Big plans

So all that time I was complaining about trying to find jobs? Now I have two, and am still attempting to move. So, in a nutshell, my life is in shambles! HOWEVER, I have big plans for Tea-rrific!, including but not limited to a webstore, forum, and new logo/illustration by a very talented web comic artist.

As for tea updates, I literally have not been drinking any the last few weeks because my infuser has gone MIA. I will hopefully find it amongst my packed containers and get back on reviewing, updating, and general tea-related debauchery.

Back to Blogger... for good

Well, I've been busy with real life for quite a while now. Some tea here, a new job there. It has taken me some time to get to this point, but I am finally employed with not one but TWO jobs! It has been well worth the wait.

That being said, now that I am settled, I should be able to get back into my tea reviews and updates. The month hiatus has been a sad one, and I'm excited to get back into the tea network both on Twitter and in the blogs! I've missed you guys.

I am back to Blogger, as you may or may not have noticed, for multiple reasons. The convenience factor is always a major one (and my love for all things Google) but also because my Wordpress has been inundated with spam comments as of late. I have no patience for that sort of thing, so I've bid Wordpress adieu for the time being.

Tea! The gentleman's coffee.

I know an update has been long overdue, again, because of real life. However, this was just too awesome to ignore.

shirt.woot.com has a tea-related shirt available. I want a wardrobe full of them! "Tea! The gentleman's coffee." So true.

Anyway, I just thought you tea-aholics would be pleased to know.

DIY: Tea lamp

My friend Kateryn found this for me, and while I didn't love the style at first, I have warmed up to it. The best part about this little project is the life it can give to odd pieces of old tea sets that might otherwise get thrown away or forgotten about.

Kudos to Design*Sponge for the nifty project idea! Click the image to go to the details on how to make this lamp for yourself.

My biggest concern with this project is a) finding a group of pieces I don't mind drilling holes into, and b) managing to drill holes without cracking or shattering dishes/cups/pots. I find that most tea sets like this are incredibly thin, and therefor fragile - I'm surprised they were able to drill into the pieces so easily!

While I probably would never want a lamp like this in my own home, I would love to put one (or several!) in a possible future tea shop...

Thé des Légendes

I tried this tea ages ago, took notes and pictures, and never got around to uploading it! I've been busy job searching and have neglected my poor tea blog. I'm sorry!

This particular tea is another from the set that Shaunna got me from Dean & DeLuca. It is, as the post's title might suggest, called Thé des Légendes from the Mariage Frères brand. The description suggests this is a "sweet citrus green tea", and it couldn't be any more accurate.

For some reason, the flash on my camera makes everything come out much more yellow in hue than it truly is. The leaves of this blend are a beautiful rich green, similar to a dark forest color. The scent is one I'd love to have as a potpourri or spray for my apartment; the smell of citrus and green tea match wonderfully and create a pleasant hybrid smell. Just opening the can and taking a whiff, I am already anxious to try this tea.

I took a small scoop into my infuser - about a teaspoon worth. I steeped the tea for at least five minutes. Note: I'm terrible at timing these things accurately. Because my favorite mug is glass, I generally just use my eyesight and a quick taste test to determine if it's a good saturation. I promise to get better and more accurate with my times eventually!

Again, my camera is overly yellow. This tea is not yellow at all, but a muskier color like dry bamboo.

After the antagonizing wait, I was not disappointed. When tasting a tea for the first time, I generally do not sweeten them for that initial sip. It allows me to try and discern the nuances of the tea (I'm still training my palate on this), and decide if it needs sugar or not!

This tea's flavor was absolutely gorgeous. While the Earl Grey I tried before was decent, I was left slightly disappointed. I knew this brand had a great reputation, so I had high expectations. Thé des Légendes did not disappoint; rather, I was incredibly impressed!

The short and simple description on the tin could not be more accurate: sweet citrus green tea. It had the straw-like or grassy undertones most green teas have, but this was only in the background to the cheerful, bright citrus flavors that hit your tongue. The potential acidity or bitterness from the citrus was easily deterred by the slightly sweet aftertaste. The sweetness was hard to detect, but I found that to be even better than if it were too overbearing.

I highly recommend this tea. While black teas tend to be my go-to and favorites, this tea has definitely earned a spot on my "regulars" shelf.

Earl Grey Impérial

My friend Shaunna spoiled me by sending a package of three tins of loose leaf tea from Dean & DeLuca - an Earl Grey, and two green teas (one a citrus blend and the other vanilla-infused.) I was thrilled to try them since D&D seems to have a fantastic reputation. I had never heard of the brand tea before (Mariage Fréres.)

