I am finally starting a tea club at Mount Holyoke! This makes me really happy because then I'll be able to share my love of tea with even more people and help spread much better tea knowledge around instead of all that folklore unsubstantiated info that too many companies and people keep repeating. But really, I just hope to inspire more people to enjoy all the wonders of tea like I do.
One of the things I want this club to do is be involved with the tea community outside of our college. I only really know of one good tea shop in the area, but I wondered a bit about whether the extremely large cities on this coast offered any festivals like Seattle does. So to my absolute joy, I found the Coffee and Tea Festival! It has two dates and two locations, the soonest is in Atlantic City and is from November 3rd to 4th this year. Atlantic City is really far away from Mount Holyoke though, not to mention November is really soon, so I looked at the other location; New York City!!! Woo! Not much has been planned for this one up on it's website yet, but it's not until March (and during our Spring break no less!!) so I have high hopes.
I think this will be really great because finally I'll be able to get more in touch with the tea community here on the East Coast. I love my tea stores over in the NW, but let's face it, shipping is a huge pain (especially for a college student). Not to mention that I am severely limited on where to tell people to try or buy tea over here. This also gives me an excuse to go to NYC (which I've been avoiding because of how people describe it here). Hahaha.
As for how tea has been going these first three weeks at school anyways, it's been great! I've had a ton of tea drinking sessions with old friends and new friends alike. It's made me really happy and I think I've changed several people's minds about tea.
The other day I was serving up some tea in the living room and one student told me that she didn't want a cup of tea because she'd already had some earlier that day. I've since realized that when I'm serving a specific tea, I never want to use the word "tea" again. If you're offering a ride in a Lamborghini to someone who has no idea what kind of car you drive, do you simply say, "Hey, do you want a ride in my car?" No! Referring to a Lamborghini like it's any other car is akin to referring to your child as if they're just a random person. I realized that this has become the same with Macs and other large brand name items like Coke and Skittles. They make you think there is absolutely no replacement for them, even though a Mac is in it's general essence simply a computer, Coke is a soda, and Skittles are just candy. This is how I want to make it with my teas. So from henceforth, I will never refer to a tea I'm drinking or offering as "tea", but exactly what it is. On that evening I was serving up Moon White pu-erh from New Century Tea Gallery. When that student saw how much the others were enjoying the Moon White she decided to change her mind and ask for a cup too. It made me so happy!
I've noticed that just saying "tea" has also created other problems. The other night I posted something about having found a new scientific collection of reviews and research articles on Camellia sinensis and tea and my friend commented that he was shocked that tea was so complicated when he couldn't even decide if he liked green or black tea better. From this I realized that people even clump all greens and blacks etc together! Some of them are fairly similar to each other, and there are minor differences when it comes to a specific type just from a different farm or microclimate (in general, such as *the* Da Hong Pao vs. Da Hong Paos from grafts grown on different farms etc), but no one can really deny the difference between something such as Dragonwell and Sencha. Besides not even being from the same country, they taste completely different! In general, I do like green teas and will say that and clump them all together like that, but I don't think my friend even realized that there were multiple kinds of green tea. Most people's jaws drop when I tell them all kinds of tea (except for tisanes!!!) are from the same plant.
These are fairly big problems, but I think it's essential that we work harder to change how we speak about tea in order to influence how others see it so that more people will be able to understand how many wonders tea has to offer. :)
Showing posts with label seattle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seattle. Show all posts
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
My Love of Reading and Portland Disappoints
One of the first books I read was Winnie the Pooh. I have no idea what it was about because to be honest, I hated that book. It was excruciatingly boring to me. So someone got the great idea to give me My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett instead when I turned 6. I absolutely loved that book and the rest in the series, and still remember the adventure I went on in it's pages very vividly and happily. Somehow I became instantly addicted to books. I would do anything for a new book. I'd even clean my room or practice the piano if only my poor single mother would take me to the most magical store in the world, Barnes and Noble.
