Steep Stories

Tag: matcha

  • Back-to-Back Matcha Bowls

    I recently noticed I don’t cover a lot of matcha on this here blog. There are some completely innocuous reasons for that: (1) everyone is already covering matcha just fine, and (2) when I do cover matcha, I tend to go a little . . . overboard. Such was the case a few weeks back.

  • Niu-Gu, FaceTubes, and Matcha Wrestling

    A month ago, during a tea-‘n-matcha-fueled dinner pairing, a university educator asked me this: “What do you do?” “I’m just a tea blogger,” I replied. She sort of tilted her head, confusedly—like a Saint Bernard. Then asked, “Why?” The follow-up question caught me off-guard. I was both hurt and offended by it. Not because she…

  • Several Moments of Matcha Madness

    I’ve gone on record as saying that Mizuba Tea‘s matcha line is one of my favorites. Both for their quality . . . and convenience. Convenient, how? Well, “they” are located in my neck of the woods. That’s right, I have a local matcha (read: crack) dealer. If I need a fix, I know who…

  • 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.…

  • Steeped Recipes at Smith’s

    I can’t cook . . . worth a damn. The only interest I’ve ever taken in food preparation is, well, how to eat it. That is where my exploration of the culinary arts begins and often ends. Beyond the making of an epic sammich (yes, sammich, not sandwich), my ability to cook, bake, and .…

  • Prelude to a Tea Bar

    This all started back in the Spring…with Instagram. I was still fairly new to the site, and had one specific goal for it – make my blog pictures look prettier. I was a crappy photographer at best; a passable one at worst. Never did I expect to actually use it to network. Social or otherwise.…

  • Mid-Afternoons with a Matcha Maven

    This story began – as many of them do – back in June, at World Tea Expo. I was pal-ing around with Nicole (Tea For Me Please) Martin, when she stopped in mid-stride. She insisted I make the acquaintance of a young woman. Said lady-person was Lauren Danson, the proprietor of an online matcha store…

  • Throwing in the Towel after a Tea Fight

    A couple of weeks back there, I attended a different sort of tea meet-up. The Portland Tea Enthusiasts’ Alliance and The Jasmine Pearl Tea Merchants joined forces for a movie night. The movie in question? Tea Fight (or “Dou Cha”) – a Taiwanese/Japanese co-production centering almost entirely around tea, and the people who drank it. One…

  • F**k Flavored Matcha

    First, let me go on record by saying: “I am not against flavored tea!” As a well-versed/rehearsed Earl Grey drinker, I can’t say I’m above a little dash of something extra. Some of the best teas I’ve tried have fallen under the “flavor”-ful moniker. Granted, I’m more prone to traditional(-ish?) approaches to scenting teas rather…

  • “Thé”-ater: Tea Time at the Movies

    My mother is an idea gal – always has been. The part that’s most frustrating – especially for me, the eldest of her brood – is that she is right 90% of the time. I think she missed her calling as the head of a newspaper, the magnate of an advertising agency or the moderator…