The New Year.

Always use fresh water for every new pot of tea.

Even if there is water left in the kettle from the pot before, this is not the time to worry about waste. Allow yourself to pour it down the drain and wish it well. The afternoon pot needs to be made. It demands new water from the facet. The oxygen is fresh. Opportunity roiling. Breakfast is past. Evening is yet to come. For now revel in the brisk boiling of this new cup.

Happy New Year.

Lauren.

The haiku version:

Use fresh water for
ev'ry new pot of tea and
Opportunity.

Makaibari

So this tea is something that could only come from Asia. I would love to try it, but at $400.00 per kg, it's a bit outside what I would consider a necessary expenditure. The next most expensive tea that I know of is the Castleton Moonlight (Darjeeling), and it's half the price of the Makaibari. Just to put this into perspective; the Castleton Moonlight transported to me to a different dimension when I tried it. Buddhists talk about being able to achieve a brief moment of enlightenment when you sneeze, or during orgasm, because your mind is truly unfettered in these moments. A taste of the Castleton Moonlight almost pushes it's way into that realm; AND IT'S HALF THE PRICE OF THE MAKAIBARI! There's a price on the home page that says it's $1,600.00 per kg, but they offer an online purchase for $400.00/kg. The sixteen hundred might just be about bragging rights.

So anyway, I haven't had the opportunity to try it yet. I'll include a link to the Makaibari estates home page later on, but for now, I'll give you a little info; The estate has been passed down from rajah, to rajah for four generations, and the current owner, Rajah Banerjee has created an entire ecosystem on the estate. Instead of just growing one crop, Banerjee has diversified the flora, and fauna to create an efficient ecosystem. There's tigers, and panthers there. Enough said. This place should be in a James Bond movie.

Oh, and also, the tea is only picked by young girls, under a full moon. Poke around the website for a bit and see what it's all aboutwww.makaibari.com. The estate is outside of a town called Kurseong, which is on the sketchy mountain road to Darjeeling from New Jalpaiguri. Kurseong is considered part of the Darjeeling region as far as tea production is concerned, so Makaibari would be a Darjeeling. Apparently it's the most expensive tea in the world, but I'm going to guess that someone in Japan is selling a rare tea for a similar price.

So if anyone decides to make a purchase of the Makaibari, let me know about it. Maybe we can work something out.

Lapsang Souchong

This is the right time of year to talk about Lapsang Souchong. This tea was made for sitting next to a fire in cold weather. Outside of a few African teas, it's unlikely that you'll find a more husky, robust black tea.

Souchong is a Chinese tea that gets it's smoky flavor from being smoked over a pine fire. The story is that during the Qing era, the passing of armies would delay the drying of the tea in the Wuyi hills, so the workers would speed up the drying process by drying it over a fire. Hard to say why a passing army would delay tea from drying, but there it is.

I've also heard that the tea was originally dried too close to fish that was being smoked. Lapsang Souchong was produced in an area that had a substantial fishing industry.

Isn't it interesting how all these teas have their little stories about how they came to be.

Well, I think as far a Lapsang Souchong is concerned; you're either going to love it, or hate it. It's pretty strong. Personally, I like it a lot. There really isn't any sort of a nuanced description that I can offer for this tea, because it pretty much just tastes like smoky tea. There's a difference between some of the different varieties of Lapsang Souchong, and you can certainly find something of a higher quality if you're willing to pay for it.

So that's it. A little bit about Lapsang Souchong. I think maybe I should start a blog about Kung Fu movies, because that's what I feel like writing about now.

Visit www.himalayanqueentea.com for all your Darjeeling tea needs.

Grand Keemun

I've been drinking an excessive amount of Darjeeling tea lately, so I've had to make some changes. The last few days I've been drinking Grand Keemun instead. Darjeeling's are rarely taken with milk, and Grand Keemun does just fine with it, so my entire morning has become something different entirely.

Grand Keemun is possibly the most popular Chinese black tea among westerners. Some of the words commonly used to describe Grand Keemun are earthy, smoky, full bodied, or woody. Basically, it's a fairly dark, breakfast tea. Like most Chinese black teas, it manages to remain smooth, and vaguely delicate despite it's dark character. Once you try it, it's fairly clear why Grand Keemun is such a popular tea. It's really good, but it's not so fancy that you have pay attention to it. Very few teas lack an earthy-ness, or a vegetative quality so Grand Keemun's general character is not so unique. Regardless, it's worth seeking it out. I like that you can take it with milk, or without, and it's still a good experience. I've become quite a tea snob lately, so I'm probably not giving this more "common" tea it's due. In fact, it's not entirely common. You could serve Grand Keemun amongst any company, and still consider yourself to be a snooty person.

Keemun comes from Quimen County of Huangshan City, in Anhui province. There are a number of varieties of Keemuns produced in this region; some better than others. Keemun is also one of the main ingredients in English Breakfast blends.

Personally, I consider it to be a strong, yet smooth, black tea, that I take with milk, unless I happen to be out of milk, in which case I am happy to drink it with-out.

You can find Grand Keemun at any decent tea shop, and you can get away with overbrewing it a bit. This is a great everyday breakfast tea.

The above picture was snagged from Tea Chat, a site run by Adagio teas. It's probably a Keemun Mao Feng, or some other high quality Keemun. Typically the loose tea leaves are a little smaller, and a little darker than in the picture. You can see the dark color in the brewed tea.

So these are some underlit pictures of tea that I took. I set up the glass with tea in it, on a piece of milk plexi, with a light underneath it.

I was hoping that I could use these for my website (www.himalayanqueentea.com), but they really didn't do a very good job of displaying the colors of the tea. they're kind of cool on their own, but I don't know what to do with this idea now.

The top two images are with a stemless wine glass, and the bottom
two images are with a double walled glass mug, by Bodum.

I'm welcoming myself back.

It looks like I haven't posted on this blog since October! Well that's just plain unacceptable. I have excuses, but I'm totally over that, so I'll just proceed as if nothing ever happened.

I finally have www.himalayanqueentea.com up and running in a state that I can accept. There are still some improvements that need to be made, but it's pretty good.

I spent the day photographing four new teas from the Autumn flush in Darjeeling. I'll post them on the Himalayan Queen Tea sit tomorrow.

The tea pictures above are of the Castleton (Estates) Exclusive, Autumnal Flush offerings, and the other one is of my little photostudio. It works pretty well, and in my next post I'm going to show some pictures of a few little experiments I did.

So then!! It's good to be back. I'll try to keep up with this a little better.

Rock Dassie Poop tea

So I'm watching my favorite show (Man vs. Wild with Bear Grylls), and something rather strange is presented to me. There's this animal in the Namib desert in Africa, called a rock dassie, which resembles a big guinea pig. The bushmen in the area make a tea out of it's droppings which kills toxins in your body. It appeared to be pretty disgusting. Rock Dassie Poop Tea. Feel free to make jokes.

I've been digging deep for inspiration lately following Huchi-Kuchi and all the Hearth Goddess deep into my imagination to conjure up some images of inspiration to keep my dream alive. Last night I remembered an inspiration from when I was still in college in Boston. Before Whittard's, before Alice's, before India, I read the Nora Roberts' three sisters trilogy and was inspired by the oldest sister, Mia. She lives on a small provincial island in New England with her two sisters nearby and they are witches.

