steepings

The Perfect Cup of Tea

2011-11-28T16:47:00.001-08:00

Recently I was asked to tell how to make the Perfect Cup of Tea on twitter of all places. I found the constraints of the format a bit daunting. It is as simple as pouring hot water over tea leaves. But if you want perfection, rather than dishwater or bitter over-steeped tea, it can also be really complex. So I am going to try to do a step by step recommendation of how I like to prepare the perfect cup of tea. There are as many ways of making tea as there are tea masters. So I know some out there will have issues with what I am about to say.
My Perfect Cup of Tea
Step 1: Get some water. Should be cold/cool water that is filtered but not distilled. Minerals help enhance the flavors in tea. Tap water, not so good for making the perfect cup of tea.
Step 2: Boil the water. If you are lucky enough to have a variable temperature kettle, select 208 degrees (Fahrenheit) for Black, Pu'erh and Tisanes (Herbal, not true teas, but I will include them.). White and Oolong Teas need a lower temperature water to bring out the best in the teas. I set the variable temp. kettle to 195 degrees for these types of tea. You don't need a fancy kettle, so put your kettle on the stove boil the water & let it sit for a couple of minutes. If you have really good hearing you can listen for the water when it just starts to make noise and bubbles form in the water, this should be the perfect temp. for Oolong & Whites. Green Teas need the lowest temperature water, 175 on the variable temp. model or boil the water and let set for about 4 minutes. If you are observant you can start the kettle on the stove and when you see a puff of steam come off the water that should be the right temperature for Green Teas.
Step 3: Measure your tea and put it into your teapot. We use 3g per 6 oz. of water. To make consistently great tea you really need to weigh it. The rule of thumb is half the number of grams for the oz. of water in the pot. If you can't weigh it, then we give Tablespoon equivalents on our packages. The problem is that unless you weigh the tea, if you use the old method, one teaspoon for each cup and one for the pot, you will get very different results. White tea is very light and you need quite a bit of it for a cup. The least amount needed is rolled Oolongs or pearled teas, then Black Teas, then Green, then more for twisted Oolongs and the most of White Teas. These are just some of the problems with using a teaspoon. Once you make lots of tea you can guess, but I still use a scale and I drink tea everyday, all day!
Step 4: Add the correct temp water to your weighed out tea in a teapot.
Step 5: Steep the tea. Now here are recommended times for steeping. White Teas are 2-3 minutes. Pan Fired Green Teas (Chinese Style) 1-3 minutes. Steamed Green Teas (Japanese Style) 30 sec. to 1 minute. Oolong Teas 2-3 minutes. Black Teas 3-5 minutes. Pu'erh Teas 45 seconds to 1 minute. Tisanes are 3-5 minutes. The steeping times I use are usually the shorter end of the range. The Pu'erh tea recommendations are different than what I had been doing, but after taking a Pu'erh class through the Specialty Tea Institute, I changed my recommendations. The old method was the same as Black Teas. This produces a nice flavor & dense cup, but the subtle notes of the tea are lost. The shorter steeps, and numerous resteeps give a wider range of flavors in the tea.
(Remember that if you are using a teapot that doesn't have an insert or a way to remove the leaves, you need to pour out all the tea, so you don't over steep the tea. This will lead to bitter tea.)
Step 6: Drink your perfect cup of tea. Take a moment to really taste the tea. Relax and savor it.
Step 7: Resteep. Here is another area that I will part with the majority of tea experts. The rule of thumb is add 30 seconds on to the time for your 2nd steep. I do a shorter second steep. I feel the leaf has opened up and I judge by color more than time for the second steep. Using this method it is usually shorter than the 1st steep. The 3rd steep I also judge by color & it is sometimes longer or the same as the 2nd steep. I keep resteeping until there is not enough flavor. That way I am getting all the leaf has to offer and I am limiting the amount of total caffeine I am consuming.
Tea is an amazing drink and I hope this gets you excited to experiment on your own with times, temps and weights. Remember this is My Perfect Cup. Yours might be something all together different, just take a moment and siptea...

