Let's Get Yogic (And Have Some Chai!)

Hi all,

It's been a little over two weeks since my last post, but you'll be delighted to know that the semester is now over, which means I may be able to post much more often!

Today's post will be a review for Yogic Chai. Yogic Chai contacted me a few weeks ago, and asked if I would examine some samples for them and then post a review. Of course, since I love chai, I accepted immediately!

I will first explain one of the blends I received, and point out the good and pad points, then I will discuss quality, and will then finally discuss packaging and the shipping experience, after which I will make some closing remarks about the product and the company that makes it!

The tea that I will write about today is the one that impressed me the most, for a variety of reasons. It is called Kuki Chai Masala, and it represents much of what I have always loved about a quality chai - balance. The Kuki is a mellower version of the Chai, which lacks much of the spiciness one would expect from a traditional Chai. However, what it lacked in oomph it made up for with flavor, smoothness, and balance. The mildness of this blend might be due to the fact that it is a Kukicha blend. For those of you that don't know, Kukicha teas are made from more than just the leaves of a tea - they also include twigs and stems, in fact, some Kukicha do not include any leaves at all, which I believe is the case with this tea (Please, Yogic, correct me if I am wrong.)

Although the Kuki lacked the spiciness I have come to expect from a quality Chai, it did not lack flavor, and still remained a rich, luxurious dessert tea. Adding cream is nice, but not necessary, as much smoothness and creaminess is already present.

I particularly enjoyed the cinnamon flavor in this brew, but had a more difficult time detecting the ginger (which is usually part of a Chai mixture), however I believe I did eventually detect it. The dominant characteristic in this blend is absolute balance. This is one of the most well-balanced teas I have ever enjoyed. Each flavor complemented the others perfectly. There was neither too much nor to little of any one spice, and I did not find that any spice was overpowering in the tea, or covering up for other flavors. This is probably the best mild Chai I have tasted in 10 years.

As for quality, this Chai is second to few. I would say second to none, but my local Grounds for Coffee actually has one that they hand-blend that I find to be superior. The granular tea is made of whole, unbroken ingredients, including whole, unground spices. This is a delight, especially in a chai, as many modern chai beverages will grind the spices a little or a lot, and this takes away from the true essence of the spice, which, in my opinion, can only truly be released when steeped whole.

This tea also contains excellent clarity and cup color, showing up to be a nice amber-orange color. Additionally, it has almost no cloudiness, which is a great sign that they only use whole leaves and herbs, and tea dust never makes it into their final blend. This is a relief, and a sign of premium quality in a tea.

The packaging is nice, but could use some work. The teas arrived in brown, foil-lined packets with a label on the front which names the tea and it's net weight and a disclaimer stating that it contains caffeine. While this presentation is aesthetically pleasing, it lacks several important characteristics.

First, it provides little protection to the tea. The packet could easily be crushed in shipping, which would significantly diminish the quality of the tea. Second, it does not
provide a listing of ingredients. Personally, I am a person that likes to know what his in his tea, so this was a bit of a disappointment. Third, it lacks any temperature guidelines or brewing instructions. Someone not very familiar with loose tea would be at a loss for how much they should use per cup, what temperature they should heat the water to, and so forth.

While the packaging is somewhat lacking, this is something that can easily be corrected with relatively little work. Fortunately, the tea inside is of superior flavor and quality.

The shipping experience was also nice. The teas were well-packed, and arrived safely and not crushed - something to be admired. The teas also arrived quickly, and without incident, and queries sent to the provided email address were always aswered very quickly and professionally.

Overall, I would rate Yogic Chai, as a company, very highly. There are few shortcomings, and of those shortcomings, none affect the actual quality of the tea. For this inerested in a milder version of their favourite Chai, I would recommend this company wholeheartedly, as I believe they have done a truly beautiful job.

Thanks for reading everyone! Now that the semester is over, posts will pop up a little more often, which will be good for all of us.

You can visit Yogic Chai on the internet at www.yogicchai.com/

Over and out,
Relznuk Zero Relznuk

The Leaf is Mightier Than The Sword

Hello again, all!

I know, I know... In my last post, I promised another review in a week or so. I'm well aware of that, and I apologize for my failure. Being a full-time student, a part-time blogger, and running your own business can take a lot of time and energy, and I haven't balanced the three too well. I hope I can make it up to you with several up-and-coming reviews, one of which is probably the most exciting product I have ever reviewed on this site (watch for this one sometime after May 13.)

Now, for today's offering. You might think the title of this post is an interesting one. The english and writing lovers among you are probably anxious to point out that the title should say "Pen" rather than "Leaf." But I have very good reasons for this.

Today I'll be reviewing a sample from a tea company called Mighty Leaf Tea. I recently received some samples courtesy of Annelies from MLT. All of the samples were fantastic, but one rose above the rest, so I will mention it here in detail.

Mighty Leaf Tea crafts artisan blends of high-quality whole leaf tea and premium herbs and ingredients. Indeed, the quality of these teas, particularly the notable herbal blend which I will mention today, is as yet unsurpassed in my experiences with herbals. This makes for an exceptional tea experience. Mightly Leaf started as a San Francisco teahouse 12 years ago, and have since progressed and become quite sucessful in the tea business, which I believe is a result of their commitment to excellent teas and a superb customer experience. They ship very quickly, have excellent email response times, and are always positive and eager to help out the customer in any way possible. This type of customer service is a prime example of excellence.

The tea which I will be reviewing today is Chamomile Citrus. Any frequenter of this blog may know that I am a great fan of chamomile tea, so I tend to be rather picky when reviewing them. I'm always hardest on my favorites. This blend, however, has failed to present any serious negative traits worth mentioning. Typically when chamomile is blended with citrus, the chamomile flavor takes a back seat to the strong and overpowering citrus notes. However this is not the case with this particular blend. The subtle and mellow citrus flavor complements the chamomile almost perfectly. You can definitely tell that Chamomile is the main ingredient in this blend, which I say is how it always should be!

Although the samples I received came in tea bags (which I am not frequently a fan of), Might Leaf did not commit any of the sins of bagged tea. They place quality whole-leaf tea in a bag that is actually large enough to promote proper water flow, which is a rare quality for a bagged tea. This tea allows me to be a fan of loose tea while granting the convenience and portability of a teabag. The teabags are also biodegradable, which is important, and definitely appeals to the environmentalist within me. So many tea bags present an environmental disaster!

The color and clarity of the tea was also surprisingly excellent. The tea was extremely clear with no cloudiness, and a minimum of tea dust in the bottom of my cup. The flavor is pleasantly tangy, and presents a near-perfect balance between the sour citrus notes and the natural sweetness of both the citrus of the chamomile. The tea also has a strong enough flavor to keep you sipping to the bottom of your cup, unlike many other bagged teas which are often pale and uninteresting after the first few sips.

I give mad props to Mighty Leaf for bring respect back to teabags. :)

Now, one thing I would like to specifically mention is the packaging, which is both good and bad. The teas came in a sort of folded bubble of cardstock. On the cardstock is printed all of the information you need to know about the tea, including the proper brewing temperature and time. Three teas are included in each bubble. One thing that worried me is that the teas seem to have been slightly cramped inside this bubble, and I worry that sometimes two teabags will press against each other and crush some of the fine leaves and herbs. That worry aside, however, the packaging is convenient, portable, and environmentally friendly.

