Not-So-Good Tea Pairings

I have read many books and blogs about pairing tea with other things to make a great combo – tea and chocolate, tea and almonds, tea and oatmeal, etc. However, what about things that should be avoided while drinking tea? Here is my mental list of not-so-good tea pairings that I have added to over the years (side note – in all combinations the teas were unflavored and consumed while hot):

Black Tea with Cheetos Puffs – While at work one day, I wrestled the vending machine for some cheesy poofs as a mid-morning snack. I tried washing it down with the black tea that I had brought with me to work that morning which resulted in a smoked fake-cheese aftertaste. I was dumb enough to try the same thing with green tea at a different point in time to discover that was even worse. I like cheesy poofs, okay?

Green Tea with Grapefruit – After eating a grapefruit I felt like I wanted to keep this “health food” trend going so I brewed up some green tea only to find the combination was an unpleasant grassy, acidic, bitter taste. However, black tea with grapefruit isn’t bad.

Green Tea with Original Flavor Pringles – I love them both separately, but together the salty/grassy mixture is just… weird.

Green Tea and Peanut Butter – I thought this combination was going to be okay since tea and nutty flavors go well together (I love Dragon Well!). I didn’t find the combo all too pleasant when I tried pairing green tea with peanut butter on toast. Black tea might not be so bad, but I haven’t tried it yet.

Green Tea and Nachos – Yeah… um… no. Just… no.

White Tea and Chicken Alfredo Pasta – I don’t know what I was thinking. I had finished making a cup of white tea at the same time the fiancée had finished dinner, so I brought the cup with me to the table - bad idea. I thought it would be fine considering sometimes pasta Alfredo contains broccoli (which is similar to the vegetal flavor of some white teas). Nope. The combination of white tea and Alfredo sauce doesn’t work for me.

That is all that I can think of at the moment. I am sure I will be adding to this list again soon. I think it is safe to say that I do not like the combo of tea and cheese flavors. However, I am infatuated with both separately.

Do you have any not-so-good pairings that you would like to warn about?

Oolongs and Pu Erhs will probably never make this list because I usually save those to drink only when I have time to dedicate to Gong Fu Cha. Thus, I concentrate on the tea alone and do not pair it with anything else.

Image Reference Links: Cheetos Puffs, Nachos

The First Casualty

After four years of studying, writing about and drinking tea, the unthinkable happened… for the first time I broke a piece of my teaware.

Gasp.

I feel ashamed and remorseful. It was eight o’clock on Christmas morning and I wanted to make some tea before family arrived at my place to feast and open gifts. In a rush, I grabbed my tea tray with my Tsuki teapot and Holiday mug and headed to the sink to clean them before preparing the tea. After thoroughly rinsing the teapot and giving it one last shake to remove the excess water… it happened. The teapot slipped out of my wet hands and fell into the sink. That is when I heard the ominous sound. I cursed and looked down to confirm my suspicions… yes, what was once an elegant piece of teaware was now two incomplete pieces. My heart broke equally as much.



Ok, so, the break isn’t THAT bad. It is just the handle of the teapot in which a trip to the craft store for the right epoxy will hopefully remedy my clumsiness. At the moment, I am still using the teapot by wrapping a tea towel around it to pick it up and pour.

I would hate to stop using this teapot just because the handle is missing. First of all, I use gaiwans all the time and they don’t even have handles. Second, this teapot is the perfect one cup size, especially for my small Holiday mug. Finally, I just simply like this teapot too much to give up on it even with it now having a minor inconvenience.

So why am I making such a big deal about this injured teapot? The reason is that I look at this as a reminder to slow down. I haven’t even had the time to write about tea in the last few months. Why? Oh, where is my list of excuses? I know it is around here somewhere. I have changed my list of priorities and in doing so I have become rushed, clumsy, lazy, and stressed in other aspects of my life, not just with tea.

This episode is a reminder to get myself back on track with what I do best; developing plans, lists, and structures to organize and prioritize my time so that I am not rushed/stressed and that I do not overlook the details.

I want to get back to thinking and writing about tea on a regular basis. I also have a wedding to plan and implement by the end of September (tea themed, of course!). These are the two major goals on the list for 2012. I just hope that there are no more casualties.

Sue and Esther's Tea Room

Last weekend I had to travel six hours north for a corporate party in Michigan. Whilst there, my mother and I decided to make a weekend out of it by visiting the nearby city of Frankenmuth.

The holiday theme shops were gorgeous and a gem to walk through. Even with it being only the beginning of November, seeing all of the Christmas décor definitely put me in the holiday spirit. All of the shopping eventually made us hungry for lunch. Luckily, while browsing for things to do in town, I had come across a tea room that recently opened near the main strip of shops.

