selection of books with tea themes, and all aimed at little girls, it seems. At least, I think so. Hmmm...

And on Sunday I had the Assam Superior from Mighty Leaf. THAT was good tea. It had a deep, rich taste, I thought, similar to the English/Irish Breakfast teas...It went well with the slightly burned cookies I had. I don't normally burn cookies, but these didn't come out well. Anyway...

ingenuiTea

I'm having Darjeeling from Mighty Leaf. The cool part is that I made it using the
IngenuiTEA
teapot/maker thing. I'm not sure if the tea tastes a bit soapy because I didn't wash it before I used it, though I did rinse it out a couple of times; or if the tea I made is a bit strong, or what. I really see the need to get some kind of scale or measuring device for the amount of tea that needs to go in the thing. It's got no measuring for an amount of water. I know it's 16 ounces because the box says so, but it's nowhere on the pot itself. It was cool to watch the leaves sit on the top then gently fall to the bottom. I also don't know how much water to put in the pot since there's no markings...I just filled up my cup and then put it in the pot, so I know how much water to use, but still...

Darjeeling Okayti:Better than OK!

I had some great tea today! It was the darjeeling black this time, and it was wonderful. I think I made it a bit too strong, but the only "penalty" for doing this is that it isn't as cooling as weaker tea. Even so, it was cooling in a different way, and the liquor was darker, also a consequence of it being stronger. Sometimes I look at these teas and think that I always make it too strong, as compared to a lot of pictures/websites I see (even an occasional TV show) that have the teas much much lighter than what mine turns out to me. The variety I had was the Mighty Leaf Tea sample that they sent me a couple of weeks ago. I had two cups, and they were quite satisfying.

I wanted to use my amazon.com coupon I got from my sister for the mighty leaf, but the only way they sell it there is with the teabags, which I'm not a fan of, since the bags tend to 'inflate' and then stay on top of the water, not allowing for good steeping. I will still probably buy some tea directly from Mighty Leaf, though. I bought adagio tea instead, and I got their "IngenuiTea" teapot/kettle thingie, and I'll try it out later this week to see how it goes.

April 20, 2008

More oolong today. I surprised myself because I forgot that I was drinking the oolong, so that means I made it wrong: I didn't allow the water to cool to the appropriate temperature. Now I have none left! I'm sure that the Darjeeling black will be better, because I'll be more likely to make it right! Feeling dumb here..sigh.

Meanwhile, it occurs to me that even though it's probably correct, "Okayti" is not a good choice for a name, since it's likely to be mispronounced as "OK Tea" which is not what you want if you're selling premium, high quality tea.

April 19, 2008

well, had more Darjeeling Oolong from Mighty Leaf Tea the other day. This time, I have enough for about 3 or 4 cups, depending on how strong I like it. The first cup was a bit of heaven. It was great! I love the aroma, and the flavor...but it wasn't so cooling to the mouth...not as much. Not sure if that's a function of the time of year the tea is picked...the Darjeeling is labeled as "autumn flush"... The second cup I had another day or two later, the tea tasted like the leaves. This is not altogether a bad thing, since that's where the flavor comes from, but it's not the best thing, either. I'm finding the oolong can be hit or miss...It may be my fault because I didn't keep the dried tea in a sealed container, and it's pretty humid in my neck of the woods. I'll have another cup tomorrow (Sunday morning), and we'll see what happens. It should be okay. Then I will be on to the Darjeeling Black. I've got to work out how to figure out the correct brewing temperature. I should experiment with just the boiling water, see how long it takes to reach the right temp for steeping the leaves. I had another of those oolong tea bags from the oriental food place, and it was much better. Not great by any stretch, just not completely terrible.

Meanwhile, I think I may purchase some tea from mighty leaf if they sell through Amazon. Otherwise, I'll get more from Adagio. I think they're great!

Mighty Leaf Tea

Got some more tea from Mighty Leaf today! Yay! It's truly loose tea: oolong and black, "Okayti Darjeeling Autumn Flush" So this ought to be good. I can't wait! It will probably be a few days before I'm able to sit down and enjoy the teas properly though. :-)

Jan 8, 2008

I mixed the last of my Assam Harmony and Darjeeling...it turned out pretty good. I liked it a lot. It was strange at first, but then it turned out well.

I sent another email to adagio:

Hi Russell,


Thank you for your note. Unfortunately we do not any suggestions for
recycling the sample tins, nor do we offer a recycling program. As you may
know we do offer refills of our larger tins. We know that other customers
have discussed what can be done with used sample tins at www.teachat.com.
Maybe they would be the best people to ask. Hope what little information we
had to offer may be of help :)

Thank you for visiting Adagio Teas!

Kind regards,

Customer Service
http://www.adagio.com



Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2008 15:32:07 -0500
To: Adagio Teas
Subject: E-mail

Hello! I wrote you a week or two ago...here's another: what do I do with all
of the tea tins? When they are empty, it seems a shame to have to throw them
in the trash. Do you take them back for recycling? Or do you know if there are
local programs that would?

Thanks for being so great!

Russell

----
They are great. I added my blog to their list o' blogs...so this hopefully means I'll get some readers. I read a few of the other tea blogs with more than 30 posts, and they are nice, with pictures...I wonder where they get those pics from. I haven't put anything nice like that together...not sure I could.

