The View: Dr Tea

Okay - so I was very excited to see that they are going to discuss tea on tomorrow's version of 'The View'.

So I decided to go check out Dr. Tea's (Mark Ukra - not a real doctor) website....

After looking at it .... I'm thinking we will probably get something that falls just short of an infomercial -- but I will have to watch to find out .... of course this means I will have to sit thru Chevy Chase and Tina Brown (oh the things I endour for this blog).

I am hoping that he will be able to give enough general info to the public without being rushed or without being too specific about the stuff he sells on his site.

He also has a podcast but I have not checked it out yet -- not sure if its free or $$. Will have to get back to you on that one.

Ginger's Teas: New Recipe

I have a new recipe for Sinus Tea on my google pages site:

Ginger's Teas

Nothing wonky or special, no 'strange' ingredients ... just something that seems to work for my kids, and they like to ask for more - and when they get a cold they seem to ask for it first before cough drops these days!

In fact you could probably get what you need for it right in your grocery store tea aisle and mix up a couple of different teabags from there to come up with something simular.

Review - Earl Grey (Caribou)

Okay so I went to Caribou coffee with daughter to meet with friends and she could work on a health presentation.

Decided to give the Caribou teas a try--I chose Earl Grey.

I love Earl Grey....I love the smart taste of bergamot, I like the light taste of the black tea behind...I figured it was a safe bet for me.

The tea comes in the same cups as their coffee and if it hadn't been for the little tab on a string you would never have known it was tea.
So I sat down and took off the lid to add my sugar (1 tsp/6-8oz cup)...and found that it was not a regular tea bag but it looked very much like a coffee filter that was bundled up around the leaves and tied with the string.

I wish I had paid a little more attention to what she was doing to see if she made that bundle herself or if it was pre-made.

This had to be the worse cup of Earl Grey I had ever tasted.
There was very little bergamot flavoring...so little that it couldn't be tasted over the bitterness of the tea. It was only steeped for a few minutes, but it was really really bitter.

To me this is a sign of old tea---little flavoring, over-brewing.

I'm glad it was only $2 a cup or else I would have been really upset.

First the bag did not look like it held enough leaves in it for a large cup of tea (16 oz)...swollen the leaves took up less room than those of the traditional teabag--for a 16 oz cup they should have used 3 heaping tsps of dry leaves. I would estimate that the bag used 1 - 2 tsps.
I did go to their website and Caribou sells the premade canisters of 'tea balls'...so chances are it was not the brewista's fault.

The site does not say how many cups their container is supposed to make--so I'm just guessing that they figure, one bag all sizes--just brew longer for a bigger batch.

Well as any tea lover knows---it doesn't work that way....over brewing tea will simply make it bitter...and too much water will wash-out the flavor you wish to enjoy.

Ah-ha moment here!

Would I buy this again? No.
Was it worth the price? Yes. 16oz=$1.60

Final thoughts:
Caribou should stick with coffee---they don't know tea in my mind.
I will probably try some of their others...but I recommend that you steer away from the Earl Grey.

Tea and Sympathy

Well--I just got back from Coffee Clutch time with the other mothers from Cub Scouts--at least the ones I know & like--but I, of course, had some Earl Grey tea. Not too bad, less than $2 for a double cup of tea...took the oldest daughter along since she was meeting a friend to go over a presentation they are doing next week and she wanted a coffee....some fancy dansy thing that cost $4!
I told her I could remember when coffee was 25 cents a cup, and even then I thought it was too expensive--she's killing me here.

Well I packed up my iPod, my compendium of Jane Austen novels, a ball of Svale yarn and my dpns...just in case.

Well got caught up on all the latest gossip....learned my kids really aren't that unusual as far as kids go, and that most of the issues they have would be solved if teachers just took a more active role in letting parents know what's going on instead of expecting the kids to do it.

One mother had an issue with her kid thinking that he was failing a class when he in fact was doing really really well with it...just that the way the teacher had worded things and looked at the kids he thought he was one of the two failing kids in class. Now why the hell would let the entire class in on someone's grade? I don't care if he didn't mention a name, I don't care if he didn't feel he pointed anyone out---you don't do that! If you are having troubles with one of the kids getting their homework done then he should have a conference with that kid & his/her parents--not air it out in front of the whole class.

Another mother was telling how her kid has to take 'bullying classes' (kind of like 'anger management') because some kid accused her son of calling him a 'he-she'....which he claims he didn't do....but he was under the impression that unless he confessed that he would be suspended for 6weeks! now that's wrong! The teacher didn't hear it happen...and he is going on one child's word over another....and the accused is swearing up & down that he didn't do it...and there is no proof it happened....so why would they automatically lean on this kid? My guess is that there is more going on in this situation than the mother knows of---but the only way she is going to find out is to talk to the teacher and the vice-principal about it.

This is really too bad...he's a sweet kid. I just can't see him doing anything like this...at least not on purpose...I don't even think he would know what it means. his mom did say one of the other kids in the class apologized to him after he got in trouble ~=~ so it must have happened in front of the whole class instead of keeping it private ~=~ so mom is thinking that perhaps the apologizer is the one who really said it.

I just hope this doesn't show up on his permanent record--I have known this boy for 3 1/2 yrs and I just can't see him doing it. Yes he will stand up for himself if he feels wrong/slighted, but I can't see him doing the bullying. I know he did have problems with a bully at the old school but that kid hasn't bothered him yet this year (that anyone knows of).

Well we chatted for a couple of hours. Daughter met one of her friends to work on their project and when the other mother's wanted to go she wanted to stay...good thing I packed up extra stuff.

Well the girls finished what they had to do, but her friend's mother wasn't going to get her until 4pm...so we decided to stay a bit longer since daughter was 'helping' her with her homework and I got to know the girl a little. A bit flaky, but then I suppose I was at her age too. Finally at 4pm I asked if her mom was coming to get her at 4 when she said, no she called and wouldn't be coming until after 5pm. Well we couldn't wait that long--besides I couldn't do any reading with those two chattering--but she was nice enough to let me use her cell phone to call hubby to get us. Actually it took two calls...one home to find out that hubby had gone into work...she was really nice about it.

So we left her there but she said she would be alright--I hope she is.

Well all is done for now---got two pages read (I just can't read in that kind of enviroment anymore) and absolutely no knitting (daughter discouraged it)---now I just have to wait for the cry of 'but we have to get together to put the project together' from her.

well....I wanted to do a review of the tea I had.

review - Cuisine Internationale Tea Ball Infuser

2" Tea Ball Infuser

$2.00(reg. price) @ mountain rose herbs

I love loose tea, but lets face it tea bags are more convienient. Thus the beauty of the infuser ball--its the best of both worlds.

I had not originally intended to use this for tea though, I bought it for cooking so I could easily remove herbs & spices from my dishes so the kids wouldn't know what I used.

What I like about this ball: it is stainless steel, it is 2" diameter (plenty of room for a cup of tea or pot of soup), the mesh is small so bits of leaves don't get in my cup, it is heavy enough to be a good 'dunker'--that is it want's to go under the water and not float on top.
What I thought needed some work: doesn't open wide enough for easy filling, flip latch is thin and can easily mis-shapen making it easy to open, hook at end of chain came crimped almost completely shut, chain could stand to be a little longer in my opinion (I like to loop the chain around the handle of the cup and hook it to itself)

Here it used and opened. This was enough for one mug of tea, notice that the leaves of the tisane (herbal tea) had plenty of room to swell - this is important to tea...the better the flow of water between the leaves the 'cleaner' the taste.
it cleaned up very nice although it was a bit of a bother to get the leaves off the screen (the tendency is to cling on).
I have used the infuser balls with the pierced metal before and was not pleased with the dust & impurities that would work their way thru I didn't notice this at all with the mesh. Although many of you may think it is due to a better quality tea--I truly believe the mesh is what made the difference...it is just finer.

Will I use it again---you betcha and for a variety of uses!!

Review - QVC Tea Server Ball

So you may notice in my SVTea/Eve's Garden review the little tea pot.
I got this for Christmas for myself and picked up one for each of my girls for their 'hope chests' but of course my oldest daughter had to use hers right away.

The Tea Server Ball purchased from QVC.com cost:$11.75, +shipping & tax for first in order, each additional pot in same order get for $8.75, +1/2 shipping, +full tax.

Here is a shot of it assembled--it even comes with a scoop for measuring out your tea. Very cute. Available in 7 colors.

It comes apart for easy cleaning--but hand wash only!

I was kind of disappointed when I got them because I found that many of the things I take for granted with my other pots I can't do with this and the one thing I thought I could do with this I can't. Namely:

Hand wash only (all parts), no boiling water (let it cool before adding, even if you heat pot first), no microwave---what???

