About.com Coffee / Tea

Valentine's Day Gift Guide

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 22:52:40 +0000

Looking for a coffee or tea gift for your Valentine? Check out these romantic ways to celebrate, including top-rated coffee chocolates and an award-winning chamomile liqueur:

Experience the perfect harmony of tea and chocolate with The Tea Collection by Charles' Chocolates and Teance.
Pair Vosges Matcha Bar with a tin of matcha (or a package of any other Japanese green tea) for the green tea lover in your life.
Celebrate New Orleans style with the Vosges Creole Bar, an invigorating blend of dark chocolate, coffee and chicory.
Savor the seductively dark flavor of Theo Coffee Dark Chocolate with the coffee that was used to flavor it -- Theo Blend from Cafe Vita -- for a delicious experiment in flavor.
Treat your Valentine to the rich flavors of Belgian chocolate, hazelnuts and cafe au lait with Cafe-Tasse Lait Cafe.
Pick up Ritter Sport Cappuccino as a last-minute addition to your Valentine's Day gift.
If you're looking for an all-natural, handmade sweet for your sweetie, choose Dufflet Coffee-Hazelnut Chocolate Tumbles.
Can't decide between wine and tea? Try one-of-a-kind Wild Monkey Marsala. It has the flavor of marsala wine in a black tea.
For a spicy-sweet Valentine's Day treat, try award-winning, chamomile-infused J. Witty Spirits Organic Chamomile Liqueur.

Are you giving (or hoping to receive!) something coffee- or tea-related this Valentine's Day? Share it in the comments below.

Photo (c) Marko Goodwin
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Valentine's Day Gift Guide originally appeared on About.com Coffee / Tea on Sunday, February 7th, 2010 at 22:52:40.

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Fun Tea Products

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:37:41 +0000

Lately, a few posts on fun tea products have been circulating the Internet. I have to admit, I'm amazed by how many people have forwarded them to me! So, in the spirit of sharing, here they are:

Cool Products for Tea Lovers, including the Teastick, pictured here (front)
Clever & Creative Tea Packaging
20 Presents for Your Valentine That Don't Suck, including the Submarine Tea Diffuser from the first link

Do you have any links to fun, whimsical or especially creative tea products? Share them in the comments below!

Photo (c) Marko Goodwin
Interested in drinking whole-leaf tea? Learn about five easy ways to drink whole leaf.
Interested in learning more about tea? Sign up for the free, easy Tea 101 e-course.

Fun Tea Products originally appeared on About.com Coffee / Tea on Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 11:37:41.

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Tea Beers

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:10:13 +0000

Bryce Eddings (About.com's Beer Guide) has come out with another great coffee/tea blog post! The last one was on coffee beer. This one is on tea beer and links to a review of MateVeza an IPA brewed with yerba mate "tea". (Pictured here; yerba mate is technically a high-caffeine tisane.)

I recently had the pleasure of trying a puer beer from Numi Tea and an Oakland brewery when I was at the Fancy Food Show and was glad to learn a little more about the topic of tea beer from Bryce. Check out what he has to say about tea beer on the About Beer blog, and if you know of any good tea beers other readers (or I) should check out, please post them here!

Photo (c) Marko Goodwin
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Interested in learning more about tea? Sign up for the free, easy Tea 101 e-course.

Tea Beers originally appeared on About.com Coffee / Tea on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 21:10:13.

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Name This Leaf 5

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:16:10 +0000

How well do you know your teas? Can you identify them by only the appearance and aroma? Test your skills in part five of "Name This Leaf!"
This deep blue-green tea has long, needle-like leaves with some particulate. It has a distinctive grassy or oceanic aroma that people tend to love or hate. Good quality tealeaves in this category tend to have a sheen.

The last four "Name This Leaf" answers were Silver Needle White Tea, Dragonwell/Long Jing, rooibos/"red bush tea" and Houjicha Japanese green tea. Do you know the what this mystery tealeaf is? Bonus points if you can name the level of processing (there are three levels within this category) or give brewing tips on how to yield the best cup! (Hint: Unless you're doing a professional cupping, boiling water is the last thing you want to use.)

Photo (c) Marko Goodwin
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Name This Leaf 5 originally appeared on About.com Coffee / Tea on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 02:16:10.

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Coffee Beers

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 01:15:47 +0000

Bryce Eddings, the About.com beer guide recently published this great list of coffee beers. I've tried Bell's and Pipeline (pictured here), but not the others on the list. Have you tried any of them? What's your favorite? If you have a favorite that's not limited release, I'd love to review it from a coffee perspective on About Coffee/Tea. Just leave a comment on the blog here or add your favorite to Bryce's list and I'll keep an eye out for it.

Photo (c) Marko Goodwin
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Coffee Beers originally appeared on About.com Coffee / Tea on Monday, January 25th, 2010 at 01:15:47.
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Speak Out on Coffee & Tea

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:26:06 +0000
One of my goals in writing for About.com is to foster a coffee and tea community. Ultimately, I'd love for this to be a place where you can discuss your own coffee and tea experiences, preferences and ideals with others who share your passion for great drinks. With that in mind, I've started to add more pages to Coffee/Tea to give you the opportunity to speak out on your favorite cuppas. Aside from the blog, recipe and product review comments, here's where you can share your thoughts so far:

Suggest a New Coffee/Tea Recipe or Pairing

Share tips on caffeine intake reduction

Show off your latte art

Post a job or look for a job in the new Coffee/Tea Job listing
You can even share your ideas for more ways to talk coffee and tea here on About.com -- just post them in the comments below.

