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“Backlogging this morning’s tea. I didn’t have quiet enough to make as much as I needed so I topped it off with ROT’s Vanilla Almond. Just a tiny amount, but it really made a difference. I...” Read full tasting note
“(loose leaf, not bag, bought from the bulk dry goods canisters, not in a retail tin) Usually I keep this around for hot toddies, iced tea with lemon and sugar, or head colds that need lemon and...” Read full tasting note
“1st cup this morning finishing up sample tin. Not bad, but I’m currently enjoying my second cup from a whole leaf tea bag which is clearly superior. The more I choose tea over coffee in the...” Read full tasting note
“Another sipdown! (132) Now that I know a little more about tea I smell mostly Ceylon in this. I like the smell of Ceylon, so it’s not a bad thing. This one is pretty boring. I think I’ve said this...” Read full tasting note
The Perfect Cuppa – A robust blend of quality black leaves, hearty enough to make any Brit smile. A savory mixture of Indian, Sri Lankan and Kenyan leaves is great with a splash of milk.
The Republic of Tea is a progressive and socially conscious business recognized for being the leading purveyor of more than 200 premium teas and herbs, ready-to-drink iced teas and more. Founded in 1992, The Republic of Tea sparked a tea revolution in America with the purpose of enriching people’s lives through the experience of premium teas and a Sip by Sip Rather Than Gulp by Gulp lifestyle.
Backlogging this morning’s tea.
I didn’t have quiet enough to make as much as I needed so I topped it off with ROT’s Vanilla Almond. Just a tiny amount, but it really made a difference. I didn’t like the Vanilla Almond straight but just a little really sweetened up the British Breakfast. Otherwise, it wasn’t an overly exciting tea. I think that I liked this more before when I first had this because I hadn’t really experienced many British or Irish breakfast blends. Now that I’ve had better, I probably won’t get this one again.
(loose leaf, not bag, bought from the bulk dry goods canisters, not in a retail tin)
Usually I keep this around for hot toddies, iced tea with lemon and sugar, or head colds that need lemon and honey.
But, I’ve been helping a friend shop for ceramic tea storage and when one has spent the morning drooling over hand made, artisan pottery, one needs a reality check. Also, I’m trying to empty my cupboard as much as I can in order to justify a few orders of extremely fine teas from some unusual vendors (and probably also VT which isn’t all that unusual, especially for the Steepster crowd) and I need to use this up along with everything else.
Why are all the gaiwan I see in China low and wide and all the gaiwan I see for sale in the USA (even online) tall and narrow? I have big hands. Really big hands. I want a low, wide gaiwan that will fit my hand better. Any suggestions would be welcome on this front. Plus, I just think the aesthetic works better with those proportions.
Anyway, this tea. What is there to say, really? Assam based, blended, RTC processing, industrialized brand name, it isn’t going to be a religious experience now, is it?
But let’s face it. We’re not always in the mood for the gentle caress of tiguanyin or the exotic breezes of an aged sheng. Sometimes you want a tea that’s going to use your epiglottis as a speed bag and will simply WAKE YOU UP. Those mornings you wake up and you realize you could actually sing Barry White in the correct octave.This is the tea for those occasions.
Hmm- good question on the gaiwan. I will keep my eyes open for something for large hands (mine are ridiculously small, so I’m used to searching in vain for the other end of the spectrum).
Did your ceramic tea storage search turn up anything nice? I’ve been looking for quite some time, not very seriously, without much success.
Alos :) Barry White!
I think Butiki’s might be bigger…take a look. I think they are 12 ouncers too. The thought of a Chanter sounding like Barry White is a crack-up! I did hear an Antiochian Priest who was serving in Russia for so many years that he had learned to sing ina beautiful Basso Profundo voice that was amazing.
I don’t mean bigger as in more volume, only bigger in terms of proportions. If you look at David’s youtube videos where he uses a gaiwan, his is wide and low, but still only 4 or 5 ounces in volume. But everything I see in the USA looks like this:
http://camellia-sinensis.com/accessorie/fiche/Green+gaiwan
same volume, but totally different shape — which I find hard to hold.
