Tea Review: Oregon Chai Dreamscape

Although I am trying to phase out many of my pre packaged teas, I always feel drawn to a few. I'm to make lazy to make a trip to Wegmans to get some more of my favorite chai; therefore, I've been trying to carefully

selected a tea from the supermarket that is comparable in taste. I've tried Mighty Leaf Chai, but the favorite is too peppery and not strong enough even with two tea bags in the cup. For a while now, I've been eyeing a particular brand on the shelf called Oregon Chai. Since the company name has chai in it then it must be good. With this company you have a choice of concentrate or tea bags and decaf or regular. Normally I would grab the regular tea bags and call it a day, but the fact that the decaf on was marked down severely ($1.59) decided for me.
It's a blend of honeybush and rooibos which are two teas that I don't really care for, but it does make it a decaf tea. When I choose these kinds of teas they usually have something in it that masks the flavor of that actual tea. This is definitely what the spices in this tea do. The blend is excellently spiced and not a single spice overwhelms the other. It has a slight black pepper aftertaste. The rooibos and honeybush give the tea a slight sweet flavor which is accented by the sweetness of cardamom. To officially taste test this out I brewed it a little more traditionally with 2 parts milk to 1 part water and added two teaspoons of sweetener for a 12 oz cup. Delicious on a rainy night.

Review: Teavana's Blueberry Kona Pop

As much as I wouldn't think twice about smacking about Teavana, they really do have some great teas. The only real problem I have with the company is that their sales associates are are a little too pushy for my tastes and I love to window shop. Of course you can order from them online, but you're missing out on a big part of the tea experience. With that being said, the tea today is actually one that they are usually sampling,

Blueberry Kona Pop. It's a blend between their Blueberry Bliss and Pineapple Kona Pop. Personally, I've never had it hot, but only iced as they serve it in their stores and without all of the sugar they add.
I'm slowly progressing with getting my tea collection to a more manageable amount and this was one that I only had a little left of. It's been pretty hot lately, so I wanted to make a nice refreshing drink and I had just enough left to make 2 quarts of iced tea. First I steeped 8 tsp of the tea in 4 cups of water to create a concentrate. When I had thought it achieved a strong flavor, I poured 4 cups of cold water in and removed the tea bags. As for the sweetener, I do it per cup I drink instead of all at once. For my tasting purposes today I prepared it with 1 tsp Splenda and 1 tsp honey.
There's no caffeine in this tea since it's made from herbal and rooibos based tisanes and does not actually contain real tea. It's light and fruit as if you're eating a popsicle. This would definitely be a great tea to give to kids instead of Kool Aid. The most prominent taste is blueberry with a subtle hint of pineapple. Thankfully, to a person that doesn't like rooibos, I can not taste any rooibos. It's so good that I'm thinking about braving Teavana within a few weeks to purchase some more. I wonder if I told them how much I hate their tins if they're let me just get it in a bag...

So You Want to Make Some Tea: Part 3 Steeping

That last part on our introductory tea journey takes us to the nitty-gritty world of steeping tea. This is simple right? Boil some water, pour it into a mug and steep your tea. You must remember here that many people drink black tea and this is okay for that, but that what more delicate teas such as white tea? Following these instructions could result in you burning your tea (something I had no idea you could do until yesterday). Your teas would become bitter and you wouldn't know why. That's because black, oolong, pu erh, white, green, herbal, mate, and rooibos all have different times in which you need to steep your tea to get the best result and different temperatures at which they best perform at. Why? Because each type of tea, with the exception of herbal, mate, and rooibos teas, are harvested and processed differently.
Thankfully, most sellers provide you instructions for this. Teavana provides a handy list of temperatures on their tin for all tea types and includes directions for ice teas as well. At least Teavana tins are good for something. Now only if I could open it...
 And also the tin includes  the specific brewing time, temp, and amount on the label. If dealing with a blend such as chai, the brewing time and temp are that of the most delicate element.