Bottled Tea vs. Fresh Brewed

2011-11-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

The RTD (ready-to-drink) tea market is going through the roof. Sales keep increasing. This is good news for the tea industry, and it introduces people to tea, which is always a good thing. The only problem is that many of the drinks are high in sugar and low in beneficial antioxidants. The industry is being helped by all the information on the health benefits of tea, green tea in particular. The average consumer is buying the bottled tea drink thinking they are doing something good for them, and are really only getting a drink that may be as healthy as drinking soda. The healthy antioxidant, or polyphenols are present in bottled tea drinks, but at half to 100 times less than the levels of freshly brewed tea. If you are drinking a decaffeinated version of a bottled tea it is even lower. To decaffeinate tea in general, the caffeine and many of the antioxidants are stripped out, then the antioxidants are put back. The studies of the lack of polyphenols in bottled tea are from as early as 2000, when the USDA said that bottled tea had very low levels of polyphenols. Linus Pauling Institute did a study in 2005 that also showed low levels of polyphenols. The latest study done in August of 2010 showed the same results. "The six teas... analyzed contained 81, 43, 40, 13, 4, and 3 milligrams of polyphenols per 16-ounce bottle. One average cup of home-brewed green or black tea, which costs only a few cents, contains 50-150 milligrams of polyphenols". The labels say that green tea is antioxidant rich, but don't actually say the tea contained in the bottle is, so what they say isn't untrue, but it is certainly misleading. If you are going to buy bottled tea, stick to an unsweetened one, but better yet make your own at home. You will be saving money & getting lots more antioxidants in your cup. Take a moment in your day to make a cup of tea and sit & siptea...

Tea Basics

2011-11-01T16:05:00.000-07:00

So as I talk to more and more customers I realize they need some basic information about tea. I have been studying tea for a quite a few years and consider myself a novice. Yet I am still miles ahead of the average tea drinker.
All tea, true teas, are made from the same plant, Camellia sinensis. It is a relative of the flowering Camellia japonica found in many yards. There are two main varietals, Camellia sinensis sinensis and Camellia sinensis assamica. The Camellia sinensis sinensis is largely considered the Chinese varietal, and the assamica is the Indian varietal. Then like most plants there are further varietals that are better adapted to altitude, rocky soil, more moisture, less moisture, etc. There are tea plantations in Hawaii and in South Carolina. The plants can grow here, but it is labor intensive, so it hasn't taken off as a cash crop. Although there are increasing numbers of tea gardens in Hawaii.

There are five major tea groups, I know that I will probably get some arguments on this one, but I am going to include the following as my 5 main groups.
White
Green
Oolong
Black
Pu'erh
White teas originated in China, some say they still have to come from China to be white tea. White tea is air dried. Some consider it to be semi-oxidized because some bruising does happen to the leaf during the drying.
Green teas are pan fired (Chinese style) or steamed (Japanese style) to stop the oxidation & keep the green in the leaf.
Oolong teas are from 5 to 95% oxidized teas. Mainly found in China & Taiwan. There are two main leaf styles, long twisted leaves or balled.
Black teas are considered 100% oxidized. They are produced in India, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Kenya.
Pu'erh teas (pronounced like pour, some say poo-air) are fermented teas. Either artificially, shou (pronounced show), or over time, sheng style. These teas continue to change flavor and are considered enigmatically alive. These teas come from Yunnan, China.
There are health benefits to all teas, but I hesitate to get too involved in listing the benefits, because some of them are not recognized in the US. The benefits I will list are that teas contain anti-oxidants and caffeine. Caffeine can help in weight loss and anti-oxidants are immune boosters.
There are other classes of tea, like yellow, dark and semi-oxidized that don't fall into the oolong group due to differences in production.
Now that you are completely confused. I'll try to explain a few things.
All of the 5 groups of teas have many variations in them, like wine makers with wine. They start out with a merlot grape, but two different winemakers will make completely different tasting wine with them. The same could be said of tea. Each tea master has his own way of doing things, and they will change slightly with each harvest to get the final taste profile that they are trying to achieve. So a white tea from one garden will taste different from another gardens white tea.
Oxidation is what happens when you break the cell wall of the leaf and expose the leaf to air. Like a bite out of an apple makes the inside turn brown.
Fermentation is the process that moisture and heat cause the leaf to break down. The Shou Pu'erhs are put into a pile and like compost they heat up and start breaking down through enzyme activity. Sheng Pu'erhs take years to age and taste like the cooked pu'erhs do after a few months.
Tea bags usually have smaller pieces of tea, so they can open up faster in the water and make a strong cup of tea. They don't have the flavor nuances of specialty loose leaf tea. They also don't re-steep very well.
The more you start to learn about tea, the more you learn that it is just the first step on a delicious and varied journey. Start exploring!

