The Tea Scoop

Adagio Customer Service

Back in February, an absolutely terrible thing happened to me. My Adagio IngenuiTEA, which I had bought to replace my well-worn and broken Teavana Perfect Teamaker...ceased to work. The strainer would float up, destroying its efficacy as a strainer, and the leaves would clog the spout. An all around tragedy of epic proportions. Being that I use teaballs only in the most desperate straits, this severely cramped my tea-drinking style. I immediately wrote to Adagio, who promised to send me a replacement strainer the following day. I was surprised that they wrote back within an hour, and felt warm fuzzies at the quick resolution of the problem. Adagio explained that sometimes the strainers are manufactured just a smidgeon too small, which was apparently the problem with mine. Until my replacement strainer arrived, I was advised to preheat the teamaker like a pot. I assume this was so that the swelling would hold the strainer in place, however, the swelling was not enough for my poor, under-sized strainer. Knowing that Adagio products usually arrive with a ridiculous speed, I resolved to wait a day or so for my happy ending.

A happy ending that was, sadly, to be postponed. I waited, and waited. A month went by, and no strainer appeared on my door step. I was reduced to teaballs that restricted my oolong leaves and teabags. I refused to simply go out and buy a new device, relying on Adagio to come through. Finally, I wrote to Adagio again. Within an hour, they had written me an apology for their mistake, and the new strainer arrived very shortly afterwards.

This morning, I enjoyed a nice, well-infused cup of Jasmine Oolong. And I am very pleased with Adagio's final action, if the delay was a bit frustrating. At least they came through in the end.

Teavana Shopping Guide

The great thing about chains is that they bring accessibility to everyone. Lattes and espressos have become mainstream thanks to Starbucks, for example. As far as I know, there are not very many chain tea shops (I'm speaking about store fronts here) in the United States. I know of a couple of local chains, like New England's Tealuxe, but the only major chain that I am aware of is Teavana.

Teavana is a great place to get started if you are new to the world of loose tea. The advantage to being able to go to an actual shop is that you aren't just looking at pictures of the leaves, you can examine the leaves in person and smell them, maybe even try a cup. While there are plenty of other teashops out there, sometimes they can be hard to find. But, there is Teavana.

Teavana stocks over 100 teas, including white, green, oolong, black, and rooibos and herbal tisanes. They carry many favorites, as well as a few more exotic brands. Many of their teas are delicious.

However, there are a few caveats. Employees are encouraged to make sales, first and foremost, and so sometimes there is pressure to get the customer to buy as much as possible, something that is avoided with online shopping. So how to get the best experience out of Teavana (and possibly other tea shops as well)?

Behold!

The Teavana Shopper's Guide
1. Preparation: If possible, have some idea of what you are looking for before setting foot in the shop. This can be done by perusing the website. Look for teas that sound interesting to you and that you would be interested in smelling. Make a list before you get to the store!

2. Upon Arrival: When you arrive at the store, try the samples that they have available. But beware, many of them are prepared with German rock cane sugar, which the store also sells. So, if you're looking to cut back on calories, know that they will taste slightly different than if you were to make them with Splenda. (Rock sugar has a slightly different taste than granulated white sugar.)

3. How It's Sold: Tea is sold by the ounce (weight) with a minimum of two ounces of each tea. Therefore, if you tasted a sample that was a blend of two teas, you would be required to purchase four ounces total for tea. List prices are all for two ounces of tea.

4. Storage: Most likely, you will be encouraged to buy a tin for your tea. In the store, there are three sizes of tins: 6oz, 9oz, and 1lb, ranging from $4.50-$7.00. They are really great tins, with a double airtight seal. Having an airtight and lighttight container is vital for keeping your tea fresh for as long as possible. But, if you are buying two ounce quantities, you might not want a six ounce tin taking up room in your cupboard. On the website, three ounce tins are still available for $2.99. (They have been discontinued in the stores, except for a very expensive boxed set.) I would recommend getting the tin over the bags (which are free) because your tea will taste better longer, but know the tin sizes before you go, and know what you want.

5. Pound Discounts: If you drink a lot of tea, the pound discount is something to consider. When you buy a pound of tea, in any combination, you receive 10% off your total tea order. But, be careful. The pound price will be eight times the label price before the discount, and it can get expensive very quickly. I recommend this only if you drink several cups a tea a day, and are prepared to keep it in tins. There is also a five pound discount of 20%, but I would not recommend this for most people as this makes a whopping 1000 cups of tea! If you cannot consume that in a year, don't do it! You can also purchase the tea in 2 pound bags, but you only get the 10% discount once.

