Some Things to Come, and News

First off, things to come:

I've been meaning to interview some different tea bloggers that I know, starting with those in the Blackberry Messenger Tea group that I'm a member of.  Several people have agreed to be interviewed, and I meant to get the first interview completed and posted at the end of last week.

Life gets in the way sometimes, though, as it did last week.  I was so busy with school that I didn't have time for any real blogging at all, which was disappointing.  If I get the chance and can get my schedule to coincide with my first interviewee's, then I'll try and get that up by this weekend.

Until that time, I have a couple more posts planned for this week that I'll post over the next couple of days.  I hate posts like this one, where nothing is really accomplished and promises are made, but these type of posts keep me going when I haven't had a chance to com up with any real content, and they give me more reason to finally get some real content put up.

Now that we have that bit of housecleaning out of the way, on to some exciting news:

First off, Melissa, over at Expanding Leaves is holding her blog's first ever giveaway!  Tipu's Chai contacted Melissa asking if she'd be interested in having a giveaway for her readers and she agreed.  The prize is a 4oz pouch of Tipu's instant black chai tea mix, and entering is very easy.  Head on over to Expanding Leaves to check it out, and read the blog post and watch the video she has put up here.

Secondly, it's not really tea, per se, but Adagio is now selling Yerba Mate.  They have a sampler package put together (which you can find here).  I haven't tried mate myself, but I've been meaning to for a while now.  Adagio is where I first got into the exciting world of loose leaf tea, and I have been a big fan of theirs ever since.  Be sure to check out all they have to offer.

Trying My Hand At Tea Photography

Lately, I've become quite addicted to Flickr, and have been going through all my old photos and uploading them (this 100mb limit for free accounts is killing me!).  I've been trying to save a few megabytes each month for posting new photos, which up until now, I hadn't really been taking much of.

Until the past week, I haven't had a camera here besides my video camera and my cell phone, neither of which take very good pictures.  Now I have my trusty old Olympus c270 Ultra Zoom.  The camera is fairly old, as far as digital cameras go, and only takes 3.0 megapixel photos, but it does a very good job with them!

Anyways, last night while making some Sencha Premiere from Adagio I decided to try getting some pictures.  For the most part, the pictures turned out pretty rough, a couple were pleasing to me though, so I thought I'd share them here.

I'd love to hear people's thought on these, and what you do to get great shots of your tea and tea ware.  Leave a comment below, or hit me up on twitter.  Also, I'm always looking for new people to connect with on Flickr!

You can find my other photos at my Flickr account.

Resuming the Quest

It has been over a year since my last post on this blog, as as I went about my day off from social media, I thought about something that has crossed my mind many times in the past year.  I thought about bringing this blog back, about trying again, about giving it the run I should have given it in the first place.  I feel now is the time to do so.

One reason I dropped this blog in the first place was the sheer abundance of tea review blogs already on the internet.  Not only has this number not declined, it has, in fact, increased!  So why does this no longer bother me?  There are two reasons for this.

Partly it is because reviews are such a subjective thing, that I feel you never can truly have "too many" review sites.  The other reason is that I simply just don't mind anymore.  Originally I wanted to blog so I could get a huge readership, earn a ton of money on advertising, you know, the usual stuff.  Since that time, I've learned that by blogging, I learn more about myself and about the topic I'm writing on.

In the past I gave up on sites because they never "took off."  Well, no longer will this be the case! My mind is not focused on being the next "big" blogger anymore.  While a part of me still wants to have lots of people read what I have to say, it isn't the most important thing now.   I know now that I can't force being an amazing blogger, and now I want to write for a new reason.  If any of my blogs do "take off," then so be it, I'll enjoy my moment in the spotlight and continue doing my best.

The reason for writing now is more personal.  I intend to write about tea the same way I've begun writing about technology.  From here on out, writing is more a tool to better my own knowledge and understanding of different concepts and ideas.  If anyone else feels enriched at the same time, all the better, as it means I'm starting to really understand.