Black Tea
Temp: 195-205
Time: 2-3 minutes
Amount: 1 tsp
Oolong:
Temp: 195
Time: 3 minutes
Amount 1 tsp
Herbal
Temp: 208
Time 1.5
Amount: 1.5

White
Temp: 175
Time: 4-5 minutes
Amount: 1.5 tsp
Green
Temp: 175
Time: 45 seconds - 1 minute
Amount: 1 tsp
Mate
Temp: 208
Time: 5-6 minutes
Amount: 1.5 tsp
Rooibos
Temp: 208
Time: 5-6 minutes
Amount: 1.5 tsp
Of course you can get technical and weigh your tea, but for the typical layman of tea using a measuring spoon is just fine; although, weighing your tea out may be helpful when you choose to steep larger leaf teas like some whites.

So You What to Make Some Tea: Part 2 Teaware

So you acquired your tea, but what do you do now?

Storage
First thing's first. You want to start thinking about how you are going to store your teas. The best way is with a tea tin, but don't feel obligated to purchase the ones from Teavana with your tea. They do have bags they can put them in, but it's not recommended for long term storage because it's not air tight. With that being said, you want something that's airtight and not see through (there are a few exceptions). Tins are perfect for this and come in a variety of shapes and colors. I personal like the ones from David's Tea that are $2.50

each or free if you buy about 3.5 ounces of tea. Teavana's are nice, but I always have a hard time opening them...unless they found out that I keep some of their teas in Adagio tins. Speaking of Adagio, their teas are the exception to the light rule. The tops of the tins are clear, but they are a UV protective type of plastic that will not let UV rays seep through and shorten the shelf life of you tea. The metallic packets that you get with your tea most of time with the ziplock top is fine. I usually transfer mine into tins, but that's just a preference because I hate strangling to get the last bits of tea in the corners of the packet. Just squeeze the extra air out before resealing it.

Infusing
This part can be as simple and as complicated as you want. At the moment I use the filter bags that you fill yourself and typically come in packs of about 100. David's Tea has the best prices for them where you can get 100 medium bags for $2.50. Another inexpensive option it a tea ball with fine mesh. Do not buy the ones with the large holes. Tea leaves with escape and will be found in your cup. While I do not mind the stray tea

leaf, the tea continues to steep and will become bitter. If you're concerned that your tea doesn't have enough room to float around and 'breathe', go with the tea infusers that you place over your cup. Adagio, Teavana, and David's Tea all sell them and Wegman's carries Adagio's version. These can be obtained for around $20 which is not bad it your drink tea a lot, but I find that a pack of paper filters last me several months and is a little cheaper. The bottom line is just go with what's best fits your lifestyle. The filter bags are easy to take with you and to clean up while the bigger infuser require you to clean them and drink the tea in them immediately.

Drinking
There is absolutely no need for dainty little cups to drink your tea in. I personally love heavy mugs and reserve the dainty cups for when I have tea parties. If you want some dainty cups, yard sales and thrift stores can turn up some great finds. I bought a nice dish set with pieces missing from the thrift store for $3 and other cups run around $2.50

From here you can make your teaware as simple and as complicated as you want. Even though I've been drinking tea for a little while now, my steeping methods and accessories are kept simple. I do own a few nice teapots, but nothing fancy and expensive such as Royal Albert bone china. No matter how much you wish to spend on accessories, remember that no amount of money can teach you the skill of making the perfect cup. The cheapest teapot can pour out a better cup than an expensive one.

Part three will be discussing how to brew your tea. So stay tuned!

So You Want to Make Some Tea: Part 1 The Tea

Going into a shop that specializes in tea such as Teavana and David's Tea can be overwhelming especially if the sale associates at Teavana bombard you if recommending this and that and quite possibly things that you really don't need for a beginner tea enthusiast. It's best to go into these places educated about what you need and what you don't need. Most sales associates are more than happy to help you out with any questions (once they give you the runaround with their products).