Rain in LA Means Tea Weather

2011-10-05T14:11:00.000-07:00

So today is the first real day of weather in Los Angeles. Yesterday sprinkled a bit but nothing major. Today it is suppose to rain all day & even get heavy at times. So this brings up the issues: are certain teas seasonal? or is drinking tea in the US seasonal?
The other day someone asked me "do you drink certain teas at certain times of the year?" The funny thing is I drink HOT tea all year round. More iced tea in the summer, but there are certain teas that seem to be winter teas. Here are the two that come to mind. Lapsang Souchong. Cinnamon Almond Flowers.
Lapsang Souchong, or bacon tea as my friend like to call it, always seems like a tea to drink in front of a fire, under a blanket while reading a book. It has a whole image that comes up in my mind. Maybe because this is one of the few teas that I add milk and sugar. It just makes it a cozy cup of tea, that is so relaxing and comforting that it seems to wrap me in warmth as I drink it like a blanket.
Cinnamon Almond Flowers is our Black Tea that has loads of organic fruit, almonds, rose petals and cinnamon. The Cinnamon is what makes me think of the holidays. Maybe it's because of the Christmas Tea blends that have cinnamon or maybe it's that my Mom would bake with cinnamon around the holidays and pull out the Constant Comment Tea in the winter.
I just don't see Lapsang Souchong or Cinnamon Almond Flowers as teas to drink when the air conditioning is running. The heat & maybe even the fire need to be going to drink both of these teas. White teas, green teas, oolongs & pu'erhs are year round teas for me, but certain black teas are better in cold weather. I wonder what teas seem season to you?
I hope as the weather gets colder tea drinking is part of your routine, maybe this is the year to try tea. I know that lots of people think of hot tea as a winter drink, I am not one of them, but I understand the average tea drinker in the US drinks more iced tea than hot tea. I had a gentleman come in and tell me he didn't drink tea, I replied, you probably drink iced tea, and he said he did. For some reason drinking iced tea isn't seen as most people as drinking tea. I think if you like iced tea, you really need to try a good loose leaf hot cup of tea in the winter, you might become a convert. The flavor nuances that come out in hot tea are so much more interesting than that same tea iced. So try an experiment, drink a good cup of tea plain and hot, open your mind, and see what you taste. Maybe it will bring you in touch with this amazing plant that has a rich history in the world. Take a moment to savor and siptea...

Caffeine in Tea Myths vs. Facts

2011-09-26T16:53:00.000-07:00

I have been asked so many times about caffeine in tea that I thought I should write a short post about some of the myths and hopefully some facts.Let me start out by saying this is a complex subject.

