Accessible Mugs Can Be Helpful

Swelling, strength, mobility issues with fingers or hands–among other things–can make it very helpful to have a mug that works for your body and circumstances.

This T Handle mug is the third type of mug that I’m reviewing for accessibility on the blog. I bought it, paying retail price, from The Wright Stuff.

T Handle Mug Specs

• Volume: If you fill it reasonably below the top, it holds 12 ounces (340 grams) of liquid. If you fill it to the very brim, it holds about 15 ounces. But, for obvious reasons, 12 or less is recommended.
• Size: 4.5″ (114mm) tall, 3.75″(92mm) diameter
• Weight: 12.15 ounces (344 grams) empty. Adding 12 ounces of water brings the total weight up to about 1.5 pounds (685 grams).
• Materials: Porcelain. I could only find the mug in this size and in the color white.
• Care instructions: Listed as dishwasher and microwave safe.
• Microwaving Results: When I microwaved water from cool to boiling in my microwave–stopping as soon as the water boiled–parts of the mug’s handle registered 145F with my laser thermometer. So, please exercise caution if you microwave it. Carefully determine whether the handle is a safe temperature to hold before you grab it.

Review of User Experiences

The T Handle mug looks like a classic white mug, except for the unusual T-shaped handle. When I first tried it, I wasn’t sure what to think. But, with a little experimenting, I appreciated the T-shaped handle. Still, I personally prefer a regular mug handle.

With the concerns that my loved one has–finger swelling and grip/strength issues–my biggest concern with this mug, like with the CURVD mug I reviewed, was the weight. The T-Handle mug weighs about the same–just slightly less–than the CURVD mug.

My relative liked the look of the T Handle mug and, to my surprise, was very enthusiastic about the handle. She liked the control it gave her when she slid her fingers around it and was able to place her thumb on top of the handle. She remarked that she loves mugs this size, but that the weight is a downside for her.

After we try out this mug for a few months, I’ll update the review if we have any new insights or perspectives.

If you have any experience with this kind of mug, or other suggestions, I’d love to hear them! Please share them in the comments.

Check out other posts on the blog about accessibility and tea:

• Why Tea Bags Stay in My Cupboard
• Accessible Mug Review: CURVD
• Handwarmer Mug: Accessibility Review

The post T Handle Mug Review appeared first on Tea Infusiast.

Why I’m Drinking Less Tea

There are many reasons you might find yourself drinking less tea. Here’s mine…

In recent years, normally I enjoy one full tea session a day (about 3g of tea). Sometimes, I creep up to double that. Recently, however, I’ve radically reduced my tea consumption due to an acid reflux flare. Tea is usually mildly to moderately acidic. Also, caffeine can “loosen up your lower esophageal sphincter (LES), a ring of muscle between your esophagus and stomach,” according to the Cleveland Clinic.

So, I’ve worked my way down from the higher end of my caffeine range to less than half a gram a day. I’m sincerely hoping this reduced tea consumption will be a temporary measure and I am consulting with doctors. But, while I’m here, I still want to enjoy drinking less tea.

What Tea Means to Me and Maybe You

I’m imagining tea is important to you because you are reading a tea blog. You could probably guess that tea is important to me because I’m writing this tea blog. It’s much more than the blog, for me, as I share in my About Traci page. So, it’s been an interesting (and rewarding) challenge to consume less tea while keeping the pleasure and mindful engagement with it. I’ll share what’s been working for me so far as I try to enjoy drinking less tea.

How I’m Enjoying Tea Time with Less

Although I can still taste tea, I find myself leaning into some of the things that helped me enjoy teatime when I temporarily lost my sense of smell a few years ago. Using teaware that I particularly love, leaning into the sights, sounds, and touch of the entire tea experience helps! I’ve written about this in more detail in another post, “How to Enjoy Tea When You Can’t Taste.”