6. Tea Paraphernalia: Most of the drinks in the shop are made with the Perfect Teamaker, which is a great quick and easy way to make tea. There are similar versions put out by other companies, such as Adagio's IngenuiTEA. These are a great way to make a single cup of tea. For the less gadget oriented, a Swiss Gold filter works great as well.

The store also carries a wide variety of cast iron teawares. These are great for someone who wishes to invest in their hobby, and really spend a lot of time relaxing and enjoying a leisurely cup of tea. This is for the person who is pursuing the lifestyle of tea. Sometimes, however, better prices can be found shopping elsewhere. Search for Joyce Chen pots, as she is the manufacturer of many of the pots that Teavana carries.

7. Have fun! Enjoy your tea shopping experience, and don't let anyone pressure you into what you don't want. Tea is supposed to be a relaxing experience, not a stressful one. Try a cup of tea while you shop, and enjoy!

(Many of these tips would be helpful at other shops as well!)

Whole Foods Market

Every tea connoisseur is also a gourmet. One cannot appreciate tea without an appreciation of taste. In that vein, I am partially going to digress today to talk about a most marvelous place that provides many things other than tea.

Whole Foods.

Coming up, I actually have some recipes for cooking with tea that came from the Whole Foods Podcast, but today I am going to talk about the store itself, specifically the new store that just opened in Fairfax, Virginia, in the Fair Lakes Area.

Last night I visited for the first time, and on a Friday night, the "joint was hoppin'" A grocery store? Oh yes, but it's so much more. Any conceivable ingredient can be found for one thing, including ostrich and emu eggs, at $20 an egg, to goji berries in several forms. I have to admit, I had never even heard of goji berries until last night. But gourmet food items aren't the only thing that makes it special: there are five sit-down eateries, each with a different theme: seafood, barbeque, cheese, japanese, and a wine-tasting room with eighty wines on tap. We chose to do progressive meal, starting with fresh Chincoteague oysters at the seafood bar, served with the usual cocktail sauce but also with a red onion-vinegar that was divine. The wine recommended for oysters (yes wine in a grocery store) was a muscadet that was very light, and very nice with the oysters. The next step was the cheese bar, where we shared a bowl of tomato bisque and a baked gouda sandwich. The tomato bisque was unusual and delectable in its sweetness, but the sandwich was divine. In addition to the gouda, there were slices of apple and gruyere cheese. It was served on sourdough bread, grilled and melted to perfection. There are several cheese plates available that are also served for wine tastings in the upstairs wine room, and we chose the French Flight, which featured a double cream brie (our favorite), a goat's milk cheese (chevre), and a delightful dab of jam, along with walnut pecan raisin bread. Delicious!

Distracted as we were by the actual wares of the grocery store, we were there for two and a half hours before we realized it, and our progressive dinner was halted by the cessation of service at 8:30 (the store closes at nine). We did not leave right away however, as there was a tea aisle to be explored.

They had more tea than I had ever seen in a grocery store: a whole section of Republic of Tea, with just about every bagged tea that they feature in their catalog; Adagio; Rishi; Numi, and many others that I have not yet tasted or even heard of. They even had a wide selection of bottled teas, some sweetened, some not. I brought home a bottle of Honest Tea, an unsweetened Assam, to try. I also took a 4oz jar of Adagio's Darjeeling.

But wait, there's more! At the food bars, there is a great comaraderie between fellow diners, and we fell into talking with several, one of whom pointed out the coffee bar, where they will grind the beans to make your coffee on the spot. We headed over, and not only did they have coffee, but a wide array of Rishi loose leaf teas, with little saucers of leaves on display for looking and sniffing. The tea is sold by the ounce, and is extremely reasonably priced. I left with 2 oz of Ginger Pu-Erh for about $2. We also accepted cups of tea (16 ounces for about $2.00), which were prepared in Adagio's "Ingenuitea." Unfortunately, the recommended steeping time of four minutes proved to be a bit long, and it was too bitter.

Finally, for those who like to combine catechin categories, there is a chocolate section which includes a trifle called "Queenie" which is a chocolate with green tea and Earl Grey mousse in the center. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view), the dark chocolate is so strong that the tea flavor is completely overpowered, so it just tastes like chocolate. The chocolate was of fine quality however. A second chocolate that was much more impressive was a bit of chocolate topped with rock salt. The perfect combination of salt and sweet, and a unique presentation.

Whereas in the average grocery store, customers are greatly discouraged from sampling the produce or products, several times we were encouraged to try tastes of things. In produce it was cherries and miniature apples, and at the chocolate counter, we were handed samples of items that we were discussing.

It was a truly incredible experience!