Ask Me Anything? Vol. 1

I recently launched an e-newsletter to my tribe. I am sending it as an every-now-and-again newsletter. Tea stuff that I am working on, teas from Tea By Chase, and other tea stuff So specific, I know! It is evolving and fluid. If you want to signup, click here. My most recent message was simple: Ask …

My First Taste of Matcha

About 3 years ago, I traveled to Japan for the first time. This was also my first time in Asia. Earlier that year, I had completed a yearlong journey around the world which took me to a variety of foreign environments (20+ countries). So... I believed that I was mentally prepared for the unknown that …

Cold brewing: Using different waters.

A friend came over to join me for tea this morning.  I had planned to make us a cold brew for the day. I felt it would pair nicely with the anticipated warm day in Austin. At the last minute, I decided to I wanted to expand the scope of the cold brew and turn …

How is Darjeeling black tea made?

This week I had the very fortunate opportunity to get a behind the scenes look at the production process for Darjeeling tea.  I was visiting the Longview Tea Estate and they granted me behind the scenes access to their factory and expansive fields so that I might get a better understanding of exactly what goes into making Darjeeling tea.

Darjeeling: Day 2, The Tea Fields

I began my day with a delicious Indian breakfast. The cuisine is all vegetarian at the place I am staying. I really love vegetarian food I have decided. I really need to expand my recipe volume and maybe, just maybe I could get behind vegetarianism for good. With breakfast out of the way, the Estate …

5 Teas, 5 Days: A week in (tea) review.

It was a delicious Monday through Friday of sipping this past week. Below is the list of what was in my cup with links to each's respective review. Enjoy! Monday: "Indefatigable Ox" 2015 Bu Juan (Shu Puerh) Tuesday: "Eiju" Japanese Sencha (Green Tea) Wednesday: "Competition Grade" Baozhong (Oolong) Thursday:"Monkey Picked" Hou Kui (Green Tea) Friday: 2006 Gong Ting …

Tea Review: Gong Ting 2006 Ripe Puerh

I found myself in the mood for a puerh today -- it was cold and cloudy outside and I needed something to warm both my body and mind. I dug into my stash and decided upon one which I had recently purchased from UNYtea: a 2006 Gong Ting Ripe Puerh. The packaging called for 5 …

Tea Review: “Monkey Picked” Taiping Hou Kui Green Tea

This was the first time that I had tasted this tea. Two things attracted me to it... It is picked by Monkeys! (Okay, it is not actually picked by monkeys.  I will admit I was let down when I discovered this wasn't true. More on that below*...) The dried leaves are huge! So naturally, I …

Tea Review: Baozhong “Competition Grade” Oolong

This tea was part of my recent purchase from UnyTea.  It came with the Eiju (and more) which I reviewed yesterday.  Jeff has piqued my interest in a number of teas via his Instagram Live sessions, so naturally I wanted to share them with you too. This strip-style oolong did not disappoint! Scope: Name: "Competition …

Tea Review: “Eiju” Japanese Sencha Green Tea

Anyone that knows me and my journey in tea would know that after several false starts (with tea bags...errrr.... garbage), my interest was first genuinely piqued when I first discovered loose leaf sencha. From there the rest is history... and now my real journey has begun. This led me to a tea session today with a Japanese …