So, instead of simply reviewing teas, as I originally intended, I plan on looking deeper into the topic.  I want to learn more about the people in the tea community, from the farmers, to the merchants, to the consumers.  I intend to learn about the places, and what makes tea from different areas so different.  My intention is to learn what makes tea what it is, and I invite you to join me on this quest.

Teatulia's Bengal Breakfast

Vendor: Teatulia
Website: http://www.teatulia.com
Twitter: @Teatulia

Tea: Bengal Breakfast
Type: Black in Bags

Description: "Teatulia's Boldest Black Tea. Excellent for a clear start to the day with a mighty palette that will transport you to the base of the Himalayas, ready to take on anything!

Brewing instructions: Steep tea for 1-2 minutes, or until brewed to your liking.

Opening the package: Teatulia was kind enough to send me a sample of this tea to try. When I opened the envelope, I found a plastic bag inside with a paper telling me all the information I just put for the description and brewing instructions inside. Also included were three teabags. The inside of the plastic bag was littered with black tea dust. Upon opened the bag to inspect the teabags, I found them to be silk pyramid style bags about the size of pyramid bags you can get from Lipton. The tea inside was broken up pretty badly. I'm not sure if this was due to transportation methods, or if all their teabags are this way. So far not looking too promising.

First Brew: I brewed a cup with one bag for 1 min. 45 sec. with boiling water. This produced a brew that was similar in color to Darjeelings I've had in the past. The smell also seemed reminiscent of this, but not too much so. The taste was good, not bitter. Nothing too exciting about it, but it would make a good everyday breakfast tea, which is what it is billed as. It wasn't very strong though. Typically for brews of this length I use more tea. The bag also left a residue of tea dust in my cup. The leaves did swell to take up most of the bag.

Resteep: Resteeped for 2:30 with boiling water. The produced a cup noticeable lighter then the last brew, so I won't even attempt a third brew. It smelled and tasted the same, except for much of the strength being gone. I did notice a bit of sweetness in the aftertaste with this brew though, which seemed strange.

Thoughts: I'd like to try out their loose leaf version of this sometime. I'll go ahead and use my remaining two tea bags, but I probably won't purchase any of this for a while, if at all. It was good, but plain. I'd suggest this as a tea to introduce someone to loose leaf. I'd also like to add that I thought it would produce a stronger brew. I suspect that it would with more leaf added, so I might brew my two remaining bags together. I've spent a bit of time on Teatulia's website, and it all sounds great, so I look forward to trying more of their products.

Has anyone else given this vendor (and more specifically, this tea) a try? Post your thoughts in the comments. I look forward to hearing them.

(I had some pictures that I took, but they didn't turn out well at all. I'll try and take some with my next brew and get them posted here. Need to work on my lighting...)

Welcome

Welcome to my site, "Pro at Tea." As you can see, I'm on a quest, and that is to become "pro." I'll be updating the progress on this quest here. I'll be posting reviews of teas, vendors, and other things along those lines, as well as other things that I think may interest readers.

I'd also like to start by saying this, by no means am I an expert on these topics. I'm just going to tell you straight up what my thoughts are on things and clue you in to new things you might be interested in. Tea drinking is something I've technically done for a while, albeit with low quality tea bags. In the last few months I've become enamored with higher quality loose leaf teas.

I've found tea to be an adventure. With each cup I learn something new, brewing has been something that I've learned the most about, and I learn more the more I continue to practice. There are so many different teas out there, and so much teaware, and I had no idea any of it existed until very recently. The door has only just been opened though, and I still have much to explore inside past this cursory glance I've taken.

I hope you'll join me and be patient with me as I learn and grow, both in tea and in my writing. Without support, this will be a failed effort. I hope it isn't though, because I can't wait to get to know more people who are passionate about the things I am.