Tea for Two

Sometimes you just need a little time away. It doesn't need to be very long. It's amazing what a couple of hours can do.

I've been reading up on a number of teashops in the area over the past weeks for an article I'm developing. There was one that wasn't too far away so I decided to take the opportunity of a free Sunday afternoon to check it out. When I e-mailed to make the reservation I was told that they only do afternoon tea for two or more. (Unaccompanied guests can come and order off the luncheon menu, but the tiered service requires two people.) At first I thought I should just scrap the plans for now, but then I decided that it might just be motivation to spend some time with a friend.

I blasted an e-mail out to a few friends, but, of course, being a Saturday very few people were reading. I decided to get over my hesitation about using the phone (I always feel very self conscious. What is that about?) and called a friend. She happened to be both free and interested.

I drove to her house and picked her up so we could take our little road trip together. We spent about an hour and a half drinking tea, eating treats, and talking...talking...talking. The time absolutely flew. Driving home it struck me how refocused I was. That change of scenery, connecting with someone I care about, and then some time alone in the car to be in my own head. Amazing. I was away from my house for only a few hours, but the difference in my mental state was striking.

I highly recommend it.

Get online and find a local teahouse. Call a friend. Take some time to refresh. Just make sure the tea is good.

(And, yes, I'll give you a full report on the teahouse soon!)

More tea grown in the U.S.A.

**Please note that I made a small edit to this post to correct what I felt was an overly negative statement. I think this better represents my true feelings on this topic.**

I recently reported on some of the tea growing progress in Hawaii. A few companies have been growing and selling on the island. More recently Narien Tea became the first company to import and re-sell off the island. They've been sourcing from Big Island Tea. Samovar Tea of California has recently announced that they too will be selling Hawaiian grown tea. Where Narien is selling a green tea, Samovar is selling an oolong and a black. Their source is Tea Hawaii which was featured in the NY Times earlier this month.

A new announcement, though, caught me by surprise. I had read awhile ago that there were some experimenting happening with growing tea in Washington State because the Pacific Northwest has a climate that seemed it might be amenable. The Seattle Times published an article this week about Sakuma Bros. Berry Farm, announcing that they are now selling their own grown and processed white tea and that they are testing out green teas as well.

I must admit that I cringed a bit reading this article. It felt a bit like they were primarily motivated to grow tea by the "tea and health craze" rather than a fundamental interest in promoting tea. On the other hand, one could say instead that they were waiting for something that would demonstrate this could be a viable commercial enterprise in the U.S. Their early methods didn't seem to fully respect to the thousands of years of skill and reverence placed on growing tea in places like China. I mean, they were "plucking" using a hedge trimmer and a meat grinder for chopping leaves. EEK! It seems, though, that they are taking it more seriously now. After a tea tour of Taiwan there seems to be more investment in using proper methods and equipment. It will be interesting to see if Sakuma and other Northwest growers can make a go of this.

**I wrote this note as part of a comment to a reader but wanted to reiterate it here for those who don't read the comments:

It will be wonderful if Sakuma Bros. can make a go of this while staying true to the history and mystery of tea growing. For me, many can learn to grow and make tea; some can learn to grow and make tea well; a few can learn to grow and make tea brilliantly; and a very, very few embody the true spirit and history of tea growing and production that has woven its way through thousands of years.

A little tea music

I received a note from a woman who, with her husband, has recently developed two tea music videos. "Teacup Tango" and "Scale of Tea" were their submissions for TeaUSA's Calm-a-Sutra scholarship contest. Here's what she wrote:

My husband and I are avid tea lovers but definite novices. We recently wrote two songs about tea and its health benefits for a scholarship competition and we learned so much. Tea is awesome and there is so much more to it – whichever type you prefer – than I ever realized. If you are interested, here are our two songs and music videos about tea:

From YouTube:

The Teacup Tango: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOmoshHoQU0

The Scale of Tea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4VFblIDgNI

I can a attest that both of these videos are worth your time. They're funny and clever...and catchy. It's not my fault if the songs are stuck in your head for the rest of the day.

Makes me remember one of our previous favorites. Remember this?

Wall Street Journal and TEA!

Tea Guy Speaks just gave us a heads up about a July article in the Wall Street Journal, about "Gilt," a restaurant located in New York's Palace Hotel. Gilt has a tea list that numbers 68 options and they also offer a "tea flights" of up to 24 teas. You can find the full article here.

Great. Just what I need. Another destination on my list.

Long hiatus!

Wow! That was a long hiatus and I hadn't even realized it. We finally had some summer here and it went to my head.

Today is just going to have a few notes of interest. There will be a more news-filled post soon, I assure you.

1. Product Recall - Fireside Chai Tea
Fireside Chai Tea has been recalled due to the recent Plainview non-fat dry milk recall. Four flavors of chai from Fireside Coffee are included. Details of the recall are here.

2. Early Registration - World Tea East
Just a reminder that early registration for World Tea East ends on August 21. This expo is intended for people in the trade. The exhibit hall is free to buyers, but is $195 for non-qualified buyers. (That price goes up significantly after 8/21.) There are also educational and tasting sessions that can be paid for separately. T Ching had a nice piece about the event here. I will be certain to provide a full write up of the event.

3. World Tea News
If you don't already read World Tea News, you should. The link is here.

4. Tea magazines
There are a few tea/tea related magazines out there that I haven't spent enough time talking about. I plan on doing a full post outlining some of what's out there. (BTW, earlier this month, Tea Room News announced that they would be ceasing publication.)

5. Tea blogs
For all you tea blog readers, I want to remind you about a great service by Dragonwater Tea Company. This tea blog aggregator sends you a daily email with titles and the first few lines of the day's latest blog posts. Visit here to sign up.

Enough rambling for today. Be back soon!