Steep Stories

Category: Tea Features

  • Having Oolong Ice Cream Every Which Way

    Several weeks ago, I made a trip to Smith Teamaker’s to try out some new tea concoctions they were working on. Tony Tellin, the lead blender was already doing a pouring of their new Masala Chai ON NITRO! . . . and I stuck around to try something else that was not yet on the…

  • Old and Clean – A Pu-Erh Perplexion

    Okay, learning time. Everyone knows about black tea, green tea, oolong, and so on . . . but I’m sure there are some newbies passing by this article that don’t know what pu-erh is. Well, I’ll tell you, but I’ll keep it brief. In short, it’s heicha (dark tea). Or rather, tea that’s meant to…

  • The Road to Eugene Is Paved in Tea

    The Road to Eugene Is Paved in Tea – Teashop Adventure Week June was a shitty month. Between two deaths in the family, a work-related back injury, and a two-week bout of influenza to cap things off, I think it’s safe to say it was the shittiest month I’ve had in nearly a decade. There…

  • Smith Tea . . . ON NITRO!

    Smith Tea . . . ON NITRO! – Teashop Adventure Week “On nitro!” Two words that I greatly missed from my beer-drinking days. From what I heard from a master brewer once, the process of pumping a beer keg full of nitrous oxide was to mimic the character of cask conditioning. The result was a…

  • The T Project Grand Opening

    The T Project Grand Opening – Teashop Adventure Week Several months ago, I stopped through Northeast Portland to stay a spell at Tea Bar. And it was . . . crowded. As a self-professed introvert, I don’t do well in crowds. If I’m with peers, I mind them less. But if alone, crowds feel suffocating.…

  • Drinking Duck Shit

    Sometimes, I think the ancient Chinese are trolling us from beyond their ancestral graves. How else do you explain an oolong that is – essentially – a poop joke? Yashi Xiang (Duck Shit Fragrance) Dan Cong is an oolong hailing from Guangdong province, China. I first learned of it from fellow weird tea friend, Greg…

  • Whiskey Smoked Tea

    Whiskey Smoked Tea – The Tea-Totaler Trilogy, Part 3 This is a parable about poor impulse control. I was having a conversation with Mizuba Tea’s Lauren Purvis about experiments regarding matcha, smoke and wine. She asked me if I’d seen a recent article posted by The Japanese Tea Sommelier. I’d heard of this blogger before,…

  • Booze Teas for Boob Teapots

    Booze Tea for Boob Teapots – The Tea-Totaler Trilogy, Part 2 Around the year, 490 BCE, in the ancient Chinese kingdom of Yue, there was once a beautiful woman who was offered as tribute to an invading king. The woman was so marveled for her beauty, it was said that fish would forget how to…

  • Cheating at Tea-Totaling

    Cheating at Tea-Totaling – The Tea-Totaler Trilogy, Part 1 In December of last year, I gave up drinking. The reason? A missing hubcap. I hit a curb while driving a wee bit sauced. No idea where said hubcap went. My theory’s Narnia. My poor car was the impetus for what (originally) began as a year-long…

  • A Tale of a Nepalese Tea Estate

    I’m well aware of the awkward timing of this blog, given recent events. Originally, I’d intended to have this up the week prior. Circumstances of the lazy kind prevented me from finishing it by then. So, here it is, now. And, yes, I will be addressing the really shaky subject matter toward the end. But…