Teatime 4 Tea

My name is Tea. Teaching as I learn and learning as I teach. Put the kettle on and press pause on the day. It's time for tea!

[teafortea]

MORE Tea Tips for WATER!

Hot Water. You cant have a great cup of tea without it!

 I touched on water quality back a few posts ago. If you missed it you can catch up HERE. Now that we know what to boil, lets talk a bit about HOW to boil. I know I know, we all know how to boil water, but wait! What is your kettle made of? How hot do you want your water? What kind of tea are you boiling for and why is it such a big deal?!

Lets start by setting a goal first. What kind of tea do we want to make here? We know that all true teas come from the came plant: Camellia Sinensis. But the way a tea is processed will greatly affect how it needs to be steeped to bring out its best features and subtle...teas...yeah I went there.

Here are the temperature goals for use with Variable temp Kettles and thermometer use, the cool down method with timers and the old fashioned traditional eyeballing of the bubbles for glass kettles and open pots.

TEA TEMPERATURES

White Tea: 170-175F OR 5 min off boiling OR “Crab Eyes”

Yellow Tea: 170-175F OR 5 min off boiling OR “Crab Eyes”

Green Tea: 165-170F OR  7 min off boiling OR “Shrimp Eyes”

Oolong Tea *light rolled: 180-185F OR 3 min off boiling OR “Fish Eyes”

Oolong Tea *dark un rolled: 185-190F OR 2-3 min off boiling OR somewhere between “Fish Eyes” and “Rope of Pearls”

Black Tea *Red Tea: 195-200F OR 1 min off boiling OR “Rope of Pearls” and “Raging Torrent”

Pu-erh Tea *Aged/Fermented Tea: 200-210F OR Straight off the boil OR “Old Man Water”

I've actually learned the sound that my kettle makes at different stages of boiling but we don’t all have to be total dorks.

As for Rooibos, Mate and other herbal blends, if there is no tea leaf present, just use boiling water!

Now that we have the knowledge, time to pick the right hardware! The way that we heat the water as well as the vessel that we heat it in is a big factor in the end result...good tea.

KETTLE TYPES

Alright, so I’ll keep this fairly simple because its more based on my personal preference but here are some options for kettle material and style.

Plastic Kettle (electric): I don't like these for the chemical leaching factors and frankly...THEY UGLY. You can look for BPA free kettles though and on the plus side, they can have auto shut off and variable temperature settings.

Metal Kettle (electric): I'm using one now and the only thing that bugs me is the sometimes metallic and mineral flavors that happen once deposits begin to stick to the inside of the kettle. These can be found in many styles with many features like cordless models and variable temperature settings. Some can even have UV purifying lights and programmable timers!

Metal Kettle (stove top whistlers): An oldie but a goody and fairly cheap t'boot! I wouldn't call this my first choice due to its tenancy to over boil and potential to boil dry if you happen to forget about it. I enjoy listening to the sound of the boiling process. You can really get to know a kettle's boiling temperature by sound!

Glass Kettle (stove top): These are beautiful and great for glass top stoves. You can learn to eyeball the temperature by bubble size and there is no risk for leeching chemicals or metallic flavors.

Glass Kettle (electric): Taking the best features from all the best methods, the glass kettle can be programmed, wireless and wont make your water taste funny. Top of the line models can boast tons of other features but even a simple electric glass kettle is my top pick.

Water Boiler or Zojirushi: These things are so cool and can often be found in your Asian market kitchen supply stores and obviously online. They are typically energy efficient and can hold way more water than your average kettle. They're fully programmable and just about the coolest thing to have around if you don't want to be boiling water a trillion times per day (assuming you drink as much tea as me)

Microwave: Just....just don't...I mean...if your stove doesn't work and you have no kettle...I'd rather go without tea frankly.

And there we have it. More water talk. I hope you all feel a little more prepared to prepare your next great cup of tea!

<3 - Tea

[teafortea]

Skip the April showers! Bring on the Flowers!