Love and danger and magik unfold through the three romance novels (of which I think I will go buy today and reread). But the part that is most inspiring to me, is Mia's bookstore. Her bookstore is the heart of the little town. It's in an old victorian house by the sea with comfortable chairs and narrow bookshelves with ladders and creaking stairs and crystals in the windows. It's where everybody goes to be understood, given a cup of tea and a good book. It's the only source of magic and wildness and sexiness for the old fashioned folk living their island lives, kind of like the candy store and it's goddess in Chocolat. All these women do is promote enjoyment of life and everyone thinks they are evil temptresses until they realize how much they need a little enjoyment. I think tea can be one of those things.

It's not that I want to find a provincial place that has no magic, it's just that there seem to be A LOT of places that feel like that to me anyway. A lot of places. Most places. I usually feel a little out of the ordinary when it comes to enjoyment of life (I enjoy it a lot.) It's not that I think people don't feel magic themselves, quite the contrary, they just don't always have an outlet for it and I want to be like Mia and bring it to somewhere that needs one which is everywhere.

I want to be the scandalous woman in the neighborhood who kisses her Erik all the time and who has wild hair and wears beautiful dresses and glittery things and will make you a cup of tea to heal all your wounds and make you feel like you were just given a tiny present just for you. It's like I want to wrap the world in a starry blanket.

I am, afterall, a witch.

That's my Muse for the day, Mia and her magic bookstore on a tiny wild island.

FTGFOP

What does FTGFOP stand for? "Far too good for ordinary people." That's a joke. Get it?

Not too many people know what this means, and they probably just assume that if a tea has this on it's label then it must be good. Well that is true to a certain extent.

What it actually stands for is "Finest, Tippy, Golden, Flowery, Orange Pekoe." Sometimes you'll see an "S" at the front. That would be "Super!!!! fine, tippy, golden, flowery, orange pekoe," but that's just silly, and we're trying to be serious here.

It gets even more complicated, and I have included a huge list of terms that I snagged from Wikipedia at the bottom of this post. If one was to simply skim the list, and not absorb any of it, you would not be considered a bad tea drinker. It's sort of interesting from an academic point of view but, unless you're a tea buyer or something you don't really need to know much of it.

So then! What does the "Finest" mean exactly? Well, it means that the tea you're buying is good quality. It's still relative, and if you want to get really anal about it, you would inspect lot numbers on the tea shipments, but then again, that would be silly too. Tippy refers to the golden color of the new leaf buds (as opposed to the black of fully oxidized mature leaves). The more the color is golden or orange generally indicates that younger and more carefully picked leaves have been used to make that tea -- which is one important indicator of potential quality. Occasionally the number 1 can be added for a particularly fine grade of tea.

Grade terminology

• Choppy - When the tea contains a lot of varying sized leaves.
• Fannings - Small particles of tea leaves a grade higher than dust. Used almost exclusively in tea bags.
• Flowery - A large leaf, typically plucked in second of third flush, with an abundance of tips
• Golden Flowery - The tea contains very young tips or buds (which are usually golden in colour) that were picked early in the season.
• Tippy - The tea contains an abundance of tips.

Whole leaf grades

The grades for whole leaf orthodox black tea (in ascending order) are:

• OP - Orange Pekoe - Main grade in tea production. Can consist of long wiry leaf without tips.
• OP sup - Orange Pekoe Superior - Primarily from Indonesia, tea is much the same as above
• F OP - Flowery Orange Pekoe - High quality tea with a long leaf and few tips, considered second grade in Assam, Dooars and Bangladesh and first grade in China
• F OP1 - Flowery Orange Pekoe First Grade Leaves - As above but with only the highest quality leaves in the F.O.P classification
• GF OP1 - Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe First Grade Leaves- Higher proportion of tip than FOP Top grade in Milima and Marinyn regions; Uncommon in Assam and Darjeeling.
• TGF OP - Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe - Tea with the highest proportion of tip; Main grade in Darjeeling and Assam.
• TGF OP1 - Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe - As above, but with only the highest quality leave in the T.G.F.O.P classification
• FTGF OP - Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe - Highest quality grade. Often hand processed and produced at only the best plantations. Roughly one quarter tips.

Broken leaf grades

• BT - Broken Tea - Usually a black, open, fleshy leaf, very bulky. Classification used in Sumatra, Sri Lanka, some parts of Southern India.
• BP - Broken Pekoe- Most common broken pekoe grade. From Indonesia. Ceylon, Southern India.
• BPS - Broken Pekoe Souchong - Term for broken pekoe in Assam and Darjeeling.
• FP - Flowery Pekoe - High quality pekoe. Usually coarser, fleshier broken leaf. from Ceylon and Southern India, also produced in some parts of Kenya.
• BOP - Broken Orange Pekoe - Main broken grade. Prevalent in Ceylon, Southern India, Java and China.
• F BOP - Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe - Coarser broken with some tips from Assam, Ceylon, Indonesia, China and Bangladesh. In South America coarser, black broken.
• F BOP F - Finest Broken Orange Pekoe Flowery - The finest broken orange pekoe. Higher proportion of tips. Mainly from Ceylon's "low districts".
• G BOP - Golden Broken Orange Pekoe - Second grade tea, uneven leaves and few tips.
• GF BOP1 - Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe 1 - As above, but with only the highest quality leaves in the GFBOP classification.
• TGF BOP1 - Tippy Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe 1 - High quality leaves with high proportion of tips. Finest broken First Grade Leaves in Darjeeling and some parts of Assam.

Fannings grades

• PF - Pekoe Fannings -
• OF - Orange Fannings - From Northern India and some parts of Africa and South America.
• FOF - Flowery Orange Fannings - Common in Assam, Dooars and Bangladesh. Some leaf sizes come close to the smaller broken grades.
• GFOF - Golden Flowery Orange Fannings- Finest grade in Darjeeling for teabag production.
• TGFOF - Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Fannings.
• BOPF - Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings - Main grade in Ceylon, Indonesia, Southern India, Kenya, Mozambique, Bangladesh and China. Black-leaf tea, few added ingredients, uniform particle size, no tips.

Dust grades

• D1 - Dust 1 - From Sri Lanka, Indonesia, China, Africa, South America and Southern India.
• PD - Pekoe Dust
• PD1 - Pekoe Dust 1 - Mainly produced in India.

Goddess of the Hearth.

The Hearth. The heart of a home. The bringer of warmth, food, creation, light and tea. The hearth, you probably didn't know, is celebrated in mythologies all over the world! So let us too give praise for with out these deities I would not be about to put the kettle on.

In Japan the goddess of the hearth is Huchi-Fuchi. She was first honored among the hunting gathering tribe, the Ainu, and it is said that perhaps Mount Fuji is named after this goddess because of the volcanic hearth in her belly. In traditional Japanese tea ceremonies there is a portion of the dance that is a tribute to Huchi-Fuchi in thanks for her warmth.

The greeks have Hestia.

The Germans have Hertha.

And henceforth my tea muse will be guided by these goddesses of warmth on my search for tea shop inspiration.