Myth or fact?
Tea has more caffeine than coffee.
Fact. Tea by weight has more caffeine than coffee, but per cup it is about 1/3 to 1/2 the amount of a cup of coffee But some teas have more caffeine than some coffee, so not always true.
White Tea is naturally decaffeinated.
Myth. White Tea like all tea has caffeine. The caffeine levels decrease as you go farther down the plant. It is thought that caffeine is used by the plant as a natural insecticide, so only the new growth needs this extra protection. So the bud (used to make Silver Needle White Tea) has the most caffeine and the levels drop as you go down.
White Tea is lower in caffeine than Green or Black Tea.
Myth. White Tea may have some of the highest levels of caffeine. But here comes the complexity. The caffeine levels are dependent on the tea varietal, the growing region, which leaves are picked, amount of sunlight, and I am sure a host of other factors. Shorter steeping time for White Tea & lower water temperature might make it lower than the same plant processed as a Black Tea, but this can't be said across different varietals. So the only thing I say with certainty is that Camellia Sinensis, the name for the tea plant, has caffeine.
You can decaffeinate tea by washing with hot water for 30 seconds, pouring that liquid off and re-steeping. The tea will now be caffeine free.
Myth. You are only removing about 10% or less of the caffeine with a 30 sec. steep. About a quarter to a third of the leaf's caffeine is released in a 3 minute steep. Subsequent steeps remove about a quarter to a third of the remaining caffeine in the leaf.

So here are the facts about caffeine and tea, as I know them. Feel free to correct any mistakes I make.
Fact. Tea has caffeine.
Fact. Tea has L-Theanine a calming agent. So the caffeine is balanced by calming agents.
Fact. Caffeine level isn't determined by how the tea is processed but more by the steeping temperature and steeping time and plant varietals. Caffeine is water soluble and so if you like to over-steep or stew your tea, you are getting more caffeine than someone who does a short steep.
Fact. Decaffeinated tea still has caffeine.
Fact. If you want tea with out caffeine you are out of luck.
Fact. Herbal infusions or Tisanes are not made with the tea plant, and many are Caffeine free.
Fact. Yerba Mate has a stimulant in it. Matteine is chemically similar to Caffeine & is a stimulant. Yerba Mate does not contain L-Theanine.
Fact. If you drink Loose Leaf Tea & re-steep you are ingesting less caffeine than if you use new leaves for each pot.
Fact. Roasting or baking tea does reduce the level of caffeine in the tea, but again it is not caffeine free & if you start with a really high caffeine tea might only make it the same level as a lower caffeinated tea.
Fact. Caffeine in tea is complex and there are no hard & fast rules. Like sugar levels in wine grapes, caffeine in tea is weather dependent and varietal dependent.
I think specialty tea is where the wine industry was about 10 years ago. As people become more educated and more sophisticated with their palates, loose leaf tea will be more understood and appreciated.So take a break, make a cup and siptea while you think about how complex tea is and what a gift it is too.

October 22nd Cooking with Tea Class

2011-09-25T16:41:00.000-07:00

On Saturday October 22nd, we will have a Cooking with Tea class here at siptea. The cookbook author

, teacher and Chef Robert Wemischner will demonstrate four dishes using tea as a main component. The menu is tea smoked mushrooms, tea sauced scallops, tea smoked salmon and tea flavored flan with citrus. Each dish will be accompanied by the tea used to make the dish.
The class is from 5:30 pm - 7 pm. Chef Robert will walk you through each dish and at the end of the class you get to take a gift basket with the recipes and each of the siptea's used home with you.
Come by if you have questions about the class. We are in Santa Monica at 1627 Montana Ave. Or call to sign up #310/395-2626

Cupping Tea

2011-08-17T16:47:00.000-07:00

Tea cupping is the sign of a professional tea taster. Cupping is a system that tries to give the same parameters to each type of tea, so any flaws show up to the taster. The cupping set consists of a cup with a lid and a bowl to pour the tea into. The picture shows what the set looks like when the tea is done steeping. You observe the dry leaf, smelling it & recording your observations. A hint learned in class is, if the smell isn't strong, try exhaling then inhaling on the leaves. The heat of your breath will release the oils in the leaf and increase the smell. Try this at home, it really works! The next step is to weigh the tea and place it in the cup, hot water is added, temperature is dependent on type, but some people use boiling water for all teas. It might not be the best taste, but it will tell you if a tea is spoiled or inferior, that the lower temperature might mask. I tend to cup at the temperature that is recommended for the tea type. Then the tea is poured out into the bowl when the steep time is reached. Observations of wet leaf are taken, noting smell and look of the leaf. The color & smell of the liquor in the bowl are noted, and tasted. The professionals slurp the tea off a spoon to get air in the tea and help to identify the different flavor notes in the tea. Cupping is kind of like wine tasting. The more you do it, the more sophisticated your palate gets and the more notes you can pick out of the tea. Having taking all the classes to fulfill the Specialty Tea Institutes Level 3, I am now a Certified Tea Specialist. Tea is one of those things where you keep learning as you go & cupping is the best way to learn about tea. So stop by our location on Montana Ave and sit at the bar, we will cup any of our teas for you.