Older now, I wonder why she wasn't more appreciative of having such an incredible child. Hahaha. She laughed at me when I said that once, and said she would've gone broke if she'd bought me all the books I wanted. It's probably true. The school sent home book catalogs every few months or so and only about a fourth would be left undesired. I remember adding up the prices of them all, and it definitely came to over a hundred dollars. My mother usually rolled her eyes at me and would only permit me to buy TWO. Oh, how it crushed the poor 6 year-old me. Luckily I had a very enabling grandfather who would basically take me to the holy store of books and let me pick out whatever, but I wasn't always near him.
So the years passed. Many books have come and gone through those 14 years, and I gobbled them all up as if they were food. I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but the satisfaction I get from books is always very similar to the satisfaction I get from different kinds of food. Some books "taste" like a Big Boy's hamburger, some like a virgin Strawberry Daiquiri. My favorites were always the more complex flavors like those instead of plain things like simple corn, a banana, or noodles. One book made me think of corned beef on fresh baked Irish soda bread with a side of boiled eggs sprinkled with coarse salt. Delicious.
Then tragedy.
After I came back from Japan, I entered into the most rigorous year of my high school career. I had three AP classes and who know's what else that kept me busy. I read a few books, but I was down so far from where I'd been just the year before. Then I started a summer internship, and didn't have as much free time again. Then it was school at Bellevue College, and somehow I didn't have time yet again! I've still managed to read a few here and there, but really, it was no where near like my prime reading years in middle school and early high school. I didn't really know what I was interested in and it was so hard to find anything that tasted good anymore. I managed to find The Song of Fire and Ice series by George R.R. Martin (which is best described as Greek yogurt with some exotic honey and spices- essentially crack to me), but I still didn't have my same drive to just find and read a bunch of things. When I started school at Mount Holyoke it was even worse. I didn't get to read a single book for pleasure or even just leisurely until after finals. Finally yesterday I started The Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb. It's DELICIOUS. Like hot spiced apple cider on a cold and misty autumn morning in the countryside.
So yay for me rediscovering the magic I once felt through books, but that's not actually the point I wanted to make. What's super crazy about all this, is that this book satisfied my legitimate craving for something to eat. Hahahahahahaha. When I get a craving, I don't always know exactly what it's for. I have to pull up memories of different foods and see which one matches the most. This time I also thought of this book (and two other books I'm reading), and realized that I didn't want to eat food, I wanted to eat a story. Hahahahaha. By the way sometimes songs do the same thing for me, but I have to be in the right mood. Currently Within Temptation's Hand of Sorrow (which is inspired by the Assassin's Apprentice) is actually just making me really want to get back to reading that book. I swear, these things are seriously like addictions. I just absolutely have to finish this book otherwise I won't be able to think properly about anything else for a reasonable period of time. I used to take breaks from classes or work just to get in an extra five minutes of reading when I was in the middle of a book I loved. I really don't know how people take more than three days to read a book of any length. I'm bad enough doing anything else during those three days. Ughhhhhh! It's all I can think about!!!!!! Maybe this is why I stopped reading so much... I have no idea how I'd be able to get any school work done feeling like this... I just have to go read this book some more!
But first I'll get to the tea part of this post. Ended up finishing 2898 today instead of earlier because I got busy with moving between Portland and Seattle and stuff. It was AMAZING in every way possible. I'm just so sad to see it go. Since it's now left me, I only really have one cooked pu-erh in my possession. You all know how much I love cooked pu-erh. You all know how much I drink of it. 2 freaking tiny oz of loose leaf pu-erh is not going to cut it for this entire summer. I'm not sure that'll even last me until my birthday!
I decided to use this lack of supply as an excuse to scout out the local tea shops in the Portland area. I went to my trusty pal, Google and...
COST PLUS WORLD MARKET?!?!?!!!! Words do not describe.