Being that I had been baking so many sweet treats, it made more sense to me to try the Earl Grey (for some reason green tea and madeleines just don't go together in my head.) This tea is PUNGENT! Earl Greys always have a very distinctive scent to them - one that is, frankly, not very appealing to me. But the subtle nuances to the taste of this tea far outweighs any hesitations I might have due to its fragrance.

All that being said, the scent of this blend does not stray far from my generalization of Earl Grey scents: it is very strong and can be clearly discerned within moments of being opened from nearby. The can describes this blend as a daytime bergamot brisk tea. I can't lie - I had no idea what bergamot meant until after tasting and my review notes.

The first thing I noticed as I removed the infuser from my mug was the amount of particles sitting at the bottom of the mug. I was somewhat surprised by this, and am unsure whether it was a fluke, a sign of good/bad quality leaves, or just a problem with the infuser. I don't know. I do know D&D and this particular tea company have fantastic reputations, and the leaves from the tin look superb, but again - I was a little concerned by the large amount of small particles.

The personality of this tea is definitely like that of a man one would describe as a 'big teddy bear.' Essentially, the leaves pre-steeping were almost intimidating, but the flavor was much calmer with a distinctive aftertaste of citrus rind (not too acidic though.) I found that I steeped this tea for quite some time, and got very close to oversteeping; the bottom of the mug was bitter. This might have been due to the excess particles at the bottom.

The flavor well complemented the lemon madeleines I had baked earlier that afternoon. This tea is definitely good for snacking, meals, and tea services.

Bottom line: this tea is satisfying, though not something I would be likely to buy for myself in the future. However, drinking the remainder of the can definitely will not be a chore.

Chocolate chip shortbread cookies

I love these cookies with every fiber of my being. They're so easy to make, and so hard to mess up.

I love these bowls and measuring cups too! They're so cheerfully bright and durable. I definitely want to try and steal them from my mother one of these days. I have some colorful plastic ones I can trade her.

Beside the bowls are the ingredients! I halved this recipe so it would only yield one batch (and a little dough leftover to nom.) 2 cups all purpose flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 cup unsalted butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, and then I add chopped up dark chocolate chips at the end.

So, I sort of skipped taking pictures of the dough-making process. Sorry!

Et voila! Bake them for about 8 minutes at 350F, and you've got shortbread cookies... and a reason to use our new cooling rack, that I love! Before, the cooling rack was a little ghetto and designed more for cakes than cookies, so any cookies would sag between the wide bars. Not anymore!

Thank you JoyofBaking.com for your delicious and reliable recipes!

Madeleines

I visited my parents over the weekend, and decided to take full advantage of their fully stocked and awesome kitchen. I had several baked goods in mind for the weekend, and tea tasting to do. This is the first of several write-ups I'll have coming over the next few days! And as always, excuse the terrible picture quality - my phone is all I've got to use at the moment.

First up are the madeleines. I actually hadn't been planning to make madeleines, but I noticed my mother had a madeleine tray at the bottom of the pan drawer, so I thought... why not! I soon found out why not, though: they're super duper sticky and were damn near impossible to get out of the pan, even after very thorough greasing. In addition, the pan was ancient and terrible quality, so we wound up tossing it after we noticed several spots that it had begun rusting.

Anywho, here are a few pictures from the process!

1/2 cup unsalted butter (melted), 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/8 teaspoon salt, 3 large eggs (room temp.), 2/3 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

I kinda skipped the whole picture-of-the-dough part because... I don't know. It was a little intensive in that I needed to do certain steps in a relatively timely order. The eggs and sugar had to be whipped thoroughly into a very light, frothy batter, and I needed to mix everything else in loosely and somewhat quickly to prevent the dough from deflating. I just didn't think to take a picture of the dough at that point, but it was really fluffy and delicious, I promise!

I tweaked the recipe by replacing the vanilla extract with lemon. I wanted to use poppy seeds, but our bottle was probably older than I am, so it met the trash can.

Despite the difficulties in removing the buggers from the madeleine tray (hence the madeleine-cupcakes), they were delicious! Very spongey and great for dipping in tea or coffee. I definitely would make them again with a better tray - and probably even more grease.

Thank you JoyofBaking for the recipe!

More tea tattoos

I love looking at body art. It's out of my budget, but some of this work is absolutely gorgeous! Tea really is a great concept for tattoos.

Fuck Yeah, Tattoos!

Fuck Yeah, Tattoos!

Fuck Yeah, Tattoos!

Fuck Yeah, Tattoos!

traditional tattoos

I think out of this batch, the first and last are my favorite. I like the simplicity of the first, and I like the message and old school style of the last. The only thing about the last I don't love is how heavy and black the tattoo is.

On another subject, I'm going to my parents this weekend, which means I will have a fully stocked and awesome kitchen at my disposal! Expect a few days worth of recipes, tutorials, tea treats, and reviews coming your way.