Isn’t a Butiki a kind of lizard? What am I looking for?
As for ceramic storage, there are good choices at Camellia Sinensis (Canadian shop), Red Blossom and Tao of Tea.
Thanks for the recommendations.
Butiki = Butiki Teas, I think.
David’s gaiwan are much bigger than most you see for sale- he even had some of similar size available at the end of last year when Verdant was selling teaware (I picked up one of the teeny small ones).
A quick search didn’t turn up much that was definitely wide. Have you seen this?
http://www.mightyleaf.com/teaware_infuser-mugs/brown-gaiwan/
Not a gaiwan, but definitely a wide, flat size, that would work like a gaiwan.
I’ll keep looking around. Other options might be to e-mail Verdant or even Mandala Tea. Verdant could theoretically have a gaiwan left in stock?… Garret at Mandala doesn’t always put all of his teawares up on his website, and if he doesn’t have anything that fits your needs, he might be able to bring one in. From what I remember, both Garret also has large hands.
I’ve spoken to David about his. They aren’t as big as you might think — or rather, the ones you see for sale here aren’t as small as you’d think by comparison, in terms of interior volume. From what I could gather, he neither had any more to sell nor knew of an “obvious” place to get the low, wide style.
There’s another site that sells extremely high end artisan ceramics that has devices like the one to which you’ve linked here, they had a long word to name them which doesn’t even have a Wiki entry 0_o !
A nice idea, but I like the gaiwan for drinking out of more than steeping in. I could, I suppose, drink from something with a spout, but that seems a bit uncivilized, somehow.
If I’m buying fine ceramics, it is more for the aesthetic than anything else. I have highly functional, ugly steeping gear. :-)
Uh I thought Butiki’s were wider too not just larger. Sorry.
I’d ask David where he got it. He’s very good at sharing information and will let you know within a day or two. He never see’s these requests as a bother at all.
Yeah, 12 ounces is a lot to brew at once. The more serious I get with all this, the smaller and smaller I find myself brewing.
Maybe I’ll just pinch pennies and get a yixing or four over the next six months and give up the gaiwan altogether.
:D I totally agree with you re: aesthetics (and regarding the spout, if you’re using it as a drinking vessel).
If I ever fin something nice, I will be sure to send you a PM.
Sweet. Thanks.
Another great review! What extremely fine teas are you buying and who are the unusual vendors? Have you tried EBay for gaiwans? I have purchased some very cool antique tea cups.
No, I haven’t looked at eBay. I suppose I should.
I’ll probably order from Verdant (the not so unusual to us), Camellia Sinensis (Canada), and maybe also Red Blossom, Tao of Tea, Jas-etea and… there are more. I’m on my work machine because I’m at the Mini dealership finding out what the heat heave on Gasmer Blvd did to may car so I don’t have all my bookmarks. I’ll try to remember to put up the full list later.
I highly recommend Red Blossom and JasE Tea. You recommended Camellia Sinenis to me before and they have some very unique teas….
Noted.
1st cup this morning finishing up sample tin. Not bad, but I’m currently enjoying my second cup from a whole leaf tea bag which is clearly superior.
The more I choose tea over coffee in the morning, the more I realize that I must invest in an electric kettle. It’s torture to wait the 3 and a half minutes it takes my microwave to boil water, especially when I’m desperately in need of a wake up. The coffee pot’s instant caffeine is tempting this morning (hubby still requires coffee), but I waited b/c I gave in yesterday to the convenience of coffee and it just tasted horrible. Starting back to work in a little over a week and really need to figure out a way to speed up this process. Besides getting up earlier, any suggestions? Any recommendations on reasonable tea kettles here in the US?
I have a little Sunbeam Hot Shot 1-cup warmer; does a cup in a little less than a minute; gets it just past boiling point. It’s a good “it’ll-do” when I don’t have time in the mornings to do a real kettle on the stove.
