Steep Stories

Category: Tea Features

  • Regarding Tea Sachets

    In more informed tea circles, it is common knowledge that teabags are crap. Those little bags of ass-flavored tea usually contain the dust left over after the good, loose leaf tea was packaged. The taste of an average black tea from a bag is rough and bitter, like licking a chalkboard. (Yes, I’ve tried that.)…

  • A Dork Drunk on Doke

    Let’s talk a little about terroir. It’s a word usually bandied about by wine folks in order to sound “edumacated”. Blame the French. The word “terroir” derives from the French word “terre”, which literally means “land”. Terroir, as a concept, is applied to plants that are influenced by the “land” where they grow. Geology, geography,…

  • A Saturday Evening with Friday Afternoon

    It was a Saturday, as the title suggests. Saturday, March 21, to be precise. It was a really shitty Saturday, in other words. The work shift was going frustratingly poorly. My student loan sharks announced they were tripling my monthly payment. And finally . . . a panic attack was looming. Not sure how that…

  • The Passing of a Tea Shaman

    In 2009, I met an extraordinary man. A legend, really. He had just opened his newest operation, Steven Smith Teamaker – aptly named after himself. He had reason for such bravado, having co-founded two of the largest tea companies ever. Stash Tea Company and Tazo (pre-Starbucks) were his brainchildren. The man had earned his stripes.…

  • Russian Green Tea Roulette

    Full circle, man. Let me explain. About a year and a half ago, I did a write-up on Russian grown tea, specifically a black tea from the Krasnodarskiy brand. My verdict was, “Eh.” However, I didn’t disregard the Dagomys region of Krasnodar completely. According to some sources, the tea gardens in the region were stepping…

  • A Young Yiwu Pu-Erh Afternoon

    It’s an honest question. For years, I was taught that, sure, a young sheng (raw) pu-erh could be good, but it had yet to reach its full potential. After all, pu-erh was meant to be aged – to mature over time. Particularly the raw variety. However, I’m starting to rethink my stance on that. Sometimes,…

  • A High Mountain Happy Accident

    The late Bob Ross used to close his show with the line, “There are no mistakes, only happy accidents.” His philosophy – if it can be called that – holds true for a lot of things. Oolong, for starters, was a happy accident. As legend has it, the style came about because a leaf picker…

  • A Swift, Southern Caffeinated Kick in the Teeth

    Have I ever mentioned that I’m sensitive to caffeine? Like “Deanna Troi” sensitive. Upon my first exposure to yaupon holly – yerba mate’s sweeter, ‘Merican cousin – I hadn’t prepared for the absolute caffeine zing! it imparted. It took three melatonin pills just to slow my heart rate enough to sleep that night. For a…

  • Scottish Grown Tea and Mystery Lasses

    This all started with a forum topic. Tea Trade’s resident Smiling Frenchman – Xavier (of the Teaconomics blog) – had posted a discussion starter. It was aptly titled: “The First Scottish Tea is White and Smoky” That immediately held my attention. In the discussion, Xavier posted a link to an article about a new outfit…

  • Fujian Face-Off! Lapsang Souchong Vs. Jin Jun Mei

    I think I’ve made my point rather clear that I love Lapsang Souchong. Many of my blogs here, or on my manlier Devotea-backed side-project – Beasts of Brewdom – have extolled its virtues (and lack of subtlety). Maybe it was the campfire taste, or the trail of forest-fire it left on my tongue in its…