Green Tea At Work?

[IPT]

I have a LOT of tea ware at work. I told my boss when I was hired that I wouldn't work if I wasn't allowed to brew tea at my desk and he didn't mind. I've got a cabinet just for tea and tea ware and I'm starting to get others hooked on tea as well. It's a lot of fun.

[skilfautdire]

Well, a few days later, still no reply. It's a shame of sorts, when you're in Canada, to have things shipped from China easier than from the USA. Something is wrong somewhere.

Or maybe it's: "something is Wong somewhere"

And it actually takes less time for packages to arrive from Japan than from the US.

China is still pretty slow though...

I see it not as much as a time-saver or any sort, but rather as a logic issue. That might or might not fit into a green scheme (not the Mr. Green one, though). There's this vendor in the USA carrying this item. The USA are neighbours. As much as we can comment negatively on Post Canada/USPS, most of the time you pay, fill the little green paper, and the item gets eventually at destination. And it works. As a matter of fact throughout the years I have never lost any bought and shipped item from the USA (some USA shops do ship to Canada although these shops do not seem to be in the tea business). Let's see now if the natto bacteria that I've ordered will get through the DHS and TSA !

Instead, ordering from China is easier. Ordering from just about the other side of the Earth is easier than from a neighbour. I guess this is what mondialization is about.

Unless there are real logistics problems encountered by the shops in the USA to ship to Canada (or to have Canada distinct from 'international' shipping.)

Maybe they have to fill all those formulars that exhaustively makes the point that no, a kettle cannot be used to make nuclear bombs, and apply for costly special licenses.

Or maybe the USA customs fear that a so-called 'sleeping cell' working at the customs would spot the kettle, fill it with water, boil it and terrorize the dept. with it.

(Surely a couple of other jokes could be found)

As for the rather fast standard shipping from Japan, well, that goes to show that Japan does not have a problem with Gamera anymore !

[tortoise]

Interesting topic. I used to work in the arts in Seattle. Work environment was very tea friendly. I had a sort of gongfu mug that I used for high mountain oolongs on a daily basis and a couple tins in my desk drawer. Most people wouldn't bat an eye at a mug of tea with a ceramic basket full of spent leaves sitting on my desk. Those who where curious where enthusiastically so. There was actually a strictly japanese tea place 5 minutes from the office and some of us would go there on a break for matcha or what have you.

Now, however, I am working a contract job for an oil and gas company in Louisiana. The culture is entirely different. I do occasionally drink tea here (at work), but not often. It alway requires a lot of explanation on my part which I just don't feel like doing sometimes. Mostly, they just think it's "weird" and are not interested in learning more or curious to try it. I like to fly under the radar, honestly, and do not look for opportunities to stand out unless it is by my competency. So I understand the occasional need for discretion. I mean, it isn't like we tea drinkers are a persecuted bunch or anything, but if I can't enjoy it without someone pulling faces, I'll just wait till I get home.

[debunix]

Mostly, they just think it's "weird" and are not interested in learning more or curious to try it. I like to fly under the radar, honestly, and do not look for opportunities to stand out unless it is by my competency.

As they get to know your competence at your job, maybe you can be more comfortable with not hiding your interest in tea. Meanwhile, a nice big Stanley thermos can hold a work-day's worth of tea, without all the tea apparatus cluttering the desk. It's tougher for green teas, because the delicate flavors don't hold well, but some of them do quite well for a day.

[DoctorD]

I drink almost nothing but green tea at work. The department has a serviceable electric teakettle for the couple of us who drink tea, and one of Den's little all-purpose kyusus does for the brewing. Life is good.

[skilfautdire]

As they get to know your competence at your job, maybe you can be more comfortable with not hiding your interest in tea. Meanwhile, a nice big Stanley thermos can hold a work-day's worth of tea, without all the tea apparatus cluttering the desk. It's tougher for green teas, because the delicate flavors don't hold well, but some of them do quite well for a day.

Brrrr... Must be dreadful as atmosphere.

Perhaps because we are a middle-sized company (only a bare $55 million in bank) and perhaps because we deal with Linux and a rather niche market, we can let 'creativity' (ahem) be present. And perhaps because there so many Asians. How would it be possible to tell a good Chinese engineer: 'no, you are not allowed to have those leaves steeping in this long tall glass at your desk or in meetings' ?

Or worse, to inherently make people feel they would be disturbances in doing so. Brrrr...

[skilfautdire]

Hey, that makes me think. Are people working for the Tea Party in the USA allowed to drink all kind of teas are their desks ?

[entropyembrace]

Hey, that makes me think. Are people working for the Tea Party in the USA allowed to drink all kind of teas are their desks ?

They don´t have anything to do with tea...

Except that they like the idea of dumping it all into Boston Harbour...