The shipping experience with Mighty Leaf is also a delight. This is some of the fastest shipping and processing I have seen, with the package arriving faster than I expected (I believe it took 2 days to receive the parcel.) This is important for customer satisfaction, and for the company's reputation!

Overall, my correspondence with Mighty Leaf was delightful in every way. Excellent customer service, fast shipping, and great quality tea in one easy package! I would highly recommend their teas to anyone, and would suggest that other tea companies take a "leaf" (haha) out of the Mighty Leaf book.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to watch the blog for new entries. At some point in the future, I'll discuss some of Mighty Leaf's new blends they have just received out of the prime tea farms in India.

I encourage you to visit their website at www.mightyleaf.com.

Over and out, and SIP ON!
R0R

Spring is the Time for Choice (Organic) Teas.

Greetings Readers!

Sorry for leaving you an entire month with no updates to the blog. I’m ashamed and need to do much better with my commitment. To make up for it, I promise at least three entries for this month (including this one.)

I want to open up today’s post by asking you all what is your favorite tea to drink in the springtime? Here in Utah, the end of Winter is upon us. While Spring Equinox doesn’t officially occur until the 21st, it already seems as if Spring has sprung.

One of my favorite teas in the springtime is Genmaicha. The toasted, nutty flavor of the roasted grains of golden-brown rice makes me think of warm days returning after a long summer.

With that in mind, I’ll begin today’s review.

Recently, I was contacted by Abby, a representative of Choice Organic Teas, with a request to sample a few of their blends and provide a review in the customary method. As with most such requests, I gladly accepted. A few days later, a small parcel arrived containing some of their blends, including one of my new favorites that I hadn’t seen before.

I will begin by reviewing a few of the samples I received, and then I’ll mention a few things about the packaging and overall experience I had with this quality purveyor of teas.

The first sample I’ll mention is an organic Genmaicha. For those of you that don’t know, Genmaicha is a traditional Japanese green tea blended with nicely toasted grains of brown rice, which imparts a lovely flavor.

Genmaicha is one of my favorite blends of tea, so I do have a few useful comments towards this particular blend. For the positive aspects – this tea did have a very nice cup colour with very little clouding, and had a very well-blended profile, remaining smooth and blended from the first sip to the last.

However, there are a couple of things I might mention. Primary among these is the size of the tea leaf pieces in the blend – they seemed a little small and broken in comparison to my usual Genmaicha. Generally, an intact or mostly intact leaf tends to provide a better flavour with less asringent. The smaller pieces tend to add to the bitterness of the cup, and alter the flavour somewhat, as well as resulting in a cup that is less clear than one might expect. While this cup was by no means cloudy, I also wouldn’t call it clear.

Overall though, the expert blending of this particular mix made up for it’s shortcomings, providing the perfect balance between the warm, roasted and nutty notes of the rice, and the mellow flavor of the green tea which serves as its base.
The suggestion I would give for this blend would be to incorporate larger portions of the tea leaf into the blend.

The second blend was one I had not seen prior to my correspondence with this company – Lemon Lavendar Mint. This was unique and delightful. The sample I received was a bagged tea, although I believe this blend is also available in a loose version.

This is perhaps the most well-blended specialty tea I have ever had the pleasure to consume, and by far one of the best bagged herbals I have ever had the pleasure to sample. The lemon and mint flavors combined to provide first a refreshing kick, and secondly a lasting sort of vibrancy which persisted through the cup. They also did well not to commit the common mistake with these sorts of blends and overpower the lavender, allowing its delicate floral notes to flourish.

Whatever shortcoming might have been present within the Genmaicha were more than compensated for in this delightful and refreshing brew. Additionally, this tea tastes exceptional over ice, with a slice of lemon or lime and a small pinch of sweetener.

I would grade this tea highly and place it near the top of my list of incredible tea experiences that I have had, and highly recommend it.

For more information on Choice Organic Teas, feel free to visit their website at www.choiceorganicteas.com

Thanks very much for reading, and I hope you’ll visit again in a week or so for my next post.

Over and out,
Relz

Just for You, Just for Me, A Steaming Cup of "Just4Tea"

Hi Readers!

Sorry this post is so very late! I've been pretty busy with a new semester at the University, and also with starting and running my new business (which, sadly, isn't tea-related.)

Today, I'll be reviewing some selections from Just4Tea.com, a delightful company which contacted me some while back. They have been waiting a very long time for their review, and I hope they take some consolation in that this happens to be an especially positive review towards their teas.

The sample pack they sent me contained a number of different teas, but I will highlight a few of these that stood out to me in particular.

The first are their winter and spring oolongs. These are some very delightful oolongs, and each has a subtlety in flavor to differentiate itself from it's counterpart. The winter oolong, my favorite of the two, is very crisp and light. It has a very fine a subtle nutty quality, and a subtle cane-like sweetness, which helps to balance off the flavor. It has a very smooth finish, and a delightful green aftertaste. The winter oolong is a tad earthier than the spring oolong. The spring oolong also has slightly more sweetness, however the nutty note is not as pronounced. Both are delightful.

The second blend that I'd like to highlight is called Tie Guan Yin. This was an exquisite cup, and a perfect blend for cold winter days. Tie Guan Yin is allowed to ferment longer than traditional oolongs, and is also specially roasted to bring out it's unique flavor characteristics. This is a very deep and intense tasting tea - quite a strong flavor. Several notes are detectable - a floral note, some light fruitiness, and some moderate nuttiness. The first note you pick up on while sipping this is the floral one - a nice, crisp and pungent note to gather your attention. As the floral note fades, the fruity notes began to become more obvious, tasting somewhat apricot-ish, and the cup finishes with a smooth, sweet, and slightly nutty note, which leaves a clean and open feeling in your mouth. This tea, in particular, also has a very nice, rich cup color.

And the third blend that I believe deserves some special credit is their Jasmine Pearl tea. I've had alot of different variations on the Jasmine Pearl tea, but this one is among my favorites of the genre. Generally, a Jasmine Pearl tea has a predominant green tea flavor base, with a subtler afterthought of Jasmine. With this blend, however, the Jasmine flavor is much more pronounced, driving the cup through the end, with a milder green tea flavour. This blend also has a delightful coloration which looks great in the cup, and has a significantly strong jasmine scent, moreso than most Jasmine Pearl blends I have tried. It left a lingering smell of Jasmine in my room for 15-20 minutes after I had finished the cup,

This blend also has somewhat less astringent than I am typically used to with a jasmine green tea blend. All of these qualities combine to make this one of the best jasmine pearl blends I have ever had the pleasure of sampling, and one which I will be keeping in mind as I do other similar tastings in the future.

The packaging is also very well-thought of. The labeling is well-designed, containing all of the important information you'd need, as well as some stylish oriental symbols. It is laid out in a fashion that is very appealing and pleasing to the eye as well.

Overall, I would highly recommend that you sample from this tea company (which has a convenient sampler set containing all of their teas), as it will provide an interesting contrast to any other supplier due to the unique style employed in their creation.

Thanks very much for allowing me to sample your teas, June, and I wish you the best of success in your business endeavors.

You can all check out Just4Tea's Website at Just4tea.com.