Lately I'm thinking I need to develop some kind of contact out in India...or maybe explore teas grown in the US...wikipedia seems to think that tea is grown here, but I can't imagine where...

1/6/08

I'm running out of tea from Adagio...I'll have to order more. The other day when I had that tea I felt overall much better, rather than simply hyped up on caffeine. I wasn't jittery, or anything else...I was just "up".

Meanwhile, I can't believe I haven't written here for a while. I need to have some of the same teas for here at home, and at work. I miss them when I'm at home. I have the very low quality Darjeeling and Nilgiri from the Soulard market, and I don't like drinking it. Maybe I'll buy some of the Nilgiri from Adagio, if they sell it, and see how it tastes.

I've gone through most of the tea that I bought in about a month. $15/month for tea. Youch! I still have the Darjeeling #22 in the greatest quantity...I'm not real impressed by that one. So I've waited until I'm out of all of the other tea...

12/13/07

Well, I'm almost out of Golden Monkey. Everyone at my job laughs at the name, but I love it. It is a unique tea. It's a bit too hot to taste, but I can already tell, as it cools, that it will be a great tea again today. It is a unique flavor, and very subtle...I don't have the vocabulary for it...it's also one of the best, I think. I'm going to buy a much larger tin of that just for me.

I'm noticing that the other teas are starting to blend in with each other in my mind. Not enough distinquishes them. I like them each a lot, but while they are unique, they aren't different enough...vocubulary failing me again here...I like the Ceylon Sonata, it's a great black tea. I like the Keemuns, too...though the Encore is better than the Concerto. I'm staying away from the Darjeeling #22, but the Yunnan Jig is pretty good...Assam Melody...haven't had that in a while.

12/5/07

I didn't drink tea yesterday. I had coffee at Cracker Barrel. I love that stuff. I made a darjeeling last night for Amanda, though.

Meanwhile, today, I've got Darjeeling #22. It's pretty good today! I got it right.

I have a thought about tea vs. coffee. On my way into work today, I'm thinking, Cafe con leche. That is wonderful! But it's heavier, and not 'clean' like tea is. Not sure how to describe it. Tea is cleansing, I think. And it's a good compliment to the oatmeal I eat most mornings for breakfast. It all feels clean...yet satisfying. I guess with cafe con leche I can feel the fat in the milk, or the creamer...coffee does have a body and complexity not found in tea, at least, not in the same way.

11/26/07

Today, I'm drinking Golden Monkey. Ahhh pleasure! It's soo good after drinking the unappealing darjeeling. I think I'll throw the darjeeling out when I get home. It smells good when it's brewing, but that's about all.

Back to the Golden Monkey. I think I made it a tad too strong, but it's still enjoyable. I brought my teapot to work...I do have another one at home, I forgot! I can leave the blue one there. Because the blue teapot makes three cups, and I drink two, I'm trying to share what I have with someone, but not sure who. I've got to be careful, though, because making that much more at once means I'll go through it more quickly...

11/25/07

Darjeeling again. I'm beginning to think that this tea has had its day, as its flavor and 'coolness' has gone. It's just kinda plain and ordinary. I played with the amount again, using less this time, and it just turned out to be lighter without any real benefit in taste change. I should just use it up quickly so I can get some more.

Separately, I find the process of making tea to be crude somehow. Tea leaves, dried, placed in hot water. Then they get into your cup. The teapot drips a bit out of the spout. The time to steep, the cloud that sometimes gets into the cup, other details. It doesn't seem very elegant. You have to get the tea leaves out of the cup, or the pot, and it's messy, and wet, and you have these brown, unfurled leaves to deal with. They don't come out of the pot well, or the tea basket infuser, or they sit in the bottom of your cup. Then your cup gets tea stained, and you have to scrub it, or bleach it (no, I don't bleach my cups).

I don't drink tea for the health benefits, but because it's interesting that something simple like a plant in water could have so many flavors. Or something. Maybe I just think it's exciting to drink tea. It really is quite an experience.

11/24/07

Today I had the Darjeeling. Not sure which 'flush' it is. I've discovered that for this tea, the timing of the picking of tea makes a difference in its taste. The #1 from Adagio is better than the #22, but the Darjeeling I have from the Soulard Market is somewhere in between. And then there's the strength of it. I need to start making it in the pot more to figure it out. When I like it better is when it's not too strong. It can't be too weak, either. If I do it right, then it has the wonderful cooling sensation that I like so much, even though it's hot.

11/18/07 First Post

Today, we are drinking Keemun Concerto. It's got a smokey aroma to it, both in the leaves and the brewed tea, and as it cools it's got a slight bit of citrus-y flavor, without the sweet or tart. It's also pretty smooth. I looked up the word "keemun" on wikipedia, and it says "fruity" or "pine"…I had Keemun Encore before in my first batch of teas, and loved that one, not so sure about the Concerto.

The Ceylon Sonata is more of a traditional tasting tea, like the kind you would get out of a tea bag. It's just richer somehow…I lack vocabulary for describing all of these tastes and flavors, and don't care much for what vocabulary there is for describing flavors, because it seems pretentious…

The Golden Monkey is a great tea! It wasn't bitter, or have an unusual flavor…it's in my top tier of great teas. I have about 3:Darjeeling #1, Keemun Encore, and Golden Monkey.

So there ya go. :-)