The Tea Scoop

Sustainabilatea

Like many of you out there, I spend a lot of time thinking about ways to make my lifestyle more sustainable, especially by trying to buy local when I can.  From May to October, we have a farmer's market within walking distance that makes the produce part easy.  We can even buy local dairy and buffalo meat.  But, local tea has been out of reach.  While I can find local sources of herbal infusions, my camellia sinesis habit has to be fed by China, India, Japan, and other places on the other side of the world.  I do seek out organic and fair trade as much as possible, but it's still a huge carbon footprint to bring it across all that water.  

Bigelow has bragged of having the "only American tea garden," in Charleston. This is a place I would definitely like to visit, since I have never been to a tea garden, but I'm not so much a fan of the tea itself. Now this may be because the American Classic is only offered in bagged form, and so I can't taste the full flavor that a whole leaf would offer, and I would encourage Bigelow to work on offering a whole leaf variety, either loose or as part of their Novus  whole leaf tea bag line.  

The big push for "going green" may have an impact on the tea industry beyond just organic and fair trade teas.  According to World Tea News, there are also tea gardens in Hawaii, Washington state, Oregon, and Alabama.  Hopefully over the next several years, we can look for more locally grown teas. 

Tea Experiment Week: Experiment One

Yesterday on Tastespotting, I read about Peppermint Mocha Hot Chocolate.  I was intrigued and bookmarked it for later, forgetting about it for the time being.  I did not remember it until later, when I was standing in front of my tea cabinet searching for experiment inspiration.  I remembered that the recipe called for powdered candy cane, and that we had a whole box of candy canes in the pantry!  I rubbed my  hands together with glee...ok, that part isn't quite true. But I was quite excited about this experiment. 

I put a candy cane into a Ziploc baggie, and used the meat pounder to smash it to bits. Quite fun. I added about a teaspoon to my Ingenuitea along with a teaspoon of Irish Breakfast.  In anticipation, I watched the timer count down. And then took my first sip as soon as it wasn't scolding hot. 

Pure Irish Breakfast.  

So I added more crushed candy cane, until I had maybe two teaspoons total. I managed to get a hint of peppermint flavor, but the Irish Breakfast was too strong.  As much as I love the tea "a mouse can trot on," I wanted it to taste a little different for the sake of experimentation. So I added a teaspoon or so of dark cocoa powder.  It did make it taste a little like hot chocolate.  But it was not quite what I was looking for. 

Alas, not every experiment can be successful. 

Star Chimps

We knew the Brits loved their tea. And now, British citizens have voted a tea commercial as their favorite commercial, starring a family of tea-drinking chimps.

For some very British humor, follow the link!

AnySoldier.com

Regardless of your political beliefs, many soldiers on the ground in Iraq and Afganistan need the support of the people back home. They joined the military to defend this country, so that the rest of us don’t have to. So, no matter how you feel about the war, contributing to the soldiers is always a good idea.

Now that I’ve stated my philosophy, I’d like to tell you about a great site: AnySoldier.com. It allows care packages to be sent to soldiers overseas who will then distribute the contents to soldiers who don’t get mail. Remember being at camp and how great you felt when those care packages came in?

Of course, this is a tea blog, so you’re probably wondering how this ties in. Well, being that a close family member is in the Navy, we did a search of sailors who were requesting tea. I found requests from CTR1 John H. Yzenbaard and Jessica La Budda, so tomorrow I will be sending them the tea I purchased today. Since our sailors are just as likely to appreciate a good cuppa as the next person, I tried to find something that would be practical and delicious, so I’m sending three boxes in different flavors of Revolution Tea’s infuser bags. These have whole leaf tea, but I figured bags would be easier than try to mess with an infuser. But just in case, I’m also sending a tin of Twinings’ Earl Grey. For those who love the classics, I’m sending a box of assorted Bigelow teas. I’m also going to write a letter to include, as I’ve heard that is one of the things that they are most grateful for.

If you would like to make sure these brave men and women are getting good cups of tea, visit AnySoldier.com today. Don't forget, soldiers, Marines, and airmen are probably also looking for tea, so check out the individual sites!

Autobiography as Haiku

One of my favorite columns in the Washington Post is the "Autobiography as Haiku." Not strictly haiku, these are 100 word essays regarding a theme each week.

Here is a teaser from this past week's:

"Sorry, we're out of World Peace. You can have anything else."

Click here for the full essay, about a tea shop in Olney.

Author Ellen Lent

National Tea Month

So, I'm a little late finding this out, but according to the Tea Council of the USA, January is National Hot Tea Month. What do you know?

So what if the month is more than halfway over? It just snowed in Northern Virginia, and there's snow on the ground many other places as well, so what better beverage than hot tea to warm you to your toes? No calories, lots of health benefits, and full of comfort.

So go on, celebrate!