Over and Out,
R0R

A Delightful Stash of Tea

Hi all,

I hate to say it, but this looks like the last post of 2007! Happy New Year everyone! I hope you've all had, and still are having, a wonderful holiday season. Remember if you have not done so to request a $5 gift certificate on the right side of this blog. It's my gift to you.

Recently, I received a nice review package from Stash Teas. I am a long time fan of stash teas, and have always found them near the top of the list as far as quality is concerned.

For this review, I will start by listing the items included in the review package, discussing my reactions to the packaging, etc, saying something about each of them, and then explaining which item was my favorite and why I think that.

The first thing that impressed my upon examining the contents of the parcel was the packaging. Each of the teas is stored in a very durable foil-type sack. Each sack has a sturdy zipper seal on it to keep air out and hold the aroma in, helping to prevent your tea from becoming stale. Additionally, each bag features a nice description of the tea it contains, explains the proper brewing temperature, and provides intelligent brewing suggestions. The packaging is also very attractive in it's color scheme and design. Definate shelf appeal.

The first item is the very popular Silver Needle White Tea. I have tasted a lot of white teas since I have been a blogger, and found each of them to be slightly different than the others. Stash Tea's Silver Needle White is a delicious, very mild full-leaf white tea. As far as Whites go, this one is pretty good, but not the best. I noticed that the cup was very slightly cloudy. The flavor, however, is fantastic. As good as Adagio's whites, but not quite on par with some of the new organics I have tasted (more about that in a later review). Overall, I would say that this is a very fine white tea. It's well above the average, and it's apparent that Stash has put some considerable effort into ensuring high quality.

The second item is Fancy Golden Tippy Hao Ya. This is a specialty black tea with a unique smoky flavor. I found this tea overall to be higher quality than the white tea. This tea does not have any clouding at all, resulting in a clear and crisp cup of tea. I found myself really enjoying the smoked flavor of this tea. The tea also has a nice color - a nice golden color - which adds to the appeal. This tea's flavor profile is that of a mild black tea with the smoky notes. It's also slightly sweet, with less astringent than most blacks. It is a very fine tea, and I would recommend it to anyone.

The third is a Formosa Oolong Fancy Grade. As far as oolongs go, this is near the top of the charts. It has that delicious, mild nutty flavor common to oolongs, but also has some additional fruity notes that aren't so common. These are lovely features for an oolong to have, though. This tea also has no clouding, and a great color in the cup. A nice golden - not as deep as the Hao Ya, but a nice soft and mellow golden. This tea is also slightly sweet, needing no added sweetener at all.

The final tea is Gyokuro Asahi Pearl Dew. This tea is unique and interesting. This is a green tea, and is unique among greens. It has a subtle sweetness and a strong vegetal taste which I couldn't get enough of. It also has excellent cup color, but does cloud a bit. This is made up for, however, by the nice, whole uncrushed leaves and the unique blend of flavors. This is a very rich tea, with lots of flavor and punch. It's intensity lies in it's flavor blending, and it's underlying vegetal taste.

Overall, the Pearl Dew was my favorite of these, although it was hard to decide between that and Tippy Hao Ya. I adore the flavor blends in the Pearl Dew, really like the tint of the liquid, love the smell, and mostly love that it's high quality and good for me.

You can visit Stash, and order their free catalog at www.stashtea.com/

Hope you've enjoyed the review. More to come early this January, so keep watch!

Over and out,
Relz

An Intoxicating Aroma

Before I begin this post, allow me to first express my sincerest apologies to my readers and the tea companies that are in Que for review here at Insani-Tea. I am behind schedule here, and the dates I have given for reviews have come and gone. I have been frantic for the last couple of weeks, as I am also a student at a university, and the last part of the semester and finals week were taking their toll. Now, however, finals week has ended, so I have some extra time with which to manage the blog.

On that note, I'll move right into the content of today's review.

Some weeks ago, I was contacted by a representative of Aroma Tea Company in California. He offered to send me a sample of a couple of his most popular products, and of course, being a tea lover, and a lover of trying new things, I accepted the offer.

Aroma is apparently a popular tea shop in San Francisco that offers free tea tastings, and free tea learning with their Tea Master. This, I thought, was a fantastic idea. Unfortunately, finding myself some distance from California, I am unable to visit with Mr. Daluz (although the time may come, as I may go to graduate school in San Diego), however thanks to his samples, I did have a lovely opportunity to taste his teas, and I was quite impressed.

The thing that initially drew me in with his offer is that the two samples he offered to send were both ones that I had never heard of before. This made it more interesting, and ultimately a lot more fun and enjoyable for me. And trust me, there was nothing run-of-the-mill about these teas.

First, I will identify and explain each of the samples that Mr. Daluz sent, and then explain which one I prefer overall and why.

The first sample was of an interesting Oolong called Blue People. It's called Blue People because the loose tea looks like small blueish pebbles. When I first opened up the sample pack, I thought it looked remarkably like fish tank pebbles. The scent of the loose tea, however, was delightful. Very green and earthy smell. My first brew of the Blue People oolong was impressing also. It has an extremely unique and enjoyable taste, and has moved it's way to the top of my list of all-time favorite teas. Blue People is fermented with a mixture of liquorice root and mint, and while you can taste only a little of the mint flavour, the liquorice root comes through significantly more.

There's something inexplicably nice about the combination of premium oolong and liquorice flavour. This oolong is probably one of the finest specialty teas I have tasted. The tea is also naturally sweet, having a very pleasant flavour with nothing added. Quality is absolutely important to Aroma, and it's apparent in this product. Another nice thing about this particular tea (which is true of many oolongs) is that it can be brewed at least 3 or 4 times without
suffering quality.

The second sample was another oolong, called Milk Aroma Oolong. This is another one of their very popular teas, and another that I hadn't heard about until I was offered a sample. The Milk Aroma Oolong is also very delicious. It seems slightly sweeter and smoother than the blue people, and almost seems a small bit thicker. It could almost be described as "creamy." It gives of the aroma of sweet steamed milk, which is part of how it got it's name.

The tea originated in Taiwan, where the leaves steamed with milk, and then oxidized under open sunlight. This gives it a smooth texture and a unique, slightly sweet and creamy taste.

This is another tea that requires no sweetening unless you have a sweet tooth. It has enough natural sweetness that I might even go so far as to classify it as a dessert tea (perhaps the Blue People also.)

Both of these teas are very high quality, unique, and delicious on their own. My personal favorite, however, was the Blue People Oolong, because of it's earthy taste with the liquorice note, and because of it's unique character, and also because of that weird look people give
you on the bus when you explain to them that you are drinking blue people. :)

Overall, Mr. Daluz' teas come highly recommended, and of you are ever in the San Francisco area, I'd encourage you to stop by his tea shop and have a look around.

You can visit the website and place orders at: http://www.aromateashop.com

Also, in celebration of their 2-year anniversary, Aroma is currently offering 20% off all teas and tea products!

Thanks for reading, and thanks to Aroma Tea Shop for the ability to review their teas,

Over and out,
Relznuk Zero Relznuk

One For The Money, Two For The Show, Three for Adagio, and Here We Go!

Several weeks ago I was sent a very nice review package from Adagio Teas. I have long adored Adagio and looked up to them as a benchmark to test other tea companies against. Some of their blends have been long favorites of mine, so it will take some work to be non-biased for this review.

