Green Tea At Work?

[beforewisdom]

Do those of you who like to have green tea at work have a lot of tea equipment with you at work?

- electric pot to heat the water to the correct temperature?
- tea pot with a removable basket?
- tea thermometer?
- special tea mugs?

[debunix]

We've got quite a few threads that discuss tea at work. I did a search for you here, of the forum topics with 'work' in the title for the past year.

I have gotten quite elaborate at work because I drink a lot of tea there--more than at home, in fact. I keep an electric teakettle--a digital kettle pro by Pino, so I don't need the thermometer there now--and a couple of gaiwans, a small kyusu, a kamjove 'gongfu art' tea thingie (not really a pot or a cup, but it makes tea well enough), and a large thermos for holding the brewed tea when I go for afternoon clinic or long meetings. I even keep a tiny scale for those occasions when I'm working with a new tea and want to write a more accurate note about it.

But as long as I still had the kettle, 1 gaiwan, and a teacup, I'd be just fine for most of my green tea brewing.

[skilfautdire]

Since I work seated at a desk, I drink tea regularly. And so I have a somewhat small electric kettle that I replenish from time to time. I bring along one of the teapots, depending on what I plan to drink that day, but mostly a Japanese kyusu. So no need for baskets and such. Since I brew many cups, I can experiment with temps so I do not bring a thermometer although I did at one point to have some reference to go along with. I certainly do not use 'mugs'. I have one 150ml (nice) Japanese tea cup that is, without handle.

For meetings I will put the tea into a standard cup. I used to bring a small handle-less cup but it's easier to walk around with a standard cup. And in longer meetings I put the amount of two cups in ! That would be brewing a full kyusu. All other times I brew half a kyusu at a time, 'leaving the leaves' for the next cup.

One other piece of important tea equipment: a tea timer. It's way too easy for me to forget about tea being steeped. So I use a tea timer that comes with the computer desktop, in this case it is called KTeaTime and it is part of the KDE desktop (Linux). Very handy. Now I just have to remember to start it. A popup window will tell me when the tea is ready.

OTOH I did discover that by over-steeping organic Bi Luo Chun (YS) a very potent (although somewhat bitter) tea is made that, after 1-2 cups (still the small 150ml cups) produces a boost way better than any coffee. Nice to have sometimes.

BTW, I am looking to get a smaller nice kettle such as a this Kamjove:

http://www.hailea.com/kamjove/E-kamjove ... 1/V-30.htm

But it seems so far that I will have to order it from China (Dragon Tea House) as it is nowhere to be found in North America, or so it seems. If anyone know about a North American source, let me know.

[exquisite]

- 700 ml simple cheap plastic kettle (auto shutoff when water is boiled )
- 300 ml teacup with mesh infuser and lid.
- I bring my own softwater from home
- thermometer = small finger
-At work I "brew" usually cheap sencha, so no regrets if something goes wrong...

It usually depends on the work environment, gaiwan or kyusu could cause raised eyebrows even in the most pretentious offices, but as long as you don´t care it should be fine.... I avoid bringing proper teaware at work because I tend to keep my passion for tea as a personal matter. Even though I work in a pretty relaxed environment, I just don´t feel comfortable showing it in public...

Cheers..

[beforewisdom]

That is a pretty interesting comment. I tend to be a bit private about my private life ( that is why they call it "private"! ) at work. Some things my coworkers just don't need to know.

Out of curiosity, why would you have a problem using fancy teacups or having your coworkers know that you are into tea? It seems harmless enough.

[exquisite]

I just don´t see myself watching the temp/time or draining the kyusu till the last drop, nevertheless matching an incense with the music, things which I do in the privacy of my own home. Besides, work environment doesn´t allow you to pay proper attention to tea. Imagine some important thing you absolutely have to do and cannot pass or delay, exactly when you have only 5 seconds left to start pouring. I just want to put myself away from that kind of "frustrations" . That´s why I tend to keep it minimal and discreet.

[debunix]

BTW, I am looking to get a smaller nice kettle such as a this Kamjove:

http://www.hailea.com/kamjove/E-kamjove ... 1/V-30.htm

But it seems so far that I will have to order it from China (Dragon Tea House) as it is nowhere to be found in North America, or so it seems. If anyone know about a North American source, let me know.

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.

[debunix]

I just don´t see myself watching the temp/time or draining the kyusu till the last drop......work environment doesn´t allow you to pay proper attention to tea.

I drink more tea at work than at home, because I work long hours, and the last few hours at home in the evening are not my best time to drink tea. So, I make tea at work. I keep a narrower group of teas there, teas that are more flexible in timing and brewing conditions, teas that take to bulk infusions for the thermos, and rarely bring out the very fanciest or the most intense teas there. But that doesn't just mean mediocre teas, and I've had quite a delightful time sharing the tea I brew at work.

[skilfautdire]

It's nice to learn about other customs. Here in Canada, at least here in this cosmopolitan center, we are quite exhuberant. First, there are a lot of Chinese workers. And some of them do drink tea. This is how I found out about 'other' teas two years ago. By asking about a glass cup on a desk that contained a mushy amount of green leaves. What's that ? It all started there. If this colleague would have kept it hidden "in his privacy", I would have missed that chance of asking, knowing, and spending that much money on teas from China and Japan.

No quips at all about using a kyusu or gaiwan or yixing teapot for puerh at work. No quips about whisking some matcha either ! Heck, even the plain run-of-the-mill English VP now walks around sometimes with a glass containing green tea leaves, Chinese 'grandpa' style ! Colleagues are giving me teas on a regular basis. Some are also asking me about parts of Canada to visit or take some vacations.

You can call us crazy, but there are no concerns about showing stuff. East Indian Diwali is celebrated at the kitchen each year, with free samosas. Same for Chinese new year. So on so forth.

We learn things from each other. If we would keep it all inside and conform to some more or less bleak standard, then we'd miss all those opportunities to know about each other. This is internal to the company. It does not mean that customers are met with a pot of puerh tea in hand.

Besides, privacy is not defined by such things as drinking tea, I find.

And about the 5 seconds thing, well, if it is not about some airplane that is about to crash in the building, it can wait until the last drop of the kyusu is out !

And come to think of it, even if it was an airplane, 5 seconds would not change much after all !

[exquisite]

hahahaha..

Europe , though, it´s pretty different. Not that people aren´t nice
but it´s just different. Hard to explain, but mainly it´s history´s fault.
I don´t want to go deeper , as it would be pretty offtopic and not in the site´s profile to comment on this type of things.
Other than that, it doesn´t mean that you cannot have decent tea without proper genuine hardware. But its´s just decent, nothing more.

Cheers.

[Cyphre]

I have my yixing at work for Dan Congs, I also have my Shigaraki Kyusu at work for Long Jins.

People think I am a bit off to have such things but they are beautiful and decorate the desk. Also I work anywhere from 8 to 16 hours a day sometimes up to 7 days a week. Since I basicly live at work I don't have much of a choice if I want to drink tea. I just use the water cooler/heater that work supplies.

[skilfautdire]

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 !

[debunix]

Green tea at work--posted in TeaDay:

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?p=175404#p175404

[skilfautdire]

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"

[entropyembrace]

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...