Tuesday TeaDay 11/11/08 Work tea?

[kymidwife]

A funny update to my tea day...

Before I left Nashville, I had to stop into Teavana. I know its overpriced and not the BEST tea, but it's the only option I have anywhere close, and I love to smell their teas and look at their pots and cups... and I have actually purchased some really good Darjeelings there in the last year.

So, I was sniffing their new tea offerings, mostly flavored and not interesting to me... and the girl behind the counter offered to brew me a complimentary cup of my choice. I was buying a few different things, and wanted to try something I hadn't bought before... and as I havent tried any matcha yet, I decided to try it.

I got the "new girl". Well... let me tell you... she put in a heaping teaspoon of matcha... that stuff was like green espresso! The more experienced fellow came over and showed her the error of her ways on how to measure the proper amount, etc. She DID whisk it, at least. They offered to toss it and make me another cup, but by then, I had gotten used to the BAM! of the flavor. It actually was fairly tasty in spite of their ineptitude. I had a new spring in my step for the remainder of my shopping day!

No one ever accused Teavana of knowing how to brew tea. I should have played it safe!

On a happier note, I had been totally impressed with their previous Darjeeling offerings (Puttabong and Maharani Hills FF). They are sold out of the Puttabong but just added a new Darjeeling Vidyaranya FTGFOP-1. They still had a few of the Maharani Hills chestlets so one of those and some of the Vidyaranya came home with me. The Vidyaranya seems excellent so far, and is an exclusive to Teavana according to their website.

I also came home with a bit of Kuki-Matcha which smelled really good, and some of their black dragon pearls (3 times larger than the Jasmine dragon pearls, very interesting). Will let ya'll know how they come out. If I drink any more tonight, I'll never get to sleep!

Happy tea dreams to all,

Sarah

[TeaCompulsion]

I'm on a buzz from snorting 5 cups at Teasource's sample day.

TC, you're so lucky to live close to TeaSource! I love their tea. Does the store have the same excellent service as they do online?

I haven't tried their online service, but the store I've been going to is great. The sample days are particularly nice -- 5 cups of the teas of the day for $3.25 -- I've tried about 70 of their teas as a result so far.

[Chip]

Gyokuro a bit earlier. Mugicha to finish off another great TeaDay.

[Cinnamon Kitty]

I tend to bring good tea to classes. Not the best ones in my tea stash, but ones that are tasty enough to keep me happy for an hour or two.

I had a bit of entertainment this evening. I was walking down the hall with a teapot in each hand to go clean the pots out when I ran into a group of RAs who were very entertained that I had teapots in a college dorm. So I got to talk about tea, show off my collection of loose teas, and let them smell a few. I even got my RA to decide that she would like to try one of my teas at some point. It was good.

Today, I've had sencha, Tiger Hill Nilgiri (thanks, Sarah!), and some hojicha to end the day.

[Drax]

I got the "new girl". Well... let me tell you... she put in a heaping teaspoon of matcha... that stuff was like green espresso! The more experienced fellow came over and showed her the error of her ways on how to measure the proper amount, etc. She DID whisk it, at least. They offered to toss it and make me another cup, but by then, I had gotten used to the BAM! of the flavor. It actually was fairly tasty in spite of their ineptitude. I had a new spring in my step for the remainder of my shopping day!

No one ever accused Teavana of knowing how to brew tea. I should have played it safe!

Heh, that's awesome. You might get a bunch of matcha junkies to lurk around Teavana stores to prey on unsuspecting new workers....

[toastedtoads]

We had a woman from Japan come into the tasting room one day this summer who had been schooled in the art of the Japanese Tea Ceremony. She did the "thick" and the "thin" version. The thick was so thick she didn't even whisk it. Sounds like you had "thick" matcha.

Here's what it looked like after 5 of us drank it. (It's supposed to look like a flower.) It took so long for the liquid to come to your lips when you held up the bowl.


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[Janine]

Great photo, Toasted. Thanks!

There's a place JapanTown in San Fran that serves matcha w/Japanese sweets. They tend to serve it fairly thick I think. Pow! My husband (the serial all-day-long espresso drinker) loves it

[edkrueger]

Next time you go to Japan Town have look at White Crane Tea co. Its hidden in a corner next to the bakery.

[Pentox]

Next time you go to Japan Town have look at White Crane Tea co. Its hidden in a corner next to the bakery.

Heh, there's not exactly a lot to see there.

[Janine]

edkrueger wrote:
Next time you go to Japan Town have look at White Crane Tea co. Its hidden in a corner next to the bakery.

Oh I think I know that place, although it didn't used to be called White Crane. They had nice quality Japanese Teas though as far as I was concerned.

[kymidwife]

Sounds like you had "thick" matcha.

I'd love to think that was the case, but alas, no. It was about 6 oz. of tea, not thick in consistency, just thick in flavor. The girl said "oh, I've never made matcha before... I thought you just put a heaping teaspoon of it in a cup of hot water just like any other tea".

Her technique for controlling the water temp was to put in 2 icecubes after dispensing hot water from the Bunn water heater. No thermometer.

And in spite of it all, it wasn't bad. It wasn't great either, but it was ok. I drank it.