My mother got me a membership in a Tea of the Month Club!
I was overjoyed, of course, but a bit apprehensive, at first. What was I in for? Monthly bags of flavored orange-cut pekoe? The latest faddish herbal concoctions? A box of Celestial Seasonings on the first of each month?
Oh, no, children. Mama knows how to treat her girl right!
Check out The Tea Source. Oh, yeah, baby!!! Tea for snobs! Loose tea only, carefully sealed in foiled ziplock bags (since both air and light can degrade tea quality) with detailed brewing instructions for the perfect cup.
And this ain’t no one-size-fits-all kind of a deal, oh no. They don’t just send everybody the flavor of the month. They called and asked me what kinds of tea I like. Answer: all kinds! But I did narrow it down a bit, and they took careful notes and read it all back to me to make sure they got it right.
The first tea arrived today: Precious Eyebrows, a nice Chinese green. It’s wonderful! And there’s lots of it, enough that I can send little packets of it home with my friends.
And another selection, sure to be just as heavenly, will becoming next month!
I’m a junkie, I’ll admit it. Unfortunately, my cardiologist told me today that I need to stop drinking so much tea, and limit myself to two cups a day. That’s a bit less than my usual one gallon. She suggested decafinated tea. I told her that she’s insane. Only the high-test for me!
BRB. I’ve got tea steeping right now. I think it’s time to get myself a nice cup of decaf Constant Comment. (I know real tea snobs drink only loose tea, but that requires waaaayyy too much maintenance for my everyday tea drinking.)
Oh my, Poddy. You are so easily thrilled these days! A tea club? There was a time when you fought villans and traveled on spaceships. sigh Are Tars Tarkas and I to be left as the only SDMB Martians with a venturesome spirit?
Perhaps it will be blasphemous to hard-core tea enthusiasts, but I brew loose tea in a coffee maker. (I don’t drink coffee–vile stuff! Smells divine, though.) Just don’t use one that has been polluted by having been used to make coffee, or it will taint the taste of your tea. Buy a cheap new one.
This site has been bookmarked and is going on my next year’s Christmas wish list (as it is too late for this year, I fear). Oooo. Lovely, lovely tea. Though so sad now that caffeine bothers me more and more. I like herbal teas, but I miss my caffeinated ones very much.
Fabooo . . . I’m delighted to give the Tea Source some free advertising.
Now, I ask you, John Carter, where does a busy captain find the energy to figure orbits late into the night? How does one unwind after a battle with scruilous space pirates?
Kyla, I got a small Swiss Gold filter which fits in a coffee mug, and it’s great for brewing loose tea by the cup. I’ll never go back to bags.
For the best selection of Darjeeling estate teas, I’d suggest Upton Tea Imports. It has teas from over a dozen Darjeeling plantations and is the only place I know of in the U.S. where I can get my favorite Makaibari.
They also have a very wide variety of other black teas and a fine selection of greens as well as specialty teas like pu-erh and powdered Gyokuro (used in Japanese tea ceremonies).
Every chai that I have tried is better than any other tea that I have had. There is even one out for Christmas called Chai Nog. I usually prefer iced chai, but then, I’m Southern.
Two others that are very pleasant hot are Constant Comment and oatstraw tea. (That last one I learned about in the movie Harold and Maude.)
Don’t tell anyone, but I do use tea bags. At least I warm the pot first!
[quote]
Kyla, I got a small Swiss Gold filter which fits in a coffee mug, and it’s great for brewing loose tea by the cup. I’ll never go back to bags.[/quote
That sounds good, except I am really picky about my tea preparation. I almost always prefer to steep the tea in a pot, so that I can pour the milk on the bottom of the cup.
The only exception is with mint tea, which I like plain, or with honey. I keep a box of mint tea at work for this very reason.
My favorite chai is Chai Baba Chai. If you live in the San Francisco area you should be able to find it easily in cafes. It is delicious! I can’t find it on the internet, alas. It is a thousand times better than that foul Oregon Chai stuff, which is far too sweet.
Posted by Podkayne: “Now, I ask you, John Carter, where does a busy captain find the energy to figure orbits late into the night? How does one unwind after a battle with scruilous space pirates?”
Glad you cleared that up for me, Captian P. I always enter into battle with confidence, knowing that the intrepid Podkayne “has my back”. It wouldn’t do for you to retire into the tea and crumpet set, abandoning the Red Planet for the mere earthly pleasures of tea clubs.
You might want to consider a Chatsford tea pot (or similar). It has a removable strainer basket that makes brewing a pot of loose tea extremely painless. There’s a picture of a Chatsford teapot and its basket along with a description here: http://www.uptontea.com/shopcart/information/INFOaccessoryUse.asp
