Gourmet Coffee Chatter

Ahh, the aroma and taste of a good cup of tea.. Tea brewing is not in itself a difficult task, but a few tips might help improve the quality of your next cup.

• Store the tea properly in an airtight and waterproof container. This prevents the tea acquiring flavors from the environment around it and contamination by water.
• Start with fresh water each time. Previously boiled water has been de-aerated and will produce a substandard tea.
• If using a pot, preheat it to prevent heat loss when the tea is brewing.
• Pour the water right at the point of boiling, under boiling and over boiling the water can produce substandard tea.
• While most teas require boiling water for the infusion, some have more specific temperature requirements. Have a thermometer on hand for these teas.
• Time it. Infusion time can vary from tea to tea but a safe region is generally 3 – 5 minutes. Over brewing produces the bitter notes one tastes.

Until next time – happy brewing.

Gourmet Tea

I really don’t know when tea got introduced into my life. It just always seemed to be there.

My earliest recollection is of Granny Garside. I would spend summer days baking in the heat of the California central valley only to be called inside to the treat of a glass of iced tea. Most likely it was an orange pekoe tea, sweeted, not with table spoons but cups of sugar. Enough sweetness to bring on instant diabetes. I loved it.

My first encounter with gourmet tea was a tea shop in Solvang, California. No tea bags here, just loose leaf tea you had to measure out yourself.   And hundreds of options! I was still in the black tea camp that day, green would come much later.  It was the start of an interesting journey.

These days I’m more at home with a tea infuser. I find my tastes gravitating to a Russian Caravan blended tea or a good Japan Green Sencha tea. And the sugar, none or very little.

I miss Granny Garside but not the sugar.

It’s my belief that all morning workers fall into one of two categories: the coffee drinks or the tea drinkers. Everybody needs a warm cup of morning energy to get their day started. As an exception to my own rule, I drink both beverages. It all depends on how awake I feel when I settle into my desk at work. Sometimes I begin the day with two cups of tea followed by a 10 am cup of coffee. And other days I have two cups of java and don’t even touch the tea.

My co-worker Stacey introduced me to herbal tea – what a delight! Since I started consuming this all-natural beverage, my preference for tea has definitely surpassed my liking for coffee. I can’t seem to get enough of this tea. Everyday has become a mini adventure as I sample a new flavor of tea with great expectations that almost always seem to be matched. Blackberry current is an exotic favorite as well as chi mint and raspberry aroma. If you ever stumble across this tea, I recommend that you try it!