Okay, so we’re still trying to fight off the overnight snow here in the great white north...but are we all ready for Spring or what?! Well. since I cant control the weather, might as well set a good example and get on with the blooming! I’m talkin’ blooming teas!

Check out this neat little thingie! This is a hand assembled and sewn white tea ball with a secret surprise!

I picked these up from Teavana a little while back and haven’t payed enough attention to them. 

Because they are sewn, I skip on the mesh inserts that come with many tea-wares now, and opt for a big glass teapot to fully enjoy the steeping process. The flavors really get locked inside and makes these little dudes great for multiple infusions! I can get a good 4 pots out of one little ball!

Check this out!

and then this string of blossoms come tumbling out like little butterflies!

Obviously there is more to these teas than the pretty flowers!

This is Teavana’s ‘Peach Momotaro’ blooming tea. Chalk full of peachy dewy goodness!

My nose goes: Fluffy Peachy goodness! The scent is so soft but it still fills my nose like a sweet jelly! (not that I want jelly in my nose...)

And my mouth is like: Okay, I confess, I've had this tea many many times before but its been months since I've really sat down and gave this a proper tasting. I forgot how impressive this tea is! Me oh my! The flavor is way more in-your-face than you’d expect. Soft and silky but with that bright tang of white tea peeking out like a little sun beam! (Nothing like a good simile for sipppin’ tea!)

Brewing Details:

Water: 175-180F (Let your kettle cool for a few minutes so you don't get bitter tea!)

Tea: 1 ball is perfect for one cup or a small teapot (double up and use 2 for a larger pot and don't forget to re-steep!)

Time: 3-4 minutes (Usually you would steep white tea for 2 minutes but I've let mine sit for 5-7 and don't experience any bitterness! WITCHCRAFT!)

So take that cold weather! Ill make my own flowers and sunshine!

[gobroadway]

bunnies in tea cups 🐇☕️

[teafortea]

TeaBot meets Teamaker!

THE FUTUUUUURE! It’s pretty fun to watch a robot make you a custom tea blend and then have another tea robot brew it for you! I couldn't pass up an opportunity to use the TeaBot at the Toronto Tea Festival earlier this year and im pretty pleased with the CUSTOM blend I made! Not only do you get to choose the teas that you wish to blend (through a fancy little interface) but you can use slider to use custom ratios. SO COOL!

I figured that the best way to brew a cup of robot tea would be with my Perfect Teamaker from Teavana! I've seen other models of this device around but I prefer this one. Sturdy and easy to clean (plus no leeching chemicals in the plastic). 

My blend (properly named ‘Tea’s Tea’) is a blend of Rooibos that I enjoy not only for its honey-like flavor but also its health benefits, a smooth cherry black tea and another black tea with caramel and little bits of almond nougat. It smells kind of like a softly sweet breakfast cereal! 

 I love how easy it is to use the Teamaker and that I can enjoy watching my tea open and expand as it steeps! It sure beats a bagged tea or teaball. It’s such a sad thing to trap tea leaves in a little ball where they aren't able to dance freely in the hot water am I right? I just love watching my tea steep. Its like a nice way to press pause on the day and just enjoy my tea time.

Here is another fun perk to using a tea making robot:

WHEEE!!!  The pressure plate on the bottom of the device lifts up a plug underneath the strainer so that all you have to do is place the Teamaker on any cup or pot and away it goes! The handy thing now is that the Teamaker with the used leaves in it can be popped into your fridge and re-steeped later in the day! (Steeping removes a lot of the caffeine as well so my second steep will be better as an evening tea and without the fuss of commercial decaffeinating methods!)

My nose says: Oh Caramel-y nougat-y bliss! The smell of the rooibos, mixed with the nougat and caramel flavors, makes me think that this is going to be sugary sweet. I feel like I could take a bite out of this tea, the scent is just that thick!  But wait...where’s the cherry in all of this?

And my mouth is sayin’: Oh! There is is! The caramel overload has just been diffused and I love the little game my tea has played on me! The brisk tannins of the black tea and the cherry is mixing so well with the smooth rooibos and creamy flavors ‘n smells. I'm going to have to play with this some more by adding milk and sugar or honey but on its own...this tea is great! I want to high-five the TeaBot.

