Steep Stories

Month: November 2013

  • Nan Nuo – My Favorite Mountain

    Anyone that’s developed some sort of taste for tea starts to identify flavors with places. As palates develop, so do preferences for terroir – i.e. the characteristics tea plants take on based upon their geography. Where do Assams get their malt, or Darjeelings their muscatel notes? Why do Hawaiian teas tend to have fruit-sweet/tropical sensations…

  • Smoked Tea with Friends

    Days like this are frustrating. One casually glances around at different tea vendors, and then…it happens. There is a particular tea that catches the eye and doesn’t let the gaze turn away. That was my reaction to Norbu Tea’s Jin Xuan Xiao Zhong. (Try saying that name three times fast.) The extensive bio said everything…

  • Tandem Tastings and Tea Moment Tags.

    I was originally saving this blog space for a totally different write-up, but two occurrences have sidelined that extended anecdote. First was the advent of another Tandem Tea Tasting via Google+ Hangout, and the second…was a blog tag. And I’m not one to ever turn down either. As such, priori-“tea” dictates that I cover those…

  • Talks with a Tea Fairy

    Over a year ago, I came in contact with a particular gal through another gal. (And I just like using the word “gal”; I don’t care if it sounds old-fashioned.) Tea MC Tiff – who I’ve mentioned on a couple of occasions – made a trip to Kyoto, Japan and visited the Obubu Tea Plantation.…