Once I stepped inside Sue and Esther’s Tea Room I noticed the interior is much prettier than the exterior, as the tea room is tacked onto the end of a brown brick mini-mall. We were greeted with the friendly face of the owner and shown to a table in the back of the restaurant. The owner was soon replaced with our waitress who not only donned a friendly smiled but a cute tea party hat.

After looking over the menu, I found their prices to be reasonable for a typical tea room. I ordered “Sue’s Savory Salad” – greens, tomato, cucumber, cheese, cranberries, almonds, chicken, and house dressing – plus a cup of Ceylon tea. All of that came to around $10 before a T.I.P. The salad was rather large and all of the ingredients tasted fresh. My complaints would be with the chicken – it was dry – and the house dressing – it was spicy. A marinade of brine with the chicken would help.

However, I am not going to pick on the food too much because this is a tea room… in which I expect emphasis on the tea – and there was!

I could not find a list of their tea selection online which worried me if this was going to be another tea’d off disaster. However, once in the restaurant I was more than pleased with their variety of teas. They had a little of everything for just about every style of tea drinker. There were unflavored teas of the basic four; then they had a few flavored teas for each type. They also had iced tea and even bubble tea.

The cup of Ceylon tea that I ordered was perfectly steeped. If we had had more time I would have ordered the endless pot of tea ($3.50 per person) and tried more.

In retrospect I should have ordered the green tea to see if they knew about the correct water temperatures and steep times. Although, I believe the staff is very knowledgeable in the field of tea. I didn’t personally ask any questions, but I overheard a few groups of ladies inquiring about certain types of tea in which the wait staff seemed happy to answer. They described the flavors of tea and even the correct pronunciations which is more than I can say for the last tea room I went to.

Walking to the front of the restaurant to pay the bill, I took a peek into their small gift shop to find a trio of ladies oohing and aahing over pastel colored tea ware. After the cash exchange with the smiley, friendly owner, we were on our way out of the door properly satiated and caffeinated.

Even with the overall girly theme of pastel colors and frilly hats, if I lived near this tea room, I would most certainly be a frequent visitor.

Butiki's Pumpkin Creme Brulee Review

Type: Black
Origin: Ceylon
Price: Free sample (regular price – $8.50 for 2oz)
Vendor: Butiki Tea
Brewing Method: Per Instructed - 1 teaspoon of leaves, 1 cup of filtered water, heated to 210°F, steeped for 2.5 minutes
Overall Score: 4.6 out of 5

Pumpkin Creme Brulee is a Ceylon black tea base with pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and natural flavors (which I am assuming is where they get the cream flavor); all of which are organic ingredients. I noticed that the black tea leaves are in huge, twisted pieces - always a good thing. The overall blend is dark with the black leaves and dark orange pumpkin flakes. After failing to find a good pumpkin spice type of tea, I am excited to try this one in hopes of finding a great fall treat.

When I opened the package I felt like I just released autumn. The cinnamon and nutmeg aromas are prominent with the pumpkin aroma not too far behind. One thing I am happy about is that there are no cloves in this blend; not one single annoyingly spicy clove sticking its ugly little head out from amidst the black tea leaves. Anyone who adds cloves to a tea blend thinking that will "spice things up a bit" needs to be kicked in the shin. Hard.

The aroma of the steeped blend is spicy, but not too spicy. The pumpkin aroma is brought out more when hot water is added. The liquor is a nice deep orange color.





The taste is... just what I was looking for in a spiced up pumpkin tea... well, it is pretty darn close. The spices are at the perfect amount. You can taste the flavors and feel the heat without it being too overwhelming. Because of that, this tea is actually refreshing, like tea should be, instead of hot and dry like some other spiced up teas. The only thing I would ask for is a little more pumpkin flavor.

I am not getting much of a cream flavor, but I bet adding a touch of cream - just a touch - would send this tea over the top. Even without cream, I am most enjoying the "no clove" detail about this blend. Happy face.

White August's The Girl Next Door Review

Type: Green
Origin: Not Stated
Price: Free sample (regular price – 7.95 for 50g)
Vendor: White August Tea Company
Brewing Method: Per Instructed - 1 teaspoon of leaves, 1 cup of filtered water, heated to 180°F, steeped for 1-3 minutes
Overall Score: 3.0 out of 5

The description of this tea on White August's web site starts out with "Our hidden love,..." in which they definitely have the word "hidden" correct because they do not describe anything that is in this tea other than a "passion fruit aroma." Thus, with nothing to go on, this is going to be interesting.

Passion fruit it is. Immediately after opening the bag, I am assaulted with the fruity aroma. I don't know why but I always think of the aroma of passion fruits as the aroma of grapes combined with that of lemon. It is citrusy yet earthy at the same time. So, passion fruit, passion fruit, and passion fruit... that is all that I get. The delicate green tea leaves are reeking with it.

