Tea

Even though I don’t use teabags, the machines that make them fascinate me. Imagine a machine that takes the processed tea leaves and dumps a small amount into a little bag, adds a string, adds a tag, and does this by the thousands....
Even though I don’t use teabags, the machines that make them fascinate me. Imagine a machine that takes the processed tea leaves and dumps a small amount into a little bag, adds a string, adds a tag, and does this by the thousands. Wow! Of course, teabagging machines are part of a line of machines […]
score: 1 9 minutes ago
I drink tea for the taste. Nothing else. Although I’m perfectly fine with all those other reasons why people drink tea. Maybe it’s good for my health in some ways and it seems to give me a boost and whatever else. But I would...
I drink tea for the taste. Nothing else. Although I’m perfectly fine with all those other reasons why people drink tea. Maybe it’s good for my health in some ways and it seems to give me a boost and whatever else. But I wouldn’t bother drinking it if it didn’t taste good. Which is why […]
score: 1 12 minutes ago
Tea Information: Leaf Type:  Green (Matcha) Where to Buy:  Red Leaf Tea Tea Description: Kiwi Matcha’s rich acidic undertones make it a delectable delight when added to many foods and drinks around the home. Its sweet and tart tast...
Tea Information: Leaf Type:  Green (Matcha) Where to Buy:  Red Leaf Tea Tea Description: Kiwi Matcha’s rich acidic undertones make it a delectable delight when added to many foods and drinks around the home. Its sweet and tart taste make it a great food or drink enhancer because it enlivens the taste buds and makes partaking of the food much more enjoyable. It is an excellent flavor when making culinary delights exciting and more delectable. Its lingering flavor makes many foods and drinks very delicious and appealing. Learn more about this Matcha here. Taster’s Review: This is pretty tasty, although, I must admit that I’m just a tad underwhelmed by it.  I was hoping for more of a true to the fruit flavor with this Kiwi Flavored Matcha from Red Leaf Tea, but, it tastes a bit more like candy.  It still tastes kiwi-like but it’s more like an artificial kiwi flavor than a authentic fruit-like taste. That’s not to say it tastes bad … it’s certainly enjoyable.  But, it tastes more like it was flavored with kiwi flavored candy … rather than kiwi fruit, if that makes sense. The fresh, “green” taste of the Matcha lends some balance to this bowl of traditionally prepared Matcha, though.  It has a bittersweet, slightly vegetative, slightly buttery taste.  The texture is smooth and creamy and I’m glad to report that it is not gritty.  (Yay!) It even stayed mixed all the way to the bottom of the bowl. The kiwi has a sweet, fruity taste, but as I mentioned before, it is not a true fruit kind of taste … more like a fruity candy taste.  It definitely does taste of kiwi, though.  And there is a trace of “chemical-y” taste to this as well, but, I didn’t find it to be a powerful or overwhelming flavor, and after the first couple of sips, the artificial-y/chemical-y taste began to subside. I prepared this traditionally, as I said, but I used slightly cooler water than I normally would, because it’s warmer out these days, and I wanted a cooler drink.  While it terribly hot, it was warm and I enjoyed it that way.  It’s also quite good when added to smoothies! My specifications for this Matcha were my “usual” – the classic grade of green Matcha, flavored with a distinctive level of kiwi flavoring.  This time around, I think that the kiwi slightly overpowered the flavor of the green tea, so you might want to go with the delicate flavoring with this particular flavor.  Or … perhaps try a higher grade of Matcha (which is what I’d recommend!) Good … but, not my favorite flavoring for the Matcha from Red Leaf Tea … but I’m still really glad I had the opportunity to try it, and don’t regret ordering it because I do love the flavor it adds to my smoothies, especially since I do enjoy kiwi fruit but it’s not a fruit I typically keep on hand.  A teaspoon and a half of this Kiwi Flavored Matcha gives my smoothies a nice hint of kiwi! The post Kiwi Flavored Matcha from Red Leaf Tea appeared first on SororiTea Sisters.
score: 1 about 9 hours ago
Key Lime Pie from Della Terra Teas Tea Information: Leaf Type: Black Where to Buy: Della Terra Teas Tea Description: This tea combines the flavor of delicious Key Lime pie and black tea.  If you love lime, pie, tea… any of those, y...
