Tag Archives: tea education

Tea Reflections – Oolong Tea – Mysterious and Complex

Oolong Teas

Enter the amazing world of Oolong teas. Oolong teas are semi oxidized in a wide range from low (20%) to high (80%). This type of tea means “little dragon,” due to its twisted shape of the tea leaf, a leaf shape you find for some Chinese Oolong teas.

This tea type is normally not just for the quick cuppa. It has the amazing ability to be infused many times and that is part of the journey with this tea. The aroma and flavor with each infusion is changing slightly with different balances on the flavor scale. It is like a dance on your palate.

ceremonial_tea My most special tea is an oolong , Gardenia Dan Cong, what I call my ceremonial tea. You will find a previous blog post on this site describing this amazing tea in more detail.

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Tea Reflections – Green Tea

Green Tea

42511919_green Green Teas are becoming more and more popular in the world and the varieties seem endless.

Almost every tea producing country is now producing a special green tea and the market is growing more and more. Green teas are more processed than white teas and have some oxidation in the processing.

After a withering process, leaves are fired to stop the oxidation and to retain the green color in the leaf. There are two main processes to accomplish this and it results in different types of green tea. Most green teas in China are pan fired before they are further processed. Green teas in Japan are steamed, very similar to what we do in the kitchen with broccoli and spinach. The result is a different texture and flavor.

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Do You Hear the Tea? Tea and Sound.

Tasting tea is primarily based on three sensory elements: how we experience the tea on our taste buds and in our mouths, how the aroma enters our nose and how we experience the tea visually with our eyes. Rinse and Repeat.

During my studies one additional element came to my mind, which we seem to take for granted: sound. Most of you will say: what kind of nonsense, you cannot hear tea, tea does not speak to us.

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Meet an Amazing Infusion: Neavita’s Peach and Mint

Infusions are relatively new to me. When I was a kid, everything was tea to me. When I would get sick, tea was the cure. I had a cough and a few minutes later I was given tea with mostly herbal ingredients. I got the flu, I got some Chamomile. I had a stomach pain, I would get some Melissa. It would always be served with some lemon or honey in it and was quite comforting.

Neavita’s Peach and Mint

In Germany, tea (or so I thought) is sold in pharmacies. I saw tea always as a medicine and closely linked to health benefits. In the US you don’t see this so much and tea is mostly sold in supermarkets in tea bags but is not so closely linked to health benefits.

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Our Tea Ceremony – Bamboo and Yixing

This tea ceremony has been enjoyed by my wife Kristen and I. The kids are sleeping peacefully. The ceremony is dedicated to peace and harmony.

It starts off by creating an atmosphere of calm and peace. The sun has gone down and I am lighting a green tea incense and a tea candle held by a Buddha. The wonderful smell of the tea incense fills the air and the candle light reveals the stage: a large bamboo tray.

The actors are already here: my new Yixing tea pot, a smelling cup and a few drinking cups to serve the tea. As with all of my tea ceremonies, they are happy to be out of their Chinese silk boxes and participate in this ceremony.

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Do You Know Where Your Tea Comes From? A Crash Course

Let’s Start With Some Tea Basics: My visit to Limuru, Kenya

Limuru Tea

What better way to introduce tea to you is then to show you. I had the tremendous opportunity a few weeks ago to visit the Limuru region just north of Nairobi, Kenya. My goal was to visit the Maraba tea factory, which specialized in CTC (Crush Tear Curl) Black Tea production. It’s basically what you find in tea bags and blends.

Even though tea bag tea is not my favorite, I got inspired by tea legend Mr. James Norwood Pratt, who said that we cannot snub tea bags and tea bag drinkers as a large number of people around the world use tea bags. They like it and it is convenient. I believe that describing this type of tea processing is a good starting point many of you are familiar with and we can only go up from here. In the coming months I will show you WHY loose leaf tea is better and tastier.

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Master of the Art and Science of Tea: Join Me On My Journey

This post is a continuation of “Why Do You Like Tea So Much?” -My Backstory and Life As a Tea Specialist (And Why My Wife Wants to Kill Me).

I often get asked the question: Why do you like tea so much? I can best sum it up by looking at my tea past, present and future.

Future

What will be next? My dream remains to attend my graduation ceremony at the World Tea Academy at the biggest event – the World Tea Expo! It will be held in June this year in Las Vegas and we hope to actually make it there.

Join me on my journey to become a Tea Master. (Image from http://storynory.com)

My educational journey will continue. I am also a member of the International Tea Masters Association (ITMA) and hope to become a Tea Master one day. Wish me luck and I am sure you will read all about it here on the blog.

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Life As a Tea Specialist (And Why My Wife Wants to Kill Me)

This post is a continuation of “Why Do You Like Tea So Much?” -My Backstory

I often get asked the question: Why do you like tea so much? I can best sum it up by looking at my tea past, present and future.

Present

The next level has been for me the World Tea Academy. Without quitting my day job, I was able to start a professional online education. It is a demanding and hard road to travel but one filled with knowledge and excitement.

A recent photo of my wife and I

Since May of 2015, every week has been filled with essays, assignments, research studies, quizzes, exams, class room discussions and most of all – professional cuppings. Our kitchen is filled (something Ms. Tea is not too keen about sometimes) with professional cupping sets as far as the eye can see. This, together, with my tea collection with teas from over 40 countries and tea equipment from all over the world, and you have a tea lover’s dream laboratory.

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“Why Do You Like Tea So Much?” The Backstory

I often get asked the question: Why do you like tea so much? I can best sum it up by looking at my tea past, present and future.

Past

image from trains-worldexpresses.com When I was a little kid we often would take the train from Berlin, East Germany to St. Petersburg, Russia, – a two day journey. On this trip it had been my job to get the tea for the family and I remember this procedure vividly: a strong black tea in a glass mug in a heavy iron casing with a long piece of sugar. I had to make a few trips, for a little kid in a fast moving train not an easy task. But it left something in me, a sort of family tradition. Continue reading →