What I've been drinking...

OK, no jokes about wine or chocolate martinis here. (OK - go ahead. You know it's true.) BUT, I'm talking about tea here people. Let's keep this professional.
I haven't been talking much about the TEA part of tea here lately. To be honest, I haven't been blogging much at all. I've been spending a lot of time writing article queries and doing some copywriting to remind myself that I don't ALWAYS have to write for free. (Although, my paid writing doesn't afford me many opportunities to talk about chocolate martinis yet.) I've been finding some success, but I do miss coming here and writing about the tea I love.
There is one other by-product of my other writing projects. I have been delayed (again) in writing my summary of my CT/Cape tea tour. Some of what I wanted to write will be in a publication later in the winter so I need to make sure that what I share with you doesn't overlap. I don't want to get in any copyright trouble here. So, I AM going to give you some details, but they'll be supplemented by the published piece early in 2010. Deal?
For today though, I wanted to tell you about three new teas I've discovered and fallen head over heels for. If I had these three teas alone for the next month I think I'd be perfectly happy. I don't say that kind of thing very often. They are all quite different from each other. Perhaps that's why they're keeping me content.

* Cloud Mist (Yun Wu) from Zhong Guo Cha: This phenomenal green is really striking. It is fine and wiry with a spectacular deep green color. Every infusion of this tea is stunning. I will certainly do a full review with infusion-by-infusion notes very soon. I tried this tea during my afternoon tea at Savvy Tea Gourmet in Madison, CT and was head over heels. The funny part is that a few weeks ago friends of mine visited Savvy Tea. They tried a number of teas and this was one of the teas that they mentioned to me as a favorite. So, you have a few endorsements here. :)

* Coconut Chai (Rooibos Blend) from Portsmouth Tea Company: It is what it says. It's a chai made with rooibos and coconut and it is wonderful. I could literally sit and smell this tea in the bag and be perfectly happy. The coconut is not overpowering and the rooibos is well-blended with (from what I can visually identify) red peppercorns, cloves, cardamom, and ginger. It makes for a wonderful, warming cup and doesn't need any adornment. (Although it does take sugar and milk very well.)

* Darjeeling Avongrove from Tea Gschwendner: I picked this tea up on our anniversary trip to Chicago. Tea Gschwendner had been on my "must visit" list for our trip and I was thrilled to find that it was a very short walk from our hotel. I should have gone several times. This is absolutely the most amazing Darjeeling I have ever had. Full stop. It is fresh and effervescent - sparkling and fruity. I have never been so surprised by a tea. I drank it every day for four consecutive days. For me, that is almost miraculous.

So, that's the run down. Now, tell me. What have YOU been drinking?

My new favorite teapot

Before my post about my NEW favorite teapot, I wanted to do a little plug for a really wonderful project. A friend of mine from many moons ago is a documentary filmmaker. He and his wife have recently released an amazing piece about three of the very special volunteers who greet troops every day at Bangor (ME) International Airport. These senior citizens, who are facing their own very big challenges, travel to the airport at all hours of the day and night to greet every troop flight that goes in or out of the airport. The film, "The Way We Get By," highlights their service but also explores some of the real difficulties of aging in America. The film has been playing film festivals and in a few theaters over the past months but on Veteran's Day it aired on P.O.V. on PBS. It will re-screen a few times over the next week or so on PBS, including on Sunday afternoon. It is also available to view online at the POV website until Dec. 12. It should be available soon on Netflix as well. I really, really encourage you to check this film out. I think you will find yourself looking for new ways to volunteer in the months to come.

Now, back to the purpose of my post. I had to write about my new favorite teapot. I can't believe it's taken me this long to tell you all about it. It is one of those pieces of teaware that I swear makes my tea taste better. I bought it on my trip down to Savvy Tea Gourmet in Connecticut. (I apologize if this reads like an infomercial. I promise not to mention Snuggies at all.)

It's called the Zhong Guo Cha Infuser. The Infuser is a glass jar with an internal infusing compartment, a handle, and lid. The photo on the left is the empty container. The photo on the right shows the container with some loose leaf tea in the infusing compartment.