The Tea Rap

Epic.

(Thank you Shaunna for enlightening me.)

Boudoir

This time I tried the Boudoir blend, the second tea provided to me by my Steepster tea exchange. According to the website from which it was purchased (Maison Francaise de The: Caravanserai) this is a blend of Ceylan, Assam, and Darjeeling teas.

The tea leaves smelled very similar to many Earl Grey teas I've tried (particularly Twinings Earl Grey); the scent was extremely pungent. It was a pleasant smell, but I was concerned the tea would be extremely strong, and potentially bitter.

The brew time was recommended at 5 minutes, so I tried that. However, the brew seemed a little lighter than I wanted, so I let it steep for closer to 6 or 7 minutes after a small sip verified my concerns. I might have needed to use more leaves; again, I was being cautious since the smell of the leaves were so strong. Still without a temperature-specific kettle, boiling water was used.

I was clearly mistaken in thinking the scent would be anything like the flavor. It is actually very soft in flavor, with a slightly acidic undertone reminiscent of citrus. A spot of sugar and a lemon would do well in this tea. I also believe it would be very good iced, and possibly blended with a fruity herbal tea.

All in all, this tea was very good, but probably not as impressive as the Darjeeling from last night. The Boudoir doesn't quite hold itself as well alone as the Darjeeling did.

Darjeeling, 2nd... what?

Yep. Flush. When I first read this, I thought it was a silly nickname for the blend (or an unfortunate reference to toilets.) Upon further research, it's actually referring to the region and time the leaves were picked! Flushes seem to be a term only applied to Darjeeling teas (which are usually black teas.)

Darjeeling first flush means that the leaves were harvested in Spring (March to mid-April), from the Darjeeling region of India. The flavor tends to be floral and earthy.

Second flush means that the leaves were harvested during the summer, or second growing season. The flavor actually should have a sort of muscat (grape-like) flavor, along with the normal earthy tones. I can't say my tasting yesterday had any significant "grape" flavors that I noticed, but I am also new to this whole process!

Now that I have tried the latter, I really want to try the former. From pictures and descriptions, it seems the color is less rich and the flavor lighter, maybe even dryer.

Thank you About and the Tao of Tea for enlightening me!

Darjeeling, 2nd Flush

So my package arrived from the Valentine's Day tea exchange that was sponsored by Steepster. My mystery gift giver was actually located in Mexico, but she sent me some fantastic quality leaves from Maison Francaise de Thé: Caravanserai. Granted, I don't speak Spanish, but I was able to infer most of the information provided on the bag and website. The bag was actually super helpful, with comprehensive charts with recommend leaf amounts per 300 mL water, steep time, and water temperature. The bag contained two pouches of loose tea, one a blend called Boudoir, and the other a Darjeeling. (There was also a little perfumed linen print provided with a sweet note on the back. Gracias, Val!)

So, being the terrible novice tea person I am, I had lost my old infuser. After picking up my package from the post office, I had to immediately stop by the grocery store and grab a teaball infuser. I filled it up with the delicious smelling leaves of the Darjeeling 2nd flush. The leaves smell slightly sweet and earthy. Strangely, the scent reminds me of walking into a local furniture store (don't ask.)

I followed the instructions as recommended on the bag. One teaspoon per cup, and 5 minutes brewing time. Unfortunately, I don't have a temperature-specific kettle (yet! it's on my wishlist!) so I had to make do with boiling water for brewing.

The given instructions were spot on for this tea. The flavor was neither bitter nor watery. The color was absolutely gorgeous - the picture doesn't do it justice. It has a deep color reminiscent of honey or a fine scotch. I generally take my tea with a splash of milk and lump of sugar, but I figured for a proper taste test, I'd try it au natural first. The flavor was earthy, flowery, confident in its flavor but not overbearing. For a lack of a better description, it was happy. This is definitely the best Darjeeling I've had to date.

I would, without a doubt, have this tea again. Even though I'm drinking it late in the evening, I'd say it is best suited for the morning, or with a snack. I'm not sure the intensity is strong enough to go with a full meal like lunch or dinner.

Again, thank you Val! This tea was such a wonderful choice, and I can't wait to give the Boudoir blend a try.

Tea for One Bird

I want this little set I found on Teaopia earlier today, or its matching glass mug with the porcelain infuser. It's adorable, great for an office or a quick cup, and is at an awesome price! Now to wait until I get some spare change to buy it...



So cute! I love the classic pattern, combined with the more modern glass pot on the top, and pulling it all together with a matching porcelain infuser inside the pot. Well done.