I'll mention what was sent in the package, initial impressions on each item, and then I'll list my favorite of the teas that they sent and why it is my favorite of the set.

Included were 4 sample tins of various teas, several samples of their excellent teabags, and a Jasmine Pearl. Also included was a box of extra-tall teabags made from recyclable fibers (including hemp fiber, which I'll certainly have to say something good about) to put loose blends in, and their excellent short book "A Guide to Tea."

The four sample tins were "Casa Blanca Twist," Almond Oolong, Vanilla Green, and White Peony. Each is delicious, and has it own separate merits from the others.

The White Peony was very good - A fine quality white tea with a very pleasant mellow flavor. I really like white teas, so I hold them to a high standard when I review them. Compared to other White Peony teas I have had, this one is on the higher end of the spectrum. Quality is a big deal with Adagio, and it reflects in their products. I have only had a couple of brews of this particular tea that were better, and those were also considerably for expensive. For the price, this is the best White Peony you'll probably find. Great economically-priced white tea for anyone to enjoy - although tea snobs might opt for more expensive versions.

The Vanilla Green was also very good. I often am wary of green teas that aren't specifically categorized. There are so many types of green tea, and you don't know what you might get. Often, when buying a "green tea," you end up with something that tastes as generic as the name suggests. Adagio's flavored green teas are a notch above in regards to quality. The vanilla flavor was easy to pick up on even without sweetening, and a touch of honey brought it out perfectly. I might suggest that a little more vanilla flavor be present, though, as the vanilla flavor in this blend was a little outdone by the green tea flavor.

The Almond Oolong was simply delightful. I really like Oolong teas, and almond seems to be a great sidekick flavor to it. The amount of almond flavor was just right - it blended with the oolong perfectly, so neither overpowered the other. This tea is best with a little sweetener, as it really helps to bring out the almond flavor more.

The "Casa Blanca Twist" was my favorite of the lot. It has a very nice blend of flavors. A nice blend for whenever you want a nice and well-rounded mint tea. This was particularly pepperminty, which I appreciated. The amount of mint was well-conceived also. Not overpowering, but enough to wake up the senses and blend will with the high-quality green tea that undertones it. One thing I noticed about this tea is that the leaves were broken - even the tea leaves, which left me a bit disappointed. I tend to look at whole leaves or at least larger pieces of leaf as a trademark of quality. However, this only ended up as an aesthetic disappointment, as the finished brew was quite excellent anyway.

Next, I'd like to address the coffee table book, "A Guide to Tea." For the $5 that they charge for this, it is a good value, and well worth it. This is a very informative book for someone one new to the world of tea, and I myself even learned some interesting things from it. Well-printed and nicely bound, and very very easy to read. Nice display piece for when you have a guest over for tea. I'd also like to mention that they are giving these books away when you purchase one of their gift sets, which also come with free wrapping.

The paper filters that I received were impressive. I'll be keeping a bunch of these in my travel pack when I do my traveling with the Weber State Ethics Bowl team. Very portable, and very high quality. These are made from unbleached fibers - a fact which relieved me, since I often worry about what sorts of chemicals they use in my teabags to make them so white. These also won't leave your tea tasting like paper, since they're made from hemp and wood fibers, which don't impart flavor. I was thrilled that they used hemp fiber - It is a superior alternative to wood fibers in papers, since it is both more sustainable and stronger. I always get the warm fuzzies when I see a company supporting the use of hemp products - I've always been a big fan of this on both the conceptual and environmental levels. It's a high quality fiber, and the hemp plants grow far faster than trees, making hemp-fiber a more eco-concious choice.

Adagio's customer service is also fantastic - very fast response to questions, and you can often get live help from their tea master. They are definitely out there for more than just profits - I believe that they genuinely believe in giving people the best tea experience possible, while making it affordable for the common man.

All in all, I think Adagio is a fantastic company. They're teas are of excellent quality given the price that they charge, and they have enough varieties available to please not only the tea commoner, but also the connoisseur. Sometimes I wish they had a more premium line that they charged a little more for to appease the tea snobs, though.

If you're looking for a quality and affordable place to purchase tea, consider Adagio. Also, if you haven't yet done so, please feel free to request a $5 gift certificate from Adagio by using the box on the right of the blog at the top.

Over and out,
Relz

Coffee Tea For Me?

How many times have you walked into a Starbucks or other coffee shop and seen posters of a coffee plant? I know I've seen it before. Those pictures of dark green glossy leaves and rich red berries that leave you wondering why you never actually see these parts of the plant? Well, I recently received some samples from Astral-Natural that shed some light on this.

The package I received contained a number of samples of a product called "CoffeeTea," and a nice ceramic mug emblazoned with the product's logo. As you might have guessed from the name, CoffeeTea is an herbal tisane made from the leaves of the Coffea Arabica plant. The idea seemed interesting to me, and seemed like the sort of thing I should support. It's essentially a way to cut down on waste by using more parts of a plant than would traditionally be used. This seems like a good plan, and triggers my underlying "liberal green-o-meter."

As an enjoyer of both coffee and tea, this idea also seemed an interesting way to bring those two worlds closer together, and to some extent it does. The research offered on their website is interesting, and seems to suggest that the health benefits of coffee leaf are at least as high as those of green tea, as well as having less caffeine. This I was dubious of. Being a skeptic, I generally try to avoid studies that are posted on a product's website, as such studies are certain to have bias and probably false context. The website also claims that CoffeeTea is not an acquired taste, and that people prefer it to green tea from the first cup. This I was also dubious of.

Upon doing some research of my own, I found that pure coffee leaf does indeed have a comparable ORAC (antioxidant) score to that of green tea, however has a much lower ORAC than white tea. Additionally, the antioxidant compounds found within coffee leaf are different than those found in green tea, so although it may be the case that comparable amounts of antioxidants are found (which is how the ORAC is calculated), it's not the case that they are antioxidant equivalents, as specific antioxidants behave differently than other antioxidants, and can achieve specific tasks. One example of this is EGCG, a green tea antioxidant, that has very specific functions towards heart function and neurotransmitter creation.

Regarding the claims that Astral-Natural makes about the taste preference of CoffeeTea, I would say that their test was taken in a bad way. The way their study worked was to have average people off the street sip each beverage (green tea and coffee leaf tea), and recorded their responses. They received a result such that 75% preferred coffee leaf over green tea. It occurs to me, however, that this shouldn't be the only factor. CoffeeTea and green tea are each consumed for different reasons, and taste differently. Green tea might taste better in one situation, and CoffeeTea in another type of situation. Additionally, there are many types of green tea, each of which taste different. Cultural variation might also come into play. I would love to see this test repeated in a larger number of locations (even international), with the assurance that it would be a blind test.

Now, with all this being said, I must say that I give this company an A for uniqueness. This is a product I had simply not seen or heard about before, but it does indeed seem intriguing. Their packaging is attractive and well done (despite the fact that it only comes in bagged form), and their website, aside from the research aspects which I have mentioned (which they are not alone in - most companies seem to do this in one way or another), is very well-designed and easy to
navigate.

