Sports Tea

It took years for Erik & me to figure out the obvious: If you're willing to fork over some cash, your humble dreams can come true! The last 'Skins game we went to was just cold enough for us to pioneer some tea in the stands, which has long been a dream of ours, albeit an humble one. Since tea isn't the the first beverage of choice for most football fans (in this country, at least) we had to take some initiative, show some sachet if you will. After an outlay of $8.00 for two cups of hot water we made some nice, manly Darjeeling with the little homemade baggies Erik brought. Worth every bit of $8.00.

Instead of Disease, Try This...

It's been a while since I posted so I figured why not reconvene with a little health news. We all love feeling great, and we all know that Green Tea is a healthy bev, right? Sure we do. Let's indulge ourselves, though, with this article which has the longest, most detailed list of health benefits I have ever seen. Seriously, there is nothing this tea won't do to keep you alive. Nothing.

Kanchanjangha

OK, my photographer appears to be on strike so I've got to go ahead without visuals here. I am nuts about this tea I have from Nepal! I got a pile of samples from a coop of Nepalese tea growers and each one just kicks ass. Nepal is nestled right in there geographically with some heavy duty tea regions but for some reason it just doesn't have the clout. I'm guessing politics, age-old hatred and the like are at play, but basically Darjeeling is relaxing poolside while Nepal is watching it from outside the fence. The result is a tea that tries harder. Also, they are so eager for people to buy their tea they are handing out really top-notch samples.

What I really like about these teas is they tend to be of a very high quality but with a twist to distinguish them from your standard awesome tea from India. Awesome-but-with-a-twist is the Andrews & Dunham way. I'm drinking one now from the Kanchanjangha Estate. it has the astringency of a Darjeeling, the earthy clay taste of a Chinese green, and the sweet grassy aroma of a Japanese Sencha. And a lot of caffeine. The other thing I really like about these teas has nothing to do with tea, but with the romantic associations I have with Nepal from listening to Rush albums, watching Indiana Jones movies and generally longing for far-away exotic places.

Balls Inspection

Trying out some of the great tea we got at the Expo. Today it's these little balls of Yunnan tea which we received as a result of one of our aforementioned halting conversations. You might have encountered those little green jasmine pearls at your local tea shoppe and these are just like them, except they are not green. No. They are black & gold and make a tea that looks like coffee. I'm on the 3rd infusion and it still looks/is stronger than most coffee.

I'm walking around the office, showing off my tea.

World Tea Expo!

Just got back from the 2007 World Tea Expo in Atlanta and, as is our custom, we had a fantastic time. All weekend long we were knocking back little cups of tea while having funny, halting conversations with people who spoke little English. Erik got to flex his limited yet awesome knowledge of Japanese to the delight of some of the exhibitor ladies while I got to watch the eye-rolling of their male boothmates. Domo arigato, Erik-san. And, of course, we made lots of headway with our fledgling enterprise. More details to follow once we get some of our photos uploaded.

Wednesday

I come and go as I please.

Eyes Buggin'

As you may know, Erik (see issue 7 - ed.) and I are in the process of getting in the business of making huge piles of money as purveyors of fine tea and to that end we are adrift in samples. My eyes are buggin' from all the tea we've been drinking. You wouldn't think the sampling of tea would be particularly taxing but it turns out there is a staggering amount of unremarkable tea to be sampled. We are providing a service to our fellow tea drinkers by sorting through all this sludge. Some might recommend a measured, careful tea tasting technique but not us. We are freestyle all the way. No swish and spit at Andrews & Dunham - we engage in full on street tasting, real-world tea sippin'. This is not business-casual. I am wide awake.