There were about five other independent stores that I found too, but only about 4 had pu-erh. I was extremely disappointed with all of them. One of them said that pu-erh was like Darjeeling in that it wasn't actually pu-erh unless it came from Yunnan. (For those of you who do not know, this is incorrect as although pu-erh is kind of named after a particular lake in Yunnan, it actually means something more like oolong or black in that it is stating the tea has gone through a particular process. Anyone who has any disputes with this, please correct me, but seriously. We all know that there are real pu-erhs that come from many provinces and even countries besides Yunnan, China.) Another was a restaurant and only served it, and the others only had a maximum of 3 choices general, not so awesome looking choices online.
Oh, Portland. You've disappointed me so. My only hope lies in the possibility that the person who owns my fantasy store is in Chinatown and is internet-disabled.
Please wish me luck. I hate paying for shipping.
Older now, I wonder why she wasn't more appreciative of having such an incredible child. Hahaha. She laughed at me when I said that once, and said she would've gone broke if she'd bought me all the books I wanted. It's probably true. The school sent home book catalogs every few months or so and only about a fourth would be left undesired. I remember adding up the prices of them all, and it definitely came to over a hundred dollars. My mother usually rolled her eyes at me and would only permit me to buy TWO. Oh, how it crushed the poor 6 year-old me. Luckily I had a very enabling grandfather who would basically take me to the holy store of books and let me pick out whatever, but I wasn't always near him.
So the years passed. Many books have come and gone through those 14 years, and I gobbled them all up as if they were food. I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but the satisfaction I get from books is always very similar to the satisfaction I get from different kinds of food. Some books "taste" like a Big Boy's hamburger, some like a virgin Strawberry Daiquiri. My favorites were always the more complex flavors like those instead of plain things like simple corn, a banana, or noodles. One book made me think of corned beef on fresh baked Irish soda bread with a side of boiled eggs sprinkled with coarse salt. Delicious.
Then tragedy.
After I came back from Japan, I entered into the most rigorous year of my high school career. I had three AP classes and who know's what else that kept me busy. I read a few books, but I was down so far from where I'd been just the year before. Then I started a summer internship, and didn't have as much free time again. Then it was school at Bellevue College, and somehow I didn't have time yet again! I've still managed to read a few here and there, but really, it was no where near like my prime reading years in middle school and early high school. I didn't really know what I was interested in and it was so hard to find anything that tasted good anymore. I managed to find The Song of Fire and Ice series by George R.R. Martin (which is best described as Greek yogurt with some exotic honey and spices- essentially crack to me), but I still didn't have my same drive to just find and read a bunch of things. When I started school at Mount Holyoke it was even worse. I didn't get to read a single book for pleasure or even just leisurely until after finals. Finally yesterday I started The Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb. It's DELICIOUS. Like hot spiced apple cider on a cold and misty autumn morning in the countryside.
So yay for me rediscovering the magic I once felt through books, but that's not actually the point I wanted to make. What's super crazy about all this, is that this book satisfied my legitimate craving for something to eat. Hahahahahahaha. When I get a craving, I don't always know exactly what it's for. I have to pull up memories of different foods and see which one matches the most. This time I also thought of this book (and two other books I'm reading), and realized that I didn't want to eat food, I wanted to eat a story. Hahahahaha. By the way sometimes songs do the same thing for me, but I have to be in the right mood. Currently Within Temptation's Hand of Sorrow (which is inspired by the Assassin's Apprentice) is actually just making me really want to get back to reading that book. I swear, these things are seriously like addictions. I just absolutely have to finish this book otherwise I won't be able to think properly about anything else for a reasonable period of time. I used to take breaks from classes or work just to get in an extra five minutes of reading when I was in the middle of a book I loved. I really don't know how people take more than three days to read a book of any length. I'm bad enough doing anything else during those three days. Ughhhhhh! It's all I can think about!!!!!! Maybe this is why I stopped reading so much... I have no idea how I'd be able to get any school work done feeling like this... I just have to go read this book some more!
But first I'll get to the tea part of this post. Ended up finishing 2898 today instead of earlier because I got busy with moving between Portland and Seattle and stuff. It was AMAZING in every way possible. I'm just so sad to see it go. Since it's now left me, I only really have one cooked pu-erh in my possession. You all know how much I love cooked pu-erh. You all know how much I drink of it. 2 freaking tiny oz of loose leaf pu-erh is not going to cut it for this entire summer. I'm not sure that'll even last me until my birthday!
