Tea Nerd

[As with my post on mindfulness, this is more a personal reflection than a lesson. Hopefully you can glean something useful from it, but I certainly do not want to imply that I know what is best for you.] I recently noticed that light is a critical part of my...

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Class: Oolong Origin: Wuyi Shan, China Year: 2006 Vendor: The Tea Gallery (Product page *be sure to select the 2006 option*) Price: $23.00 (25g) This is one of those rare instances when I am in agreement with a description on a vendor's site (though it's debatable who is usually at fault!). This is an...

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This is the other tea given to me by MarshalN; you can find my notes on "B" here. The dry leaf smells like caramel, toasty grains, and blueberry/classic-aged-oolong. The lid aroma is thick and luxurious, saturated with caramel and toastiness. Despite the subdued flavor of the first steep (it was a...

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I feel increasingly weird posting tasting notes here, especially for old teas you can't buy anymore. They make sense for group tastings where others may actually want to compare observations but... let's be honest, you don't really want to read about the bag of unlabeled oolong I just found...

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This tea comes from MarshalN, along with its sister "A", which I'll write about soon. It's an aged oolong of some sort, but I don't know anything more. I'm sure it has been discussed but in my prolonged absence from the online tea world, I missed out. The dry...

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This article is about something I take very seriously, though not often enough. I generally try to live by Oscar Wilde's maxim that "Life is too important to take seriously," but there are a certain few things in this world that I cannot help but revere. Mindfulness is...

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Class: Oolong Origin: Fujian, China Year: ? Vendor: Imperial Tea Court (Product page) Price: $6.00 (28g) / $21.25 (113g) This is not a bad tea. (What, expecting something more profound after a month and a half?) The truth is, my taste buds are a wee bit rusty after such a long break from...

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My preferred "style" is definitely minimalist-leaning without being completely spartan (Proper capitalization and punctuation? On a blog? Gadzooks!), as you may have noticed through my teaware choices and the various templates Tea Nerd has sported in the past. Even putting aside aesthetics, there is something elegant and...

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I brewed up the last of a sample of 90's Golden Pearls Dancong. A bit stale, but still tasty. I have to say, I'm not sure tea would be quite as good if I knew it would never go stale. Hope you weren't expecting a lot of text! ...

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Bwahaha, I'll bet I had you going for a minute there with this title. It's actually exactly the opposite of what you are thinking. This is mostly a "look guys, this blog really isn't dead" post, but here's a fun fact: over the past few months, despite drinking...

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Class: Oolong Origin: Anxi, China Year: ? Vendor: The Tea Gallery (Product page) Price: $9.00 (25g) / $33.00 (100g) nomnomnomnomnomnomnom This was a free sample I got with my order. I almost ordered a small amount but decided against it; apparently they can read minds (is there anything The Tea Gallery people don't do well?). This...

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Table of Contents The Spartan The Lone Ranger The MacGyver The Orient Express (Part II, Part III) Where's the matcha guide? I wrote this before I started the Newbie's Guide series, but it is probably still helpful to mention it here: Matcha Madness (Part II, Part III). Which is best for me? If you have no...

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Continued from Newbie's Guide to Teaware: The Orient Express (Part II: Teapots and Gaiwans). Addendum to Part II I forgot to mention a common concern of new Yixing owners: pre-seasoning or pre-treatment. This is another topic about which everyone and their mother has something to say! My advice? Don't...

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Though the previous few articles have been revolved around basic Western brewing methods, the purpose of this guide is to outline a basic inventory of teaware you will need for some more Eastern brewing methods. Because there is so much to say, this article will be broken up over...

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Continued from Newbie's Guide to Teaware: The Orient Express (Part I: Kettles). 2. Gaiwan and/or Teapot This is dangerous territory. It seems that there are about as many opinions on the gaiwan and teapot issue as there are tea drinkers (and that's not even counting the arguments over the various types...

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I don't like to title my photos, unless it's a simple description like the name of the place or the item in the photo. To me a photo title is suspiciously similar to the foreword of a book; it really only exists because the author wants to tell you...

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Class: Green Origin: Not sure. Shizuoka? Blend? Year: 2009 Vendor: Sugimoto, USA Price: Free for me! (Thanks Chip and Pentox) This shincha comes courtesy of Chip and Pentox of Teachat-- thanks guys! Hachiju hachiya means "88 nights" and, in this context, is a claim that this tea was picked on the very...

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Class: Green Origin: Saga prefecture, Japan Year: 2009 (I think, not 100% sure) Vendor: Lupicia (Product page) Price: $10.00 (50g) This post brought to you by Polaroid! (Okay, not really, but my SX-70 was feeling awfully neglected.) This is a tamaryokucha, a.k.a. guricha, from the Saga prefecture of Japan. The most surprising thing? ...

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Meet my newest acquisition, a Yashica 12 TLR. I just gave it a thorough cleaning and plan on running some film through it in the next day or two; hopefully there are no major problems! ...

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Based on the ideas covered in previous installments of this series, I decided to write an article for the even-more-budget-conscious and the experimenters among us. It is not surprisingly called... The MacGyver The MacGyver is probably more difficult to use than The Spartan or The Lone Ranger, but it can be...

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Class: Green Origin: Yame prefecture, Japan Year: 2009 Vendor: Zencha.net (Product page) Price: $31.00 (100g) This sencha has a lovely color. It's not quite as green as O-Cha's Yukata Midori, but what is? I've been enjoying this shincha (wondering what "shincha" is?) for a couple weeks now. Mmmm. It has been a long...

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Hey all, I finally gave in and updated to the newer Blogger layout system. Sure, it looks like every other blog out there now (I may tweak it to be a bit more unique later), but there are some nice features I couldn't use on the old system.Let me...

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In the previous installment of Newbie's Guide to Teaware, The Spartan, I attempted to describe a simple, affordable, all-purpose set of teaware. However, for many of you, it can get even simpler and more affordable. Thus I present...The Lone RangerThe Lone Ranger setup is as easy as it...

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Over on TeaChat, I often see questions like "Should I get a Yixing pot?" or "What kind of kettle should I buy?" It took me a long time to finally settle down with a basic set of teawares, and I would like to share some tips I've learned along...

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Class: OolongOrigin: Wuyi Mountains, Fujian province, ChinaYear: 2008Vendor: Jing Tea Shop (Product page)Price: $78 (100g) / $23.50 (25g)I feel like a broken record saying this, but thanks go to Adrian for this sample (he sent me so damn many!). At 78¢/gram, this is definitely one of the most expensive...

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