Lu Yu. The Sage of Tea

Lu Yu was a man that became a god over time because of his awesomeness. He wrote the first ever book about tea, The Classic of Tea, in 780 CE!!! The script had 10 chapters and covered everything from the production of tea, to how to brew it, to tea annecdotes of the past. Lu Yu started life as an orphan, was taken in by a buddhist monk, ran away to join the circus as a clown and ended up in the good humor of a govenor who educated him and put him in the company of the literati. Not long after, he wrote his infamous book and became the Sage of Tea. Cheers Lu Yu.

The Best Cup of Tea.

Well said Erik. I am in complete accord. I think your best advice is simply to get to know your favorite teas, do you like them strong? Weak? A little over or under brewed? How do you like to brew it? Do you like the cleanliness of a disposable tea bag? The economy of a cotton infuser that can be rinsed easily in the sink and reused? The beauty of watching your leaves unfurl unfettered in the saucepan? Or the convenience of the infuser that simply came with the teapot you bought? All of these ways make the best cup of tea because the best cup of tea is your favorite cup of tea.

To talk on teabags for a moment.

I became uppity with my tea for a time.

When I was surrounded by some of the best teas in the world for any and all of my brewing needs and at no expense to me, I simply drank at my pleasure. Sure, I'll have a cup of Bai Hao Champagne White Tip Oolong this morning. Maybe I'll throw in a little peppermint. Feeling under the weather? How about some Silver Needle Jasmine with Organic Rooibos Lauren, don't mind if I do. And then, I thought I had to grow up, left tea shop life and joined the corporate world.

I found myself in an office amidst consumers who have to pay royally for their premium loose leaf teas. I brought in my own homemade loose leaf tea bags for a long time until I noticed my Keemun tea was dwindling fast and I didn't want to pay the $20 to buy it loose. The only other option was staring me in the face: tea bags. Tea in bags is typically made of tea "fannings," the lowest quality tea. Basically the little bits and pieces that fall to the floor while estates filter out the higher grade leaves. Fannings brew quick and strong which is why they are suited to the paper bags, they brew right through it. (You can however get premium loose fannings, but that's another story.)

Finally with a heavy heart I brought in my box of fancy Whittard of Chelsea Earl Grey to work. To my surprise it was splendid!!! Granted the bergamot covers up any potent over brewing or poor tea quality that I may have noticed, but who cares?! It was strong and fragrant and kept me happy for an hour at my desk. And once that ran out, I faced another inevitable hurtle: Twinings. I had to do it. It was free in the office kitchen and my office pay was starting to really hurt. My pride was feeling more and more defeated. I saw myself as less of a tea connoisseur while I steeped my regular old English Breakfast.

And then one day, my friend Ana, who often changes my outlook on my own self, said "you know Lauren I think it makes you even more of a tea connoisseur to be able to drink both Twinings AND the finest teas in the world. If you can sit here in this hole and drink the dregs and then sit on a mountain in Darjeeling and drink it's local delicate leaves right off the bush then you are by definition a connoisseur. You can be both. And better for it." Needless to say I carried this bit of advice into other facets of my life as well as tea drinking. And then, pun intended, I turned over a new leaf, I was able to drink free office tea with an air of privilege at last.

Ever since then I no longer look down on tea bags. (Except of course Lipton. The only thing you can do with Lipton in a pinch is brew it strong and add milk and sugar. Like ginger ale: the only time I drink it is on an airplane.)

Erik once told me that Celestial Seasonings changed the face of tea bag packaging by ceasing to wrap the bags individually and instead keep them in box lined with wax paper. This innovation was hugely environmentally savvy and raised the standards for economy in the tea world. They have been using natural quality ingredients since 1969 and they act enthusiastically in the global community. I drink Celestial Seasonings with pride and joy. (P.S. Nothing in the world beats Celestial Seasonings Sleepy Time tea, everyone knows that, right?!)

So whether is Tzao tea at Starbucks, Two Leaves and a Bud, Mighty Leaf, Teavana, Yogi Tea, in London over a Tetley's, Tender Leaf, Tata, Good Earth, Tea Forte, Numi Tea, The Republic of Tea, Twinings, Stash, Bigelow or even Lipton if you must, the truth remains, the best cup of tea is your favorite cup of tea, even if it comes in a bag.

Brewing tea.

Ah the brewing process! This is really part of the whole tea drinking experience and shouldn't be over looked. China and Japan have intricate brewing ceremonies, with strict methods that must be adhered to, but even if you just want to make a cup of tea in your kitchen; "One should conduct oneself with the utmost dignity". Well said, I should say.

So first off, there's the tea bag method. Boring. Unless you're using one of those new fangled pyramid shaped bags (they allow for unbroken tea to be packaged in a tea bag due to their rigid shape), you're going to get a sub standard cup of tea. Besides, everyone knows how to drop a tea bag in hot water so there's no need to cover that.

Infusers-

Whether you are using a t-sac (basically a large tea bag that you fill yourself), a glass infuser (glass cylinder with many small holes), or a metal infuser (mesh cylinder, or sphere), the method is pretty much the same. You heat your water in a kettle, pour the water into a tea pot and you sink the tea laden infuser into the pot with the hot water. Allow the tea to steep for the desired amount of time (notes on that below), remove the infuser, and enjoy your tea. Pretty simple (tea is not terribly complicated really).

So of all these methods, I prefer the glass infuser. The holes in a glass infuser are usually a little bigger, so more sediment ends up in your tea, but you avoid any chance of getting a metallic taste in your tea. Metal taste is not really a big issue, but for some reason it concerns me. The t-sac style infusers work fine, but I feel that they compress the tea too much for it to brew completely in the water. Tea really needs room to breath if you want it to steep properly. Oh, and there's on other method; a tea sock. It's basically a cloth infuser, which is fit around a plastic ring. the ring sits on the rim of your tea pot during steeping, and the tea filled cloth sock, soaks in the hot water. Again, it works fine, but it's not ideal. If given the choice I will choose the glass infuser over all these other methods.

But! The best method doesn't use an infuser at all! I picked this up in India, and now it's the only way I brew tea. Just heat your water in a sauce pan, drop in the tea, when the water reaches the desired temperature, let steep for appropriate time (you can kind of smell when the tea is ready, look for a full bodied character to the aroma), and then pour the tea through a common metal sieve, or strainer, into your pot. The tea brews completely this way. It brews faster, and you can actually use less tea. Also, the tea drops to the bottom when it's done brewing. This is a good way to determine proper brew times if you don't know how long it should steep for. Over brewed, bitter tea is not awesome.

Always use clean, cold water. Spring water if possible. I read somewhere that our DNA actually won't accept substandard water, and it can get thirsty if it doesn't get good water. Never use municipal tap water. Try to use spring water, it's the best. and make sure it starts out cold, and don't over boil it-over boiling will rob it of oxygen. Cold water has more oxygen in it, and that will make your tea taste better. That's a note on water.

Each tea requires a different steeping time, and temperature. If you drop the ball on the temp. it's not going to be a big deal, but getting it right can definitely help you out. The brewing time is kind of important, pay attention to that. You want your tea to have brewed just the right amount so that the flavor is optimized. Not over brewed, and not weak. This table is useful guide, but it's better to get to know your teas. A fine Darjeeling will require a much shorter brewing time than a dark African tea, even though they're both black teas. Just pay attention to your favorite teas, and you will learn the secrets to each of their steeping times. Check out the table below.