I decided to use this lack of supply as an excuse to scout out the local tea shops in the Portland area. I went to my trusty pal, Google and...
COST PLUS WORLD MARKET?!?!?!!!! Words do not describe.
There were about five other independent stores that I found too, but only about 4 had pu-erh. I was extremely disappointed with all of them. One of them said that pu-erh was like Darjeeling in that it wasn't actually pu-erh unless it came from Yunnan. (For those of you who do not know, this is incorrect as although pu-erh is kind of named after a particular lake in Yunnan, it actually means something more like oolong or black in that it is stating the tea has gone through a particular process. Anyone who has any disputes with this, please correct me, but seriously. We all know that there are real pu-erhs that come from many provinces and even countries besides Yunnan, China.) Another was a restaurant and only served it, and the others only had a maximum of 3 choices general, not so awesome looking choices online.
Oh, Portland. You've disappointed me so. My only hope lies in the possibility that the person who owns my fantasy store is in Chinatown and is internet-disabled.
Please wish me luck. I hate paying for shipping.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Dang Seattle Rain and High School Graduations!!
My dear friends could not join me in any tea adventures today due to STUPID things like IMPORTANT HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION HOMEWORK and DANGEROUS DRIVING CONDITIONS so there was no tea adventure. But I stopped by New Century Tea Gallery after service at my Choeizan Enkyoji Nichiren Shu Buddhist Temple to inquire at the very least about this year's spring harvest and found that the owner would be bringing it all back from China on June 1st! I'll have to stop in after that date instead then, which is fine and actually makes me pretty happy because then I get super fresh green tea! Woo!
In preparation for this I have broken in my beautiful new Kitani with a delicious Western Zhejiang Long Ding from Tea Trekker back in Northampton, MA. I need to drink all the Chinese greens I have up faster so that I can get more and have room for some Japanese greens too!! Hehehe. I'd really love to get some more Gyokuro, but I'm afraid my budget may limit me to Sencha. I love Sencha too, but oh my fluffy bunnies from the land beneath the bed, Gyokuro is just heavenly to me. So we shall see. It's also quite likely that I'll finally start experimenting with Matcha. Matcha is really great, I think, because I can just put it into a bottle and shake it up. Hahahahaha. Just like with putting a Chinese green into a Japanese tea pot I feel kind of sacrilegious, I also feel kind of sacrilegious for shaking up my matcha in a plastic bottle. Hahahahaha. But since I'm in college, I consider everything fair game.
And I swear to those fluffy bunnies again that ONE DAY I will summarize a few original research articles for you all here! On my list is Caffeine content, L-Theanine content and effects, and I should probably do EGCG too since everyone's always going on and on and on about that. But of course, I also want to focus on whatever cool things I can find out about Pu-erh or Purple tea. Maybe tomorrow.
In preparation for this I have broken in my beautiful new Kitani with a delicious Western Zhejiang Long Ding from Tea Trekker back in Northampton, MA. I need to drink all the Chinese greens I have up faster so that I can get more and have room for some Japanese greens too!! Hehehe. I'd really love to get some more Gyokuro, but I'm afraid my budget may limit me to Sencha. I love Sencha too, but oh my fluffy bunnies from the land beneath the bed, Gyokuro is just heavenly to me. So we shall see. It's also quite likely that I'll finally start experimenting with Matcha. Matcha is really great, I think, because I can just put it into a bottle and shake it up. Hahahahaha. Just like with putting a Chinese green into a Japanese tea pot I feel kind of sacrilegious, I also feel kind of sacrilegious for shaking up my matcha in a plastic bottle. Hahahahaha. But since I'm in college, I consider everything fair game.