The aroma of the freshly steeped batch of leaves is of, but of course, passion fruit. The aroma coming from the liquor, which is a nice greenish-yellow color, is more subtle than that of the dry blend, but it still screams with sweet, fruitiness.




The taste is tart at first then it settles with a sweet flavor that lasts for quite a while. I think this blend might make a nice iced tea because it pretty much tastes like drinking fruit juice. There is nothing from the green tea leaves themselves. I guess that is not a bad thing if you really like passion fruit. After a few sips the sweet flavor builds more and more. If, at this point, you wanted to add sugar... I would have to call you crazy.

Just like with the previous reviews of White August’s teas, I would really appreciate more information. What little is given is nowhere near enough for me. If passion fruit is all that flavors this tea then that is fine; there is nothing wrong with saying so. An origin of the green tea would be great, as well.

"Facepalm" Moments With Tea

Over the past four years that I have been studying, experimenting with, writing about, talking about, and drinking tea there have been some rather humorous moments regarding the discussion of tea with others. These particular moments would fit under the definition of "facepalm" moments.

What is a facepalm moment? According to Wiktionary (I can't believe this word has its own Wiki page either), facepalm is an action "to bring the palm of one’s hand to one’s face as an expression of mixed humor and disbelief or disgust or shame..."

Here are a few facepalm moments I have experienced so far:

We were having a carry-in at work...
Me: I thought about making a couple of pitchers of iced black tea, probably Assam, to bring in. Do you think people would like that?
Co-worker: Sure. I like McDonald's iced tea, so if it tastes like that I will drink some. But, McDonald's tea is brown, not black.
Me: *facepalm*

Talking about the different kinds of tea...
Me: ...and then there is matcha, which is powdered green tea. They use that in Japanese tea ceremonies.
Guy: What do they do with the powder? Snort it?
Me: *facepalm*

Talking about weight loss...
Girl: Yeah, green tea is good. I have been drinking it instead of Coke to lose weight. *Holds up a Lipton RTD citrus flavored green tea bottle*
Me: You know, that bottle has almost the same amount of calories and sugar as a bottle of Coke. Real green tea is better for you.
Girl: Yeah, I tried that, but I had to add, like, a ton of sugar and even then it was totally gross.
Me: *facepalm*

Classmate sees my clear travel mug full of wuyi oolong (which brews up a pale yellow color)...
Classmate: Are you drinking beer in class?
Me: No, it's tea.
Classmate: Pee?
Me: No, tea! Ugh...
Different Classmate: Is that beer?
Me: *facepalm*

Those are all I can think of at the moment. I know there several more as the concept of good tea really hasn't hit the people of Indiana yet. Because of that, I am sure there will be more comical times ahead.

So, do you have any facepalm moments that you would like to share?

Image reference link: Facepalm girl

Poll #2: How Many Brewing Vessels?

I would like to thank everyone who participated in the first poll on MySI! This gave me a lot of insight to several things...

First, it let me know more about my readers. Thanks to all who took the time to comment on the poll post. I did not get an answer directly to my "Do you like polls?" questions, but the number of votes and comments alone let me know that people are okay with sharing their opinions. Again, thank you! I loved reading all of your responses and finding out more about fellow tea-lovers.

Second, I think I may have been a little preemptive about the "weekly" portion of the polls. I thought I wanted a weekly feature on this blog, even though it all works in theory, it would just not work for this particular blog. However, I am glad that I tested it out and saw it for myself. The reason I don't think it would work is because I try to post thorough articles less frequently rather than small, asinine posts frequently. Because of that, I am afraid that this blog would house more surveys than informative articles. Thus, I am removing the "weekly" part of the poll and doing it more at random.

Third, all of the comments to the first poll came from the Tea Trade mirrored blog. I both like and dislike that at the same time. I like that because that means Tea Trade is a good source to link blogs with other tea-peeps, but I don't like that because that means more people are going to the crappy-looking mirrored blog than my original blog... the one I have worked so hard to create. This leaves me with issues to ponder...

Anyways, the tallied results of last week's poll was that a good 50% of the voters said that either a handle or no handle was fine because it was more about the design of the tea cup. Very interesting.

On to the second poll question! There is no set time limit to answer this question... it is just whenever I decide to put up a new question.

How many brewing vessels (teapots, gaiwans, yixing, kyusuu, etc.) do you currently have?

I have a total of 20 brewing vessels. Three matcha bowls, four ceramic gaiwans, one glass gaiwan, one cast iron teapot, two ceramic teapots, two glass teapots, two yixing, four kyusuu, and one gourd. Wow, I didn't realize I had so many. As for one ultimate favorite brewing vessel, I am not sure I can pick. However, I have favorites in each category. For example, my red cast iron teapot and glass gaiwan are two vessels that I reach for more than most.

So, how many do you have? What are some of your favorites? Why?