Green Tea	160 degrees F	1 - 3 minutes
White Tea	180 degrees F	4 - 8 minutes
Oolong Tea	190 degrees F	1 - 8 minutes
Black Tea	Rolling Boil	3 - 5 minutes
Herbal (tisanes)	Rolling Boil	5 - 8 minutes

Remember also, that if you want stronger tea, just start with more tea. don't brew it longer, or it will get bitter. And if you don't have a thermometer; don't sweat it. For the lower temp. teas, take the water off the heat just before it boils. that will work fine.

So I think that's it. Seriously, try the sauce pan/strainer method. You don't get to use any specialized accoutrements, or fancy tea devices, but you will get the best cup of tea. That's the point right? Unless of course you're all about the gadgetry, and looking cool. I'm judging you, by the way.

Tea House Muse from the North Shore

I brewed myself a cup of the Castleton Moonlight this fine (hot) morning for inspiration as I searched for the muse today. My favorite thing about this tea is it's unique leaves. It's no wonder it's flavor is complex and hard to pin down. The leaves are long and wiry like oolong but thin and twisted like most black teas. And the colors of the leaves range all over the tea color map. I can't really taste it though, I think I under-brewed it or my taste buds are longing for something a little less refined. But I'm keeping away from those heavy monsters, as much as they call my name, until my stomach qi is balanced.

As I drank this fine elixir this morning I thought about the tea shop in my mind that I've been imagining ever since I went to Hawaii in 2006?! 2007?

It's a tea shop beach shack on the North Shore. Tiny, cozy and full of home. Geraniums in pots along the front porch. Maybe white linen curtains in the windows.

It's a tea shop that's busiest in the early early morning hours.

The time when surfers get up to catch those peaceful and unspoiled waves. I like the idea of bathing suits and beach sweaters, because it's cold at dawn by the sea. And this is the sea that's the middle of the sea. Not the coast of a continent. A tiny island coast. A coast that these deep sea waves are not expecting to find on their long rolling path to any shore. Their crashing is surprised and crisp and wild like the roar of a young lion.

This is the sound that will be the constant soundtrack to my selling chinese oolongs and japanese green teas. Sweet Matcha with milk and honey. Iron Goddess of Mercy oolong from the Fujian Province (check it out, it's a beautiful fable). And Castleton Moonlight from Darjeeling of course.

The shop is wood like a boat house with one long large window facing out toward the sea a small distance away and a patio garden with benches and flowers. Inside it's warm and quiet and the roaring waves are soothing in the slightly muffled acoustics. Their are lots of rocking chairs to sit in. The floor is covered in sand no matter how much you sweep it.

You can get bowls of fresh figs and cream, big chunks of hearty toast with butter and jam, oatmeal piled high with things to make it taste better like sugar and peaches. If you don't surf, you can sit barefoot and read the paper and drink the pot of your choice before the heat of the day and we can solve the world's problems (or more to the point the problems we have with each other because there's nothing wrong with the world).

During the day, ice teas rule the court. With all kinds of beachy additions, apple slices, mint flavored star shaped ice cubes. Iced Mate with pommegranite juice. And maybe we're still open for dusk. You know I love tea lights and you can't really light candles until it's dark enough to have them so I guess we'll be open long enough to light tea lights. And by then it's the calming herbal blends: lavender, lemongrass, vervain, camomile, peppermint, cardamom.

It's a beach tea house.

And if I never live in Hawaii (which I never want to do) this is how I want my tea shop, wherever it is, to feel when your inside, like you can come prop your board up by the front door and drink in a peaceful dawn with me and Erik.

Same same, nothing new.

I have all kinds of other stuff to do today so no real post. Just going to reiterate that the Castleton Moonlight is very good. Remember that.

Castleton Moonlight

Whoa! I just received a shipment of tea from Darjeeling, and there was a bag of Castleton Moonlight in there. As soon as I got home, I brewed myself a cup, and it's damn good. It's sort of an odd tea when you first taste it because it somehow manages to taste full bodied, and rather light at the same time. Towards the end of the cup, the lightness disappeared a little but it still remained smooth, and easy to drink. There's a pronounced fruity, or earthy liquor (listen to me. Liquor? Did I really use that term?), that maintains some of that characteristic Darjeeling muscatel. This is a very unique tea in the sense that it tastes very much like a Darjeeling, but it wanders off in a few areas. It tastes less astringent than other Darjeelings, and "wetter". Also a bit sweeter. Funny thing is that it's still a bit dry and the sweetness doesn't have an overpowering presence, even though it's very noticeable. This is a very well crafted tea in my opinion.

It brews into a nice amber color, and the dry tea is a satisfying mix of long wiry, multicolored leaves.

As far as I know, this came from a limited picking of a small little corner of the Castelton estates. The garden is one of the highest in elevation around Darjeeling, and a lot of care went into the production. It was not fermented for very long, but it tastes nothing like an oolong. The leaves are well withered, and left untouched, so they're large, and shiny. I think the term shiny describes the flavor well also. Yes, it actually tastes shiny.

This is a rather mysterious tea, and I feel as if things are going to take a turn for the better now that I have had a cup. What do you think of that? I think the movements of the planets may even be read within it's flavor and aroma. At least you may get a sense of it.

I would drink this tea during transitions or when running rivers. It feels just right for when you take a break from paddling a cool brisk creek, on a cool sunny day, and you have a nice shady spot with lots of undergrowth around, and a high canopy of trees to shade you. Look for fish, or turn over a few rocks while waiting for your water to boil. This tea worked well for me in the afternoon, but I think I would recommend it for the morning as well.

It's after acupuncture and I'm drinking a cup of Ginger tea a la Yogi Tea. Yogi Tea is pretty good, it's based on Ayurveda so it's completely herbal concoctions designed for balance and well being. On their web-site they have a ingredients dictionary that explains all their herbs. I've been drinking ginger because it's good for digestion and Angie and Dr. Tsao say that my stomach qi needs a little love. But I didn't realize: Ginger root is known as the universal medicine in Ayurveda. It aids digestion and is one of the best herbs for nausea. It relieves spasms and menstrual cramps, and promotes menstruation. Ginger helps to regulate blood sugar both by stimulating pancreas cells by lowering lipids (cholesterol, triglycerides) in the blood. Historically, it was one of the most respected herbs for joint health, especially for aging joints. It has relatively high calcium and iron content. Ginger increases peripheral circulation, so is used clinically for cold hands and feet. Being diaphoretic, it treats some symptoms by promoting seating. So thank you Yogi Tea for all your wisdom and herbal blends. All that sounds really great.

I don't know where the rage began but tea bags often come with little inspirational quotes on their tags these days. I love it. Celestial Seasonings does the best quotes. I always treat these little messages like angel cards. When I'm picking a tea bag I get ready to trust the oracle and believe that whatever message I chose is the exact right one I needed at that exact right moment. When it doesn't work out, who cares. I definitely intend to have some kind of this at my tea shop. I have a couple of good ideas that I can't disclose yet.