To use this ZGC teapot you place the loose leaf tea in the internal infusing compartment. This compartment's bottom has two layers. The top layer is a fine mesh screen. The bottom layer is a solid bottom with a small hole in the center. The hole is blocked by a small ball that is attached to a lever mechanism. (These pots are available in 500cc and 1000 cc versions.)

You add the water and it stays within the infusing compartment because the ball is in place. When the tea has finished steeping, you lift the internal chamber and press the button on the top of the lid. The button moves that ball, opening the chamber, releasing the tea into the glass pitcher. This process allows for additional aeration of your tea when you are releasing it into the teapot. You can then use the glass pitcher as your sharing pitcher to pour into waiting cups.

Genius.

(You can find these Infusers here. Click "Buy Tea" and then go to "Accessories." The 500cc is Acc-1-2-865-0003-0001 and the 1000cc is Acc-1-1-888-0003-0001.

Mmm...Tastes like Asparagus?

Hello all,

Today's post is part of a project initiated by the Association of Tea Bloggers. A group of bloggers from ATB came upon a study out of Kansas State University that was designed to explore the flavors that present themselves in a cup of green tea. They cupped 138 green teas from nine different countries and, in the process, identified 31 specific flavors. I don't have permission to attach the full study here, but there is a link to the abstract here, as well as other articles about it here and here.

The ATB project makes use of this information in a pretty creative way. Different bloggers are each taking on a specific flavor that was identified in the study. We are charged with recreating the flavor (as described in the study) and then tasting some of our green teas to see if we can recognize the particular flavor.

Two other posts have already been put up. The first was by Brett over at Black Dragon Tea Bar. He analyzed the flavor of seaweed. The second was by Jason at Walker Tea Review who looked at parsley.

My selected flavor was ASPARAGUS.

Preparation - 40 grams of diced asparagus in 300 ml of water. Microwave, covered, for 3 minutes. Drink the water in which the asparagus was cooked.

The water was a cloudy yellow with a slight green tint.

The scent of the water was sweet, full, and rich. It was far more mellow than I had anticipated. I'd anticipated some high sweetness, but it was more like a honey than a sweet sugar. On the other end, it wasn't as earthy as I'd expected. It was more like peas and a little brothy. In the back of the mouth there was more of the anticipated "asparagus" in the asparagus.

I then tested a number of my green teas. The ones that I found the most similar flavor present was an Andrews & Dunham Dragonwell, a Gyokuro from Upton, and Cloud Mist from Zhong Guo Cha.

Next week, Marlena at Tea for Today will explore celery. I'll be sure to post the link on this page.

Hope you're enjoying your candy

Hello all,

I hope you all had a great Halloween. We had a fantastic night. The oldest was Woody from "Toy Story" and my delicate fleur of a daughter was Batman. Not Batgirl, but Batman. She was very specific. It was our first year that we did a real trick or treating trip and it was fantastic. (Other years we just did 3 or 4 houses around ours.) We must have had 60 or 70 trick or treaters at our house. AND it was in the high 60's. Gorgeous night.

Now, back to tea and the much neglected blog. I love that my readers are so patient and kind. I've been in a bit of a blog writing drought. I have a bunch of projects going on in the background and I just haven't been finding the energy or making the time to keep up with the blog. Your patience has been appreciated. I decided that for your sake and for mine I should give you a sense of what's coming up.

This week:
* I'll be posting a piece in connection with a little project being sponsored by the Association of Tea Bloggers. It's based on a research study that attempted to more clearly delineate the flavor profiles present in green tea. In the next day or two I'll be posting my component of the project, as well as links to posts by some other bloggers.
* Some new tea discoveries and my new FAVORITE piece of teaware

Next week:
* The travelogue - Travels through CT and RI and the Cape. What I found.

Week three:
* Time to catch up on some tea reviews!

So that's the plan. It looks like I'll be having a few articles publishing this winter/spring. I'll be sure to let you know as things go out so you can see why I've been so neglectful of all of you!