What’s different this time–and helping me enjoy drinking less tea–centers on on different teaware choices and steeping style. Three things I’ve noticed are:

• Bowl Tea. Choose a tea that can steep a long time without becoming bitter or astringent. Put a few tea leaves into a tea bowl and allow a long steep. This method gives more flavor than a regularly steeped cup that such a small amount of tea would give. Also, seeing the leaves brings extra pleasure–at least to me.
• Glass Teaware. Like with bowl tea, a glass gaiwan allows me to enjoy the visuals of the tea leaves and somehow enhances the flavor in my weaker-than-usual cup of tea. I’m also doing longer steeps.
• Tiny Tea. If you have any really small teapots–like under 100ml–this is their moment to shine! It helps with your tea-to-water ratio to give you a stronger cup of tea. The twist: these small teapots are usually used for gongfu cha, where the steeps are very short with a high leaf-to-water ratio. When reducing your tea, you essentially make a western style steep (3-5 minutes) in your tiny gongfu teapot. (Hat tip to Sooz of Being Tea who is the first person I heard refer to using less tea in a tiny teapot as “tiny tea.”)

Final Thoughts

One other thing has helped me enjoy drinking less tea and kept me from being sad about drinking less tea–the ability to make and serve tea to other people! Seriously, I guess it could make me sad to make tea that I can’t drink. But, it doesn’t. Instead, it makes me grateful!

Have you been in this situation, Dear Reader? Are any of my suggestions working for you? Have you found other things helpful? You’re warmly invited to share by commenting on this post.

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Cold brewing tea usually involves putting tea leaves (or tea sachets) into room temperature or cold water. Then, you store it in the refrigerator from a few minutes to 12 hours to allow it to steep. You never use hot water. This method is called mizudashi (水出し) in Japanese, according to the Global Japanese Tea Association.

What Are the Advantages of Cold Brewing Tea?

We don’t have central air conditioning in our old house. So there are days when the window units are straining and it’s uncomfortably warm. In this kind of weather, making cold-brewed tea means we don’t have to turn on our kettle or heat water. So, it’s energy efficient and can help keep your home environment cooler.

Cold brewing can also change a tea’s flavor profile in ways you might enjoy! There is evidence for Japanese green teas, for example, that the tea tastes sweeter and more umami when cold brewed.

Japanese green tea that is cold brewed also contains less caffeine than when steeped at its normally recommended temperature. But, you can try cold brew for any kind of tea. It doesn’t have to be a Japanese Green.

How Does Cold Brew Impact Caffeine Level and Taste?

The temperature at which a tea is steeped is important. It influences how fast and the extent to which different components in the tea leaves are released–for example, caffeine and tannins. When certain teas are steeped at a cooler temperature, they can yield a sweeter infusion with less astringent tannins and lower levels of caffeine.

Interested in more information about this? Sugimoto provides useful details regarding the differences in caffeine, etc., by temperature for a handful of specific Japanese green teas. For some caveats about how the outcomes can vary by tea types, check out Sciences Thé. He has a useful post on the variations and limitations of what we know about how cold brew impacts what is in your iced tea.

How Is Cold Brew Tea Different from Sun Tea?

Cold Brew differs from “sun tea” in that the latter involves using cold or room temperature water and then sitting the carafe in the sun while it steeps. Many of us have probably enjoyed tea this way; however, it is not a safe way to steep tea. Southern Living, for example, reports that a spokesperson at the FDA (the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S.A.) cautions:

“The tea may not reach temperatures high enough to kill harmful bacteria and the water temperature during sun tea brewing typically is within the ‘danger zone’ where bacteria can thrive, allowing growth of bacteria that can cause illness.”

Honestly, you can get very similar results much more safely by using a cold brew method, so why gamble with creating bacteria?

Finding Your Preferences

I’ve enjoyed many teas cold brewed. Interestingly, although I tend to use less tea than many hardcore tea drinkers when I prepare my tea hot, I find I often appreciate more tea leaves in my cold brew.

For example, I love Soocha Tea’s Korean teas. When I cold brew Sejak or Balhyocha, however, I prefer it when I use a higher leaf-to-water ratio than Soocha’s website recommends. Roughly speaking, they recommend a little over 4g of Sejak for 750 ml or about 3 cups. But, I prefer around 7g, even if I let the tea steep 12-18 hours. Of course, it could be the room temperature of the water, the difference between my water in Long Island and the water in Toronto, and/or personal preference.