Photo (c) Counter Culture Coffee
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Speak Out on Coffee & Tea originally appeared on About.com Coffee / Tea on Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 at 11:26:06.
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Sri Lankan/Ceylon Tea

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 07:38:37 +0000
Sri Lanka is one of the world's major tea regions. It was once a major coffee producer, but a blight wiped out the coffee crops in the 1800s, and coffee plants were replaced largely with tea. Formerly known as Ceylon, Sri Laka is the origin of so-called "Ceylon tea." Most Sri Lankan teas are black, but some specialty tea producers in Sri Lanka are now making green and white teas, too. (The New York Times recently published an interesting article on one Sri Lankan white tea producer. The same producer has also been covered in Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.)

Within Sri Lanka, there is an enormous range of elevations. This results in dramatic shifts in terroir between sub-regions of the small island nation. The three main tea-producing regions of Sri Lanka are:

Dimbulla

Nuwara Eliya

Uva

When I hold a tea tasting, I love to have people compare black teas from Sri Lanka with black teas from other tea-producing regions , such as Assam and Darjeeling in India, or Anhui and Yunnan in China. It's an easy way for even novice tea drinkers to understand the impact of terroir on the flavor profiles of tea.

Are you a fan of Ceylon tea? Do you prefer particular regions or estates in Sri Lanka? Do you add any milk or sugar to your favorite Ceylon black tea? Have you tried white or green teas from Sri Lanka? Share your thoughts with other readers in the comments section below.

Photo (c) Marko Goodwin
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Sri Lankan/Ceylon Tea originally appeared on About.com Coffee / Tea on Monday, January 18th, 2010 at 07:38:37.
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Tea & Crafts

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:39:14 +0000
My sister recently sent me a link to these crafty Make Tea Not War socks and it got me thinking about tea and crafts. While tea and crafts (especially knitting and crocheting) both had a reputation for being old-fashioned for decades, they have both become chic in the last decade or so.

One side effect of this simultaneous rise in popularity is the trend of tea-related crafts, such as tea towels and tea cozies. (A quick search on Etsy revealed a hand-sewn coffee/tea cup cozy, a crochet pattern for a tea set and cupcakes and a handmade "tea-to-go" pouch, among other things.) Another side effect is the appearance of knitting groups in tea shops. (Many of the tea businesses I have worked with say they have informal craft meet-ups on a regular or semi-regular basis.)

Does your crafting group meet in a tea shop or other tea-related business? Do you like to drink tea while you knit, crochet or make other crafts? Do you find that particular types of tea leave you feeling inspired (or perhaps determined to complete a project)? Share your thought on the intersection of crafts and tea in the comments below!

Photo (c) Marko Goodwin
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Interested in learning more about tea? Sign up for the free Tea 101 e-course.
Tea & Crafts originally appeared on About.com Coffee / Tea on Friday, January 15th, 2010 at 10:39:14.
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Taiwanese Oolongs

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:15:43 +0000
Taiwan (formerly known as "Formosa") is famous for its oolong teas. Some say that oolong was created in China and perfected in Taiwan. Taiwan has a combination of climate, soil, altitude and skilled artisans that results in truly great oolong tea.

Many tea-producing regions in Taiwan are associated with mountains. ("Shan" is the word for "mountain," so it's common in the regions' names.) There is a great deal of variation in the flavor and style of oolong produced from mountain to mountain and region to region. Each region is known for different teas:

Ali Shan (a.k.a. "Alishan" or "A Li Shan") is known for Ali Shan and Dong Ding Oolongs.

Hsinchu is known for Oriental Beauty Oolong (a.k.a. "White-Tipped Oolong" or "Bai Hao Oolong").

Li Shan (a.k.a. Lishan) is known for Lishan, Dayuling, Dong Ding ("Tung Ting") and Fusou Oolongs.

Nantou is known for Dong Ding (a.k.a. "Tung Ting") Oolongs.

Shan Lin Xi (a.k.a. Shanlinxi) is known for Shan Lin Xi and Dong Ding Oolongs.

Taipei is known for Tie Guan Yin (also spelled "Ti Kwan Yin").

Wen Shan/Ping Lin is known for Baozhong Oolongs and Oriental Beauty Oolong.

Within one small island, there is a whole world of tea flavors to explore. Oolong connoisseurs learn to recognize the processing and terroir that make each oolong unique. Which of these regions have you samples teas from? What are your favorite oolong teas?

Photo (c) Marko Goodwin
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Interested in learning more about tea? Sign up for the free, easy Tea 101 e-course.
Taiwanese Oolongs originally appeared on About.com Coffee / Tea on Thursday, January 14th, 2010 at 10:15:43.
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Reducing Caffeine Intake

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 10:13:43 +0000
One common New Year's resolution is reducing caffeine intake. While caffeine can be healthy in moderation, large amounts of caffeine can cause side effects like jitteriness, headaches and nausea. If you suffer from these side effects, wanting to lower your caffeine intake is totally understandable!

Like all other addictive substances, caffeine can be difficult to quit. Caffeine withdrawal can also result in a whole other array of side effects, including irritability, severe headaches and chills. However, there are some tactics you can use to ease your transition into a low-caf (or caffeine-free) lifestyle. These include:

Identifying your caffeine sources (This chart of caffeine levels in foods and drinks may help.)

Finding pleasing substitutes (such as caffeine-free tisanes/herbal teas or roasty, low-caf Houjicha green tea, pictured here)

Weaning yourself off of caffeine slowly with low-caf or decaf options, or by drinking smaller servings of your favorite caffeine source

If you're suffering from caffeine withdrawal or overdose symptoms, read more about tips for reducing caffeine intake. If you've had success lowering your caffeine intake or weaning yourself off caffeine altogether, share your success story with other readers in the comments below!

Photo (c) Marko Goodwin
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Reducing Caffeine Intake originally appeared on About.com Coffee / Tea on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 10:13:43.
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