The Tea Scoop

Celestial Seasonings Reborn?

I have always been rather skeptical towards Celestial Seasonings. I have written poor reviews of their packaging that leaves tea stale by the time it is taken home from grocery store shelves, and the artificial taste of many of their blends.

However, it appears that Celestial Seasonings is turning over a new tea leaf. The company has in recent years expanded from their herbal tisane roots and sprouted a few traditional teas as well. Now Celestial Seasonings is catching onto the popularity of whole leaf teas, and is releasing a line of whole leaf teas in pyramid shaped bags called Saphara. There will also be a new line of wellness teas, and even the Sleepytime bear is having an overhaul.

Although the company claims that customer feedback has been positive on the whole leaf teas, I think that tasting is believing, and I remain skeptical. However, as soon as I get a chance, I plan to sample these with an open mind, as Celestial Seasonings is a very accessible brand for the new tea drinker. I would love to see an improvement in their quality. And, I have to admit, I do like looking at the artwork on some of their boxes.

The Latest from Adagio

Adagio's latest addition of the TeaMuse is out, providing advice on iced tea and avoiding scum in your tea.

Adagio is now allowing customers to create their own blends, and features customer blends on their website. Try your hand at becoming a Tea Master!

One of the things I love about Adagio is that they really create a site that's much more than an online tea emporium. It's a community to share about tea (TeaChat), find a tearoom (TeaMap), get recipes (TeaChef) or learn more about our favorite beverage (TeaMuse). It's a beautiful, clean website, and they give great service. I can't emphasize enough how much I love Adagio other than by sharing that there are at least a dozen Adagio sample tins in my kitchen drawer.

The News Bulletin

There is quite a lot going on in the world of tea lately, according to my World Tea News e-newsletter.

McDonald's has decided to serve more socially conscious tea, and is pairing with PG Tips to serve environmentally friendly tea in the UK. I'm hoping this is an idea that will cross the pond and raise the quality of the tea in U.S. McDonald's as well.

Honest Tea has changed their label and introduced several new bottled teas, now with an EGCG rating on the label. They are also attempting to go green with their new Citrus Green Energy Tea. Honest Tea buys renewable energy credits to make up for the energy used along the entire production chain for this flavor. Another benefit is that this is an energy drink without all the added caffeine of other energy drinks.

Science Daily released an article today telling us that green tea may hep combat super bugs.  All the more reason to drink as much as possible!

Holiday Cheer

Although the weather was mild today, the calendar and Christmas songs on the radio tell me that we're getting ready to head into winter in earnest, halfway through December. It's the time of year when a hot cuppa is especially welcome, and as I drove to work, I thought about tea. This is not particularly a surprise considering I do have a (somewhat neglected) tea blog, and I drink a high volume of the stuff.

This morning, I was thinking about the properties of tea. It is a beverage that we drink for medicinal purposes, both for the body and soul. My grandmother to this day does not enjoy hot tea, because her mother made her drink it as a child. Tea infuses our memories with richness, even with memories of illness. With my grandmother, I think of sweet tea sipped out of Dixie cups on her porch, sharing a chaise lounge with a friend. I remember my first tea party, one New Year's Eve, surrounded by dolls and out of a doll-sized china tea set. That was before I drank hot tea, so my beverage was cold.

Later it makes me think of snowy days and pots of Constant Comment, curled up in a wing chair with a book while my feet dried and warmed.

Tea warms us and heals us. How many women (and men, perhaps) have sat down in a kitchen with a friend, giving a sympathetic ear and a cup of tea? Coffee holds its own as a conversational beverage, but there is something especially soothing about tea.

And then on top of all that, it just tastes so darn good!

Have a cuppa and enjoy the holidays. Take a break from the rush to really savor that Assam.

Thanks to Tea Guy...

Tea Guy Speaks is one of my favorite blogs to read, in part because of the wide variety of subjects he covers, but also because he believes in posting humorous bits as well. I unabashadly steal this link about a teashop run by a dictator, because I found it amusing and hope you will as well.

Yo Ho Ho Ho and a Bottle of...Rum?

The lines between rum and tea are blurred in this particular tea, from Baltimore Coffee and Tea.  This particular tea is rum and pina colada flavored. Upon opening the tin, the tea drinker is rewarded with a heavy whiff of pina colada, invoking Caribbean beaches and blended beverages. But how does it do on taste? 

When brewed, the liquor is a dark brown, as a result of the orange pekoe tea that the artificial flavoring is blended with and has very little odor. As for taste, it's a little weak, but definitely tastes like a pina colada, especially in the level of coconut flavoring.  It's naturally sweet, with no need for sugar, and has a great potential as a smoothie base, if made a bit stronger. It might also make a good iced tea, as a no-calorie alternative to a virgin pina colada.

Because of the inherent creaminess, I did experiment with adding milk, but it took away from the flavor and overpowered the already weak quality of the tea.

The tin is attractive, matching the Malibu coconut rum bottle, and interestingly enough, there is quite a bit of advice on the back, beyond the usual "steep for 3-5 min" business, with a suggestion to use "near to boiling" water as "water which has been boiled for long has been deaerated and brews flat tea." Quite a bit of advice for a package of paper tea bags.

This tea had a lot more potential, and I think would be a lot better if it were made with a higher quality black tea to begin with.  Although I don't usually like artificial flavorings, the flavor itself was quite pleasant.