Now, you might be asking "Now, that's all well and good Relz, but how does it taste?!" Very pleasant. This beverage has a similar flavor to "drugstore green teas," meaning the sort of bagged teas you can buy at your neighborhood grocer (lipton, bigelow, etc.) I can see why some sorts of people would prefer it over green tea. It has a nice and mellow flavor with no astringent or bitterness. It has a nice cup color with no cloudiness, and it tastes good both iced and hot. I, however, am not one of those that prefer it over green tea, for several reasons, the primary being that it lacks variation. There are dozens of types of green tea, which each have distinct characteristics. CoffeeTea, however, lacks that diversity, which is not their fault, but which is a good reason why CoffeeTea will not be uprooting green tea from it's comfortable market position.

CoffeeTea is a delightful and unique beverage, and I very much like the flavor. It is very relaxing and very mellow, and I will probably drink it from time to time as I do other herbal tisanes. To suggest that it will be replacing the whole of green tea, however, is an unjustifiable comment.

The bottom line: CoffeeTea is delicious, and makes a great herbal tisane. It's a unique and very ecologically friendly product that encourages us to make more use of what we grow. It's more sustainable than other types of beverages, and it is packed very nicely. However, it won't be replacing green tea any time soon.

I would, however, encourage you to give it a try and see what you think - you might be surprised at just how good brewed coffee leaf can be.

If I could make suggestions to Astral-Natural for this products improvement, I would suggest that they use a larger and higher quality teabag. I would also suggest that they make the product available in loose-leaf format, and would further suggest that they adopt into their product line coffee leaf grown at different elevations, in different regions, etc, to give it more of the variability and versatility that green tea has. I'd also love to see a fair-trade certification displayed on the packaging somewhere.

Thanks, Astral-Natural, for allowing me to review your product, and thanks, readers, for reading my review!

Over and out,
Relznuk Zero Relznuk

An Aura About Them.

Greetings.

There's a new tea company on the block. I was contacted a short time ago by a representative of Aura Teas (aurateas.com.) who offered some samples and asked if I would review them. Since on the one hand I never turn down an opportunity to try new teas and on the other hand I seldom turn down a review, I quickly accepted the offer.

The representative was very informative about exactly which teas she'd be sending, and even linked me to pictures and other information on the teas. I learned something aside from getting to try the new offerings of a new company, which is always a plus for someone like me.

I'll start the review by explaining which teas I received, and then posting an evaluation of them one-by-one. I'll then address some other issues which merit a mention.

The first and perhaps most interesting of the teas is a "Formosa Natural Wuhe Honey Black Tea." The tea has a very pleasant flavour, with a lovely subtle sweetness to it. It's probably got one of the nicer flavors I've tasted in a black. I was very pleased. It produces a great colour in the cup, with no clouding, and retains it's unique flavor both hot and cold. It's also very easy to brew, with no real specific instruction required. The tin contains nice whole, non-broken dried leaves with a nice colour, texture and odour.

What is most interesting about this tea is how it is created. It is grown in Wuhe, Hualien, Taiwan (which, by the way, is a beautiful city) without pesticides or other harsh chemicals. It's probably the closest to organic that a traditionally grown tea gets these days. The reason that it is grown without pesticides is very important - the sweetness of the tea actually comes from the leaves being bitten by a certain insect that favors the tea plant. Before harvest (which always occurs in the summer for this type, as the tea bugs only come in the summer), the leaves are left in the garden until the tea bugs do what tea bugs do best. After this, they are then fermented into what we know as a black tea.

I would recommend this tea, it being both unique and of a particularly high quality.

The second of the teas is "Formosa Pinglin Baihao Oolong Choice Grade." This tea is of a similar quality to the black I've just mentioned, and shares many of the same characteristics. This tea is also (and perhaps more commonly) known as "Oriental Beauty" or Formosa Imperial. This tea also has a subtle sweetness to it, which is imparted in the same way as in the case of the Honey Black - via Tea Bug! I sometimes have strange thoughts along these lines, but I tend to support safe natural product production, and shun pesticides when possible. This type of insect can't harm the tea - it only adds that subtle sweet honey-type flavor.

Being an oolong, it has a less tannic flavor than the black, and also seems to be more complex and contain more flavor elements. The natural sweetness comes out in this one somewhat more than in the Honey Black. This tea also has a very nice color in the cup with no cloudiness. The flavor, however, changes slightly when it is cool versus when it is hot, in the sense that the cooled version seemed to have a slightly more prominent nutty note.

The third and final sample I was sent is called Formosa Alishan Jinxuan Oolong. It is also popularly known as Golden Lilly Oolong. This is a newer tea, having been developed in the 1990's. This is one of the half-ball oolong teas, and should be brewed at just under boiling. This tea is very different from the first two, and is somewhat more expensive. Processed in the Dongding Oolong style, it is a very lightly fermented oolong, and has some very intense characteristics. The tea starts with a somewhat floral aroma, and is very smooth throughout the entire cup. It finishes smoothly with a creamy flavor. The color of the brewed tea is much lighter, and has a significantly different flavor than the first two, although it still maintains Aura's high quality standards.

All of these teas are very excellent and highly recommended. Another point of mention for Aura Teas is the packaging - The tea comes packaged in nice aesthetically pleasing round tins, which clearly detail the time and temperature of brewing, some interesting information about the tea, and the specific amount of tea recommended for each cup. The tin labels are also very aesthetically pleasing, containing a very nice blend of colors and good designs.

The company is also VERY supportive. Great to answer questions and concerns very quickly and professionally, and in a friendly manner. I'd recommend this company strongly, and I hope you'll all at least consider giving them a visit - they really are a very nice new company.

Over and out,
Relznuk Zero Relznuk

Travette and Tea.

Hey all,

I hope you're all enjoying having more than one or two posts a month. Considering the amount of product reviews that I have in the works, this should last easily until the end of November! Remember - product reviews and reader suggestions are what most posts are made of!

Recently, Steve of Timolino sent me their Travette Tea Pot to see what I thought. The first thing that hit me when I removed it from it's shipping box was the product packaging! The box itself is definately pleasing, and looks very nice all by itself. The box, however, is certainly not the best feature of the Timolino.

When I took it out of the box, I was actually surprised at just how nice it looked on my table. It definately has appeal. But often I receive a pretty product that does nothing besides look pretty - not what you want in a Tea product! The Timolino, however, is as functional as it is aesthetic.

If you look at this picture of it, you can see the elegance that I am referring to. The teapot consists of several components. First is the base with the black handle. The base of the Travette is very durable, and has some rubber on the bottom for traction. Inside, it contains polished stainless steel with what appears to be a safety coating (which is why it is a slightly different color than the brushed steel on the outside) - a good move!

The second component is the filter-lid, which contains two parts: The filter cup and the lid. The lid sits on the pot very well, with no twisting required. A gentle push sets it firmly on the base and a gentle pull removes it. The effort required to take the lid on and off is also very important to the overall quality of this product!

With non-twisting lids, you often have a lid that either takes too much effort to remove, which can result in a mess if you're dealing with liquids (especially hot tea!), or a lid that doesn't affix firmly enough, making it somewhat difficult to handle the product without removing the lid. The Travette represents a fantastic balance between the two. It's seems to require just the right amount of pressure to install and remove the lid. I couldn't imagine it working any better.

The filter mesh is also impressive. It's quite large (probably the largest I've seen on a portable product like this), and able to handle any herb or tea you might place in it, while allowing plenty of room for the leaf to expand. The filter mesh is easily removed from the lid for filling, and slides back into the lid just as easily, with no clicking or pushing required. A great feature of the lid is the cover that closes over the filter mesh. You can lift the cover to watch your beverage brew, or you can tightly close the cover to avoid any spillage. One particularly good side effect of this is that you can add to the filter mesh while the beverage is brewing! I found this to be especially useful.

