UK Teapot Sales In Steep Decline

Don't you love it when headline writers do that clever play on words thing with tea and the word steep?

As my ever so witty headline suggests, Brits are not buying many teapots nowadays. Today's Telegraph has the full story, but to sum it up it appears that youngsters over there feel that teapots and whatnot are "quaint, dainty and old-fashioned".

As for choice of tea, 96% of all sippers in the world's great tea drinking nation prefer to get their fix from teabags. Say it ain't so, Joe.

tea, food, food and drink, teapots

Dial A Cup

How would you like to be able to pick up the phone and order a cup of tea any time you please? Well, if you want life to be this convenient, you're going to have to move to India, at least for now.

For it's there, in Ajmer, that a pair of brothers operate a tea stall with a twist. Since many of their customers are shop owners who'd prefer not to leave their stores untended while they go for a cup of tea, they simply dial the stall's number and hang up. Vijay and Sanjay use caller ID to find out who's placing the order and off it goes.

For the full story, check out this article in India's Zee News.

tea, food, food and drink

Sweet Tea & Ugly Mugs

Here are a few more bits that weren't substantial enough to stand on their own.

Sweet tea is apparently quite an institution in the South. Harris Blackwood wrote an ode to it recently in the Gainesville Times, calling it the "nectar of the South" and shuddering in horror because a local country club doesn't serve it. Over at Bella Online, Deborah Crawford also waxes rhapsodic about this alleged delight and even offers up a recipe. It's not one Tea Guy will be using any time soon but, as I've said before - we all like what we like.

For a gander at some truly ghastly tea mugs, brace yourself and head on over to The Tea Smith's site. They sponsored an Ugly Mug Contest not so long ago and posted photos of some of the winners here. This is not for the faint hearted, friends. You've been warned.

For a shot of some rather less ugly mugs head on over to Cinematical and check out this still, from Giant, of James Dean serving tea to Elizabeth Taylor. I'd have saved you a click by posting it here, but I didn't want to get my knuckles rapped for copyright violations and whatnot.

tea, food, food and drink, sweet tea, James Dean

Tea Review 63 - Pixie Mate Chai Latte

Chai Mate Latte
Dark Roast Mate Latte
Pixie Mate

Mrs. Tea Guy is a long time c***** drinker, who has developed a taste for yerba mate and who drinks tea once in a while. A fan of chai and various sweet and iced c***** drinks and whatnot, she recently tried Pixie Mate's Chai Mate Latte and gave it the thumbs up.

Spawn of Tea Guy is not a real big fan of either c***** or tea, though she does go for a latte-type drink now and then. Her few encounters with straight up yerba mate left her decidedly unimpressed. She cautiously sampled Chai Mate Latte and also gave it her seal of approval.

Tea Guy is...well, a tea guy who loves yerba mate, loathes c***** and doesn't get too worked up over sweet stuff. Tea Guy tasted Chai Mate Latte and decreed that it's not so bad if that's the sort of thing you like. This might sound like rather grudging praise, but it's actually a pretty big thumbs up, considering my biases and especially considering the fact that I'm not that fond of chai.

The tasting team didn't all get to take part in testing Dark Roast Mate Latte. Mrs. Tea Guy seemed to like it, but held the opinion that it might not be for everyone. Tea Guy also didn't think it was too bad, though it definitely had quite a bite. All of Pixie's latte drinks seem to be geared toward c***** drinkers, but they appear to be pushing this one a little harder to those potential defectors from the ranks. Makes sense, given the robust flavor.

Both of these drinks are organic concentrates intended to be mixed with equal amounts of whatever you like in your lattes. The TGS tasting team used vanilla soy milk. Both beverages contained filtered water and evaporated cane juice. The Chai version also adds yerba mate, black tea and a mix of six chai spices. In addition to yerba mate, Dark Roast adds roasted chicory root, roasted ramon nut, cinnamon and vanilla.

Shop For Yerba Mate

tea, food, food and drink, yerba mate, chai, latte

Yerba Mate Month

Good day, tea fans. It's Yerba Mate Month - and that's no joke. Yes, it's true that yerba mate is not, in the strictest sense of the word, a tea. But we're not about to split hairs here at TGS.

As luck would have it, a few articles appeared in the papers in the last few days - just in time for Yerba Mate Month. Here's one from AZ Central.com that's kind of a Yerba Mate 101, with a little extra attention paid to caffeine content and such stuff. The Orange County Register ran an article about a natural products show held in Anaheim last week. Needless to say yerba mate vendors were on hand.

Of course, Tea Guy has had a few things to say about yerba mate. Here's a short piece that appeared in these very same pages a while back and here's Confessions of a Reluctant Yerba Mate Drinker, an article I wrote for Epicurean Online.