Buying an electric kettle has totally changed my tea-drinking and making habits. I drink way more at home now! I have a utiliTEA from Adagio; it’s $50 and well worth it. But Amazon has some good cheap options, as well.
Are electric kettles not very common in the US? Virtually every home in Britain has one.
@gmathis and Bethany, thanks! I’ve actually looked at both of your suggestions. Really considering the utiliTEA b/c it has the ability to choose temps which is really appealing to me since I drink black and green tea daily.
@Stoggler, electric kettles are not common. I have never even met a person in my whole life who has one, LOL amazing, huh? I remember the first time I saw an electric kettle was when I went to London in college:)
I’ve heard good things about the utiliTEA kettle…personally I use the Zarafina tea maker suite, which used to be $40 dollars on amazon and is now being sold for $159 (I think because of Christmas)….I’m happy with it, although I think a kettle might be more useful, since you can customize the time. I think Adagio’s TriniTEA maker lets you do that as well.
Electric kettles in Britain can be very cheap – £10 or so for some (so about $15). Of course, you wouldn’t be able to use a British kettle in the US due to the differing electricity supplies.
@ Stoggler, it’s unbelievable how much kettles are here. I just looked in a local store and everyone there was over $30 and all one temp. The only cheap one was $10 and it looked like a piece of junk :) Think I’ll hold out for the utilitea.
@Shani- I was looking at the Zarafina a month or so ago- seems like it’s nice!
Another sipdown! (132) Now that I know a little more about tea I smell mostly Ceylon in this. I like the smell of Ceylon, so it’s not a bad thing.
This one is pretty boring. I think I’ve said this about every breakfast blend I’ve tried. They’re just not for me, but unfortunately I have two more “breakfast” samples in my Golden Moon box. Black tea alone is more interesting than black tea blended with other black tea, in my opinion, and for the most part I wouldn’t choose these teas. Maybe I should just find a good Darjeeling for mornings, since that and EG are the only “breakfast” types I seem to want on a regular basis.
Be forewarned! I’m harsh in this review!
Ew… I don’t care for this one at all. I know I added too much milk (really full milk container threw me off) but honestly, this one tastes bad. I don’t like it. It doesn’t have any real flavour from what I’m gathering. Normally milk doesn’t kill all the flavour with my looseleaf, so it’s very disappointing to me that it did with this one. I don’t know why I keep trying these ‘bagged teas.’ They are always saddening for me. I don’t think I’ll be finishing this one.
I’m starting to realize I really am picky with my teas. I haven’t mastered the love of some of the simple straight teas fully yet, but the ones I have, it’s got to be looseleaf. Otherwise, like with this one, I just think puddle water.
Sorry tea, this one isn’t for me!
I have become a tea snob and don’t drink bagged tea anymore unless I am in the office. Such is the case this morning as I sample this “Eco Bag” obtained by my thoughtful wife at an upscale hotel during her business trip.
I have to admit, the bag looked pretty cool. It was extremely clear so you could thoroughly see the chopped full-leaf tea particles inside. The package boasted that it was “made of renewable resources, including bamboo, its open weave design allows optimal full-leaf infusion.” That sounded impressive but I was more concerned about flavor.
I tossed the bag into a paper cup and set our office’s Flavia Creation 400 coffee machine to run boiling hot water over it. I let the bag soak for five minutes. (Oh, how I missed my Breville One-Touch Tea Maker.)
As has been my experience with most bagged teas, there was no discernible aroma emanating from the cup. The color was a reddish golden brown.
My first sip only produced a mild black tea taste with a touch of astringency. I needed several more gulps before I could begin to identify the Assam, Ceylon, and Darjeeling flavors that comprised this blend. After that, the taste settled into a mild but slightly shrill breakfast tea.
All in all, this selection was not bad but it did not excite me or make me want to add it to my shopping list. Perhaps the full loose-leaf version, brewed in my tea maker and gently poured into my layered glass mug at home, would thrill me much more (location…location…location).
Yay @ unexpected and good blending!
Almond can over power blends… does this have good balance?