Monk Eyelids

What do you call a large box of new tea?

2010-03-24T20:33:00.009-04:00

A good start.

Needless to say, I was very excited to get my box of new tea from my favorite new catalog, Upton Tea Importers. Its a serious Sears & Roebuck esq' book that comes out quarterly printed in black and white and has little or no pictures. While the website is much more user friendly and has fantastic pictures, reviews and search functions the old timeyness of the physical catalog (ie. it contains an article on the historical connection between tea and the opium wars) is the best way to browse. I opted for putting my order in online though to speed things up and got the order in about four days.

You can order things in British style tea tins for $2 or the vacuum sealed packets seen above. Everything comes with a personalized label with date of packing and suggested amount/temp/time. The labels come off the bags and can be put on your own tins. So now everyone can see that the tea in my collections was indeed packed for Eliezer Silver and not some impostor.

This order included...

ZG18

125g packet:
Chun Mee (Moon Palace)
packed for:
Eliezer Silver

$4.40

$4.40

TT88

125g packet:
Formosa Oolong Spring Dragon
packed for:
Eliezer Silver

$14.40

$14.40

ZO10

100g packet:
China Oolong Se Chung
packed for:
Eliezer Silver

$4.90

$4.90

ZG45

100g packet:
Pi Lo Chun Superior Organic
packed for:
Eliezer Silver

$12.80

$12.80

It also came with a free sample of Sungma Estate SFTGFOP1 Second Flush which is cool because I have wanted to try out some more single estate black teas. Thus far the only black tea's i've ever really liked are blends like Irish Breakfast so these samples might be a good place to start.

Overall, having not tasted anything yet, very impressed. More reviews to come once I have time to drink it.

2010-03-19T22:26:00.001-04:00

New things are coming...

2010-01-13T11:37:00.001-05:00

This tea ain't gonna steep itself! I gotta start updating this more.

What i'm drinking now:

2009-07-04T08:16:00.002-04:00

I made a strong cup of dragonwell this morning. I've found that rather than brewing longer or hotter for a stronger cup of tea its better to just used more leaves. This cup was brewed a bit too long and has gone a little on the bitter side.

Fancy man enjoy's tea

2009-07-02T08:01:00.002-04:00

This killed me. I'm about to enjoy a cup of dragon well, then off to work at the flower shop where I wear pink dresses.

2009-06-23T12:08:00.001-04:00

What I'm drinking now: white tea that was good...then strange after I dropped my roll and cream cheese in it.

Supermarket Tea

2009-06-20T19:27:00.002-04:00

I love Wegmans. They are a east coast supermarket chain that doesn't market themselves specifically as "green" or "organic" (see a nationwide chain with a Whole history of bad union relations) but has a great local section and lots of organic produce. I think because they are just on the east coast all their suppliers are much closer and thereby fresher. They also have a great natural foods section that has a surprisingly good loose tea selection.

Yesterday I picked up some White Silver Needle (see above), Green Dragon Well, and Tai Kwon Yin (I can't believed I spelled that right the first time) oolong. I've gotten their Dragon Well and its just as good if not better than others that I've had. I made a pot of the Tai Kwon Yin today and it was fantastic. A bit sweeter than I've had in past batches of the popular oolong but very smooth and complex even after 3 brews.

Tea chat had an interesting topic on this which had some educated guesses as to who their distro is. Check it out.

Their teas aren't graded but they are definately at the level of something like a Republic of Tea grade which is definately under a fancy grade but realy good. I realy think that the freshness of a tea however is just as important as grade and these teas taste very new and don't produce the dusty flavors that I've noticed in teas that have been on the shelf for too long.

2009-05-29T22:04:00.001-04:00

What i'm drinking now: Numi gunpowder at Zebu in Red Bank. A message to all baristas, TEA BAG ON THE SIDE PLEASE!

2009-05-19T11:46:00.001-04:00

What i'm drinking now: "The better stuff" Snapple Rasberry iced tea. Snapple has a long way to go in the tea dept. but the switch to sugar is a good step.

2009-05-15T13:13:00.002-04:00

What i'm drinking now: I'm at Ibby's falafel in freehold, their "special iced tea" is fantastic.

What i'm drinking now:

2009-05-12T09:01:00.002-04:00

6 Summits Oolong, i'm going to pick up a new mac mini later today so be expecting bigger and better posts/pictures soon.

2009-05-11T11:19:00.002-04:00

What I'm drinking now: Asbury Park Roastery was finally open! They seemed surprized to have a customer. Got some organic Pai Mu Tan a white tea which is blowing my socks off.

