Tea InfusiastHave you ever toggled between reading two books and found a beautiful and fruitful convergence? That happened to me last week and it felt like a gift. It was as if the universe kindly underscored a message so I would be sure to receive it. That message was about rejecting a culture of scarcity.
Would you like to learn about tea from the comfort of your own home and have the opportunity to learn from experts who, perhaps, live far away? If you answered yes, then this post is for you! It will provide a curated range of virtual tea talks and workshops, broken down by type. I draw upon experience in this post. I only recommend online events by tea educators and tea businesses that I have attended and found worthwhile.
When I say I love tea, I emphatically mean the magical elixir you can get from steeping leaves from the Camellia sinensis plant. I don’t mean herbal teas or tisanes. I actually have a harder time finding tisanes that I love than teas that I love. Despite my preference for tea, I have been impelled to go looking for delicious tisanes because my desire to drink warm, tasty beverages is greater than my ability to drink caffeine. Sometimes, I need something caffeine-free.
After a lot of experimenting, I have developed a caffeine-free latte that I love. If you enjoy rose and masala chai flavors like cardamom, you might love it, too.
There are many fancy gadgets that will help you froth milk for lattes. But, you don’t need them to get good results. With a few items you probably already have in your kitchen, you can froth milk on the stovetop if you follow these tips. (These directions apply to cow’s milk.)
I thoroughly enjoyed drinking Oolong Vibes, a blend from Steep & Sip Teas. The company describes this tea as a blend of “Amber and Jade Oolong.”
Good news: I think this tea will have wide appeal! Casual tea drinkers–especially those who like black or oolong tea–will find it accessible. The tea also delivers lovely flavors, mouthfeel, and interest for the more seasoned tea drinker. In fact, Oolong Vibes reminds me of the oolongs served by Chinese restaurants that take care to provide fresh pots of good tea.
I have been trying to find and create inspiration in 2021, most recently with MoTeaVational quotes–motivational quotes I have paired with tea photos. (A whole new way to think of tea pairings!)
I pulled out my journal and realized that one year ago today–March 10, 2020–was the last day I taught in person before I had to suddenly convert all of my classes to online, like every professor at my university and, of course, other universities and schools. Can you believe it has been a full year since COVID-19 profoundly disrupted our lives?
One entire year. And counting.
Increasing vaccination efforts offer a hope on the horizon. But, we aren’t there yet.
While we wait, pandemic fatigue is real. Still, I am trying to hold on to what nourishes and sustains me. In case it helps you, too, I have gathered here the MoTeaVational quotes I posted on Instagram each Monday (AKA #MoTeaMon, or #MoTeaVate Monday) in February 2021. I am happy to share them, here, in one convenient gallery.
Tung Ting is an oolong tea sometimes transliterated as Dong Ding, or translated as “Frozen Summit.” I was eager to try the Tung Ting from Galerie du Thé when they offered to send me some. Although “medium” in terms of roasted oolong teas overall, the roast on this Taiwanese tea is on the lighter side for Tung Ting. This discovery was perfect for me since I usually prefer oolongs with a light or medium roast. This tea, I am happy to report, delivered great flavor, aroma, and salivation.
I have a Tea Infusiast Review Policy because integrity, honesty, and transparency are important to me. I enjoying reviewing teas that I buy, that friends send me, or that are gifted to me by sellers. When sellers are kind enough to offer me free tea to review, I only accept if I think there is a strong chance that I will enjoy the tea,* and they agree to my review policy.
My review terms are:
I hope this transparency gives everyone confidence in the sincerity of my reviews and makes them more useful.
If you have any questions, please drop them in the comments. I am more than happy to answer them. If you are a seller interested in discussing the possibility of a tea review, you can message me on Instagram @teainfusiast or send me a comment here. (I check my Instagram more regularly.)
*Note about teas I am likely to enjoy:
I enjoy unflavored teas–straight Camellia sinensis–the most. I don’t disdain flavored teas, but I do not usually enjoy them as much. The main exceptions are Earl Grey and masala chai–these are perennial favorites. Still, I prefer my chai made with real spices rather than natural or artificial “flavoring.”
East Frisian tea blend comparison! East Frisians drink copious amounts of tea and prepare it in an unusual way. Short version: they use special rock sugar, add cream (!), and empathetically don’t stir. For a more detailed account of how they prepare tea, I invite you to check out my blog post on East Frisian tea culture.
In this post, I am comparing two tea blends: Harney & Sons’ “East Frisian” and Thiele’s “Broken Silber” “Echte Ostfriesische Mischung.” East Frisian blends in Germany are mostly Assam, accented by Ceylon and/or Darjeeling tea. Harney says its blend contains all three. The Thiele package says, translated, the “best Assam teas characterize the full, fine, bitter taste of this classic top blend.”
Vision boards, mantras, focus words. Some years I have ignored these New Year resolutions and trends. They didn’t feel authentic to me. I felt very differently in 2021. So, this year, I choose four words to help focus and inspire my choices. These motivational words, speaking as as a devoted tea drinker, MoTeaVate me to think harder about how to live better. Since “create” is one of my words, I challenged myself to make an image for each of my words in January.
I posted them on my @teainfusiast account on Instagram each Monday (AKA #MoTeaMon, or MoTeaVate Monday) in January and gathered the posts, here, to share in one convenient gallery.