And I swear to those fluffy bunnies again that ONE DAY I will summarize a few original research articles for you all here! On my list is Caffeine content, L-Theanine content and effects, and I should probably do EGCG too since everyone's always going on and on and on about that. But of course, I also want to focus on whatever cool things I can find out about Pu-erh or Purple tea. Maybe tomorrow.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
May Puer Tea Appreciation Club of Seattle Meeting!
Today was the month of May's monthly PTACOS meeting! We met at the awesome Phoenix Tea shop in Burien, WA and it was lots of fun! This also means I'm home for summer vacation now! Yay!
We tried a lot of extremely delicious Puerhs. Cinnabar wrote them all down, but I don't have the intention of making this a tea review blog, so I'm not going to go into great detail about that. There were a large number of us drinking today it seemed, and we had a whole bunch of great and crazy conversations that I'm sure we'll all burst out laughing about as we randomly remember the crazier tidbits later. I really love these kinds of get togethers and think that there should be more joys in life like this. While talking I learned about several different cultural and art events happening in the area, about other artists in the area, spas, and of course just a lot of interesting story telling about one thing or another. Delicious tea and interesting people and conversation, what more could one ask for? These meetings are the best and really make me want to be the Tea Hostess for my dorm again next year and have similar weekly meetings.
Then of course afterwards I finally did a bit of tea and teaware shopping that I'd been dying to do! Hehehe! I scored a GORGEOUS kyusu set from Kutani by someone named 栄峰 (not too sure yet how to pronounce this name). I'll put up a picture of it tomorrow. It's really lovely with pictures of camellias and ducks on it. As a set, it came with one cup with a lid. I am extremely happy to finally own a kyusu! Finally I can brew Japanese green tea in a Japanese pot instead of feeling sacrilegious by doing it in a Chinese one. Hahaha. And it's a larger pot, so I'll be able to do larger tea servings! Woo-hoo!
In addition to that I finally bought a nice puerh tea pick, a fine mesh strainer to pour through, and some very nice smelling rooibos chai tea. Like I mentioned before, pictures soon! I meant to get some purple tea too, but somehow I completely forgot!! Super sadness, but I'll just order it fresh in September if I don't manage to get over there again before leaving for school again.
Tomorrow the hunt is on for some possible cups, some possible green tea, and some possible fun things. WITH A FRIEND! Ahhh, exciting times!
We tried a lot of extremely delicious Puerhs. Cinnabar wrote them all down, but I don't have the intention of making this a tea review blog, so I'm not going to go into great detail about that. There were a large number of us drinking today it seemed, and we had a whole bunch of great and crazy conversations that I'm sure we'll all burst out laughing about as we randomly remember the crazier tidbits later. I really love these kinds of get togethers and think that there should be more joys in life like this. While talking I learned about several different cultural and art events happening in the area, about other artists in the area, spas, and of course just a lot of interesting story telling about one thing or another. Delicious tea and interesting people and conversation, what more could one ask for? These meetings are the best and really make me want to be the Tea Hostess for my dorm again next year and have similar weekly meetings.
Then of course afterwards I finally did a bit of tea and teaware shopping that I'd been dying to do! Hehehe! I scored a GORGEOUS kyusu set from Kutani by someone named 栄峰 (not too sure yet how to pronounce this name). I'll put up a picture of it tomorrow. It's really lovely with pictures of camellias and ducks on it. As a set, it came with one cup with a lid. I am extremely happy to finally own a kyusu! Finally I can brew Japanese green tea in a Japanese pot instead of feeling sacrilegious by doing it in a Chinese one. Hahaha. And it's a larger pot, so I'll be able to do larger tea servings! Woo-hoo!
In addition to that I finally bought a nice puerh tea pick, a fine mesh strainer to pour through, and some very nice smelling rooibos chai tea. Like I mentioned before, pictures soon! I meant to get some purple tea too, but somehow I completely forgot!! Super sadness, but I'll just order it fresh in September if I don't manage to get over there again before leaving for school again.
Tomorrow the hunt is on for some possible cups, some possible green tea, and some possible fun things. WITH A FRIEND! Ahhh, exciting times!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)