TeaTuesday and upcoming Classes

2011-07-25T11:03:00.000-07:00

We just got the sorapot in! It is the most beautiful way to see and steep your tea. You can watch the agony of the leaf as it unfurls and then enjoy two cups of tea.

#TeaTuesday is a twitter campaign that we are using to have extended hours and give a bit of information about tea. We are open til 7pm on Tuesdays and will have tea to sample and information about tea.
Starting in September we will have classes on how to make the perfect cup of tea, cooking with tea, making kombucha. Stop by the store to sign up for the classes.
Enjoy a short break in your day, by slowing down, making a cup and savoring your tea.

Tea Cocktails

2011-07-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

Last night siptea made 3 tea cocktails for the Grand Opening Party. The most popular was the Mojito, or Mo-tea-to, then the Pina Chai-lada and a Lapsang Souchong Whiskey Sour.

Mojito

Day before put green tea (I used organic Gunpowder green tea) in Vodka to infuse, use approx. 6-8 Tbsp. per 1.75L of vodka
Make a pot of double strength Mint tisane (herbal tea)
Add sugar to Mint tea to taste

Combine
1 part Green Tea Vodka
3 parts sweetened Organic Mint tisane
1/2 part lime juice
pour in glass with ice
garnish with fresh mint

Pina Chai-lada

Day before put Chai (I used organic Masala Chai black tea) in rum to infuse, use appox. 6-8 Tbsp. per 1.75 L this infuses quickly, so could be done a few hours before.
Make a pot of double strength organic Coconut green tea
Add sugar to Coconut green tea

Combine
1 part Chai spiced rum
2 parts Coconut Green tea
1 part fresh pineapple
Blend well
pour over ice
garnish with pineapple slice or umbrella

Lapsang Souchong Sour

Day before put Lapsang Souchong (I used organic Lapsang Souchong) in Marker's Mark, use approx. 6-8 Tbsp. per 1.75 L. This makes a great smoky whiskey, it actually resembles a aged peety, smoky scotch whisky when finished infusing & can be enjoy neat in a glass too.

Combine
1 part Lapsang Souchong infused Maker's Mark (or other whiskey)
3 parts sour mix (you can make your own, I used the mix for the party)
pour over ice
garnish with maraschino cherry

Enjoy & let me know if you have any tea infused cocktails you want to share!

Matcha Shortbread Recipe

2011-06-25T12:13:00.001-07:00

Thought I should put up the recipe for the Matcha Shortbread Cookies I made. It is my mother's recipe that I modified.

Oven temp 300-325 degrees

Matcha Shortbread
1 pound of salted organic butter, good quality
1/2 pound of very fine organic sugar, (approx. 1 cup heaped)
6 C less 2 Tbsp. of organic flour sifted
2 Tbsp. of organic Matcha powder

If you can't find very fine organic sugar, castor sugar is a non-organic substitution or blend organic sugar in food processor with blade or in blender til fine.

Kneed butter & sugar together. I do use a mixer with the paddle for this. Add sifted Matcha powder & flour. Kneed together in mixer til just starts to come together, then finish by hand. Roll or pat flat. Cut into shapes, squares, wedges, etc. Place on an un-greased cookie sheet. Cookies do not rise or spread, so roll & cut accordingly. Prick surface all over with a fork. Bake 20-25 minutes. Sift very fine sugar over the top when hot if desired.

Enjoy!