BY THE WAY: Rooibos is pronounced like “Roy Bus” or “Roy-boze”. It’s an herb/bush that comes from Africa and is consumed there for all of its great health benefits. Honeybush teas are very similar but that's a whole different topic! Ill have a post all about Rooibos teas but in the meantime, go search the web and learn a new thing!

Brewing Details:

Water: 195-200F (right off the boil is safe for black teas)

Tea: 3 teaspoons (2 for the average sized coffee mug)

Time: 3-5 minutes (over 5 minutes will cause the tea to release too many tannins and your tea will taste sour or bitter)

I love my tea. Such a lovely tea. That’s a happy tea face.

Blending teas is such a fun experiment! What tea flavors have you been trying at home?

Cheers guys!

-Tea

[teafortea]

Spring air and Rolling Thunder!

TeaTime!

Spring is in the air!

Doke Rolling Thunder – Oolong

Tea and teapot from The Tea Emporium

Ahh, finally! The snow is melting and the air is starting to smell like spring again! I decided to pick a tea that reminded me of that morning dew in spring, one of my older finds from The Tea Emporium.

I first came across The Tea Emporium at the Maple Leaf Gardens Loblaws in Toronto. I have enjoyed the crap out of every single tea I have purchased there! Not to mention the cool teapot set I used here. Today I busted out a really nice Oolong: Doke Rolling Thunder.

Id first like to draw attention to one of my favorite spoons! A tiny CN tower! The teapot and teacups are also from The Tea Emporium but this little spoon was a lucky find at a garage sale!

This is an Oolong the tea garden Doke in Bihar, India. (Pronounced like 'poke') This tea is unique because of its higher than normal silver tip ratio. 

I use my little bamboo tongs to remove the basket between steeps so my leaves don't over-steep while I'm sippin'. I also had my thermometer handy too keep an eye on my water temperature between steeps.

My nose said: Mossy, malty and floral. I would compare the smell to a roasty Darjeeling!

And my mouth was all: Ooooh....buttery! I wasn't expecting that...and the floral scent melts together with a rich dewy undertone. There is almost no astringency and the flavors really play off of each other. Its like thick fog on a lake. Crisp and heavy at the same time. So cool.

Brewing Details:

Water: 185F (or 3-4 minutes off the boil)

Tea: 3teaspoons (2 for the average sized coffee mug)

Time: 2-4 minutes (I kept mine to 2 so I could get more and smaller steeps)

By the time I reached my 3rd pot the leaves needed a little boost so I added a little bloop of this delightful Wildflower honey from Rosewood Estates Winery from right here in Ontario!

An awesome and unique tea from one of my favorite Canadian companies!

CHEERS!

[teafortea]

Tea Tips for Water!

Okayguys! Lets talk H20.

My day job is working in my local tea shop. I love answering all of the customers questions and seeing that “aha!” moment when I'm able to teach someone a little bit more about tea. The one topic that comes up a whole lot at work is water. Water Temperature, Water quality. Filtered or distilled? Bottled or tap? The water you use will greatly affect the tea drinking experience. When customers ask me “will my tea taste as good as yours?” I first ask “What kind of water do you use?”

Think about your pipes, the minerals in your tap water, the chlorine and other additives in bottled water and the Ph levels of your homes well water. Some of us have hard water and others, the opposite. I have seen people microwave water for tea and I am even guilty of re-boiling my kettle when I don't feel like making the walk to the kitchen...water quality counts!

Bottled: I am personally not a fan. For some, bottled water is better than their tap so depending on where you live, the quality of tap water may not be the best option. Water that has been stored in plastic tends to have a flat taste and may have been filtered, treated or have minerals added or subtracted depending on the brand. There is also the environmental argument. It shouldn't make a bad cup though!