Tea processing

I know very little, if not nothing, about the processing of tea. However, recently, someone (I can't remember who - I'm sorry!) linked an awesome flow chart on the process by which various types of teas are made. Two things that stood out to me from this chart: the fact that I'd never heard of yellow tea before, and the very noticeable differences in the processes of producing each type of tea. Of course, the latter shouldn't be a surprise - different types of tea taste distinctly different! I think I just attributed it moreso to the location from which the leaves were gathered and the oxidation process only. Anyway, on to the graph and its teachings!

At its simplest, the graph gives us six types of tea: black, oolong, yellow, green, white, and post-fermented (of which the most popular is puerh).

Black stands out in that it is the most oxidized.

Oolong is unique in that it is oxidized partially, but then kill-greened (the act of stopping the oxidation).

White tea, like black and oolong, is wilted, but then skips the oxidation process and is immediately kill-greened.

Green tea isn't wilted or oxidized at all.

Yellow is similar to green, but differs in that goes through a "moist heating" process after the kill-greening, giving the tea a distinct yellow tint.

Last but not least, the post-fermented tea differs from green tea in only the additional aging (quite often moist) that comes after drying.

Obviously, this is the sparknotes version from what the chart gives you, and what a more in-depth explanation could have. Even still, I find it fascinating, and plan to research more into this topic!

Tea grades

Wow. I was surprised how little I knew about tea grades when I looked them up. Originally this post was going to be about loose tea versus tea bags, but when doing that research I saw some terminology thrown around with regards to the tea bags and grading that I decided to look into it more closely! And without further ado, I shall jump into the grading system!

• D (Dust): This is the lowest grade. It consists mostly of small pieces of tea and tea leaves. The reason this is low grade is that as the tea leaves are broken up from their original state (whole!) they lose essential oils, which is key to a tasty brew.
• Fanning: This is a low grade. It consists mostly of pieces of tea leaves. Many generic tea bags consist of this grade.
• BOP (Broken Orange Pekoe): Ok, I was surprised to find out that "orange pekoe" was actually a grade and not a type of tea. Mind fuck! That being said, orange pekoe refers to full tea leaves, so broken orange pekoe would be - you guessed it! - broken tea leaves.
• OP (Orange Pekoe): Whole leaves!
• FOP (Flowery Orange Pekoe): Flowery refers to the bud of the tea plant. This grade consists of whole leaves and the buds!
• GFOP (Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe): Golden refers to the hue of the tea leaf tips, with gold being a sign of quality. GFOP consists of quality whole leaves and buds.

Changes

We need more customization than Tumblr can offer. It's been a short and sweet love affair, Tumblr!

Please excuse the dust as we stretch our legs in our new hosting.

specialTEA Lounge

I hadn't been to a tea house in Miami for ages, and conveniently my friend JJ kept reminding me of one right near his house. Yesterday we finally decided to go to specialTEA!

It is important to note that specialTEA is a self-proclaimed tea "lounge" rather than a tea house. The best way to describe it is as a coffee shop, but with tea instead of coffee. However, they had plenty of coffee drinks and smoothie options for non-tea drinkers.

Their tea storage was an interesting one. They kept the tea in labelled paint cans on the wall. My question is, how well did they clean out those paint cans?!



Sorry for the blurriness. If you look closely (the first two rows are just the name of the tea lounge), but the first row of the actual teas - the third one is missing. They took it down to get out the leaves to brew my Darjeeling tea!

Tea-rrific!

Tea-rrific is my blog dedicated to tea, tea service, and anything tea-related I find educational or interesting! However, my blog is located at a different address. This is merely a placeholder to allow me to network with Bloggers more easily!

To read my blog, please visit http://tea-rrific.org!

Teacup vs. Breakfast cup

There is a difference!

I did not know this until I was tea set browsing. While I have and love my new set, it has some flaws to it and will need some - if not all - upgrades. Whilst tea set browsing, I found a beautiful set for an affordable price! By Burleigh, their Blue Calico tea set is everything I want, with varying sizes of pieces so I could get cups/mugs for all occasions and still match. Which, you know, is crucial when having tea by yourself... matching pieces... (It's about the little pleasure in life, I say!)

Anyway! I noticed on that set they had mugs, tea cups, and... breakfast cups? What the heck is a breakfast cup?!

Well, in a nutshell, teacups are smaller than breakfast cups. Teacups are 200ml, whereas breakfast cups are 300ml (half a pint). I find the term breakfast cup is a perfect name for that size cup. Oftentimes, one doesn't have time or want an entire pot of tea for breakfast like at a tea service, so a large cup would suffice for the morning caffeine. However, for a tea service, the smaller cups means going through a pot more slowly and evenly, particularly with company.

So, with this new set, what pieces do I intend to buy as far as cups go? I think I will look at buying two mugs, two breakfast cups, and four tea cups.

Thank you Stack of Recipes for the measurements!