Sign Up on the Window at 1627

2011-06-23T16:39:00.000-07:00

We are now officially here on Montana Ave. Our sign was installed! I don't know if it's my imagination, but we seem to have gotten more people in the store, so hey signs do work to tell people what you are doing & let them know where you are. Next have to hang the banner, that should go up in a day or so. Will try to update before heading to Las Vegas for World Tea Expo.

Ed Moses Installing Piece

2011-06-17T10:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday started the install of a large work by Ed Moses, Los Angeles painter who has work in museums all over the world. It was really cool seeing him directing the hanging of his work. In July, Montana Ave. has art walk, so we will have Ed Moses up in our space for the event. Montana Ave. Art Walk July 21st, from 5pm to 9m. We will have tea cocktails & snacks for the event. If you are on the Westside for the weekend the 405 is shut down we will be doing a Buy Local event at siptea, so come by for special offers.
And as always, take a break in your day, make a cup and siptea...

Knit in Public Today at siptea

2011-06-11T10:59:00.001-07:00

Come by this weekend to knit in public at siptea. We have a nice table set up in the back and even have some treats for you. Get a tea sample and also a matcha green tea shortbread cookie. Plus you get to show off your mad knitting skills! I am wearing the most impressive thing I have ever knitted, a poncho. I have a sweater in the works, but it is still not finished, I think the problem with trying to start a business and still working my old job, makes it hard to fit in knitting a sweater. I did find time to make some organic lapsang souchong infused Marker's Mark for a friends birthday and the matcha shortbread for siptea. The rest of the shortbread are also going to the birthday party, any left will be available for sampling on Sunday at siptea.

New Products Coming In Everyday

2011-06-06T13:20:00.000-07:00

Week number two down, and word is starting to spread. We plan on doing evening classes and had a fund raiser in the space for SMASH, Santa Monica Alternative School House. So lots of things going on in the space. The art sale was fun & a great turnout.
We just got in three new products. The Eco Cup, which is a porcelain travel cup with silicone top & grip band. Best way to enjoy your tea on the go, porcelain! The iced version, Eco Cup on Ice, comes with it's own straw. Handy ridge on the straw keeps it from falling out of the top. The last product is the steep, silicone collapsible tea infuser. This is a great way to enjoy real tea on the go!

siptea is OPEN in Santa Monica

2011-05-28T10:27:00.000-07:00

Well we have been open a week. Still trying to get things in order & get more stock in. We are open but the Grand Opening will be in June. We did a soft open for the Montana Ave. Sidewalk Sale. Had a nice turnout & are trying to settle into the space. Things still need to be streamlined & figured out. This week we should get our shipment of Eva Solo tea products. They are very stylish & well designed. Look for more products to be coming in every week. We are also going to expand our 40 teas, to include more flavored teas and blends. Looking forward to having classes where we teach about what you can do with tea. We have redesigned the labels & also are updating the website. Stop by Monday thru Saturday from 10am - 5pm, Sunday 12pm - 5pm. We are located at 1627 Montana Ave in the back. And as always keep sipping tea...

Silver Lake Green Fair

2011-04-20T22:31:00.000-07:00

So siptea is helping to put on the 1st Annual Silver Lake Green Fair. It's taking place behind The Kitchen and Akbar in their parking lot. Thanks to PERI, pure eco rag industry, we have the parking lot. So lots of things are falling into place at the last minute and I finally am getting my act together to update my own blog & let people know about what is going on!
Saturday April 23rd from 11am to 4pm there will be a band, DJ, drummers, plus food vendors, drinks, and shopping. Should be fun plus we will be there sampling tea & selling packaged tea.
This is a cash event & please byob (bring your own bag) we know you have one!
"Global starts Local"