Key Lime Pie from Della Terra Teas Tea Information: Leaf Type: Black Where to Buy: Della Terra Teas Tea Description: This tea combines the flavor of delicious Key Lime pie and black tea.  If you love lime, pie, tea… any of those, you’ll love this tea!  Perfect for first thing in the morning or even as a dessert.  Enjoy your day in the sunny Florida keys with this one! Ingredients: Black tea, lime flavor, cream flavor, lime pieces and bits* Allergens: contains dairy, soy. Suggested brewing tips Serving Size: 1 level tsp./6oz serving Water Temp:  210°F Steep Time: 2-5 minutes Learn more about this tea here. Taster’s Review: What can I say about Key Lime Pie from Della Terra Teas, I don’t know, how about YUM YUM YUM!!!! One thing I have noticed with lime flavored things, not just tea, there is more often than not this strange yucky aftertaste that lingers around for a long time. Well you will not find that lingering yuck in this tea! What you do get is a zesty, sweet, limey goodness that lasts and pleasantly lingers on your palate! I love this tea and I can’t wait to try it iced and cold steeped. It is no secret I am a huge fan of Della Terra Teas and have successfully narrowed my flavored tea sipping down to a few very good and consistent companies, Della Terra Teas is one of them. Their teas are always of high quality and true to the flavor description. On the rare occasion their tea is not received warmly by customers they work on the blend and perfect it based on reviews. I respect that. I find lime to be a flavor that is really difficult to get just right but Della Terra has managed to not only do a lime tea but a key lime pie tea and it sure does remind me of a creamy key lime dream. What I love even more is that the black tea base is not lost beneath the flavors. I can distinctly taste the tea in this blend. This tea is sweet but not cloying and there is also no aftertaste from the sweetness. I think this will make a wonderful summer tea and should be served to anyone who usually enjoys those half lemonade half tea blends to convert them! The post Key Lime Pie from Della Terra Teas appeared first on SororiTea Sisters.
score: 1 about 15 hours ago
GJ and I have been involved with the Madison County/ Berea, KY Sister City Program for over 20 years.  Each year we host an informal welcome dinner, a time for introductions of the Madison County(KY) International Committee and the ...
GJ and I have been involved with the Madison County/ Berea, KY Sister City Program for over 20 years.  Each year we host an informal welcome dinner, a time for introductions of the Madison County(KY) International Committee and the visiting Japanese Delegation, on the first night of their visit.  This event is held at the Delta Natural Gas Berea district office on a Tuesday evening in
score: 1 about 16 hours ago
I’d like to say Me and Angie go way back, but Anji doesn’t even go way back as a newer discovery in the early 80’s. Along with a few other bai cha or white tea varieties, like Xue Ya, they stepped into light for their unusual characteris...
I’d like to say Me and Angie go way back, but Anji doesn’t even go way back as a newer discovery in the early 80’s. Along with a few other bai cha or white tea varieties, like Xue Ya, they stepped into light for their unusual characteristic of having albino leaves, in certain areas or at certain times of year, that later turn green. Presto-chango, this results from lower green pigments and more amino acids to add sweet or savour. Cool chameleon and elegant, it’s become one of my favourites. As a tea shop that always steps up with fine quality offerings, JING Tea’s Pre-Rain Organic Anji Bai Cha couldn’t get any better with Anji Bai Cha in high style and pure form, as pesticide free and harvested in the cooler temperatures before Qing Ming. Bah ha ha the bai cha for the leaves are, of course, green. However, the slender needles seem a bit brighter green, like fern, with some variation in their hues rather than the more army coloured sometimes seen. Likewise, the leaves aren’t as pine needle like, appearing kind of flat, less curved in and smaller. All about the same size, the leaves’ fur adds more texture with some looser and tight whole bud and leaf sets. Their bouquet is as delicate as their sihouettes with a similar sophistication. With a twist of floral and a touch of wax or pollen to dried grass aromas, the scent has an herbal, meadowy air. It’s not strongly green or sweet but the scent has a pleasing freshness. Upon infusion as JING Tea recommends at 70°C for three to four minutes, the colour of the leaves lightens further, rather strikingly, which brings the bai cha into sense. Making up the pale brew requires one tablespoon of leaves that they say affords fifty cups for the two ounce size but with the tablespoon at near two grams, the sessions are more likely half that. Amidst all the details JING Tea gives on their teas, which are truly appreciated, they describe the tea’s aroma as “soft spring flowers meet gentle tropical fruits”. However, I found the scent had more likeness to a metallic tipped, vegetal than a floral, with a seed undertone and a margarine bit of oiliness. It brings to mind artichokes and pumpkin seeds, enticing in its rich subtlety like a coquettish wink. Its pale beigey green hue ushers up a similar tease, flirting with a protein richness without a strongly vegetal flavour. Its