August 14th, 2009
Earl Grey may have the most ardent fans in the tea family. I won’t debate that today; however I am interested in what the best tasting Earl Grey may be. I will be selling a tea that was judged by the World Tea Expo to be the best Earl Grey at this year’s World Championship of Tea. That is my easy answer as to what may be the best Earl Grey tea. But is it?
That is a tougher question. As with all teas, it is a question of personal taste, not what the judges have deemed the very best. I am a certified Level III tea expert, so I have tasted teas, including Earl Greys in competition. But I will not be describing, today, the winner from the World Tea Championship. My friend, Marisa the poet is an ardent Earl Grey tea fan and she has been drinking this championship tea and I will let her describe it on the reply section. Anybody else that would like to join a discussion on Earl Grey, please step up.
What has always intrigued me about the taste of Earl Grey is how the flavor of the oil of bergemot has enhanced the flavor of a black tea. Both the exact blend of the tea and the type of bergemot used will affect the flavor of the final tea product. We find the black tea of Africa, India and Ceylon to be the most common teas that the oil of bergemot is used with. [...] Continue Reading…
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Tags: Darjeeling, Earl Green tea, Oil of Bergemont, World Tea Championships
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August 13th, 2009
I have been asked a number of times by readers of this blog about other recommended readings. I will share some of my favorite books and a website. I am happy to hear from the readers about quality writing on our friend, Camellia Sinensis.
One of the newer books is called “The Story of Tea, A Cultural History and Drinking Guide,” by a husband and wife team, Mary Lou Heiss and Robert J. Heiss. It is a well written and extensive book on the history and types of teas from around the world. The authors are tea merchants themselves and well known culinary experts. They have owned and operated a shop named Cooks Shop Here since 1974. The book is beautiful and well worth the investment. It was published in 2007 and is over 400 pages long.
A shorter book that was my initial guide to tea is called “The Tea Companion -A Connoisseur’s Guide” by Jane Pettigrew. It has 160 pages of tea types, photographs and a description of teas from over thirty countries. It is a great quick reference book for the expert and beginner.
For the health aspects and the most complete source of documented tea studies I highly recommend the well repsected book by Lester A. Mitsher, PHD and Victoria Dolby Toews, MPH, called “The Green Tea Book”. It is an easy to read textbook describing the scientifically documented research on the health benefits of green tea on various common Western maladies, including cancer, cardiovascular issues and [...] Continue Reading…
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Tags: health benefits of green tea, Seven Cups of Tea, The Book of Tea, The Green Tea Book, The Story of Tea, The Tea Companion
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August 11th, 2009
Tim Bowen, the wiley hockey player from Tucson who saved the basketball pride of the US when we played in Jinguu against the Chinese tea factory workers is also a web site developer and a great photographer.
Tim has posted pictures and commentary at the site http://www.puertour.com . Tim will be taking the photos of others, including mine overr time, so check back every now and then for an update.
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Tags: Austin Hodge, kevin Rose, pictures of China, Puer, Seven Cups of Tea, Timothy Ferriss
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July 4th, 2009
I will meet the affable giant, Austin Hodge in the Kunming airport in about 30 hours. In the entourage will be the famous young tea drinker, Kevin Rose also founder of Digg.com and his friend, the best selling author Timothy Ferriss. (”The 4 Hour Work Week”. I can’t say enough about the importance of this book to everybody.)
There are several other wise and experienced tea drinkers on this adventure and Timothy and Kevin will be recording the adventure, I suspect for an Internet broadcast that they have developed. [...] Continue Reading…
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Tags: Austin Hodge, kevin Rose, Kunming China, tea drinking, Timothy Ferris
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June 22nd, 2009
I have been carrying a samovar in my car two weeks to give to my friend Hamid. Hamid is a recent American citizen. He is also Iranian. We hugged and made the exchange this morning. After profusely thanking me for the gift, Hamid told me I may I never see him again. But I am ahead of myself in this story of one of the members of our tea family.A samovar is a large urn used to heat water for tea. In the West we often only associate the samovar with Russian tea drinking. This is a very limited perception of the wide and varied cultures that celebrate life around the samovar.In my opinion there is no country in the world that the samovar is more a central part of the culture than Iran. An ornate family heirloom samovar is the social center of many Iranian homes. Around the samovar swirl the conversations of life with small and large gatherings. The conversation are also made of small and large stuff.Televisions or other electronic entertainment are not the focus of the gatherings. The focus is family, community and the passions of life. Tea is the priamry beverage served at these ongoing gatherings and it fuels the conversations, debates, poetry, arguments, shouting matches, reconcilliations, apologies, understandings and tighter still bonding of the people in our tea family.As a country, Iran is the tenth largest producer of tea in the world, and yet this country of 70 million tea drinking people must augment [...] Continue Reading…
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Tags: black tea, duty, family, Iran, samovars
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