Today’s Tea Term:

Estate: Land or property holding, perhaps made up of more than one tea garden under the same management or ownership.

(source)

Dave at Tea and Food recently roasted his own tea, and wrote a review of the self-roasted Bi Lo Chun that resulted from his endeavors.

Really interesting! I’m wondering if I could roast my own, but I’m not sure which tea I would try roasting. Has anyone else tried this, and if you plan to in the future, what tea would you be likely to roast?

STeaP revisited Aura Teas for our 20th episode this week with an Formosa Mingjian Osmanthus Guihua Oolong. This was prepared with a very short, specific steep time, like all Aura Teas, and it is an incredibly complex oolong that continued to evolve as we made our way to the bottom of the cup.

Don’t forget that Aura Teas has a promo through the end of March, so if you’d like to try this delicious oolong, now would be the time to order it at 10% off, with the “spring” coupon code! We hope you’ll enjoy our 20th episode, and be sure to visit STeaPtv.com for all of our tea-related tidbits.

Check out a tea magazine that has arrived on the scene: The Leaf: Tea Magazine

From their introductory page:

In the true spirit of Cha Dao, we are proud to introduce The Leaf, Tea Magazine, offering steeping after steeping of tea wisdom written by and translated from some of the most famous authors in the tea world; and it’s all completely free! We will feature articles by Zhou Yu, Master Ling Ping Xiang, Chen Zhi Tong, Huang Chan Fang, James Norwood Pratt, Aaron Fisher, Jeffrey McCloud, Scott Wilson, Mary Heiss and so many more…

Learning about Chinese tea is difficult for the English speaker, and so much of today’s information is coming from merchants and vendors with financial agendas. Let us instead explore the world of tea together, and pure-heartedly share our knowledge beyond the marketplace to the quiet tea room where the kettle is boiling and only the Leaf awaits us.

The articles here will be viewable in .pdf format for which you’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader. Each article will then have a discussion section, in which we can have a moderated dialogue, Q&A and share about the information presented.

Today’s Tea Term:

Tisane : (Pronunciation: tee-zan’) An infusion of dried herbs or fruit pieces. Not actually a “tea” by traditional definition, often called an herbal tea.

Chris demonstrates that HIS TriniTEA holds a full four cups of water. Maybe my TriniTEA is the only one with a shrinking water reservoir? We may never know… If you have a TriniTEA, feel free to chime in!

As you probably already know, I received a TriniTEA this past Christmas from my fiance, which was by far my best gift of the season. Automated tea is pretty much the coolest thing ever concocted, but that doesn’t mean that this fancy tea maker doesn’t come with its own set of downfalls. The advantages seriously outweigh any criticisms I have of the product, but there are still things that a first time TriniTEA user might like to know.

1. The water reservoir doesn’t seem to hold a whole pot of water. For me, it holds a little over 3 cups. Keep this in mind before hastily dumping in a whole pot of water and flooding your tea maker and your kitchen counter. Start with three cups worth of water and see what your water reservoir will hold.

2. The bottom tea pot, which holds the tea when the tea making is complete, dribbles down the side if you don’t pour correctly. I made many a mess when first using my TriniTEA because of the constant tendency of the spout to dribble water all over the place. The key to avoiding this mishap is to pour VERY slowly at first, to allow a small controlled stream of tea. Since mastering this slow pour, I have had nearly zero mishaps.

3. Tea leaves invariably get jammed in the infuser (little cup you put the tea in), and I mean jammed. This is my biggest pet peeve about the machine, but it has also turned out to be a peeve with any easy fix. When the tea maker has finished making the tea, I take the infuser out and dump out as many of the wet leaves as I can, and then let the infuser sit upside down on a paper towel. Within a few hours, the leaves shrink as they dry and they fall easily from the holes in the infuser. Thanks to Chris for this extremely handy tip!

Hopefully these tips will help new TriniTEA users to best enjoy their fancy new toy without the temporary frustration that I experienced. I also want to assure anyone considering the purchase of a TriniTEA that even with these minor complaints, this tea maker is still definitely worth it, especially considering that two of these complaints are successfully addressed with a simple modification to how I use the product. I would still like a larger water reservoir, but ultimately, I’ve been overwhelmingly happy with my TriniTEA. :)

Chris provides yet another fantastic episode of “Does It Go With Tea?” (DIGWT), which I had to feature, simply due to the fantastic harmonica playing and the fact that he baked the muffins himself.

Well done, Chris!

Inspired by Masto’s sCHeaP epsiode, we take on Adagio’s version of Chai, Oriental Spice. We’re not much for milk or sugar in our teas, so how will a Chai stand up to our “refined” taste buds? You may be surprised.

This is three-part series on London tea rooms, done by director Paul Kelly. If you’re looking for more tea video content, this is a neat set of videos with three minute narratives about the tea community in London, and they’re worth watching even if the music is somewhat lacking, in my opinion.

Part 1:

Eldon Street:

New Piccadilly: