Music City Tea does it again, goes out of their way to make things better for us!

When I first bought my initial tea things from Jenny at Music City Tea I assumed there were at least a few others like her business, in the States, fast shipping, easy to access with questions, lightening fast email responses. I rather fear I took her for granted! You may say, 'Well, certainly you did not, Buddha-Mom, you wrote all about her and how much you appreciated her and so forth..." but I tell you true that it is only now, six months in to my tea obsession, (since I went full-time, and gave up on half-measures and part-time interests) that I recognize the rarity that is Music City Tea. Everything I have wanted and wanted fast, from tea-towels, to strainers, to gaiwans to my very large tea-table and more I found at Music City Tea.
Find them on their own website here, or on Amazon or Etsy.
I swear I think I ordered this little gaiwan and some tea towels two days ago at most and they are already here! This is a store in which you know the owner strives long days and into the nights to make things better for her customers. You can simply feel it.
Don't know what I am talking about? Well then, go order a little something from Jenny at MCT and you will know I am going on about. Makes me wonder what else Memphis might have to offer though I think I will stay right where I am in sunny Los Angeles!

My answer for how to make tea at 5am and not scald myself or drop a cherished antique pot in the process.

I start early. I'm a morning person, what can I say? My greatest joys of the day are often found in thoughts of what to drink next. However, first thing in the morning, is not such a good time for me in regard to hand/eye coordination. I live in fear of breaking the Jian Shui pots I use for Ooolongs and blacks, the celadon for whites has sentimental value and is irreplaceable to me though monetarily worthless and I seriously dread the almost inevitable hot spillage of water on my poor fingers when using the gaiwan in a less than fully wakeful state.
I've been pondering what to do in regard to this for weeks. I simply loathe standing in my kitchen, staring at my gongfu table and having to start my day by saying to myself, 'What to do? What to do?' like the doddering old woman I am surely becoming. I shall not hasten that dotage by whining in the early morning hours about tea, I refuse to go there! And now, thanks Smacha I can make sure I don't.

And best of all I don't have to use an old, plastic, stained, nasty Teavana tea-strainer or any other less than worthy methods or tools. I can make my tea, and make it perfectly and with total safety and ease with Smacha's auto-brewer.
In the past couple of months I have seen two new, bright shiny thousand dollar tea-brewing machines come into the marketplace, and have been fascinated and horrified. The idea of taking something as simple as tea and putting it through such a process appalls and galls me. It also calls to me, for I love gadgets and yes, I do want to get the most out of my leaves. But I don't need to spend money on something that plugs in and looks like a science experiment. The Smacha brewer makes me look at those high-tech tea gadgets and laugh. This is how it is done, people. Elegant, simple, and even for Gongfu lovers who generally do not steep for two minutes, truly worth the wait!
I want elegant but easy. I want perfect tea with minimal brain power involved in the wee hours of the morning, or really anytime I am not in the mood to appreciate the clay pot or the antique gaiwan, or when I really do want to make 10 ounces or more of something delicious and maybe, just maybe, use a large Japanese tea 'mug'! I am learning not everything has to be gongfu style. I can still brew with intention, mindfulness and slightly-muted-morning- enthusiasm even at 6 am. For this newbie, this is clearly the ticket. Beautiful, sturdy, delightfully made, I will be using this daily I can tell and am already putting it on the holiday list for a few friends. Its bright white with gold lettering makes me feel more awake just looking at it. This is a tool to be admired, valued and used, constantly. 

TeaSide's Hong Tai Chang Shou Puerh 2006

Ah, this is more like it, I think to myself as I sip this wonderful earthy, mild and sweet shou from Thailand. I believe I must be more of a shou person than a sheng person, for this deep resonant maltiness and slight raisin mouth-feel are exactly what I like.
Made in 2006 this tea is initially soft and full of harmony, and I am only on the first steep after two rinses! It has a balanced flavor and I wonder how it will fare throughout the evening. I am using 4 grams in a 120ml gaiwan, and simply adoring it! It's really sweet and the dry leaves smelled of raisins and I can taste that sort of fruit indeed as I work on the second steep. It is not a thin brew, and I bet it will get more and more viscous as I steep it and work with it.  Steeps three and four showed me a forest, let me taste a little tree bark, some prunes, warm sunny earth and the mellowness continues unabated while my chi and energy levels rise in a slow and steady way. My first 'Puerh' from Thailand but certainly not my last.