Tea

First thing that needs to be realized it the price of tea. Loose leaf tea can be cheaper than the pre-bagged stuff, but there are also different qualities of tea out there as well. Don't expect to pay $8 for 2 ounces of Monkey Picked Oolong. You may even guwak at paying $8 for anything that weighs that little. To give you a little perspective. Two ounces makes about 60 cups of tea. $8 of prepackaged tea gets you 2 boxes of about 16-20 bags. So it's like paying about 13¢ per cup of loose leaf tea and 25¢ for the prepackaged tea. Loose leaf is obviously the best bargain even though it has a higher upfront cost. Besides, with the absence of all the little paper packets they come in mean less waste for the landfill. Some companies such as Upton Tea Imports and Adagio offer sample sizes that cost around $1-2. If you are just starting out, I recommend that you do this and see what you like before investing in 2 ounces of something that you really don't care for.
Where to Buy
There are many different places to get tea from. Here are a few great ones that I like.
Adagio
Upton Tea Imports
David's Tea
Wegman's
Teavana (order online instead of purchasing in store)
These are just a few places that people recognize. Of course there are other smaller shops that I encourage patronage to. They have a lot of knowledge about tea. Many of these companies offer starter kits with samples of their teas.
David's Tea offers a starter kit with five sample sizes of tea with 25 g each, a tea scoop, and 20 tea filters for $20. Adagio sells a similar starter kit including four samples and their ingenuitea. You can choose which category you select your tea from. Each of their teas also have sample size options and not to mention a frequent buyer program.
Upton Tea Imports does not have a starter kit, but you can create your own. They have sample sizes of all of their teas and offer infusers to purchase.
Teavana doesn't offer sample sizes or starter kits unless you want to pay out the wazoo for something. I bought a gift set for someone for Christmas last year and it included two of their travel infusers and 4 types of tea for about $75 on sale...They won't sell you less than 4 oz in store (I believe I may be wrong). But the advantage of buying in store is that you get to smell the tea and have an inkling of what it may taste like.
Go crazy at Wegman's. This is probably the best way to start for someone that's not sure if you'd like tea, you can scoop any amount you want. Most of the tea I pay less than a dollar for sample sizes. They also have some accessories to help you get started as well.
I will detail a little later on the differences of different teas, but, for now, go out and explore the possibiliteas. ;)

Rediscovery

I write to you from a small room in a house not my own. The A/C is buzzing and a cup of chai tea is finished. The smell of the exotic spices still linger with in the room making me say that I finished another packet of tea. No, not a box or bag of the little tea bags all gussied up for the average American consumer. People in the tea world call that dust. However, I am talking about the kind you scoop out yourself and use an infuser of your choice. As I remind myself that I need to replenish the next time I swing by Wegman's, I remember how seldom I find people looking at those teas. Is the concept really that strange. The next aisle over is the pre-packaged teas and the aisle is usually packed. If find that it's a lack of knowledge.
Sure I enjoy the occasional meandering through the world of pre-packaged teas. Besides, Stash's Mango Passionfruit is simply delicious! But there is something about seeing the whole leaves and pouring some into your infuser that makes you connect more to the finished product.
Although I am writing as if I'm a hardcore tea drinker that has always drank tea that was not pre-packaged. This is not true. Everyone has to start somewhere. My start was about five years ago when my grandfather and uncle decided to introduce me to loose leaf teas. Unfortunately, after graduating high school, loose leaf tea and I had a falling out. College came two years later and I drank coffee. I still do occasionally. But my real love is with tea. It's amazing that from a single plant a variety of complex flavors can come. Through this blog I hope to educate the public about loose leaf teas and point them to teas that, I at least, love. I hope to incorporate some entries from a few friends that enjoy this side of tea as well.
So I ask you, as I take the last sip on this exceptional chai tea prepared with a splash of milk, honey, sugar, and splenda (more on the latter later), do you truly  know tea?