Teas are grown in an ever-increasing number of countries in the world, with India still being one of the leaders. This stop on our virtual world tea tour is Nilgiri District in a more southern part of that country. Topography A mountainous region of Tamil Nadu State in southeastern India, with peaks rising from the …
Month: February 2013
Getting into a Conversation About Tea
Getting into conversations about tea has definitely been an ice breaker for me on more than one occasion. It’s funny how, as soon as you mention you are into tea, other tea lovers immediately open up. On one occasion, I was attending a work-related event where I didn’t really know anyone. I was there to …
Can You Blend CTC and Orthodox Teas?
Having a bit of this tea and a bit of that tea in your tea pantry or cupboard is frustrating enough. You don’t have a sufficient amount of that Ceylon black or Keemun or Kenyan to steep a full pot. You do have a nice batch of CTC Assam around, though, and you know that …
Monthly Tea Gadget and Offbeat News Report IV
While most of these reports seem to focus more on the gadget side of things, I'd like to start off this month with one of the wackier bits of offbeat tea-related news I've heard for a while. Consider this headline from a recent edition of The Japan Times - Viagra-green Tea Cocktail Combats Cancer. No, …
Continue reading Monthly Tea Gadget and Offbeat News Report IV
All Things in Moderation…Even Tea?
There is an idiom “Moderation in all things” which is usually taken to mean roughly “do not do anything too much or too little” — it’s one I turn a bit sideways to “All things in moderation.” And that includes tea…or does it? The trick here, of course, is how you define “moderation.” That definition …
Bragger’s Tea
One of the stranger types of tea I've written about was poo poo puerh, a curious variety also known as grain moth tea, chong cha or worm tea, among other things. Not to be indelicate about it, but it's a tea that's made by feeding grain moths with puerh tea, then harvesting the excrement and …
Tea: Camellia Sinensis, or Just Anything That Will Infuse?
In tea-related discussion forums and groups, we keep encountering the discussion of whether the definition of the word “tea” should be limited to the varieties of the Camellia Sinensis plant or whether it is ok to call anything tea that will infuse in (hot?) water, as is quite common use in the English language. Never, …
Continue reading Tea: Camellia Sinensis, or Just Anything That Will Infuse?
5 Trials and Tribulations of a Tea Reviewer
Oh, the trials and tribulations of a tea reviewer! We endure slings and arrows of outraged tea vendors (a bit of paraphrasing of Shakespeare here). I was faced with one lately and so began thinking of others. Here are the top five on my list. You may have others. 1 A Totally Awful Tea Oh, …
Continue reading 5 Trials and Tribulations of a Tea Reviewer
“Tea Machinery, and Tea Factories – The Book” by Alexander James Wallis-Tayler
Writers of yesteryear were hardly known for being economical when it came to their book titles and Alexander James Wallis-Tayler was no exception. His 1900 work, Tea Machinery, and Tea Factories: A Descriptive Treatise on the Mechanical Appliances Required in the Cultivation of the Tea Plant and the Preparation of Tea for the Market, might …
Continue reading “Tea Machinery, and Tea Factories – The Book” by Alexander James Wallis-Tayler
Teapot Styles — Baroque & Rococo
Teapot styles tend to parallel the styles of other objects, from buildings, to art works, to furniture and clothing. Baroque and Rococo are very similar styles, and sometimes Rococo is referred to as “Late Baroque.” Both are known for their frills and embellishments, with Rococo being rather extreme. Some used the term "Baroque" initially to …
Tea Blog 