The third component is an optional one. When ordering the tea pot, you can add $2 to have it included. That third component is a drinking lid. This has definite implications regarding convenience - you can brew and drink your tea from the same pot easily, however if all you use the pot for is basic brewing, and prefer to pour your tea into smaller teacups, then you'd not have need for this. I feel that making it optional was a very appropriate move.

Now, considering some of the very positive advantages of this teapot (including it's ease-of-use, aesthetics, etc), I must consider disadvantages. One thing I might note here is that the filter mesh is made of nylon rather than the higher quality stainless steel that many other pots use. The advantages of stainless steel over nylon are durability, and less residue (nylon sometimes can leech chemicals). Nylon is, however, slightly cheaper, and some might find that it is easier to clean.

The Travette is one of the best designed products I have reviewed to date. It is simply done very, very well. It's convenient, it's easy to use, it's aesthetically pleasing, and it does everything it claims to do - and does so quite well.

I'd recommend this product for anyone looking for a small and portable one to two person teapot.

Thanks again to Steve from Timolino for making this product review possible!

Over and out,
Relznuk Zero Relznuk

Sparkling Beverages - Oh, the (Insani) Tea!

Greetings Readers!

First and foremost, I’d like to announce the design change on the blog! Yay! It’s more aesthetically pleasing now, and a lot more useful to me. If you’ll take notice of the new features on the right side, I’ve added a $5 gift certificate generator from Adagio Teas. With the help of Adagio, this is my way to show a portion of my appreciation to me readers. You’ll also notice that there is a contact box. If you have an idea or suggestion for me, or if you’d like a product reviewed (the product will need to be provided), feel free to drop me a line!

With that being said, I’ll now jump right into today’s post:

A few years ago I got the idea to design a new soda. I experimented with lots of different flavor options, which I added with sugar to tap water to stem the flavor. I spent a significant deal of time getting people’s opinions on flavors and trying new combos. One day, I attempted to make this soda at home. The idea ultimately flopped – I attempted to add granulated sugar to a bottle of club soda. What a mess! So I didn’t pursue the idea further.

Recently, however, I received, graciously provided by the manufacturer, a new device called the Edition 1 from Soda-Club USA – A home carbonator! You can imagine the memories this device brought back. But at least I wouldn’t have to run to the store for club soda! The device is also very aesthetically pleasing and looks good in my kitchen.

Since receiving this device, I’ve been using it quite a bit. Besides making very passable sodas without gushing all over the place (so far I have tried the Root Beer, the Cola, the Orange Mango, and several of the diet flavors, all of which are very good), it’s also good for several other things, including making seltzer to add to other beverages, or even making carbonated teas (fruit flavors work best.)I’ve even developed a new appreciation for seltzer.

One of the very nice things about this device is that you can control the carbonation level. You can make things very, very fizzy (even far more fizzy than you can get in the store), or just add light carbonation to make it sparkle.

I was a bit dubious about making carbonated teas, (bad memories of trying Nestle Enviga (The horror! The fear! The false health claims!) came to mind) but I gave it a try. I tried one of the nice fruity Revolution Tea flavors, and it actually came out very well. Just like a lightly flavored sparkling herbal tea. I don’t recommend sparking your tea too often, as it can take away from the health benefits, but it is quite nice every once in a while.

If you decide to make sparking teas or tea seltzers at home, I would recommend a very light carbonation, as having too much takes away from the tea flavor)

The carbonator is also environmentally friendly. It uses no electricity, as it is powered by a proprietary CO2 tank under license from Soda-Club. It also comes with reusable carbonating containers so you aren’t constantly throwing away club soda bottles.

Now that I’ve covered the good points of this product, I need to provide a bit of critique. While this product is nice, and very convenient, it is slightly expensive. You’d have to drink quite a bit of seltzer or soda to make this profitable. If your family consumes a significant amount, however, it actually ends up being a good deal and saving you money. You can read about this at this page on their website for seltzer, and at this page on the website for soda

Also, the actual carbonating tank is proprietary, and can only be refilled by Soda-Club. If you trade a couple of new tanks for a couple of fresh tanks, it’ll run you about $40, which isn’t that bad, but isn’t exactly a value either. It’s also technically the property of Soda-Club. You don’t actually own it, and have to return it every three years (or when you need a refill.) This, however, is relatively minor, and makes sense to me. It’s a good money-generator for them, and only a minor insignificance to the consumer.

So, in short, this is a great device. And carbonated herbal teas are somewhat more delicious than I figured them for. If you use a lot of carbonated soda, I’d highly recommend this machine.

The link to their website, in full, is:

http://www.sodaclubusa.com

Over and out,
Relznuk Zero Relznuk

Losing Your Mind? Drink Tea!

Greetings readers!

I was chatting with Jinx recently, and she passed some information along to me that I thought you might enjoy. I has to do with a couple of alleged (although I tend to find it credible upon considering the research) benefits of green tea, and one which seems pretty interesting.

According to The Canadian Press (CTV.ca), new scientific research has demonstrated it to be the case that green tea can have a rejuvenating effect on injured brain cells and lower an individual's risk of developing dementia and other diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. The research was presented recently at Fourth International Scientific Symposium on Tea and Human Health in Washington, D.C.

According to Carol Greenwood, a professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto, it's likely the drinking green tea daily has direct impact on on brain health by assisting in cell function and cell repair.

Most of these effects are linked to the main antioxidant in green tea called EGCG.

So there you have it - one more reason to enjoy green tea daily. As an aside, I'd mention that white teas all have the same benefit, if not greater benefits on this as green teas, although it might not be the case that black teas are as effective.

This seems really interesting, but I'm sure that I have not addressed it adequately, as I am not well-endowed with medical knowledge, so you should really have a look at the original article, found here.

Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for several new product reviews, as well as some interesting and unique ideas that might stem from those products.

Until then,
Relnuk Zero Relznuk

P.S.: Thanks to Jinx for the material!

New Loose Teas From Revolution.

Greetings Readers.

Recently, I was sent some samples of some new loose teas to be released from Joe of Revolution Tea. As most of you know, loose tea is by far my preference, followed by large pyramid-shaped teabags (which mostly are filled with full leaf tea anyway). Small, scrunchy paper teabags, however, are never my friend, for a number of reasons.

It therefore delighted me to hear of this company, who previously only offered teabags (although they were the high-quality sort that gives plenty of room), venturing into the world of loose teas. Although these are not for sale to the public yet, they will be something to watch for.

The blends come in a number of varieties. They have herbal blends as well as blends made from white and black teas. One variety that I particularly like is Swiss Herbal. It's a delicious fruity blend with a great color in the cup, and a nice mellow, subtle flavor. I served some iced to some guests I had over recently, and they seemed to really enjoy it. They're not typical tea drinkers, but they did admit to quite liking this herbal blend.

Another especially impressive variety is their White Himalayan blend. It seems to have just the right blend of accompanying herbs to really bring out the delicate floral notes of the fine silver-needle white tea. And it is indeed some of the finer quality white tea I have consumed.