Yogi Tea bags come with a little inspirational quote by some mystery yogi. Today my tea bag said: "Be proud of who you are." I really need that lately. Some things are going on that are making it a little hard to be proud of who I am, which I hate because usually I have no problem thinking I'm pretty darn great. But even my horoscope by Rob Brenzy's Free Will Astrology in the Village Voice this week said that I need to be kind and loving and say nice things to myself this week. And I think I he's right (he usually is, check him out every Wednesday, he's the best).

Between Yogi Tea, Rob Brenzy and me, I should have my self confidence in check, at least for now as I aid in digestion and relax before a very, very busy week.

Tea House Muse of Hills and Gunpowder

Today my tea shop is on a misty hilltop looking out over the ocean. There are big wicker armchairs with white cushions and small round tables with tea lights. It is always either dawn or dusk. It's warm enough to wear a summer dress and cool enough to wear a big thick sweater over it. Your tea comes in a glass teapot with glass mugs. The wood is worn and gray and soft like it is in Nantucket so you can be barefoot and not get splinters. The whole place opens out onto the deck so even on the inside all the chairs face the sea and the breeze reaches all the way to the back. There's a sandy path that leads down to the beach. I'm always wearing a white dress that goes down to the floor with an open back and a plunging neck line. Perfect for serving tea in. This is a tea lounge for sexy people who have good conversations and good views.

That's where I'm drinking my Gunpowder today, in my open tea house lounge of wood and glass in the hills above the sea.

Gunpowder is definitely my favorite of the steamed leaves. I have to say I agree this is a good tea for mountains and brisk air, but I could definitely curl up with Gunpowder. It's the only green tea I curl up with and that is a major requirement to all my favorites. If you can't sit with it under a blanket and have a conversation for two hours over it than it's no favorite of mine. Is it peppery, minty, and grassy? Grassy maybe. But to me it's incredibly gentle and tastes like tea would if it was grown in a bayou. Rich and wet but smooth with no astringency in sight (that's what turns me off about most green tea, it's so brassy). Gunpowder would be a great tea to drink in a glass tea pot at my tea lounge overlooking the sea in a white dress and soft sweater pouring over the answers of the universe.

Gunpowder Green Tea, LIFE!!!!!!!?

Today is about gunpowder green tea. But you will have to wait. Lauren and I have apparently turned this blog into our own little life journal, so I'm going to continue that for the moment, and VENT! My last post was about; despite how crappy some things are at the moment, it's ok, and I'm ok, and blah, blah, blah. Not today. Things have become worse. That horrible job that I talked about last time; worse than I thought. I got into an argument with the owner, and walked off the site, and didn't get paid for a days worth of work. Then I discovered that because I wasn't paying close enough attention to my bank account, and because someone waited for a month to cash one of my checks, and because I'm tight already, I am somewhat screwed. My scanner broke, so I can't finish up that illustration project that has to be done by the 19th (no money for a new scanner either). We still have to move, and all that other stuff is still looming, or in the picture. You should thank me for not getting into the details of this stuff because we would be here for hours.

Anyway, I've drinking gunpowder green tea a lot during all this crap, so that's what we're going to write about today. To start with, here's some info from Wikipedia:

Gunpowder tea (珠茶; pinyin: zhū chá) is a form of green Chinese tea produced in Zhejiang Province of China in which each leaf has been rolled into a small round pellet. It is believed to take its English name from the fact that the tea resembles gunpowder pellets used for cannon. This rolling method of shaping tea is most often applied either to dried green tea (the most commonly encountered variety outside China) or Oolong tea.

Gunpowder tea production dates back to the Tang Dynasty (618–907) but it was first introduced to Taiwan in the 1800s. Gunpowder tea leaves are withered, steamed, rolled, and then dried. Although the individual leaves were formerly rolled by hand, today most gunpowder tea is rolled by machines (though the highest grades are still rolled by hand). Rolling renders the leaves less susceptible to physical damage and breakage and allows them to retain more of their flavor and aroma. In addition, it allows certain types of oolong teas to be aged for decades if they are cared for by being occasionally roasted.

When buying gunpowder tea it is important to look for shiny pellets, which indicate that the tea is relatively fresh. Pellet size is also associated with quality, larger pellets being considered a mark of lower quality tea. High quality gunpowder tea will have small, tightly rolled pellets.

While brewing methods vary widely by tea and individual preferences, 1 teaspoon of looseleaf tea is recommended for every 150ml (5.07 oz) of water. Ideal water temperature for this type of tea is between 70°c (158°F) to 80°c (176°F) ^[2]. For the first and second brewing, leaves should be steeped for around one minute. It is also recommended that the tea cup or tea pot used should be rinsed with hot water prior to brewing the tea to warm the vessels. When brewed, gunpowder tea is a yellow color.

The flavor of brewed gunpowder tea is often described as thick and strong like a soft honey, but with a smokey flavor and an aftertaste that is slightly coppery. This type of tea is often seen as having a flavor that is somewhat grassy, minty, or peppery.

That pretty much says it all, but I'll add my own opinion. I find it to be a nice, robust, green tea. The astringency is low, so it's gentle even though there's some tangible body to it. To me it doesn't seem like a tea to curl up with (although nothing is stopping you from doing so), but a tea to put in your thermos and drink on the top of a mountain on a brisk day. Actually, brewing this on a peak would be even better. It's starting to become my green tea of choice, largely because it's simple, and it feels like you'll get something done when you drink it. I recommend this tea with wood chopping, mountain climbing, and cabin building. It is called "Gunpowder" so I guess it has to be burly.

You can see from the picture above that it brews into a husky yellow color. and don't put too much of the dry tea into the pot for brewing. It's all rolled up, so a little goes a long way. I've put too much in and you get what looks like a pot of boiled spinach. It still made great tea, but I had to strain it quickly, and it was a waste of tea.

Tea House Muse

Erik is right. I'm surprised I had to be reminded of this but I guess hucking lobster with low brow broads for days on end will suck some of the good sense out of you. So thanks to Erik, I'm tapping back into the muse. Writing about tea and picturing my shop will keep my heart uplifted through aforementioned messy roomate, noisy room, social obligations, hot weather, waitressing, and general discouragement.

I looked and looked for some inspiring tea shop photos this morning. Erik, I really love the picture you found. Those tea house patrons are pointing at some birds flying while they sip their cuppa. I love it. I love you over the moon.

This photo of an old stone barn in Kansas from 1850 really loved me this morning. It's cozy, hearty, functional, solitary, peaceful and just the sort of place I would love to have 25 people to serve tea to in big comfortable chairs with all the windows open and a fire burning and not in Kansas. The mugs would be made of glass, the kettle of stainless steel (right mom?) and Bela Fleck's classical banjo album would be playing in the background. On a big wooden low table in front of the fire there would be a bowl of lemons, a jar of honey, a jug of milk, a jug of cream and a bowl of sugar for anyone to help themselves to. Wild flowers in little vases on the tables. Conversations billowing in and out of corners. And me in a flowered apron and a brown betty tea pot in hand.

Today, that's my inspiration. My vision.

I think that's pretty good. That feels pretty damn good.