What i'm drinking now:

2009-05-10T00:02:00.002-04:00

Gunpowder made with leaves from this morning. Perfect with a sprained ankle.

2009-05-06T12:33:00.002-04:00

What i'm drinking now: Very strong Tung Ting. Just leaves and hot water left in a travel mug. It is overbrewed but still pretty good.

2009-04-29T10:03:00.001-04:00

What i'm drinking now:Oolong getting me awake + focused in court. Is tea a drug? It does beneficially effect my mood w/ chemicals but w/no negative side effect

1st Iced Tea for the year

2009-04-28T21:44:00.006-04:00

I made my first batch of iced tea, Seven Summits with organic strawberries. When it comes to iced tea my rule about adding stuff to tea goes out the window. This tea was pretty simple, just tea, strawberries and sugar. The Seven Summits is a Formosan Oolong from Teavana which is pretty much a middle of the road Tung Ting with a good flowery aroma. I think that a stronger Oolong wouldn't have gone well in a fruited iced tea because you would need more sugar to counter any bitter and loose the flavor of the fruit.

To make it I put 4 or so tablespoons of tea in a top hat strainer, put the strainer in a pitcher and poured the water over the tea into the pitcher. I let it brew for longer than usual (5 minutes or so) throwing the cut strawberries underneath the strainer at about the 3rd minute. I took everything out and put in 4 teaspoons of sugar. I rebrewed the tea in another pot and poured that in to top off the pitcher rather than topping it off with water. The result is concentrated by itself and meant to be drunk over ice.

2009-04-24T13:19:00.001-04:00

What i'm drinking now: sweet green iced tea at Fins in Belmar, NJ. I never put sugar in hot green tea, but the southerner in me loves sweet iced tea.

2009-04-22T11:41:00.001-04:00

What I'm drinking now: Good tea made under bad conditions. Dragon Well made with microwaved dasani bottled water (it's enhanced w/minerals, ie salt) @ work.

What i'm drinking now:

2009-04-20T21:56:00.002-04:00

Tung Ting Oolong out of these amazing little White Castle mugs I got from my dad. I had no idea he had some connection to White Castle.

Metadrinking

2009-04-19T00:07:00.002-04:00

I'm not sure how I like the Red Robe I bought the other day but It may be related to sources other than the tea itself.

I hadn't had the Red Robe before and was really looking forward to it. It smelled complex and was highly regarded by the price I paid for it, the shop I bought it from and what I had read about it. I brewed a pot of it yesterday and wasn't really impressed, it had a traditional Oolong flavor (sort of smokey, a little bitter, citrus aftertaste) but the flavor was fairly muted. On subsequent brews more flavor came out but nothing that knocked my socks off. I brewed another pot tonight with some friends and they also seemed nonplus about it. So is it me or the tea?

It could be, a) The tea isn't that great, b) This is an excellent example of Red Robe but I don't like Red Robe, or c) my expectations were too high and that was the cause of the disappointment. I tend to think that it is c) and wonder what it would have been like if I hadn't had any of the preconceptions about the tea prior to tasting it.

Regardless, I cant' be too critical of it as I've brewed two pots in as many days, have been trying to figure it out the entire time and am now blogging about it. I've been going through the same thing with music lately. For example, I heard Neutral Milk Hotel's The Aeroplane Flies High for the first time recently, was completely confused by it and was pretty sure it was terrible. The album couldn't figure out whether it was an acoustic folk album or orchestral rock and went from too lean to too saturated. Now I can't stop listening to it, but I'm still not sure if it is good.

There is something I love about art (and yes, tea is art) that makes you feel uncomfortable and confused but keeps you interested.

What i'm drinking now

2009-04-17T08:44:00.004-04:00

About to start brewing some Red Robe, checking out Portsmouth's website which I came to from a picture of their cool bussiness card.

2009-04-16T11:30:00.001-04:00

What I'm drinking now: pi lo chen (sp?) a sweet green tea. This is also know as springing snail because the leaves look sort of like this @.

How I make an awesome cup of green tea

2009-04-15T23:56:00.004-04:00

Here is the way I make green tea. Although there are extremely complex and fetishized methods of brewing tea that are culturally diverse and amazing to watch, the only goal I have here is to make a rocking cup of drinking tea.