Well: I have used well water many times before and it can be really hit or miss when used for making tea. Well water can have a Ph level that is not optimal for brewing tea and can have a very mineral..y flavor. (Anything above an 8 should be filtered) I don't mind it myself but it does seem to leave my tea tasting kind of flat and bitter.

Filtered: If you are going to use one of those filter jugs that you keep in your fridge, I would suggest using it as soon as the jug is full and freshly filtered instead of water that has been left to sit in the fridge to get flat and absorbed fridge smells. I suggest one of those ones that attach to your tap.

Distilled: Don't bother here...this water has been stripped of everything useful for a good cup of tea. The IS such a thing as TOO pure.

Good 'ol Tap water: If you come from a town that has updated treatment facilities, you should be able to enjoy a great pot of tea simply by using the stuff from the tap. You might want to pop a filtration attachment to the faucet but I just fill my glass or metal kettle with some cold tap water (I let mine run cold for 20 seconds) and boil it until its almost at a full rolling boil. You can actually visually monitor the boil on a glass kettle and I have learned to listen for the sound the water is making in my kettle. If you let your kettle run to a full boil, you can let it cool for a few minutes and check it with a thermometer. You can find those fancy kettles now that are fully programmable and have variable temperature settings. If you want to splurge, go for it!

Try comparing different kinds of water at home and see if you can see an improvement in your afternoon tea!

Cheers!

[teafortea]

Happy St. Pa(teas) day!

Tea Time!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Shamrock Teapot

Basilur - Love Story - Book One

Ceylon green tea with bergamot, safflower and blue cornflower

What a great day to show off one of my cutest little shamrock shaped teapot, cup and saucer sets! Not to mention one of my new favorite teas!

I grabbed this teapot set at Teavana a few years back. Last one on the sale rack! Score! I've been waiting to bust it out for St. Patrick's Day.

This loose leaf Ceylon green tea is so smooth and the addition of bergamot (what gives Earl Grey its distinct flavor and smell), as well as blue cornflower, is my idea of a classy cup of tea!

This is one of two Basilur brand teas that I purchased at the Toronto tea festival and today felt like the right day to give it a go!

I've got to admit...I've tried this tea once before and didn't really enjoy it. *GASP! Of course, now I realize that because I was cutting corners and using re-boiled water that was too hot for a green tea, there was no way I was going to enjoy it. The price of laziness. Shame on me...

So this time I did it right by sticking to a few little guidelines and boy could I taste the difference! (I love that tiny ghost of a cornflower in the picture there.)

I'm really glad I came back to this tea to give it another chance. It’s made for a really lovely and laid back afternoon. I popped the teapot on my warmer so I can keep on sipping on it for hours without the dreaded cold cup! Bleh.. 

170F water (I just boil my kettle and let it cool for 5-6 minutes)

2TSP of loose tea (I used 4tsp of tea for a pot this size but for a single coffee cup size, 2 is average.)

1-2MIN steep. (You will avoid that dry bitter taste is you keep the steep time under 2 minutes)

Nose is sayin': Wow! Since green tea has a more delicate profile than black tea, the bergamot really  shines here! The natural citrus-y notes that is reminiscent of  most Ceylon teas is the perfect partner to bergamot.

My Mouth is goin': This is more like it! No more dry burnt green tea and all kinds of smooth and snappy flavor going on! The safflower and cornflower don't add much in the way of flavor but it does make the tea itself look mighty pretty! This really reminds me of a Lady Grey but I love that the subtle citrus is provided by the tea leaf.

Cheers to second chances!

Have a safe and awesome St Patrick's Day Everyone!

[teafortea]

He broke my heart and gave me tea

I really need to talk about this tea now. 

I had the pleasure of meeting THE Daniel of 'T by Daniel' at the Toronto International Tea Festival in January. After having my emotions toyed with by a sample of a dreamy concoction that upon drinking, was informed that they only serve in his Brampton based store, (going to have to visit Brampton) I grabbed myself a bag of this flavored white tea that piqued my curiosity. This is that tea. Vanilla Coco Loco.

I chose this for its smell alone, Vanilla and coconut in a white tea made me curious. Would the flavors leave the tea behind? Could a delicate white tea really stand up to such flavors and aromas?