I walked by a space on 5th Avenue in Brooklyn the other day and imagined throwing something together in there. I pictured one hundred glass jars full of loose tea of all kinds on one wall. Everything from Green and black and read and white to rose petals and kukicha and ginger and raspberry leaf and cinnamon sticks even. And all along the opposite wall just a low bar with chairs. And you know, if I really wanted that RIGHT NOW, I know I would do it. I would write a business plan tonight and have it ready to be taken to the bank by next month, I would get the loan, I would sign the lease, and I would be in business in time for the fucking holidays. So what's stopping me? What in the world is stopping me from trying to get that space today?!?! I guess we don't want to be in New York. I guess we want to be in New Zealand. Or San Francisco. I wish something more tangible would be appealing. It's hard to have things feel so far away, literally and figuratively.

But for today, this barn is doing me a lot of good. And the imagining part is really important in the Universe too. I will look forward to tomorrows inspiration.

Thanks Erik. Thank you for thinking of me and loving me the way you do.

I'm going to go brew a pot of 5 Seconds Tea from Kusum's little cottage on the Happy Valley Tea Estate in our messy kitchen swarming with flies to the constant sound of moving traffic and be happy thinking of you and tea and barns and dreams.

Sometimes you just have to inspire yourself.

This post is only surreptitiously about tea. It's about tea in the sense that somewhere in the long run, all the dull work that I'm doing now will pay off, and Lauren and I will be making a living with tea being a central part of our success. Considering that probably no one besides Lauren's mom reads this blog at this point (Hi Julie!), I feel less inhibited in my expression. Therefore, I will now document the general state of things without reservation.

("Proceed Sir")
("Thank you, I shall")

Having just finished a dull dinner of plain rice cooked in water with chicken boullion, after a rather tiring day of installing used sheetrock for an eco-friendly contractor, with inadequate tools, for a sad wage, with co-workers who almost hindered more than helped, after weeks of not making much money at all because the economy's in the shitter, living in a crappy, noisy room, with a really messy room mate who pretty much finds an area you just cleaned, and takes a crap on it, and after having a crazy reaction to an acupuncture treatment that gave me a huge headache for three days so I couldn't sleep, and in that three days I discovered that the web host that I had been researching for two weeks and then paid for (for the Darjeeling tea website I'm working on) requires that I know (or learn) how to write code....................after this stretch of complete and utter non-sense, I'm actually feeling alright about things.

Since I've been more or less unemplyed for over a month, I decided that this was the time to start a website that sold tea. It would get Lauren and I "into the business" of tea, and having just come back from India where we met a guy who is all over the tea world of Darjeeling, who could sell us the high end tea's that we prefer; I decided that it made sense to get started. (excuse me, I'm ignoring proper sentence structure) As it stands right now, I have about $600.00 of extremely good Darjeeling teas on it's way from India. I have a few other little accoutrements, and I've got my toes wet with the website. The hard part is just beginning, because it involves some marketing stuff that I'm just learning about, website building issues (new to me), and I have limited funds. In some respects it would be great if I could avoid working for a little while longer, but I can't live on dew and Universe juice, so I have to de-prioritize the website, and go out and labor.

I also have an illustration project I'm working on for my mom, which I'm happy to do, but the deadline's coming up, and I have to make a bit more progress. We're also moving in less than two weeks, and we have some social obligations. To top it all off, the summer finally got truly hot and muggy, so I'm a sweaty mess all the time.

The saving grace in all this is Lauren, and the clarity of purpose that I more or less feel. Sometimes I get bogged down, and don't keep totally focused, but having a clear sense of what you are doing changes everything. I don't think anyone ever accomplished anything without being very clear about what it was that they were doing. "How" is sometimes a mystery, but "What" has to be well understood.

Lauren has been a trooper though all this, and she may not realize it, but she's made some things possible that I couldn't have done on my own. Namely; skate by on only a day of work here and there. It's making a larger, more important goals possible. Thank the stars that I was smart enough to do something with this time. I could have just spent my days trolling Craigslist for jobs, and sinking into depression. Well I did that for a minute, but then I got clear on some stuff.

So to Lauren; Thanks, I love you very much.

and to me; Good job.

There you have. That is the state of things. Not exactly what this blog is all about, but I found that somewhat cathartic.

Thurbo, Oriental Delight

So this morning it was the Thurbo, Oriental Delight from the Thurbo Estate, in Darjeeling. This particular tea is an oolong which is slightly unusual for Darjeeling, although there are more and more estates producing greens, and oolongs. The funny thing is that the greens and oolongs tend to taste a bit like the black teas. They're good offerings, but they usualy maintain that Darjeeeling "muscatel" flavor. Don't let this turn you off though, they still taste great, I just prefer to go with greens and oolongs from the folks that have been producing them forever (the Chinese, and Japanese). That's a little snobby, isn't it?

Well anyway, the Thurbo Oriental Delight is exactly what an oolong from Darjeeling ought to taste like. It's light and gentle, and it's one of my favorite teas for when I just want some tea, but I don't want to make much of a commitment. Due to it's lightness, it tends to be downright refreshing, and it leaves you feeling quite alright. It's so light that describing it's flavor is a little difficult. Lauren and I spent a few minutes this morning trying to describe it, and we sort of came up blank, except to say that it was perfect for today.

I doubt that this tea is still avilable anywhere, but it's worth looking around if this sounds good to you. It was produced in a limited batch, and we just happen to be in Darjeeling when some of it was available last winter.

The leaves are large and unbroken, and it looks great when you brew it. There are all kinds of nice greens and browns in the tea before it's steeped. Take a look at the pictures above, and you'll see what I mean. It's a really attractive, light bodied tea. I highly recommend it.

Imperial Jasmine Green Tea

Ah Ha! So it turns out that the green fly is just a common aphid. Cool story isn't it? Tea is at least as intricate and multi layered as the wine industry is, and I'm a little surprised that tea connoisseur-ship hasn't taken off (in the u.s.) like it has with wine, or cigars. Maybe I'll write a post about how fancy tea can be. Not today though. No, today I talk about Jasmine green tea.

Jasmine green tea is something I drink because it reminds me of Chinese restaurants. This is the stuff that they serve you in those stainless steel tea pots, with the little tiny cups. My grandparent's used to take me to this place called the Four Seasons in Seattle's Chinatown when I was a kid. In fact my grandmother still takes me to this little dive called the Ming Tree when I visit her. I've always connected jasmine tea, foo dogs, and sweet and sour chicken with a sense of well being, so although, jasmine green tea is not really an everyday tea for Americans; I like to drink it from time to time.

On the other hand; the Chinese love this stuff. It's right up there with the Dragonwell, and the Monkey Picked Oolong for them, and if you get some of the quality stuff it can be rather satisfying. Right now I'm drinking "Imperial Jasmine Tea" from Kamwo Herbal Pharmacy in New York's Chinatown. They have all kinds of interesting herbs and fungus' about the place, and they have an accupuncture clinic in the back called The Grand Meridian. I get needled back there once a week. The place looks a lot like any other pharmacy, except there are a bunch of people packaging up what looks like twigs, and bark.