You need:

A little more than a teaspoon of green tea,
this isn't exact as some teas are tight (gunpowder) and other are wide and take up more space (dragon well), so a teaspoon of dragon well is actually less tea than a teaspoon of gunpowder

Water
I use tap from our well, just make sure it doesn't smell chemically or otherwise off.

A thermometer
Lots of folks don't go this far but if you are new to tea brewing it is worth it, 10 degrees makes a big difference with non-black tea.

A glass container
At best, a french press, in a pinch, a pint glass. Glass is great with green teas because it doesn't hold heat long and keeps the tea from getting too hot when it is brewing.

Some sort of strainer
I use top hat strainers mostly. If you are using a vessel with a strainer (a french press, some tea pots) this is not needed. Never use tea-balls they compress the tea and it leaves you open for too many jokes "Hey man, nice tea-balls!"

Step 1- heat the water to 175
I use the Utilitea from Adagio (I'm going to review this sometime, but it's great). Regardless if you are using that or a tin can and blowtorch, get the water to 175 and confirm it with you thermometer.

Step 2- Put your tea in your glass container
One tea spoon of good loose leaf should be fine for a mug/2 small tea cups

Step 3- Pour the water over the tea (important)
Don't add the water to the tea, add the tea to the water. Pour the water towards the side of the vessel and this will create a little whirlpool effect pushing the leaves on top to the bottom and the leaves from the bottom to the top. the point here is to make sure that all the leaves get completely wet at approximately the same time. You never want dry leaves floating at the top.

Step 4- Allow the tea to sit for 90 seconds to 2 minutes of so then remove the leaves.
This isn't as important as the temperature, but time it if you want

This should leave you with a great cup of green tea, it will be too hot to drink just now so wait a few minutes, smell it brewing, then sip. If you are using good leaves (and there is no excuse not too, as rebrewing is cheaper than using crap leaves or a tea bag) follow the same steps but use water that is a little cooler (165-170). The leaves are already open so you don't need as much heat to brew them the 2nd or 3rd time. I usually get 3+ brews out of green tea, it matters what type and quality.

What i'm drinking now:

2009-04-15T15:27:00.001-04:00

Gunpowder, best brewed a little shorter than other greens. I'll be starting my how I brew it posts soon.

2009-04-14T20:38:00.002-04:00

What i'm drinking now: All day I've been drinking a pot of the tung ting (see below). I'm about to pour the 8th or so rebrew.

Update: Still great after 8, sign of a great tea. The leaves still looked and smelled wonderful when I cleaned out the pot.

What i'm drinking now:

2009-04-13T23:54:00.003-04:00

Cold Dragon Well out of the Ed Hardy tattoo mug shannon got me for Easter.

Mission statement: Drink Tea-FTW!

2009-04-13T23:25:00.006-04:00

I want to keep track of what I'm drinking, what I liked drinking, and find out what else should be drunk. Good tea is amazing, inexpensive, complex and should be cool. However it is not. Tea is reserved for old women and is at its coolest is Nestea Ice. Coffee on the other hand is the drink of choice of young folks (when not drinking PBR) and I'm stuck looking like a snob when I offer people loose leaf tea. But, tea apparently is the drink of choice for Web 2.0 zillionaires which I guess is pretty cool? If you take off the word "zillionaires" though its just the "the drink of choice for Web 2.0" which is definitely not cool.

Tea I Bought Today

2009-04-13T22:36:00.009-04:00

Name: Tung Ting
Grade: Supreme
Type: Oolong
Place of origin: Taiwan
Where I got it: Holsome, Princeton, NJ
Price: $30 for 1/4 lbs

Comments: I've gotten this before from this shop a few months ago when I was trying to track down something similar to the Republic of Tea "Orchid Oolong" which blew my mind. This wasn't as sweet but probably a better tea, more complex than the orchid but still very user friendly.

Name:Royal Red Robe
Grade: Extra Fancy
Type: Oolong
Place of origin: China - Fujian
Where I got it: Holsome, Princeton, NJPrice: $50 for 1/4 lbs
Comments: I just finished The Story of Tea which laid out the argument for "expensive" tea pretty well. This type of tea can (and should) be rebrewed at least 5 times so I'll probably be able to get at the very least 100 cups out of 1/4 lbs of this tea. So thats only 50 cents a cup, half of what a Lipton tea bag would cost me at the Diner. That said I almost balked at spending $80 on tea today. However breaking it down people will spend much more on beer, wine and soda per bottle. Just don't tell my wife I spent $80 today on tea.