The scent of all of these teas is absolutely amazing. When I first opened up the packing envelope, I nearly drove myself mad. So many enticing aromas. They must have but great effort into creating such well-blended aromas for each of their teas. No one scent in any of the blends is particularly overpowering. They all seem to blend quite nicely.

Now, while these teas do definitely demonstrate a step forward, in order to provide a fair critique I must note some areas which need improvement.

One such area is in the packaging. The teas come packaged in nice zip-seal bags. The zip-seal on top is quite secure, however the pressure seal along the bottom of the bags is not. The seal is not secure enough, and when the bags arrived, the bottoms of two out of five of them had opened up. Upon my handling them, the bottom of a third one opened up. While this is a minor flaw, it is certainly something that needs to be resolved, if it has not been resolved already.

Another point I might make is that although the bags do provide the name of the tea, they do not provide an explanation of the herbs that went into that particular tea. Unless you are familiar with a wide variety of herbs, in both appearance and taste, you might never know what is in a given blend.

Now, I realize that the samples I was sent were something of a "prototype," but the purpose of prototypes and evaluatory samples is indeed to help find and correct flaws before the product is released to the public.

All in all, I would rate the actual quality of the tea itself as an 8 out of ten. It is very good tea, and meets some serious quality standards. It is not the best tea I have had however. That mark would go to some imported Darjeeling Rungmook Estate tea that I received from India.

The tea provided by this company, Revolution, is of high enough quality that the average tea purchaser on a reasonable budget would be hard-pressed to find much better.

The packaging for this tea, in it's current state, I would give a 6 out of ten. Some serious improvement could take place there. Even so, the packaging they used is a good idea, and if it can be made to work correctly (and give more information) then it will perform it's task with excellence.

I would recommend these teas when they are released on the market, rumored for sometime next year, to the general tea-drinking crowd. Most people should be extremely pleased with the quality and flavor of these blends. I'll post an update when the final product is released.

I hope you'll all try these when they are released, and form your own opinions. I'd love to hear about it if you do!

Thanks again for the samples, Joe!

Over and out,
Relznuk Zero Relznuk

Note: I have received a response from Revolution to the effect that the weak packaging problem has been resolved and will certainly not represent the final product.

James Norwood Pratt on The Perfect Cup of Tea.

Greetings posters,

My apologies for having so few entries, but being a full-time student can be very time consuming!

This time around, I'd like to let you know about a great resource which was shared with me by Chow.com.

James Norwood Pratt, a prominent tea connoisseur much like myself, has put forth some effort into producing a very excellent series of video clips, in which he discusses many tea-related products, including water quality, tea bags, and even Starbucks! He is a very knowledgeable and charismatic in his approach. In his view (and I would tend to agree), tea is not merely a beverage, but "a work of art."

All in all, this is probably the most comprehensive series of video clips on the subject I have seen. I hope you will take the time to have a look at this and hear the opinions of a self-made expert on tea.

The clips can be found at: http://www.chow.com/stories/10721

Over and out,
Relznuk Zero Relznuk

Put Your Summer on Ice.

Hello all.

As some of you know, I live in Utah, USA. This time of year, Utah is hot. Really, really hot. You just wouldn't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly hot it is. That being said, I sometimes have to think twice before brewing myself a hot beverage like tea. Iced teas are an alternative, but sometimes you want something a little different.

One way that you can do this is to create custom ice cubes, using different juices or different brewed teas. This can lead to some especially interesting beverage creations.

Instead of drinking straight iced tea, you could blend it with juice cubes, or add some delicious white tea to some apple juice or another mild fruit juice.

Another interesting thing you can do with this concept is to enjoy your favorite teas in a true summer fashion - by making teasicles! This can be especially fun when there are other people around to share your creation with. When I create a teasicle, I usually sweeten the tea alot more. I also tend to choose a more flavorful or spiced tea, such as blood orange, or chai.

Tea cubes and juice cubes can also make excellent additions to other beverages, like sodas. Lemonade cubes in particular make a great addition to lots of beverages, including most teas. I can imagine that adding a healthy dose of frozen chai to some almond milk might also be especially delicious...

Anyways - I hope some of you living in hot places get some mileage out of these ideas. I know I sure do.

Cheers, and have great summers,
Relznuk Zero Relznuk

Tips on iced green tea

Summer is here, and one way to beat the summer heat is with a nice, tall glass of iced green tea. There are many ways to prepare iced green tea, and many ways to enjoy it, too. Here are a few hints on my own blog. For instance, here is a recipe for a green tea Arnold Palmer.


Also, this summer Mellow Monk has introduced a one-of-a-kind tea, one you'll not find anywhere else on the Web—cold-brewed iced green tea bags. That's right—no boiling necessary. Simply place one of the pre-portioned nylon tea bags into a pitcher of room temperature water, stir, then place in the refrigerator for 2 hours. That's all there is to it. Read more about this new tea here.


Thanks again for the opportunity to post here, Relznuk!


—Mellow Monk

Zarafina Tea Maker Suite.

To my fellow tea drinkers:

May I present the most amazing of machines;
The Zarafina Tea Maker Suite.

We at Insani-Tea have recently acquired this magical machine (courtesy of Zarafina) and would like to share the joy with each of you.

I don't want to sound like a commercial or anything but if I could I would seriously buy one of these for all of my friends and family.
Even if you're not an avid tea drinker, this is such a lovely machine to have.

I love love love love love tea and this tea maker makes it so much easier to enjoy it.
It's really easy to use and aesthetically pleasing. It even comes with a jive little tea pot and two cups. The day I got it, I actually made about five pots of tea in one evening. :)

One of the nicest things about it is that it automatically dispenses the tea into the pot so if you have to run to do something it doesn't over steep and make the tea bitter or too strong. It's also perfect for iced tea drinkers. It has a setting for the intensity of the tea you want. strong, medium or mild. So when you want iced tea, just set it to strong, and if your tea is already spicy you can put it to mild...or whatever you feel like at the time.

Recently, my little seven year old brother, one of the pickiest kids on earth, has started drinking tea a lot, and he loves it so much, mostly because its way cool, but also because its not too strong and he gets to make it himself. The machine works with both loose and bagged tea, so when he wants tea he can just stick a few bags in it and push start.

Another brilliant feature about this tea maker is how you can basically "customize" your pot of tea. You simply set each feature according to what you want, ie: whether its black, green, white, oolong or herbal, it knows exactly how long is needed for steeping, whether its loose or in a bag, and the intensity.

I know that tea is supposed to calm you down and that it's nice that it takes a while to make so you aren't in such a rush...but sometimes its nice to wake up in the morning and have tea without having to get up fifteen minutes early! :)

Well, I could go on and on about this amazing thing, but I'm pretty sure you get the picture.
and if any of you want to have a tea party, let me know and I will show you this lovely tea maker as well, hooray!

If you would like more information on the Zarafina Tea Maker Suite, just go HERE.

Have a brilliant day!
peace&love
- Katelyn

P.S.: A big thanks to Zarafina for allowing us to evaluate and review this machine.

Camp Loll Organic

As some of you know, I am currently a summer staff member at a scout camp in the high mountains of Wyoming, sandwiched between Yellowstone and the Tetons. I initially had a number of anxieties about doing this for another summer, as many of my beliefs are very incompatible with the Boy Scout philosophies. The experience has proved very interesting though, as there are a number of people working here that are very accepting, and a couple who are like-minded unto myself.

