Do you love tea?  Of course you do, otherwise you wouldn’t be perusing this site and reading these notes about tea.  Well, now we have something special just for you.  Yes, you can still comment and contribute on our Art of Tea website, but now for those who really, really, really love tea and want to learn how to blend and talk about it we’ve created a new blog site just for you. This blog was inspired and created for the first blending graduates of the two sold out blending classes  taught at the world tea expo by CEO and Founder of Art of Tea’s very own Steve Schwartz. Check out www.teablending.wordpress.com and become part of the community.  Ask questions.  Exchange information.  Make friends. Learn and exchange new tips. Send in a pic of you drinking your favorite tea out of your favorite cup.  This site is for you and about you and we look forward to watching it grow and learning more about tea with all of you.  Also, keep your eye out for our upcoming monthly blending competitions.  This is where you’ll get to shine and show everyone what you know about creating great tea tastes.  Who knows, maybe one day you’re special blend will become part of our Art of Tea family of teas.

A must to experience is this Darjeeling 2008 First Flush tea which comes from one of the last family owned tea estates in Darjeeling, India. The Makaibari estate in the Darjeeling hills of Northeastern India is home to the finest high grown Darjeeling teas and leader of biodynamic and organic permaculture. This high altitude tea is grown on picturesque steep slopes up to 4000ft, surrounded by fresh air and pure mountain spring water. Our select high grown tea is hand picked, artisan processed and provides a bright and brisk cup much lighter than other black teas because of its high altitude. This “champagne of teas” is a first flush tea which brews a pink, light amber color, fresh floral and apple like character, with a slightly astringent finish. It serves better when brewed at a cooler temperature of 180F. It is rare to experience a pure 100% Darjeeling outside of India. This is your passport to experience this rare and golden opportunity of a truly prized luxury.

Tyler, one of our fellow tea enthusiasts here at Art Of Tea, recently wrote about our Ti Kwan Yin as an “all day tea”. As a writer I spend alot of time at my computer, juggling characters and story lines and who knows what else. So the simple idea of a tea that I could sort of prepare once and then just add hot water to throughout the day was more than a little appealing.

Now, I haven’t branched out into Oolongs like the one Tyler was describing yet, but I’ve definitely been busy consuming every variation of green tea I can get my hands on. And recently, I’ve become a huge fan of the Gyokuro Uji. This beautiful Japanese tea, with its clean refreshing taste, is perfect for sipping through a long day of writing – or pretty much anything else.

As a bonus, I’ve found that just a single teaspoon is more than enough for hours of multiple brews. The tiny blade-like leaves blossom into this gorgeous, dense lush green when I pour hot water over them in my individual tea infuser at home. The first cup is a strong, classic “green tea” but with every subsequent steep, you get wonderful bits of subtle, crisp flavor that beg further exploration.

I’ve since begun experimenting with several teas for this same all day effect and, for my own taste, I’m finding some definite standouts. My other favorites in the “all day” category right now are the Green Pear(with just a hint of sweet that I love so much I can literally go on about it for days), and the Moroccan Mint(hands down, my favorite mint tea of all time).

A word of advice: With all tea, you want to be careful how long you steep the leaves when you brew. This is especially true of green teas, which can become bitter when over-steeped. With everything I’ve mentioned above, 3 minutes per brew is all you need.

As I try to shed a couple of extra pounds, I have found the secret weapon to curbing my cravings. The story of how I happened upon it began today when the tea was being freshly blended at the Art of Tea facility. The process created an amazing aroma that filled my senses. Immediately, I knew I needed a taste. The delicate scent emanating from the tea was like no other tea I have ever experienced. But it wasn’t until the tea was brewed that I was able to connect that heavenly smell to a sweet treat: a cross between a breakfast pastry and a cinnamon bun.

So there it is. My newfound secret weapon to soothing my sweet tooth is the amazing Cinnamon Fig tea. This is particularly perfect as we are nearing Halloween and Thanksgiving and tempting treats abound. It’s truly a treat with no trick involved! Other amazing seasonal teas that double as a treat for my sweet tooth are Caramelized Pear and Pumpkin Pie. Put these teas together and you practically have an entire holiday meal!

The English translation of Ti Kwan Yin is “Iron Goddess of Mercy”. I think the translation of our TKY – Green should be “all day tea”. That’s what I like to call it. It is one of those teas consisting of leaves I can enjoy steeping over and over again throughout the day. In fact for me, the beauty begins to really show on the second and third steepings. This estate is high in elevation and partially shaded. The plants enjoy cool crisp air with a decent amount of humidity. At harvest the leaves are sorted and then gently basket tossed to break the skins and begin the oxidation. The oxidation process is not long, so the tea retains a subtle fresh green flavor. I am told this is really where the name comes from, but I think it’s all marketing hype.

When you drink it, you defiantly know that it is an oolong. It produces flavors of good toasted herbs and pine nuts, and great texture of fig or apricot. A light vegetal flavor of beans and bell peppers rounds out the mouth. Across the palate this tea is very soft and mellows with each additional steeping. Make this one an “all day tea” and you will be pleased with the changes in your cup.

Let’s take a closer look at Fucha in all of its splendor. Fermented teas come in many forms, but Pu-erh is the most common tea for these unique shapes. Fucha follows in Pu-erh’s footsteps with its popular compressed shape and structure. Two of the most popular forms of Kurocha are Toucha, which is compressed into a bowl shape, and Heicha, which is compressed into a disc shape. Korucha presents itself in a myriad of ways, not simply these two, whose forms we will expand upon in another post.

Kurocha (koo-ro-cha) is a highly valued post-fermentation tea, which is kept in conditions of high temperature and high humidity where airborne microbes cause the tea to further ferment. As time passes, this tea increases in mellowness, depth and flavor and becomes easy to drink. Kurocha is a fairly new tea in the Western market, appealing to health-minded individuals because it promotes digestion and is an effective at washing away fat inside the body.

The miraculous Fu Cha is produced during the final stages of the Kurocha fermentation process. During the final forty days of the manufacturing process, the tea is dried, creating Fu Cha. The fine yellow powder, called the Golden Flower, which Fu Cha yields, is unique to this tea. High-grade Fucha is harvested by selecting only young leaves that are three to a stem. The long fermentation process coupled with the unique property of the Golden Flower creates a type of metabolic and digestive harmony, supplying a rich content of catechins, dietary fiber and amino acids. Because of Fucha’s abundance of vitamins and minerals, such as calcium iron and zinc (it is very gentle on ones body with the extremely low caffeine content – less than that of green tea), many cultures recommend a daily drink for adults and children.

The conditions must be perfect to create the Golden Flower. If they are not, the Fucha tea will lose its function and the Golden Flower will not form. The diet of our modern western society has come to resemble that of the Northwestern Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan nomadic people, in that their diet is mainly composed of heavy oily foods with lots of meat and milk products and a reliance on saturated fats. In these regions this seemingly unhealthy diet is maintainable because they burn so many calories living in a high altitude and dealing with extreme weather conditions. However, our similar diet is not counter balanced by our environment and so it throws our bodies out of whack. By exploring the diet and choices of other tribes around the world perhaps we can find healthy alternatives in our society. By drinking Fucha in conjunction with a natural diet it is possible to maintain one’s health and to offset the disturbance to the balance of nutrients and minerals that occurs during improper dieting.