Cleaning continues and more

Hi all,

I'm continuing my tea declutter. As of last post I'd tried an Upton Tea 1st Flush Darjeeling that I fell in love with again. If only that hadn't been the last cup of it! Since then I've gone through 8 more teas. (You can track them regularly on the Tea Pages Facebook page or Twitter feed.)

Keeping:
House of Tea Sonarie Assam - but giving away about half
Mark T. Wendell Assam - Again, giving away much of the tin, but keeping a bit for me.
Tealuxe Serene - A really wonderful tisane.
Tea Zone Dragonwell - Keeping, but giving away about half the bag.

Sharing:
Rishi Peppermint Rooibos - A nice tea, but I didn't feel I needed another mint tea.
Andrews & Dunham Ceylon - Nice, but I have other Ceylons I love.
Adagio Dragonwell - Fine, but a bit mild for me. Preferred the Tea Zone.

Threw out:
Twinings English Breakfast

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AFTERNOON TEA EVENTS
I was asked to let readers know about an afternoon tea event to be held at St. Thomas' Episcopal Church in Dover, NH on Saturday, March 5 at 2 p.m. There's more information available here.

Now through March 26, the Concord Museum in Concord, MA will be offering "Tea & Sweets" on Friday and Saturday afternoons from 2:00 - 4:00. Attend tea and see the special quilt exhibit or come for one of two meet the chef events. Refreshments are provided by Cambridge School of Culinary Arts and the tea is from Tea Forte. (Disclosure: I have done several paid writing jobs for Tea Forte.) Tickets are $20 ($15 for museum members) and include museum admission. More information is available here.
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BOOKS

I have fallen terribly far behind in talking about books that some very lovely, kind tea folks have sent me. My apologies. Today I want to talk about a great book put together by Babette Donaldson, author of the Emma Lea book series: http://emmaleabooks.com/

"Start Your Own Family Tea Time" is a brilliant little booklet that has great ideas for sharing the tea experience with your kids. In the first few pages, Donaldson (with the help of some of her contacts in the tea world) suggests a range of themes for a special event and other tips for making tea time a unique experience for your family. I loved the idea of bedtime tea - complete with jammies, blankets, and pillows. In other sections she talks about how to make the experience healthier, less expensive, and easier. Finally, the section that resonated the most with me was "Making It Memorable." In our family I've made it a rite of passage that when a child turns four, he/she gets his/her first real teapot. My son knows it is a special time for us when I take his teapot out. I liked the suggestion in the book of using the time to look at photo albums together and to discuss our memories together. "Start Your Own Family Tea Time" is about 18 pages in all and is available here.

That's all for now! Have a great week everyone and we'll see how much tea I can move out of the cabinet over the next seven days.

Early spring cleaning

Hi all,

It is time to do some early spring cleaning...or is it a late New Year's decluttering. Not sure. The bottom line is that my tea stash has reached absolutely absurd proportions. As I've mentioned before, I rarely buy tea because I end up receiving so many samples and gifts of tea. What that means it that the tea cabinet fills and fills and overflows. I don't know what I have and I don't always remember to go back to some true favorites. The time has come to clean house.

Over the next weeks and months I'm going to make it my mission to try every tea in the house. At that moment I must decide: keep, throw away, or give away. I'll let you know what I'm trying and the decisions I make and, occasionally, I'll offer some of the old teas on the blog as giveaways.

This morning I tried an old Sungma Estate 1st Flush Darjeeling SFTGFOP1 from Upton Tea. It was as wonderful as I'd remembered even though it's quite old at this point. (I reviewed it in 2008!) What I discovered is that my opinion on 2nd Flush Darjeelings and 1st Flush Darjeelings has completely flipped. Give me a 1st Flush over a 2nd Flush any day. My decision was easy on this one - there was only enough left for one cup! One more empty tin. Mission accomplished. That was so easy I'll certainly give another tea a try later today.

I've received a few announcements I wanted to let you know about:
* T Ching has recently upgraded their website. Users should register to check out the new site and to subscribe to their RSS feed.