Learn more about this tea here

Hui Run Ripe Puerh 2011 for when the sun goes down and the wind kicks up and you want to get a little....you know, high.

My new love for all things Bulang continues. I have had this large chunk sample of Hui Run 2011 since the first month I started trying Puerhs and my appreciation for it has grown exponentially. I finished it tonight and was glad to find Yunnan Sourcing still had some left! With no room in my Puerh drawer for a cake, I ordered three 25 grams samples, that should keep me going for awhile!

Here is what Yunnan Sourcing says about it...

"We are excited to offer this premium ripe pu-erh cake made entirely from Spring 2011 Bu Lang mountain material. First flush material was collected from several Bu Lang villages and fermented for 46 days. After fermentation was completed, the tea was dried and graded. We blended the various grades to create a balance recipe comprising of tippy golden buds and heavier grade 1,3, and 5 leaves. The term "Hui Run" refers to the sweet, slippery and soothing feeling that lingers in the mouth and throat even after the tea drinking session has ended." 

The weather has changed and Tealicious Tea Company is here for me with the seasons tisanes and organic natural tea-blends!

Tealicious Tea Company got me started today on a sweet side-path on my tea journey that will lead me to better sleep, no doubt and the timing is perfect to experiment with the seasons change. This morning, after a long session of Teavivre's Yunnan Gongfu Fragrant Black, I stopped. Why? Because I need to! I need to move, after the mornings Gongfu sessions, into a place of mild 'being' so I can read and write and relax, I cannot drink black tea and puerhs or even oolongs all day long and into the night, every day and night, year in and year out. Can I?
So I started with Tealicious' Harmony Eka-tala, seems like a good beginning since I still am after 'kicks' and intense flavors but want to also calm down and enjoy the changing weather, the almost violent gusts of wind and my shifting energies.
This tea, or tisane for it is not an actual tea but an herbal elixir has a lot going on, a ton of flavor and none of them in negative contrast to the other. 
Hard for me not to Gongfu everything but I created a middle path for this tea with my celadon six ounce pot, a quick rinse, ( which I drank, it smelled so good!) and two quick twenty second steeps at a water temp of around 200f. Delicious. 
Knowing with this sort of tea I should let it steep for far longer than half a minute, I did that too, and the deep rich color deepened further and the flavor became more pronounced and distinctive elements of the different components began to sing out. I liked it so much, and feel so good that I made another twelve ounces and have that elixir chilling for my supper beverage.
Here is what I learned from the website regarding this delightful change of pace for yours truly including all the herbs that go into making this tea what it is. And I can attest that I think the author below speaks true, I feel pretty damn joyful!

Waiting for the water to heat up in the Bonavita kettle, my tea-pets watch with interest!

'Create harmony between the body, mind, and spirit with organically grown herbal mixture of tulsi herb, hawthorn leaves and flowers, cinnamon pieces, cardamom fennel, blackberry leaves and natural flavor. This healing drink will enhance health and address core issues within the body. The magical ingredients assist with mental clarity, brings the feeling of joy, relieves a stomach ache and eases congestion.'

Delicious! Thanks to Tealicious for creating such a healing blend!

New experiences await me with four offerings from Baraka Teas!

Today I received my box of tea from Baraka Teas, and although I have not yet decided which to begin with, (and I am also otherwise engaged all day with a very high quality Axian Tie Guan Yin which just won't give up,) I will ponder the website of Baraka Teas and start tomorrow with one of these wonderful looking options. This company has a feel to their product line, their website, their words, their packaging which is quite new and very appealing to me. Go see for yourself!
The fours teas I will be trying from them seem to be three whites and a black, and it is everything in their collection. Clearly they are going for quality and not quantity of options, and I like this. This is the kind of boutique tea shopping that I adore. Easy choice, I get to try everything.
Packaging is matte black foil with great front art and plenty of info on the back for each specific tea.
Will post as I experience these, and it is with great anticipation and deep bows to Anna, Luca and their honorable cat that I am now off to discover online where Malawi is! My education continues in such delightful and unexpected ways, all from the comfort of the kitchen of my Californian bungalow!

In todays mail? My heart's delight!