So about the tea: Any Chinese tea that says imperial is going to be high in quality, so try for that. Jasmine tea comes from tea picked early in the season from Fujian Province in China. The tea is "decorated" with fresh jasmine blossoms to impart the Jasmine flavor on the tea. Tea is highly absorbent of odors, so all you have to do is place the tea in and around a bunch of jasmine flowers, and the tea will soak up the scent. The harvesting is done during the day, and the flowers are layered on at night when they are in full bloom. The more consecutive nights that this layering is performed, the more heady the scent and flavor. High quality jasmines will be decorated up to twelve times.

I have read that jasmine teas are technically oolongs because they are allowed to ferment for a short time, but I don't think anyone will turn up their nose at you for calling it green. If you don't know the difference between white, green, oolong, and black teas, then check out this link Types of Tea.

Here you go Erik. Here's a greenfly. love you.

Kakra effect on Darjeeling Muscatel

On an earlier post I asked for confirmation of a "double fermentation" situation where Muscatel tea from Darjeeling was concerned. Apparently this "effect" is not isolated to the Castleton plantation, but is common to second flush teas that bear the description "Muscatel" in the name of the tea, not to be mistaken for the general description of Darjeeling teas as having a muscatel flavor to them. No! I'm talking about teas that are called "Muscatel".

"kakra” in local language means dehydrated leafs and this dehydration takes place when an insect called green fly bites the tea leafs and the leafs starts oxidizing on the bush as pores are formed on it, the leafs are further plucked when the soil and climatic conditions are perfect for the harvest and when the tea is further processed."

So that's it. That's pretty cool I think. What an interesting way for such an awesome tea to get it's flavor. If I can find out exactly what this "green fly" is I'll share that as well. There's this strange bug that lives on tea bushes, and looks like a tea leaf, but it doesn't resemble a fly at all so I doubt that that is it, but it could be.

Dragonwell, Lung Ching Imperial Green Tea,

Alright, get a load of this.........

Imperial Dragonwell is the Queen of Green Tea. A classic Chinese green tea. Beautiful shape, emerald color, sweetish refined taste. Lung Ching Tea - AKA Dragon Well is produced by hand through a 10 part process. The tea used to produce Dragon Well is grown by the side of West Lake in Zhejiang Province. Dragon Well is distinguished by its beautiful shape, emerald color, scented smell and tending sweet floral character. In Chinese culture Dragon Well is looked upon as an excellent gift to give to your friends as once it was a gift to emperors. In ancient times top Dragon Well tea was the tea of emperors and special dignitaries. The secret was in the plucking! Known as imperial plucking. Young virgins, gloved and using gold scissors delicately plucked the stem and placed it into a golden basket. The tea was only plucked once a year during March and early April before the Clear Light Festival, otherwise the tea could not have the moniker Imperial. Today the plucking process has changed somewhat (the time of plucking has not changed) but it is fascinating to know the tradition behind this marvelous tea. Like most other Chinese green tea, Longjing tea leaves are pan fried to stop the fermentation process. Longjing tea contains Vitamin C, amino acids, and the highest concentration of catechins among teas. Hot tea brewing method: When preparing by the cup, this tea can be used repeatedly - about 3 times. The secret is to use water that is about 180 degrees F or 80 degrees C. Place 1 teaspoon in your cup, let the tea steep for about 3 minutes and then begin enjoying a cup of enchantment - do not remove the leaves from the cup. Once the water level is low - add more water, and so on and so on - until the flavor of the tea is exhausted. Look at the pattern of the leaves in the brew, not only do they foretell your fortune but you can see the bud and shoots presenting themselves, looking like they are about to be plucked by young virgins.

Whoa! I had no idea what I was drinking! Well, I knew it was pretty good, a lot like the Japanese Sencha. In fact there is some similarities in the taste of these two teas. That must be because they are both pan fried. The brewed Dragonwell is a little bit greener, and like the above description says "A sweetish, refined taste". I would also add that it's a bit earthy, but that could just be the mellowness. The dried leaves are bigger than the Sencha, and for some reason they're flat.

So drink up. You'll feel like the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty even if you don't have any lackey's to command. I like to take a sip, look down my nose at everyone, and state quite plainly that everyone will be "Scrutinized, assessed, and dealt with accordingly".

Risheehat (flowery) second flush

This mornings tea was the Risheehat (flowery), second flush. Like all the good Darjeeling teas, it is nice and smooth, and doesn't need milk. Because it's a second flush tea, it's a bit darker than the first flush, and a bit sweeter. The term "flowery" must refer to the mild hint of jasmine, or something floral, that is lurking in the flavor. It brews into a nice burnt orange color, and it possesses a slightly complex aroma. I don't have the most sophisticated palate, otherwise I would try to give you an in depth description of the smell, but take my word for it; it smells great. Take a look at the picture above. It's not the best picture. but you can see how some of the leaves are a distinctly more orange, or brown, or green in color. That's how the aroma comes off.

I think that this tea is a little bit hard to come by at this point, because the Risheehat estate didn't produce much of it. That seems to be the story with a number of Darjeeling teas this year, thanks to the dry winter. I understand that the crops are rebounding somewhat, but that the harvest is still not what it needs to be.

Tea Quote of the Day:

"Computer:

Tea,

Earl Grey,

Hot."

-Jean Luc Picard, Captain of the Starship "Enterprise."

Sencha, Green Tea

Alright! I finally have some time to write something! So I think we'll go with Sencha Green Tea. I've been trying to educate myself on green teas lately, and I started with the most common varieties from Japan and China. Sometimes the common stuff is the best, because there's so many people producing it, and they've been doing it for so long that they've just got it right, especially if you get a premium grade.

The Sencha that I've been drinking is simply "Sencha, Premium Grade, Japanese Green" from McNulty's Tea and Coffee in New York. It's fairly inexpensive, and it tastes great. It's very smooth, and it brews into a beautiful grassy yellow. Sencha is usually said to be vegetal, or to have a grassy flavor, and I agree. The flavor is also compared to Seaweed, which gives it an oceanic quality, and lends itself to pairings with seafood. It's a great everyday green tea that works anytime of the day.

I've read that "Sencha" can be translated as "roasted" or "common", and I've read about a few slightly different methods for processing. It is always described as air dried, and then usually pan fried. The finished tea leaves are rolled into long needles, and it keeps it's dark green color.

Here's some info that I snagged off the internet;

Sencha is the most widely enjoyed green tea in Japan. You'll find it everywhere you turn, in varying grades. It can be recognized by its shiny, needle-like shaped tea leaves with strong fragrance.

Along with the springtime blossoming of cherry trees, the first harvest of sencha is highly anticipated and celebrated. It's thought to be the first taste of the coming year in tea, and very lucky to give as a gift. This first harvest is referred to as "shincha".

Processing: The tea plants used to make sencha are grown in full sun. Processing is a series of six steps that begins with steaming (halts oxidization, preserves the color, aroma and taste). The leaves are then partially dried and machine twisted, making them soft and pliant. This step is repeated, with a second round of drying and twisting, resulting in increased fragrance and needle-shaped leaves. A third round of drying finishes the process. The tea then is hand-sorted to remove any stray stems. Sencha can be enjoyed right after being made (needs no maturing), and generally has a 6 months shelf life.

Brewing: The key with sencha is to use soft water at a low temperature with a short steeping time. It's a delicate tea, and does well made in a small vessel like a gaiwan or kyusu.