That's right no microwave, even if you remove the metal screen--the glass just can't take it.

The scoop is small for my hands and makes this feel almost like a toy.

The tea gets cold fast because the glass is not very thick...not even as thick as the cheapest coffee pot I've seen.

I do like that it comes all a part for cleaning and that the screen can be removed for when I wish to brew with tea bags. having the plastic lip for the basket come out seperately is very handy too for cleaning.

If you are going to drink the tea fast...go for it. Me I like to linger on my tea....I will probably still use my small metal pot (no longer available) which stays hot for about 1/2 hour. I mean its not a bad little teapot...just not what I was looking for.

NOTE:

During the video presentation on the QVC site you will hear the inventor of this pot make a statement that implies this pot will prevent bitter tea---this is not true. Most 'bitter' tea is simply over brewed.

To prevent 'bitter' tea you can do one of two things:

1. shorten your brew time.

2. brew for 1 minute then dump out the liquid, add more water to already wet leaves and continue brewing again.

The sharpness of black tea tends to come out within the first minute, the caffine with in the first two--if tea gives you the jitters, try brewing for 2-3 minutes, dump the liquid, add more water and begin brewing again (using same leaves)

Review - SVTea...Eve's Garden

First it has been a while since I have done a product review so indulge me while I share with you a nice find from several years before I ever got a blog....

Simpson & Vail, Inc. a wonderful tea company who has been around for nearly 80 years.

I had never ordered tea via internet before so I was a tad leary, but they are a wonderful company who were very helpful and seemed to enjoy answering my questions on quality and shipping time....I was so impressed that I easily ordered enough tea to start my own tearoom!

They have a wide variety of tea, coffee, food stuffs, and teaware (pots, cup sets, mugs, infusers, pot warmers, linens, etc.) but I found them for their teas. So it is one of their teas which I will review for this posting....

This is Eve's Garden. It has Red Clover blossoms, pau d'arco, chamomile, strawberry leaves, damiana, spearmint, vitex berries, cramp bark, nettle leaf, and licorice root.

here is a better shot of the color of the brew and its colors

now I like a sweet tea, usually 1 tsp/cup. To brew use 1 tsp per cup of brew and brew for at least 5 minutes but as much as 10 minutes(I like mine at 5 minutes), and I use my coffee maker to heat the water so I don't have to wait for it to cool too much before I drink it.

It has a very delicate flavor...rather mellow. It reminded me very much of chamomile although it is different (its kind of hard to explain). You can not taste the licorice as I thought I would be able too...nor the nettle....nor the mint for that matter (which is unusual, mint is so overpowering). The purpose of this tea is to help with monthly cramping and other needs (although they say it has "herbs that are noted to tone and strengthen a woman’s system") although I think it could probably use a bit of rose hip and/or rose petals for flavor, color, and vitamin C.

I like it and will more than likely use it quite a bit. My daughter swears by it during her 'trying days' every month. It is very reasonably priced.

4 oz. (pictured) for $5.95 .....it should make approximently 56 cups, that's about 10 1/2 cents a cup!!! Much cheaper than those boxes of pills.

Review -- TeaLovers Boutique (Free Plug)

Tea Party Essentials : Tea Lover's Boutique, Where Tea Lovers Shop

Okay---for us tea lovers out there---there's a great podcast called "TeaCast" from the Tea Lovers Room/Tea Lover Chick.

If you love tea you will really appreciate this podcast. it isn't "snooty" but it is informative.

But this link isn't for the show---the Tea Lover Chick has tried to take the run-around out of setting up a tea party/gathering by doing the runninf for you...and last year opened her own supply shop.

I love her stuff....probably too much....she has many unique items that I have not been able to find any where else---such as the inside-out heart tea cup sets.
I did see a single cup/saucer being offered online last year for about $30...but she offers a set of 6 cups & 6 saucers in a wonderful storage/gift/display case for $49--well actually she offers two seperate sets.
The first is done in rainbow colors (a more contemporary/'now' look) and the second is in a more traditional pink/cream with gold accents... in fact the entire handle is covered in gold (talk about luxurious!).

She has got everything you could possibly need for a tea party--including the tea.

Remember tea parties aren't just for kids---it was started by adults and we should claim it back. Need some ideas? Check out her selection of tea based books, she even has issues of 'Tea Time Magazine'...if you haven't heard of it, its worth the $5 to check out a copy!