All of this is to say experiment to find what you like and how you like it steeped!

One tip: cold brewing smoky teas have been the least predictable for me! For me, it’s hard to predict when the smokiness will cold brew balanced versus when it is intensified by the cold brew.

Other Tips and Approaches

To get more tips or to learn about different approaches to making sparkling iced tea, I’ve got you covered in the blog posts below!

The post Cold Brewing Tea appeared first on Tea Infusiast.

On the Umi Tea Sets website, the full name of this teaware is “Chinese Starry Sky Jian Zhan Tea Set.” The version I am reviewing includes a teapot, six teacups, a fairness cup (sometimes called a fairness pitcher), and a two-piece ceramic tea strainer. It arrived in a beautiful deep blue “gift box” with multicolored fabric on the top.

Texture, Color, and Pattern

This glossy teaware has a very smooth hand feel. Umi Tea Sets call this color pattern “Starry Sky.” I see why. The main color of the tea set is a midnight blue. The “variable temperature firing” and glaze creates a pattern that reminds me of falling stars–small dots of pale yellowish/cream color that cascade down the sides of the teaware. Interacting with the background blue glaze, it also creates some beautiful light blue and other color variations. It’s a lovely effect. I feel like I should wish on a star whenever I use it!

The same beautiful glazing decorates the interior of the teacups and the fairness cup. The interior of the teapot , by contrast, is all white. I really appreciate this! I prefer a white interior teapot so I can observe the color of the tea I steep. Doing this helps me tell if I’ve steeped the tea to my preference.

Starry Sky Tea Set’s Size & Pour

I’m happy to share information out the size of these items and the pour of the teapot.

Umi Tea Sets includes the measurements of the pieces in this tea set on their website, but not their volume.

So, I set out to pour and measure.

Items Included and Size

• Teapot: Filled to very top, it is 300 ml (10 oz); however, like all teapots with a spout that isn’t at the very top (in other words, most of them), this one pours the best when filled around 200 ml or less. (More on the pour, below.)
• Fairness Cup (or Pitcher): When filled at the comfortable place on the pitcher, 200 ml.
• Teacups: 6 teacups. Filled to the very top, they hold 80 ml (2.7 ounces). Filled to where the interior glaze pattern changes near the top of the cup (a more ideal way to fill a teacup), is about 60 ml (roughly 2 ounces).
• Ceramic Tea Strainer: Inside the strainer there is a metal screen with tiny holes. The set also includes a ceramic piece on which you can rest the strainer when it is not in use. This is very convenient. Even though the ceramic teapot has a built in strainer, this separate strainer with smaller holes allows removing even finer particles of the tea leaves that make it through the teapot (if you want to).
• Gift Box: The box in which the Starry Sky set arrived was about 15.5″ x 10.5″ x 4.75″ (or about 39cm x 26.5cm x12cm).

Pour

The Starry Sky Tea Set from Umi Tea Sets has a very cohesive and fast pour, as long as you don’t overfill it, which I’ve found true for with teapots with this spout positioning.

It pours beautifully when filled up to just above where the bottom of the built-in ceramic strainer starts–that’s about 200 ml (roughly 7 ounces).

Gift Box

To my surprise, the Starry Sky Tea Set from Umi Tea Sets arrived in a “gift box” that feels more like a carrying case. It is a bit like a blue wooden briefcase with colorful fabric on top and padding on the inside. It has a handle, too. With the teaware in it, it weighs between 5-5.5 pounds. (My scale isn’t so exact.) It’s a very comfortable weight to carry.

I tested ease of transporting by taking it to my local botanical garden to enjoy the greenery and snap a few photos. Very easy! That said, it’s not advertised as a carrying case. The golden buckle that holds it closed seems very secure. But, I’d always check that it was in good order before transporting the tea set this way.

Uses for the Starry Sky Tea Set

Starry Sky is a versatile tea set. You could use it to steep tea for one or two people using one long infusion. Or, you could use it with a higher quantity of tea leaves and multiple infusions to make tea for more than two people.

In fact, I’m particularly excited that I can share and enjoy tea with five other tea lovers using this set! Given the size of the teapot and the volume of all six cups, this means I’d steep two infusions to serve six people.

