Steep Stories

Author: lazyliteratus

  • Attack of the Adorable Tea Vloggers

    One of the biggest challenges to tea blogger productivity . . . is the Internet. Yes, all of it. While social media is the biggest time-suck—keeping me away from what little writery discipline I possess—YouTube is a close second. My addiction to that streaming site is as old as my tea habit. However, there weren’t…

  • The Harendong Estate

    Four years ago, I “discovered” the Harendong estate. I put “discovered” in air-quotes because . . . it’d been there for eight years by the time I ran across it. Perhaps I should say, it was new to me. They had a booth at the 2013 World Tea Expo—under their Banten Tea brand—and the thing…

  • Should “Tea” Be a Safe Word?

    Let’s talk about tea, oversharing, and consent. Of course, in order to do this I will have to—y’know—overshare. So, continuing past this point, or clicking the “Read More” button, will be considered a form of consent. Understood? Are we all on the same page? Great, let’s begin.

  • Tea Will Change the World

    In the not-too-distant past, I was reading one of my fictional stories to a friend. He stopped me within the first paragraph and asked a very simple question, “What are you trying to say?” Not as in, what was I trying to say in the story, but rather, what was I trying to say as…

  • Christmas on FIRE!!!

    I’ll make this quick, I swear. Well, quicker than usual. I know you all have Christmas/holiday shopping to do, or something equally as holiday-y. But I have a cute li’l holiday blurb to get off my chest . . . so deal with it. At World Tea Expo in June, I tried THIS at the…

  • The Parts of Portland’s Tea Culture that The Oregonian Missed.

    In the summer of 2015, the unthinkable happened. I scheduled an interview with an honest-to-Lu-Yu newspaper. Our local rag, The Oregonian, to be precise. They wanted to talk to me in my natural habitat, as a tea drinker. The reason? A soon-to-be-established feature on Portland’s tea culture. Lauren “Mizuba Tea Co.” Purvis recommended they talk to me,…

  • Japanese Style Green Tea . . . From Australia

    Australian Tea Week, Day 3: “Japanese Style Green Tea . . . From Australia” I received the subject of today’s blog from this fingergun-toting, doughnut-destroying badass. This is Naomi Rosen; no, she’s not Australian. But she could certainly pass for one. She’s the purveyor of Joy’s Teaspoon. Aside from selling some really good teas, she could also…

  • Effie’s Tea Offerings

    Australian Tea Week, Day 2: “Effie’s Tea Offerings” This is Effie Gidakos . . . She’s a tea nerd, like I am. She even takes to social media (and local radio) about her love of tea. She’s also obsessed with Christmas (obviously). And—per this week’s theme—she’s also Australian.

  • The Arakai Estate

    Australian Tea Week! Day 1: “The Arakai Estate” Australia. The Land Down Under. Oz. Or whatever other people (including the locals) call it. Our southernmost Pacific neighbor is known for many things: weird and diverse wildlife, a wicked sense of humor, numerous flora and fauna that can kill you in a heartbeat, sometimes good beer…

  • Once Bug-Bitten, Twice Shy

    Well . . . I guess it’s time to put a certain theory to pasture. And it’s all because of these two. Who are they? I’ll get to that. What theory? Oh, I had this hypothesis that tea and dating (or courtship, whatever) didn’t “blend”.