light body has a nice structure as it lingers on the palate rather than a swifter stride which seems to make it all the more satisfying despite its mild flavour. It tastes of mineral water with a tug of a protein rich vegetal, like pea, but it is ever so subtle and not so green to be almost eggy that collectively brings to mind ferns. Yet, it has enough of a brothy savour to sustain the light flavour that has a tickle of polyphenols to almost seem like carbonation. As it finishes, it’s light to medium aftertaste cascades with a leafy, seed-like echo. Back to the kettle for another brew ha ha, the leaves fully open spawning another pale cup. The tea remains just as fragrant, yet slightly different from the first cup, a bit more honed to a sharp seed with a horseradish flourish, reminiscent of arugula but rounder at the same time. The scent leads the way into the light to medium body which is just as animated. The body is equally light but the flavour winds through the sip, not silky, with a slight dryness, but still amply engaging. The tea also tastes kind of sharper, but not bitter, while maintaining a sense of protein from an immature pea or fern shoot like flavour that extends into the light aftertaste. A third infusion is still lively, emanating a light scent that seems nuttier, but in a corn nuts kind of way, across a subtle vegetal to be a bit like a warm oil. Despite a lighter body, the flow and feel remain inviting with a pleasantly round finish and a tickle on the tongue that also accentuates the light sprinkle of mineral flavours across the light fern and vegetable stock body. After all, JING Tea’s Anji Bai Cha would
score: 1 about 17 hours ago
Tea Information: Leaf Type:  Black Where to Buy:  Grey’s Teas Tea Description: Keemun is grown in Anhui Province and is a ‘gongfu’ tea requiring disciplined skill to produce thin tight strips. It produces a rich liquor ...
Tea Information: Leaf Type:  Black Where to Buy:  Grey’s Teas Tea Description: Keemun is grown in Anhui Province and is a ‘gongfu’ tea requiring disciplined skill to produce thin tight strips. It produces a rich liquor with a slightly scented flavour and delicate aroma. Keemun is the most famous of China’s black teas and, due to its subtle and complex nature, it is considered the “Burgundy of teas”. Learn more about this tea here. Taster’s Review: OH wow!  This China Keemun Dahlia Black Tea from Grey’s Teas is awesome! The flavor is rich and powerful – it is a bold, robust, hefty black tea, but it also possesses enough subtle nuances to it to keep it from becoming too overpowering.  There are some smoky notes to this, but, they aren’t as apparent as in some other Keemun teas I’ve encountered.  Here the smoky notes are softer … like wisps of smoke that waft their way throughout the sip. There is a really pleasant complexity to this tea – with notes of fruit, earth, leather, caramel, hints of smoke and very delicate whispers of flower within the layers of flavor.  I like that it is a strong tea, but, it isn’t all about the strength.  I like that it isn’t so heavy in flavor that the softer notes become lost … I love that I can taste all the little delicate notes here. This is a tea that has the strength that is needed for that first cup of the day (this would be great as a morning latte!) but it also has enough softer, wine-like notes that make for a very enjoyable afternoon cuppa as well. An excellent Keemun – this one gets two enthusiastic thumbs up from me! The post China Keemun Dahlia Black Tea From Grey’s Teas appeared first on SororiTea Sisters.
score: 1 about 21 hours ago
As I continue to learn about tea, I also try to keep up with how teas are described, marketed, and presented. One of the most important elements in talking about teas is TASTE. But what is taste? How does one experience taste? On one lev...
As I continue to learn about tea, I also try to keep up with how teas are described, marketed, and presented. One of the most important elements in talking about teas is TASTE. But what is taste? How does one experience taste? On one level, taste refers to the naming of the chemical components in [...]
score: 1 about 22 hours ago
The water is heating. The scones are baking (and smelling so good!). The teapot is prepped and waiting. Time for my mind to go wondering. The whole concept of going “by the book” was what popped into my tea-deprived brain. It was a phras...
The water is heating. The scones are baking (and smelling so good!). The teapot is prepped and waiting. Time for my mind to go wondering. The whole concept of going “by the book” was what popped into my tea-deprived brain. It was a phrase that could either instill confidence or fear of over-rigidity.Read the rest of the article on The English Tea Store Blog.© 2013 A.C. Cargill photos and text
score: 1 about 24 hours ago
The water is heating. The scones are baking (and smelling so good!). The teapot is prepped and waiting. Time for my mind to go wondering. The whole concept of going “by the book” was what popped into my tea-deprived brain. It was a phras...
The water is heating. The scones are baking (and smelling so good!). The teapot is prepped and waiting. Time for my mind to go wondering. The whole concept of going “by the book” was what popped into my tea-deprived brain. It was a phrase that could either instill confidence or fear of over-rigidity. The phrase […]
score: 1 1 day ago