Shop For Yerba Mate

tea, food, food and drink, yerba mate

Earl Grey Overdose

Not to wax too opinionated here, but there are some teas that Tea Guy's just never gonna come to terms with. If you've been reading my prattle for long enough you know that I'm not too terribly keen on anything that falls into the chai category. Nor am I particularly enamored with Lapsang Souchong (Lebanon Bologna tea) or Earl Grey. But that's okay, because we all like what we like.

If you do like Earl Grey you might just want to go easy on the stuff. At least if there's anything to this report from the Bradenton Herald, which asserts that large doses of bergamot - which is used to flavor Earl Grey - may cause muscle cramps.

tea, food, food and drink, Earl Grey, Lapsang Souchong, Lebanon Bologna

Tea Review 62 - Hattialli & Tippy Orthodox

Hattialli Estate GFBOP SPL
Tippy Orthodox GFOP
Upton Tea Imports

Yerba Mate Month is almost upon us, Assam Month is fading and the tea cupboard is almost bare of the latter. Oh, woe. But we'll usher out the month with a bang - specifically with one of the better of the dozen or so Assams I've tasted lately.

Hattialli Estate gets the best in show award, as far as Assam Month goes. It's not cheap. As a matter of fact, at $4.50 for a 15 gram sample, it's the most expensive of the sixty or so Assam varieties that Upton sells. But it's worth it.

This is one of several varieties that Upton offers from this estate. It's overflowing with nice tips, not to mention an outstanding aroma and flavor and a mouth feel that's smooth as silk.

Here's the full description from Upton's site, to which I say a resounding "amen":

"This renowned estate has produced many top-notch teas in recent years. This example has a beautiful, broken leaf, with a high percentage of golden-copper tips. The fresh, invigorating aroma and thick liquor are backed by the full, complex Assam flavor."

If you'd rather not spend so much but you'd still like a nice tasting Assam you could do a lot worse than the Tippy Orthodox. One hundred grams of this one sells for just a little more than the sample of the Hattialli and yet it ranks right up there with some of the other top Assams I've had the pleasure to taste this month.

Recommended in both cases, but if you really want a thrill cough up a little extra cash and go with the Hattialli.

tea, food, food and drink, Assam

Desert Island Tea 4 - (Author) Diana Rosen

Uh, oh. We have another castaway on the island. No, it's not Brooke Shields, Tom Hanks or anyone named Robinson. This time around it's none other than Diana Rosen, author of such fabulous tea tomes as Meditations With Tea, The Book Of Green Tea, Chai: The Spice Tea Of India and Taking Time For Tea.

Question:
If you were stranded on a desert island (an island with clean, fresh water and tea making equipment, of course) what one tea (only one) would you like to have with you and why?

Diana Rosen's Answer:
Only one? Sure hope I'm rescued soon, or at least before the next harvest. Looking at my groaning cupboard with selections from all over the globe makes choosing just one supremely difficult. Today I had an exquisite flowery Darjeeling, yesterday it was a silky Dragonwell, and right now it's a heady Ti Kwan Yin.

What to do? Perhaps an elegant Mao Feng, more properly known as Huang Shan Mao Feng, from one of China's most venerable mountain ranges in the Anhui Province The tea gives multiple infusions, has a sweet, lingering taste, with a rumor of nuttiness. I have drunk pots of this green tea and never tire of it because it has a deep satisfying flavor like no other. Then, again, maybe I should take the......

tea, food, food and drink

Assam & Norway

No obvious connection between these two parts of the world, or none that I'm aware of. Just two short bits here that I thought I'd combine into one entry.

Assam Month is winding down, but it's not dead yet. If you head over to the Dooyoo site, which is apparently a British consumer reviews type resource, you'll find 19 varieties of Assam and related teas listed, many with reviews. I don't recognize some of the names so I'm gathering it's not all stuff that's readily available on these shores.

As for the Norwegians, a piece came out yesterday in Aftenposten, an Oslo newspaper, asserting that Norwegians are "tops in tea-drinking." The article doesn't exactly provide all the figures to support such a claim, but perhaps I'm missing the point. Anyway, tea is quite the popular beverage in Norway, so let's not quibble over such details.

tea, food, food and drink, Assam, Norway

Yerba Mate Month

Assam Month is dwindling, but it's still not quite finished. Tea Guy's got a few more Assams to review, but while we're waiting for those allow me to refer you to some reviews from the archives.

Here's a review of a white Assam from Adagio Teas. Good stuff. Also a double review of an Assam from Mangalain Estate, by way of In Pursuit of Tea, and a passably decent bagged Assam from Honest Tea.