* NYC Coffee & Tea Festival approaches! This event has grown a great deal since I attended a few years ago. I'm looking forward to checking it out again - but that will have to wait until next year for me. If you're interested, the event is Feb. 19 - 20, 2011 at 7W New York. This year there is a special tea presentation and tasting sponsored by The Tea Gallery and the Mandarin's Tea Room. Tickets are extremely limited so check it out soon! ALSO, a HUGE note of importance, the Specialty Tea Institute will be offering Level 1 and Level 2 sessions this year. I hope this continues in future years.

* Finally, the American Tea Masters Association is doing a push to let people know about the value of becoming a certified "tea master." You can read more about their educational programs here.

Have a great week everyone. Next time I'll have a few books to tell you about.

Promo Video for the Book!

Hi all!

I just finished the promotional video for my book! Originally called "Tea Memories," I think the published title will be "A Tea Reader." I'm definitely NOT skilled at this, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Tea Troubles

I was interested in the topic posed by this month's Association of Tea Bloggers Blog Carnival: What is the most uncomfortable place where you prepared tea (work, traveling, in a place without suitable equipment, etc.) and how were you able to overcome the difficulty?

I started thinking about all the places that I've found awkward for preparing tea. Work has definitely been a challenge over the years. In one of my first jobs I was fortunate enough to share the office with another tea lover. Yet, I found that I rarely made tea at work. I kept a box of medium-grade tea bags in my desk and occasionally used the hot water from the water dispenser. It was never very good tea so I just found that I didn't make tea very often. The best situation I had was my last job. I had enough space in my work area to set up an electric water kettle. I had ready access to bottled water. I kept a small wooden box of tea tins so I could vary my tea selection based on my mood. Finally, I had access to a kitchen so I could clean up my teaware. I found that I drank tea nearly every day.

Traveling is another story. The people we generally visit are not great tea lovers. I generally drink whatever tea bags they have on hand, appreciating their kindness and the opportunity to have a quiet moment with a friend or family member. When I visit my parents, I have started bringing a covered cup with an interior infuser and a tin or two of tea. It doesn't involve too much equipment, but allows me to enjoy the tea I like. Otherwise, I stick with coffee at their house. On my last trip, a whirlwind trip to NY, I realized I missed my chance for decent tea on the train. I had forgotten to pack any tea or tea bags so I sipped a cup of Lipton, bemoaning a waste of hot water.

Quite honestly, my biggest tea drinking challenge of late is actually at home. I have three kids - ages 5, 3, and 13 weeks. I find that I rarely make a cup of tea and can actually drink it before it gets cold. One of three things happens: 1) The water heats to the right temperature in the tea kettle and, even with a 45 minute grace period, turns off and cools before I pour it into the teapot. 2) I pour the water and then forget to remove the leaves leading to a ruined pot of completely stewed tea. 3) I make the perfect cup of tea, take one sip and then get called to help someone. The tea is, at best, lukewarm by the time I return. What's a mom to do? I treasure those weekend moments when there is an extra pair of hands that enable me to get at least HALFWAY through a cup!

I've come up with a few strategies that get me closer to that elusive hot cup of tea.
1) When the water is hot in the kettle, if it looks like I can't pour it right away, I set a timer for 40 minutes. That will give me a warning before the kettle shuts off. If it's still not a good time, I can re-start the kettle, giving me another 45 minutes. It's not ideal since the water is losing it's oxygen with the excessive heating, but it's better than nothing!
2) I always, always, always set the timer when I add the water now. I can't depend on checking the clock. I'll always forget. Timers are critical.
3) My husband bought me a little gift for Christmas - a cup warmer. Again, while it certainly would be frowned upon by the tea experts above, it gets me a warm cup of tea now and again. Once I've prepared that cup of tea and taken that first sip, and then the inevitable call from the other room comes, I place it on the warmer and come back to a reasonably hot cup. It gives me joy.

So, those are my strategies. How about you? What problems do you face and how do you address them?

To see the other posts in this month's ATB Blog Carnival, visit Gongfu Girl at www.gongfugirl.com And if you're not already reading her blog, I suggest you do!