Umi’s Starry Sky Tea Set is a lovely tea set. It functions beautifully and is easy to transport and store. I didn’t share details about how the beautiful glaze effects are accomplished; however, you can read about that on Umi Tea Sets’ website.

My Review Policy

Honesty and transparency are important to me. When Umi Tea Sets reached out to me, I was happy when they accepted my review policy.

In short, my policy is only to accept tea and teaware to review with the understanding that I’ll only post a review after I’ve used and determined that I sincerely like something. I don’t guarantee that I’ll post. (So, some places understandably back out after they learn this.)

Additionally, I always disclose when I am reviewing anything I received for free or with any other kind of perk. I’m so glad Umi Tea Sets was completely comfortable with this policy and generously sent me this beautiful teaware.

The post Starry Sky Tea Set from Umi Tea Sets: Review appeared first on Tea Infusiast.

Prepare Your Tea

Mindfully prepare your tea.

Don’t multitask. Immerse yourself into the experience.

You can use a mug, a teacup, a bowl–whatever you enjoy.

Pro-tip: Don’t overfill your cup or bowl so you feel comfortable holding it without fear of spilling.

When your cup is a comfortable temperature, hold it with two hands.

Then, recite the gatha/practice poem as you coordinate it with your breath.

Tea Practice Poem

This cup of tea in my two hands,

mindfulness held perfectly.

My mind and body dwell

in the very here and now.

Breath in while reciting (out loud or silently) the first and third verses.

Breathe out while reciting the second and fourth verses.

Then, in subsequent breaths, you can shorten the verses:

In: tea

Out: mindfulness

In: mind and body

Out: here and now

If you try this tea practice poem with mindful tea, I’d love to know how it goes! There are many ways to practice mindful tea, of course. Building mindfulness or meditation into your tea practice–especially if you drink tea daily or weekly–can be a convenient “trigger” or “cue.” When I prepare my tea, I am mindful. When I drink my tea, I do so meditatively, etc.

I find mindfully preparing and meditatively drinking tea such a beautiful and meaningful part of my day. Tea is so lovely and friendly–it’s a wonderful meditation partner.

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Preparing for a trip during which I knew I’d be drinking tea mostly outdoors, I decided to take a good thermos. That way, I could fill it with water to drink or hot tea–one vessel would work for either. This was going to be a more rugged trip than my usual traveling style, so I didn’t pack as much teaware as I usually do.

My old thermos leaks, so I wanted something better. I’d heard good things about Zojirushi, so I bought their 16 ounce “stainless mug.” I don’t know why they call it that and not a thermos!

Slim Profile

Let’s start by reviewing this Zojirushi thermos to note that it has a slim profile that’s easy to hold. It is also thin enough to slide into my water bottle pocket of my backpack. It comes in a number of different colors.

Lid

I liked how the lid was designed for drinking. It released a nice, careful flow of liquid through it.

The Zojirushi stainless mug lid was easy for me to screw on. I also appreciate the locking feature so the lid doesn’t accidentally pop open while transporting the thermos. I never had any leaks.

Zojirushi Heat Retention

It is excellent at retaining heat. In fact, I realized I wouldn’t be able to sip tea directly from the thermos even hours after making it because it would still be way too hot! So, I carried a teacup to pour the hot tea into or to steep my tea with the hot water so it could then cool to a safe drinking temperature. I prefer to drink my tea out of a cup anyway. (P.S. I also bought separately and added the “breathe” sticker on the thermos in the nearby photo.)

The other solution would be to let your tea cool to near comfortable drinking temperature before pouring it into the thermos. But, read on for my thoughts on that.

Size

I reviewed Zojirushi thermos sizes. They sell thermoses or “stainless mugs” in bigger sizes, so if you need hot water or tea for more people, you may want to size up from the 16 ounce version.

Prop 65 Warning

When I received this thermos, there was a [California] Prop 65 warning listed on the box. According to the California government’s website, “This law requires businesses to provide warnings before people are exposed to chemicals on the state’s Proposition 65 list.”