Yes...yes it could.

I love how the mallow flower gives the coconut a thicker, more chocolaty flavor without masking the tea and the hint of rose seems to dull the heavier vanilla notes. Such balance! Go Daniel!

I decided to use my kyusu teapot set from The Tea Emporium. I love this pot so much!

170F water (I will cover water quality in a post very soon)

2TSP of loose tea (you can use more if you desire a stronger flavor. When is doubt...2-3TSP is a safe amount)

3-4MIN steep. I got 3 steeps out of this and added a little bloop of honey to spruce up the last pot.

Nose says: Full, thick and so chocolaty! The little hint of rose adds a delicate finish. This tea smells like vacation, vacation on a lace hammock!

My Mouth is all: So much balance. Coconut and vanilla create the feel of chocolate while the mallow flower and rose mix with the flavor of the white tea to really round out the subtle astringency.

Thick, light, sweet and crisp may seem like conflicting descriptions but they really do apply here! I cant wait to get my hands on more Teas by Daniel!

[teafortea]

It's that time!

Time to start sharing my day to day discoveries in the world of tea!

My name is Theresa but everybody just calls me Tea. (seriously, no connection...at first) I didn't always have a passion for tea but now that I've found it, why not share my journey? 

When I first started poking around in the realm of tea, I got pretty lost. So many cultures with so many traditions and varieties of this amazing beverage! So I began keeping journals of all of the new knowledge that came my way and now im enjoying tea time more than ever! 

My goal is to teach as I learn and learn as I teach. The art of tea, the science of tea, the flavors and smells and many cultures of tea! Maybe a haiku or two. Anywhoo...I think it's...

Too dramatic? Ah well, So I thought I'd kick things off with one of my favorite go-to teas. Tieguan yin oolong. This variety of oolong goes by many other names and from what I have found, is a fairly accessible tea around North America. For those of us that are new to the world of teas and are looking for a good introductory variety, I would have to suggest an oolong like this one. I've noticed that oolongs have a smaller window for error when it comes to water temperatures and steeping time so it lends nicely to beginners as well as every day drinkers. While some find green teas to become grassy (i'll explain this in a in a future post) and black varieties to have too much tannin (We'll cover this one as well!), oolong falls somewhere in between the two varieties and manages to be a rather low maintenance variety of tea! 

Today I busted out one of my favorite varieties from Tao Tea Leaf. I was able to spend a short time working for Tao after visiting his shop during a summer walk along Yonge Street in Toronto. It was perfect circumstances because on that day, at that very moment, the shop was holding a public tea tasting event! I became an instant fan. The comfortable yet traditional atmosphere and fantastic variety of teas has put Tao's on the top of my list. 

My set up today includes my koi giwan, a serving pitcher with its strainer, and a tiny little tasting cup that I received at the Toronto Tea Festival!  I like this set up for tea sessions like this because the measurements of each piece pair well. The giwan holds just the right amount of water to fill the serving pitcher without leaving left-over liquid to over steep and taste burned. Once the pitcher is half empty, (or half full...) I can start steeping a second cup! It's a good flow and I can focus on the steeping and drinking instead of worrying that im going to be let with burned tea and a big mess!

Lookit how much those leaves expand!

Generally, Oolong requires water that is 3-5 minutes off of boiling or 180-190F, for those of us with thermometers handy. I have found that Oolongs can be steeped for as little as 1 minute or up to 5. I can usually get 4-5 steeps out of one session so I play around with temperatures and times to experience the different flavors with each steep!

My nose is saying: Light, sweet orchid and fresh cut flowers.  

And my mouth says: Mild astringency and clean floral notes. The aftertaste seemed to bounce between apricot and honey but never lost that bright floral finish.

*Today I used 1TSP of tea in my small koi giwan. I love that little spout!

*The average coffee cup is about 16oz and requires 2-3 TSP for those of us that don't always want to bust out the fancy tea wares.

HAPPY STEEPING!

-Tea