Name: Blood Orange Black Brand: Drink The Leaf Type: Black tea, flavored Form: Loose Leaf Cost: $5.50 for 2 ounces (quantity discounts available) Review: This is a most interesting flavored black tea from Drink The Leaf: Ceylon tea is blended with blood orange flavoring and safflower petals for a refreshing, citrusy brew. The dark brown leaves infuse to a gorgeous red-orange color. The black tea meshes well with the blood orange flavoring: Citrus dominates, but the tea is quite detectable. Li... Read Full Story

Name: Cocoa Cardamom Tango Tea Brand: SpecialTeas Type: Black tea, flavored Form: Loose leaf Cost: $5.95 for 1/4 lb (quantity discounts available) Review: I am sorry to say that this tea was a bit of of a disappointment. The nose on the dry leaf was rather nice, but the flavors just didn’t come together in the cup. I found the base tea to be rather harsh, and with the dominant cardamom, the result was an acrid brew. The addition of sugar and milk did soften this tea some, and the cocoa ... Read Full Story

I drink a lot of tea and use a lot of teaware. It isn’t uncommon for me to drink three, four, five different teas in a day. Some I brew in my Yixing pots, others I brew in a gaiwan or some other form of teaware: All under the watchful and beady eyes of Claudius, my little tea-pet. I am not always as careful as I should be about cleaning my teaware after each use, though. Take my gaiwans, for example. I’ll rinse the bowls with boiling water between teas, but I may leave the base/s... Read Full Story

A few weeks ago, Michael Spencer (aka Internet Monk) posted a hypothetical scenario entitled “That Not Exactly Married Couple” and solicited comments from his readers: An unmarried couple, living together for five years are attending your church. They are unmarried because the woman’s ex-husband is threatening to reduce child support if they do marry. The couple plans to marry next year when the child support ends. They are now asking to join the church: What do you do? The ... Read Full Story

I am pleased to report that my favorite tea tea room, Dream About Tea, has opened up its online store at Dreamaboutteastore.com. Dream About Tea is an independent retailer and importer of teas, and are adding new teas daily to their online selection. Through November 30th, you can use coupon code freeship09 for free shipping on any order over $10. Dream About Tea specializes in pu’erh and Chinese teawares. Here are a few of my favorite items from them: Yunnan Golden Silk: This is hand... Read Full Story

Name: Huan Jin Bolero Brand: Adagio Teas Type: Oolong Form: Loose Cost: Sample is $3 (enough for 10 cups), 4 oz is $9, quantity discounts available Review: Adagio recently added this tea to their line, and I am glad they did. Huang Jin Bolero is a reasonably priced green oolong that matches well with food and is good for numerous infusions. The lightly rolled, somewhat broken leaf is a very dark green, with a lightly roasted, nutty/woody scent. It infuses to a light olive green, with a nose o... Read Full Story

A review of Ineeka’s “Ingenuity” Green Limon tea is now up on Examiner.com. This is a very refreshing flavored Himalayan green tea that really shines when iced. Read Full Story

Name: Arya Emerald Brand: Thunderbolt Tea Type: Green tea, darjeeling Form: Loose leaf Cost: $18.00 for 100 grams (quantity discounts available) Review: I confess to being somewhat skeptical of non-Chinese or or Japanese green teas: I’ve tried a few standouts, of course, but for the most part, these teas are unappealing, unbalanced and/or just plain uninteresting. This new offering from Thunderbolt, however, is none of these things. The soft gray-green and silvery leaf is long and twist... Read Full Story

Ineeka is a unique, Chicago-based tea company (check out the Chicago Tribune write-up that includes some quotes from Yours Truly),  that produces some great teas packed into innovative tea bags. Check out my recent review of Ineeka’s Darjeeling “Elevation” at Examiner.com. Read Full Story

(I preached this eulogy today at the memorial service for my friend and roommate who died recently. It is a transcription of sorts, so it may not flow as naturally as a standard blog post would.) When I first met John I was struck by two things: His beautiful blue eyes and his angelic face. I was dazzled. I was not really surprised then, when I found out that John was in the business of beauty. It was his profession, after all. After high school he studied cosmetology, became a hairdresser, a... Read Full Story