Portsmouth Tea Co.: New England Blueberry Muffin

Recently, on a vacation to Williamsburg, Virginia, we stopped in a very exciting little store called the Peanut Shoppe.  Among the obvious peanuts was a display of various teas. Of course I was unable to resist exploration, and an assortment of black tea tins caught my attention. The company was the Portsmouth Tea Company.

I selected an herbal blend called "New England Blueberry Muffin," intrigued by the label's claim that it tasted like a "fresh from the oven muffin." The color of the liquor is a perfect match for my pink RAZR cell phone, ideal for a princess tea party. Inhaling the aroma, I was surprised to find that at least in terms of scent, the tea lived up to the claims on the label. I took a first cautious sip, expecting the tartness all too common in fruit scented herbal teas. There was a tartness, but not to the point of overwhelming taste. In fact it was just enough to cut the sweetness of the aftertaste for a well-balanced flavor.

There was a hint of muffiny-goodness, but I wouldn't call it muffin flavored tea. Label claims aside, this is one of the more delicious fruit tisanes I have enjoyed.

Michael Graves

If you love design and you love Target, then you probably are aware of the design work of Michael Graves. I certainly have admired his work for years, particularly his Alessi teapot:

It's delightfully whimsical. Originally sold for $65 in 1985, today they retail for $159. Graves says that the pot ranks among favorite things that he has designed, and he has even autographed it using a special etching machine, comparing it to a baseball player autographing a baseball.

His later designs are just as whimsical, including one with a spinning whistle.

That particular model retails on Amazon.com for around $25, a much more affordable price for those of who enjoy shopping at Target.

As I have said many times, the world of tea is a perfect place to combine form and function, and Michael Graves is the epitomy of that concept.

Native American Tea Company Part II

While in South Dakota on a trip recently, I had been talking a great deal about my tea blog. One of my fellow travelers therefore made a gift of Native American Tea Company’s “Teepee Dreams” on the stipulation that I write a review of it. While I was not impressed with the company’s “Good Medicine” tea, I thought I would give this flavor a shot.

My favorite part so far about this brand is the packaging, including a little story (that may lack somewhat in accuracy).

“Native American Indians learned long ago how to make life enjoyable, to listen to the birds sing and to appreciate the harmony of nature. At the end of the day it was always a special time to wrap up in buffalo robes and sit next to the fire to eat and tell stories while relaxing with a cup of herbal tea. It was during these special times when old-time stories were told. Stories of the creations of mankind, prophecies and dreams, as well as other traditional stories designed to teach Indian youths of the good in the world.”

The ingredients of this particular tea include peppermint, chamomile, catnip, valerian root, passion flower, strawberry leaf, and scullcap. Steeped for three minutes, the liquor is a bright yellow color that then fades to a rather honeyed color. It definitely smells like a nighttime tea with a strong chamomile odor. The first flavor that hits is definitely the peppermint, which is to be expected as no one can compete with peppermint. Mostly, it just tastes like peppermint and chamomile. The peppermint definitely comes in a bit stronger than the spearmint did in the other tea, but not quite strongly enough to make it a good mint infusion. My conclusion? Better than “Good Medicine” but not my dream tea.

Zarafina Tea Maker Suite

I am very excited to present to you this review, for I finally have been able to experience the Zarafina Tea Maker Suite for myself, after ogling it on-line for months. Retailing at $149.99, it is not for those who simply dabble in the world of tea but for those who drink it on a daily basis.

Imagine the ease of a coffee machine. You simply add water and ground beans, and it produces a cup for you. The Zarafina works in a similar fashion, finally giving tea drinkers the same convenience that has been available to coffee drinkers for years.

The Zarafina provides a high level of customization with options for black, green, oolong, white, and herbal infusions, a choice of bagged or loose leaf tea, and a choice of strength: mild, medium, and strong. You fill the steeping chamber with cold water, put in the infuser basket, and turn it on. One of my favorite features is in fact the infuser, which floats until the water reaches the desired temperature, in order to keep the leaves from coming into contact with too-cool water. After the water reaches the appropriate temperature for the type of infusion, the infuser basket drops. When the steeping time is finished, it automatically pours into the included pot. As I explained this to my mother, she declared that I would need a chemistry degree to work the thing. But once it was put into use, we were in agreement that in fact the Zarafina was the one with the chemistry degree.

Determined to give it a fair and balanced review, I have decided to experiment with various methods of testing. I plan on comparing the results with tea prepared in my cast iron teapot, the most traditional method of tea preparation that I have. However, my impatience this afternoon interfered. When I desired a cup of Darjeeling (Adagio), I just had to try it out. I toggled it to black, loose leaf, and medium. Filling the steeping chamber was simple enough, as lines are marked for one cup and two cups. I did not use the included scoop, which holds one and a half teaspoons, but used my own teaspoon sized tea scoop, and put two scoops in for two cups of tea. Sure enough, the basket floated as it was supposed to. After a few minutes of gurgling, the water heated, the tea steeped, and my tea was dispensed with no further steps. It was absolutely the easiest cuppa I have ever made.

So, how did this gadget turn out? Delightful. My only complaint was that the tea came out more mild than medium strength, for which there is a possible explanation other than machine error: I didn’t use the recommended amount of tea. It was still delicious. Cleanup was easy as well. The infuser basket was easy to rinse out, and the steeping chamber also removes for easy cleaning.

Look for further experimentation over the next few episodes of The Tea Scoop!