[skilfautdire]

Hey, that makes me think. Are people working for the Tea Party in the USA allowed to drink all kind of teas are their desks ?

They don´t have anything to do with tea...

Except that they like the idea of dumping it all into Boston Harbour...

You mean... you mean, the Tea Party is not about making things green ? Caring about the blacks and yellows, appreciating the values of the whites ? Respecting the old ones (that not always smell good) and guiding the young ones to maturity ?

[Chip]

ummm ... let's get off the politics please.

I honestly do not care whether anyone loves 'em or hates 'em. TeaChat is a politics free zone per forum "guidelines!"

So say the TeaPeeps!

Thank you most kindly,
Chip
Immoderate TeaPartayer (of the tea drinking kind) who happens to Moderate

[ssserica]

yes i do drink tea at work daily. without work i would not even have been exposed to good green tea. one of our vendors in china would send us tea yearly as a gift for business and this honestly is what got me into "real" tea brewing outside of tea bags . since that job i have moved on and although i still work closely with vendors in china i havnt gotten the tea hookup lately .
This past year i drank moderate sancha during the summer more jasmine.

originally i used one of those mesh balls and usual non flashy mug. i have since gotten a proper tea kettle/ strainer but still not going too far because while there are alot of Chinese people in the office they work in the shipping packing area. i get alot of weird looks as to what i am doing but generally i just brush it off no biggie. i have gotten into some good tea chats with some other co-workers and i am slowly but surly stepping my tea game up. I am learning now different variations and types of green tea and starting to brew at home.

[febs]

Hem, sorry for sounding blasphemous but I never brewed green tea with proper hardware.

I use a microwave + finger (so far at 850W I estimate it's 90C with two minutes and 80C with one and a half minutes, but I'll get a thermometer to become more accurate) and the ingenuiTEA.

I still have to learn not to oversteep it so frequently (I have this bitter taste in my mouth in this very moment... ) when I don't, it is good.

[electrickettle]

Birdpick.com has some, and I know my Wing Hop Fung has half a dozen models that look superficially similar, though I have not looked at any of them in great detail.

Thanks. I've emailed them (Birdpick) to see if, even when they specify that they do not ship 'international' and only have USA rates, they could ship to their northern neighbour. I wouldn't call that international shipping heck, it's pratically next door! Shouldn't be much difference for them between shipping from CA to VT and CA to Canada. Unless the DHS and TSA makes a fuss about a kettle in a parcel !

Well, a few days later, still no reply. It's a shame of sorts, when you're in Canada, to have things shipped from China easier than from the USA. Something is wrong somewhere.

Or maybe it's: "something is Wong somewhere"

And it actually takes less time for packages to arrive from Japan than from the US.

China is still pretty slow though...

I think you can get it from China easily now. Many factories are use DHL or Fedex for delievry now. You can have a try to buy from China. In my opinion, the kettle made in China is much better than those made in other places as we all know that China is the hometown of tea. In fact, many countries' kettle are exported directly from China.

[skilfautdire]

I think you can get it from China easily now. Many factories are use DHL or Fedex for delievry now. You can have a try to buy from China. In my opinion, the kettle made in China is much better than those made in other places as we all know that China is the hometown of tea. In fact, many countries' kettle are exported directly from China.

Well, as I've recently seen, it might depends from where in China.

Two parcels were sent to me, at one day interval. Both EMS shipping. Dates are from the EMS tracking system.

One from nearby Shanghai. Took three days flat to get toVancouver's customs from Shanghai's 'despatch' center.

The other from nearby Kunming, took 12 days to arrive at Vancouver, from Guangzhou 'despatch' center.

So it perhaps depends. I'd figured Shaghai would much more busy hence more delays, but that's not the case. I haven't looked at a map, perhaps the one from Guangzhou stops inside China (or elsewhere) but it surely wasn't scanned as such.

As for the kettle, the Kamjove induction kettle is quite nice. It has a fan inside the heating base to dissipate the heat. The metal of the kettle is quite thin. At 0.7 liters it is of a perfect size. The inside of the kettle is quite sensible to what's in the (tap) water, but that's OK. At the end of a day there will be spots that I scrub off very easily. All in all a very good kettle. All instructions were in Chinese. Not that it's rocket science, but I had to have the 'auto mode' translated to see what it's supposed to do. I was shutting off the kettle too early to see it working.

[bryan_drinks_tea]

I drink three kinds of green tea at my small office. Sencha, a random traditional chinese green, or a taiwanese green. I've a heating element and kettle there, along with a kyusu, gaiwan, cups, and various other teawares to help the brewing go better.

Being in the south, visitors view it as strange, but they don't criticize me for it. I figure the lipton has clouded their judgement a little bit.