I emailed Zojirushi. I wrote:

“[T]he box the thermos arrived in has a Prop 65 warning for cancer and reproductive harm. But, it doesn’t saw [sic] what parts of the bottle or materials necessitated that warning. Can you please provide me this information?”

I definitely wanted to have this information before using or reviewing the Zojirushi thermos!

Support at Zojirushi responded on 3/10/26:

“Thank you for contacting Zojirushi America.
 
The stainless steel in the interior of the vacuum mug and spring in the lid contains nickel. Nickel is an important alloying element in food-grade stainless steel. It provides high anti-corrosive properties to the stainless steel (surgical steel contains nickel).  The sticker on the bottom of the outside of the vacuum mug contains DBP.
  
Please note that the bottom of the vacuum mug does not come in to direct contact with food or beverage.  For further information, please go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov 
  
Proposition 65 enables Californians to make informed decisions about their exposures to certain chemicals. This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.  For further information, please go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov
… 
Please note that the warning does not mean that our products will necessarily cause harm or that they violate any product-safety standards by the FDA. In fact, the California government has clarified that ‘the fact that a product bears a Proposition 65 warning does not mean by itself that the product is unsafe.'”

Nickel & Stainless Steel

I didn’t even know that food grade stainless steel (18/8-18/10) contains some nickel until researching this issue! If you have a nickel allergy–you probably already know this and might already avoid stainless steel water bottles and thermoses, etc. Otherwise, everyone should research the issue and come to their own decision.

I am guessing most stainless steel thermoses will have this warning. It’s a matter of reading the fine print and following up. As I thought over this issue with the Zojirushi thermos for this review, I’ve decided to keep and use it; however, I’ll probably stick to using it to transport hot water to make tea in a cup or teaware instead of putting acidic tea directly in the thermos.

The post Zojirushi Thermos Review for Traveling with Tea appeared first on Tea Infusiast.

• I’m exploring whether I’ll be contributing new Tea Mindful Cards to another tea festival.
• I’ve got a tea tasting or two planned for my campus.
• Another teacup should arrive soon so I can review it for accessibility. (Still looking for the perfect cup for my relative with hand issues and sharing what I find so it might help others.)

And, I’m excited to prepare to take my first one-on-one tea session with a teacher in a while!

So, lots of preparing for good things to come…and lots of sipping tea and admiring the blooming orchids.

The post Post about Preparing appeared first on Tea Infusiast.

Develop your palate by tasting lots of different foods—different fruits, vegetables, spices, etc. I can’t say something tastes like a ripe persimmon, for example, unless I’ve tried a ripe persimmon. The same goes for understanding tasting notes. If I don’t have a point of experience with a food or flavor, a tasting note that references it doesn’t tell me anything.

I was thinking about this issue of enhanced tea tasting after trying burdock root tea for the first time last month (and many times since then). Before I tried it in a tisane, I didn’t understand the tasting note on a white tea I have that included “sweet, earthy like burdock.” If you grew up eating more East Asian cuisine, you may already be familiar with this flavor. But, somehow, I wasn’t.

Interestingly, exposure to a flavor over time can change our enjoyment of it. The first time I ate cilantro, decades ago, I did NOT like it. It kept showing up in food I otherwise liked, so I learned to tolerate a tiny bit of it. Over time and with exposure, I’ve come to LOVE cilantro. Lots and lots of it! (I know cilantro is one of those controversial flavors. I’m not saying this will work for everyone or that we all have to learn to love every flavor.)

You can still enhance your tea tasting without loving every food, of course!

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What’s Mindful Tea

Starting with a definition, or understanding, of mindful tea is a great way to begin.

What’s Mindful Tea?

Slowing Down: Countercultural Inspo

So many aspects of American culture work against cultivating rest and presence. Awareness and intentional resistance are explored in these posts.

Rejecting a Culture of Scarcity

Suggestions for Mindful Tea

There are so many ways to use tea to cultivate stillness, presence, and rest. These posts can help give you ideas to start.