Cooking: It's common in Japan to re-use the leaves of high-grade sencha in cooking. Try adding them to salads and dishes that do well with fresh greens and herbs.

I haven't gone out of my way to brew it at a lower temperature, but I do stick to the shorter steeping times. I always drop all my teas into the hot water, and then use a seive to strain them into the pot. This pretty much reduces brewing times with all but the darkest teas anyway, and I think you end up with better flavor as a result.

So next time maybe I'll talk about Lung Ching, Dragonwell from China. Or about steeping methods.

Paper vs. Plastic

If you are a consumer of loose leaf teas, and you care about the effect that your presence has on the earths environment, then the article below should be interesting to you. It's the old debate about paper vs. plastic. I always recycle the plastic grocery bags that I collect, but what about the little tin tie bags that your tea comes in? If it's paper, do you compost it? and if it's plastic, do you recycle it?

This article is actually about coffee bags, but they're the same as what we get our teas in.

Here's the link to the website I found this article on http://beanactivist.wordpress.com/2007/12/07/whats-the-best-bag-for-coffee/

What’s the Greenest Coffee Bag?

Posted by Chris O’Brien

Coffee drinkers pay more for packaging, shipping, and advertising than we pay the farmers who grow coffee beans. So how can we pay more to the people and for the product and less for the package? And which kind of package is best for the environment?

Setting aside the issues of shipping and advertising, and ignoring single-serve coffee containers for the moment, the basic retail packaging choice is between a paper bag and a plastic-covered foil bag.

Aargh! The eternal paper versus plastic debate. Hoping to discover once and for all which to choose, I researched this question and reported my findings in Fermenting Revolution. I found that this is a frustrating debate for good reason – there is no clear environmental winner when choosing a paper or plastic bag.

Paper
Paper is from a renewable resource – trees. But just because trees are renewable doesn’t mean we’re consuming them sustainably. We axe-down ancient forests and destroy habitat for endangered species, replacing complex ecosystems with tree farms or worse. Today, we have less than half the global forest cover we had at the beginning of settled agriculture ten thousand years ago. In the age of global warming, the role of forests as carbon sequestration sinks has taken on new importance – we need all the trees we can get in order to trap carbon dioxide in hopes of slowing climate change. Unfortunately, we continue on our decline of total forest cover.

Compared to plastic, paper is much heavier. The eco-impacts resulting from this added weight are staggering. According to the EPA, one paper grocery bag requires more than twice as much energy, produces 15 times as much waterborne waste and twice as much atmospheric pollution, as one plastic bag. Though they are theoretically recyclable, Americans chuck four out of five paper bags in the trash. Paper is biodegradable but nearly no-one actually composts them so biodegradability is moot. The vast majority end up locked in landfill where they will stay indefinitely, not biodegrading at all.

Oh, and even if you wanted to compost or recycle your coffee bag, most of them are lined with polypropylene (plastic), so you’re actually getting a paper bag with a plastic bag nested inside it – two for one! Just to keep things complicated, there are exceptions. Some paper coffee bags have no liner, which means they are indeed compostable. Others use a layer of “glassine” which is a dense semi-transparent paper that according to National Envelope is “biodegradable and recyclable.” So if you happen to know that your paper coffee bag is liner-less or uses glassine, and you are willing to compost them – this may be the most environmentally preferable option if you ignore the whole weight issue.

Versus Plastic
Plastic is derived from petroleum and doesn’t even theoretically degrade. At best, plastic bags are recycled, but in reality we only recycle a pathetic one percent of them, tossing out over a hundred billion plastic grocery bags every year. A few manufacturers have started making starch-based plastic bags but they remain prohibitively expensive and account for less than one percent of the market.

But plastic is super cheap, compact and light as air (just think how often you’ve seen them blowing around in it). Its compactness and lightness weigh positively in the shipping formula – light and small means that just one truck can transport as many plastic bags as it takes seven trucks to transport the same number of paper bags.

Drat! Foiled Again
So plastic is drastic and paper is a waster. But hold on, we’re talking about coffee bags not grocery bags. Plastic coffee bags are actually double-bagged just like the paper bags. The inner lining is usually 5 mil polypropylene plastic but the outer layer is aluminum foil. This dual-layer system rules out even the possibility of recycling, plus it adds the complexity of evaluating the environmental footprint of foil. Cripes! This is giving me a headache.

Just to be sure there wasn’t some hidden upside to all this, I called North Atlantic Specialty Bag Co. and a very helpful customer service rep assured me there was no recycled content in the paper, plastic or aluminum of their bags. She also confirmed that the poly-lined paper bags and the poly-lined aluminum bags were not recyclable due to the dual-layer system of each. However, she did say they were soon planning to offer a compostable/recyclable paper option. She didn’t know the construction of these new bags but I suppose they must be the unlined or glassine-lined paper bags I mentioned above.

A Roaster Weighs In
Searching the web for details about bags and looking to see which roasters use what, I found this helpful info from the folks at Cafe Campesino, who give their customers a choice of bags:

Kraft Bags
Our standard packaging for 1-lb. and 2-lb. units of coffee is a biodegradable Kraft paper bag, which can be composted or recycled. Our 5-lb. units of coffee are also packaged in Kraft paper bags, though this size is not biodegradable (it is recyclable), as an internal plastic liner is necessary to support the greater weight during transport. We strongly recommend transferring your coffee into an airtight container upon receiving it.

Foil Bags
To provide for longer shelf life, added hardiness for shipping and for resale venues, we recommend having your coffee packed in our sealed foil bags, each of which (1-lb., 2-lb. and 5-lb.) has a one-way valve to allow the coffee to off-gas without letting air in. Again, we strongly recommend transferring your coffee into an airtight container once the foil bag has been opened.

Presumably, the note about the recyclability versus compostability of the 5 pound plastic-lined paper bag is due to the fact that you can’t simply toss it in the compost bin, but you could remove the plastic liner from the paper bag and recycle each separately.

As far as cost goes, every coffee seller I’ve found who offers both types of bags charges the same price regardless which type you pick. So cost doesn’t appear to be an issue. But there may be a trade off when it comes to quality. Foil bags are better at keeping air away from your beans, which means the coffee stays fresher and retains more of its potential flavor. So if you’re seeking maximum flavor enjoyment, not just a morning jolt, its important to pay attention to exposure to air, though this can be controlled in part by what you do with the coffee once you get it home.

Weight a Minute, the Winner Is . . .
The weight comparison at the beginning was for grocery bags. Since “plastic” coffee bags are actually plastic-lined aluminum foil not just plain old plastic, the preferential lighter weight of plastic disappears. It seems the best option then is an unlined or glassine-lined paper bag.

But wait, there’s one more thing. Paper coffee bags are available in tan or white. The white ones are made of pulp that has extra bleaching (very nasty, toxic processing) and have a coating of clay applied to them.

So, if you buy a pound or two at a time, like most people do, then you should get it fresh from a roaster in a paper bag, transfer it to an airtight container, and compost or recycle the bag. Or if you live near a roaster, ask if you can BYOB – bring your own bag, er, refillable airtight container, and eliminate this damn “econundrum” altogether!

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