As for Yerba Mate Month, that's coming up in a few days. It kicks off on April 1 and I'm not fooling. If you've got any yerba mate samples, information or ideas for articles be sure let me know.

tea, food, food and drink, yerba mate

Tea Sommelier

Well, it sure beats digging ditches. I guess. I've never actually dug ditches for a living but I'd be willing to bet that the post of tea sommelier is the more desirable job.

While we're on the subject of tea sommeliers, why not cruise over to the Chicago Sun-Times site and check out yesterday's profile of Bou Chu. Chu is the tea sommelier at the upscale NoMI restaurant in Chicago's Park Hyatt Hotel.

Included in the article are a few of Chu's recommended tea/food pairings. Among them are hot dogs with Keemun and foie gras with chamomile or rooibos. No word on what to do if you like your hot dogs topped with foie gras, so I guess you'll just have to improvise.

tea, food, food and drink, foie gras, sommelier

Tea With A Kick

Mixing tea with something a little stronger is not a novel concept. I previously wrote about such blends here and here. Among the suspects mentioned were a pair of tea-flavored vodkas, a green tea liqueur, a "green hard tea" and tea-flavored beer.

Another one to add to your list is Voyant Chai Cream. I haven't tasted this one, but the manufacturer describes it as a blend of "Aged Virgin Island Rum, Fresh Dutch Cream, Black Tea from India, Premium Spirits from Holland and a Distinctive Blend of Spices from Asia."

While we're on the subject, here's a list of drinks over at Webtender that are made with tea. You can also download a collection of drink recipes at the Voyant site. Enjoy, and remember to drink your tea responsibly.

tea, food, food and drink, chai, vodka, liqueur, beer

Unwrapping Celestial Seasonings

Itching for a look at what goes on behind the scenes at the Celestial Seasonings tea factory? If you find ever yourself in Boulder, Colorado you could take the grand tour.

If Colorado isn't going to be on your itinerary any time soon keep an eye open for a 2003 episode of Unwrapped that's still be making the rounds. It's called Spices and it features a look at how the business of tea-making is carried out at CS. Even if the topic isn't tea, you should be watching Unwrapped. It's a fun show.

Since it's still Assam Month, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention some of the CS offerings that contain Assam tea:


English Breakfast
Devonshire English Breakfast
Marrakesh Express Vanilla Spice
Victorian Earl Grey

Shop For Celestial Seasonings Tea

tea, food, food and drink, spices, Celestial Seasonings, Unwrapped

Tea Review 61 - Three More Assams

Rembeng Estate TGFOP
Romai Estate TFBOP
Season's Pick Assam Dejoo GFBOP
Upton Tea Imports

Assam Month may be winding down but it ain't dead just yet. This review is a bit of an anticlimax, coming after the quite yummy Khagorijan and Bukhial varieties that I expounded upon last time around, but these three aren't all that bad either.

Not to make too much of this price vs. taste thing that I've been going on about, but the Rembeng Estate, the most expensive of these three, was also the one that impressed me the least. Upton says that it has a pleasant aroma with floral nuances and hints of honey. I found the aroma to be a bit on the harsh side and the taste kind of so-so. Not bad, but just nothing to get worked up about. Upton also sells a cheaper tea from this estate, the Rembeng Estate CTC BOP.

The Romai Estate fared a little better. It was surprisingly smooth and tasty and I found nothing to quibble with in Upton's assertion that it's "a rich Assam with raisin-like aroma and robust character." It appears, just from my cursory research, that Upton is the only merchant - or at least the only merchant with a Web presence - to offer tea from this estate.

The best of this bunch, at least in my humble estimation, was also the least pricey. That would be the Dejoo GFBOP, which is "a blend of select lots from the 2005 Dejoo Estate harvest." There are a lot of tips in this one and I thought that it had a rather light taste for an Assam. Perhaps a bit at odds with Upton's description of it as a "hearty cup," but what the Sam Hill do I know anyway? Well, I know I liked it and that's good enough for me. Upton also carries two other, more expensive, teas from this estate - SFTGFOP1S and SFTGFOP1, which might be worth looking into.

Shop For Assam Tea

tea, food, food and drink, Assam

Time For Tea Tunes

Looking for something to listen to while you're sipping your tea? Head on over to Germany's Blue Flame Records and have a look at - and a listen to - their series of four tea-themed releases.

Things got underway with Green Tea – Flavored Atmosphere, in which various artists mixed "modern and also Asian sounds with ancient tea tradition." Next up was Green Tea - Sencha Mix and then Green Tea Vol. 3 – Red Flower Mix.

And there's Tchai – Oriental Mix, which mixes "Arabesque rhythms – jewels of the Nu Orient and Downbeats with a loungy atmosphere, beautiful voices, simple murmurs and truly entrancing tunes."

tea, music