Ideas to Invite Stillness into Your Life

Five-Minute Tea Bubble Meditation

Meditation Incorporating Tea Imagery

Video

Bonus Suggestions for Mindful Tea

1. Focus on PREPARING your tea. Don’t listen to music, or a podcast, or multitask. Give full attention to all the steps from filling your kettle until pouring your tea. Use all of your senses to immerse into the preparation.

2. Focus on DRINKING your tea. Notice the appearance of the tea, the feel of your cup, the sound of the pour, etc. Don’t do anything except be with and enjoy your tea.

3. Focus on PREPARING and DRINKING your tea. (See 1 & 2, above.)

4. Another suggestion for mindful tea: Hold your mug or teacup and LOOK OUT A WINDOW. Enjoy what you see outside between savoring your sips of tea.

5. Turn on a meditative or favorite piece of MUSIC. Sit comfortably and drink your tea while listening to the music.

6–Finally, take your tea OUTSIDE. Sit on your front steps with your tea. Or pack a thermos and cup and go to your favorite local park.

Connect with Me and Mindful Tea

I hope you find these resources and suggestions for mindful tea helpful, Tea Friend! We could all use a little more calm…and tea…in our lives.

If you subscribe to my monthly newsletter for tea lovers, Tea Infusiast News, you’ll find more tea content–including information about my regular Tea Mindful Together online tea meditations. These events are usually free to all subscribers.

You can learn more about me here, including my training in tea and meditation.

The post Suggestions for Mindful Tea appeared first on Tea Infusiast.

Tempted to Try

Burdock root tea wasn’t familiar to me. It’s more common in cooking and as a tisane in East Asian cultures. Interestingly enough, I also read that some Native Americans also used burdock root. Given my excellent experience with the other herbals I’ve tried from Soocha Tea, I was eager to try.

The first thing I noticed about the tea was how the dried root looks like chipped wood. Next, I was surprised how little burdock root it took to create a very flavorful brew that could be steeped many times.

Steeping and Tasting Notes

How to Steep Burdock Root Tea

I followed the advice on Soocha Tea’s package to steep the burdock root tea, while figuring out how to convert the gram measurement so I wouldn’t have to break out my scale every time I’d like to enjoy this tisane.

• Amount of dried burdock root: 2 grams (about 1 tsp of burdock root, gently shaken to fill efficiently)
• Quantity of water: 8 ounces (about 250 ml)
• Temperature: Boiling (212 F or 100 C)
• Steep time: 3-5 minutes
• Number of steeps: I enjoyed 3 and stopped because I had enough liquid (lol). But, Soocha Tea’s website says you can steep it more than 5 times, increasingly the length of each steep.

Tasting Notes for Burdock Root Tea

To me, burdock root tea has wonderful and nostalgic aromas and flavors. It reminds me of roasted peanuts and caramelized corn–taking me right back to my childhood and the special occasions when I was given a box of Cracker Jack.

Roasted sweet potato and a touch of hickory smoke round out the aroma and flavor notes for me. The notes rebalance over multiple steeps, but I could still find all of those flavors in the first three steeps.

It’s a lovely tisane that packs a lot of flavor over multiple infusions.

This root tea brews up a rich amber color–a color that reminds me of some black and darker oolong teas.

Potential Benefits and Warnings for Burdock Root

Any natural herb or root can have possible positive and negative impacts. So, let’s overview the potential pros and cons of burdock root tea. This research, of course, should not replace consulting your health care provider.

WebMD reports that burdock root has been studied for its potential to reduce chronic inflammation, slow or prevent some cancers, and help some skin conditions. Healthline also reports the root “may lower blood sugar levels.”

Healthline also notes that burdock root hasn’t been studied enough to know safe use in children. Thus, they counsel against giving it to children without consulting a pediatrician. They also caution that pregnant or nursing women shouldn’t use it without a doctor’s advice.

Additionally, people allergic to chrysanthemums or daisies, they point out, could “be at an increased risk of having an allergic reaction to burdock root and should avoid it.” Soocha Tea’s website expands this warning to people “allergic to the Asteraceae/Compositae family (ragweed, chrysanthemums, marigolds, daisies, and many others).”

Finally, burdock root is naturally a diuretic. So, WebMD and Healthline both urge avoiding it if you are dehydrated or taking diuretic medicines.

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