We have formed a small tea society of 4-5 people, and it started out being the case that we take turns buying tea - but then we got to thinking. Why should we buy tea when we are in the middle of a goddamn forest?! Instead, we have been harvesting local herbs and drying them in ther kitchen cupboard. We have most recently been making a kickass horsemint tea. We also have been going for wild strawberry and raspberry leaves, as well as many other native herbs.

The forest up here is truly amazing, and there are tons of good outlook points of the location. One need only climb one of the neighboring Tetons to see some of the magnificense of this area, and the two Yellowstone waterfalls within walking distance of camp are pretty impressive as well.

We call the finished product Camp Loll Organic, and drink it usually once a day or more, made in a large tea kettle with my swiss gold infuser. It is jive.

I am glad to see a post or two on here since I have left. It pleases me greatly. Thanks, Nikhil!!!

I am currently in an internet cafe in Jackson Hole typing this posting. Jackson hole doesn't have a whole lot going on, but enough to break up a little of the monotony of week after week of teacking the same old things.

The staff up here at the camp is amazing as always, and I find that I can be far more expressive of my personality than I thought I could reasonable be. People just don't seem to care so much what I think and believe up here, which is kinda counter-intuitive considering the ultra-conservative Boy Scout environment.

Anyhow - Fresh herbal teas are delicious, and I will certainly post more information on this when I return home.

Cheers for now,
Relznuk Zero Relznuk

Bewitch'd With Indian Poyson

Relznuk asked me a while ago to contribute a guest post here. I was only too happy to oblige, but things got really busy. So now, after much procrastination and numerous delays, I am pleased to finally contribute the first (of what I hope will be several) guest posts. The following is cross-posted on Tea. Uncomplicated, a blog by The Simple Leaf.

It's safe to say that not everyone was thrilled with the increasing popularity of tea during most of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In Britain, a slew of commentators were pointing out the evils of this newly discovered beverage.

This particularly poignant passage bemoans the effect of tea on the British national psyche. It appeared in The Gentleman's Magazine in 1737, under the title Observations on the effects of tea.


[read the full archived version]

Tea is utterly improper for food hitherto useless in physick, and therefore to be arranged among the poysonous vegetables. Were it entirely wholesome as balm or mint, it were yet mischief enough to have our whole populace used to sip warm water in a mincing and effeminate manner once or twice a day. . . In this manner the bold and brave become dastardly, the strong become weak, the women become barren; or if they breed, their blood is made so poor that they have not the strength to suckle, and if they do, the child dies of the gripes. The poor people's children which are bred with it, as they really are in the cities and towns, are only fit for footmen and chambermaids. . .I leave any one to judge what soldiers we are like to have. The Spaniards very likely had felt the force of English beer within the last 20 years, if the use of it had not been exchanged for warm water bewitch'd with Indian poyson.

For further exploration into the history of tea, I would urge you to check out Roy Moxham, Tea: Addiction, Exploitation and Empire (New York: Carroll and Graf, 2003). I'm halfway through this book — every page has nuggets of fascinating trivia interspersed with tea's rich history. Well worth checking out.

Tea-time with God.

When I was younger than I am now, I always thought it would make a nice afternoon to have Tea with God. A sort of tea-time to beat all tea-times. A light-hearted tea-time of the soul. This tea-time would be paired with a game of Chess. I pondered that it should be a very odd experience to play a game of Chess with someone who, by definition, would have to win.

If God did not win, then there would be at least one thing that God attempted but did not succeed at. If there is something that God did not succeed at, then God is not all powerful. Additionally, if such a game were to be proposed with the unbendable rule that God should win, then the game would be remarkable unfair, and God is a perfectly fair God, and a perfectly just God, so this too would make it the case that the chess game is unplayable.

If God cannot play a game of Chess with a human, then there is at least one thing that God cannot do without violating his own rules, which he also cannot do. This could serve as a rationale to why God is not all-powerful.

It might be the case, however, that God did not intend to win the Chess game. Perhaps it was the intention of God to allow his tea-partner to have the experience of winning a game of Chess. That would certainly seem to fulfill his requirement of being all-good. However, it seems almost definitionally incompatible with God to allow a lesser being to triumph over him, no matter how small the stakes were. A human having completed such a task would have quite the boasting rights, and would probably form at least one religion in his/her own honour.

I wondered what sort of tea would be served, and at what temperature. It seems to me that a truly courteous host would want to serve a beverage at the most comfortable possible temperature for his guest. However, if that host is God, then he would also want to serve the beverage at the most comfortable possible temperature for himself, since Gods settle for no less than perfection.

Additionally, a truly courteous host would allow his guest to select the beverage being served. Although, if the host were God, the again the host would not settle for anything less than his personal favorite, having the high standards for beverages that only a God would have. So unless it were the case that both God's guest and God himself had the exact same beverage preferences, including temperature, God would be unable to pour the tea, or to accept the tea if his guest poured it (which is just poor etiquette anyway.)

One way around this would be for two pots of water to be boiled, and two separate types of tea to be infused in that water. However, to be truly proper, which it is assumed that a perfect God would be, he would not be so presumptuous as to drink a separate beverage than that which he offered his guest.

So the scenario we are left with is that of a tea-party where no tea can be served, and a chess-game where no chess can be played. Or at least that is what I penned in my journal as a young teenager.

If you are wondering exactly what explaining this journal entry has to do with tea, the answer lies within Tea Etiquette, and Tea Custom. Following proper tea custom is what makes serving the tea impossible for God.

Proper tea custom would dictate that the guest should be the most important consideration when brewing a beverage for such an invited guest. Proper tea custom would also dictate that the host should not drink a separate beverage from his guest, and also that a host would not be permitted to abstain from beverage while offering it to his guest. Additionally, the beverage must be poured for both members only in the presence of the guest being served.

There are many reasons why such customs came about. One of these is the fear of poison. If a host refuses to drink the same beverage offered to his guest, then it is a reasonable suspicion for that guest to assume that there might possibly be something wrong with the beverage. However, if the host does sip the same beverage as his guest, it provides a certain level of comfort and reassurance that there is, indeed, nothing wrong with the beverage at all.

There are a number of reasons why is a poor rationale (such as if the host had built himself up an immunity to a certain poison, or if a poisoner planned to kill both his guest and himself,) however most social customs have an equally poor rationale, such as the wearing of modern ties, which, in their origin were worn in medieval times at feasts, where they were used to wipe ones face and hands.

The reason for wearing ties has now vanished, and today's modern ties would be very inadequate to perform this job, not to mention it would be very socially unacceptable. However, because it was established as a social custom, it persists. Likewise, someone following proper tea etiquette in today's society almost certainly does not have in mind the assurance of their guest that they are not being poisoned.

So, the moral you should take away from this posting, which is probably the most random and bizarre, yet still tea-related posting I have ever done, is three-fold.

1: If you are a believer in the traditional God, you should on no account allow such God to invite you to tea, or to play chess or some other game of skill.

2: If you are a guest who has been invited by someone for tea, it is much less likely that you will be poisoned if your host follows proper tea etiquette, therefor you should always insist that your host does so.

3: Wearing ties is ridiculous.

Now you are three ideas wiser than you were before reading this post. You should be very pleased.

Over and out,
Relznuk Zero Relznuk