Once I decided I would order two of these cakes, I allowed myself to really dig into the cake that Mountain Tea had sent as a sample. I simply adore this Oriental Beauty, and you will too!
A little pricey but worth it, Dear Readers, worth it!

"It's no wonder this tea is also called Champagne Oolong. This Oriental Beauty in compressed cake form tastes of apricots, thick with honeyed spice.  Simply break off a piece and enjoy."

White2Tea's 2015 Raw Puerh, 'Milk,Cream and Alcohol'

The Dude in me got quite excited by the name of this hefty ten gram sample I just opened. After all, in my drinking days, those ingredients plus one more equaled the holy Lebowski beverage of a White Russian. (Our Dude who art in Los Angeles hallowed be thy handle. Thy rug will come, thy chill be done, on Earth as it is in your bungalow......And so on and so forth. Easy there, gal, this is just tea, no reason to go off all half-cocked like a nine-toed nihilist.)

Am I just suggestible to the extreme or do I really taste cream and alcohol? Because I think I do!
White2Tea calls this a 'daily drinker' and I can see why. I am only on steep number two and it was good from steep one. It's smooth, mild and packs a warming buzz throughout this old dude's body.
The pic I took of it below captures, to me, the feeling of this rare afternoon in Southern California, a feeling of twilight, of fall. It's been a long summer, and right now we are getting wind, and some light rain and I actually, for the first time in 9 months just put on a long sleeved shirt. It is, in short, a miracle and I am celebrating it in a similar fashion  to what I would have done a year ago, sans the alcohol. But this, this is a perfect choice for this magical time of day right now, my first taste of this Puerh ever, and on the first 20 minutes of an almost Portland-like afternoon.
To top it off, I am breaking in my new Lin Ceramics Puerh cup. Today, right now? The Dude Abides.

(This little rug really ties the tea together)

I trust my favorite online shop Camellia Sinensis for all my high end tea-cup needs!

A lover of high quality and a true appreciation for the heft, feel and texture of cups I use to drink my very special teas out of, I have made a handful of good choices in tea-ware that touches my lips, not including the Ru Kiln celadon pots, the Jian Shui pots and so forth. I am talking teacups specifically here!
Today I spent a good portion of my day saying goodbye to some serviceable, and utilitarian cups and replacing them with what my blossoming tea-habit demands, fine tea-ware. Not that I am ready to buy a Mr. Komada Tenmoku teacup for $340 quite yet, as I tend to break things, but I aspire to and in the meantime I do have my Hagi cup from Mr. Nakahara of Japan, good for Japanese green teas, it holds 120 ml and is available from Camellia Sinensis for only $28. At that price point I still feel I have something special yet I won't fall apart if I break it! That being said, this cup looks and feels like it could take a fall or two, sturdy and proud!

Click here to see it online at Camellia-Sinensis

I aim far higher with the plan to own and cherish a Tenmoku cup made by Mr. Koji Komada as seen here but until then the more affordable yet still artistic handiwork of my Hagi cup keeps me in fine form.
Then there is and will always be Lins Ceramics items in hand from this day forward. Accessible, affordable and super high quality. I just bought my first three and am hooked on how they feel in my hands and against my lips.
I bought a small tasting and fragrance cup as seen here and I am so glad I did! Why I didn't get a fragrance cup earlier in my tea journey I will never know but I am delighted to add this to my daily ritual of appreciation.

My fragrance cup, click link here.

And the accompanying sipping cup here.





And my favorite this 120ml cup. Looks too plain and simple? Not at all. Hold it and you become, like me, an empress. A connoisseur, a real class act! Try one for yourself!

Bulang Brick Beckons.

Oh, man, did I choose well for my first brick of Puerh.  Am I a happy sweaty, tea-drunk lady.
Not much else to say, Dear Readers, you know how I feel about this Bulang from my initial write up when Crimson Lotus sent me a sample. It's a complex, deep and dark proposition, ladies and gentleman, you have to be sure you 'want to go there' before you get into it.
I was, and I am, and I did. Here, in lieu of even more useless words that cannot convey how awesome all this feels, are a few pics. I even created a 'Puerh Station' in my living room. No longer a Buddhist shrine, this space is now dedicated to Puerh drinking meditation!

New Needle and new knife being used for the first time today

All Aboard for Puerh Station!

Finally after two good baths the first infusion is ready.
The heady aroma is making my mouth water and my hand shake just a little!