The Gypsy Tea Experience: a Tea Tour

2010-10-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday I went on a tea tour to Ojai. The whole event was coordinated by Kulov. He's the energetic and visionary force behind the local Tea Festival. The next festival will be held on May 13-15, 2011 at Royal/T in Culver City. So save the dates and in the mean time check out Royal/T and Kulov.
So the day started at Royal/T with a brunch and a tour of the Warhol art exhibit by the owner of the cafe and also fantastic art collector, Susan Hancock. She is amazing and interesting and you should check out the exhibit if you get a chance.
Then we got on a big blue bus and headed to Ojai. Once in Ojai we were treated to a delicious lunch at Azu using tea as a main ingredient. We met Zhena, the founder and creative whirlwind behind Zhena's Gypsy Teas. Zhena was very engaging making the lunch fun and showing her love of tea and Ojai in everything she did. After the lunch we walked over to her headquarters for a tour and then the fun really started, we were allowed to make our own tea blend to take home. Zhena blends teas like a perfumer, using high, mid and low notes to give a complete experience to the cup. I made a white cucumber tea. Using Silver Needle and Bai Mu Dan, I added cucumber essence and combined them to give a really nice spa blend. It was subtle, but I was very happy with my choices. All the ingredients were organic and fair trade, Zhena's mantra. I have to say I came away really respecting what she has done and is continuing to do for the tea industry. It was also inspiring to see her success and know that what I am doing with siptea is on the right path.
Our last stop was at Barrel 33 in Ojai for drinks made with Zhena's teas. They were great and a nice end to the day, but we still had the drive home. On the way back Kulov showed the Les Blank documentary "All in this Tea." Which I had been wanting to see and was really great to relax and take in on the drizzly drive back to Culver City in weekending traffic. (The only small negative of the whole trip, but nice that we weren't driving!)
Overall highly recommend Kulov's tea tours and Zhena's Gypsy teas.

Busy Sunday in LA!

2010-01-25T11:08:00.000-08:00

Still getting over a cold, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go to the monthly Backwards Beekeeper meeting and Go Green Expo at the convention center. The beekeeper meeting was first. It is run by Kirk Anderson or Kirkobeeo is his twitter handle. He should have his own show and puts things in terms most people understand. The setting was Farmlab's outdoor space under Spring Street. Very urban and cool space to learn about bees. They are located by the park & do amazing things in LA. Kirk was talking about small cell bees, which kind of was way more advanced than my knowledge. My interest was what brought me there, but literally that was it, I hadn't even read much, just heard from my friend's Max & Steve that it was great and Kirk was hilarious. They were right on both counts. After the class I looked up a bunch of things online & now understand more about things he was referencing. Basically Kirk's philosophy is let bees be bees. Don't use chemicals, or do much of anything to the bees, they will do it all. The CCD, Colony Collapse Disorder, most people now feel is due to limited gene pool and man's interference with pesticides and other chemicals to control pests, like mites. Kirk feels that healthy bees will survive and that the mites aren't going away. So lets make beekeeping sustainable, by cutting out the chemicals & human interference as much as possible. Besides being really funny and a total character, he gives you great information.
The next stop on my busy Sunday was the Go Green Expo, my friend at Ecosaveology wanted me to get some photos of Mariel Hemingway & the expo, so ran over to try to hear her talk. Missed the talk, but caught the Q&A after and got some ok pix. I found the expo a bit on the slim side, lots of Solar panel info, electric & hybrid vehicles, lots of things I don't consider green, and a smattering of cool & new products. They had a whole section for pets that was interesting. The products I liked the most were: O'Bon, cool school supplies; Soda Stream, make soda at home; Vapur, foldable, reuseable water bottle; Hydro Flask, double walled hot or cold water bottle; ecousable, water bottle with built in filter; Reverse Vending Machine, recycle on the spot & get money.

Good Cup of Tea in LA

2010-01-25T11:00:00.000-08:00

Went to Intelligentsia in Venice a few weeks ago & finally got a good cup of tea. The green tea was not bitter and the only bad thing I could say was it was a bit thin on flavor. Might want to use more tea leaves the next time. Oh I should add that they also took the leaves out of the pot, so no re-steeping, bummer. Also had a great muffin from Cake Monkey, love them.
4 1/2 out of 5 leaves!
Success at last!

Can I get a good cup of tea in LA?

2009-12-17T10:44:00.000-08:00

I guess the answer is no.
Had a business meeting at Joan's on Third. Really like that place and wonder if I will be making enemies if I say that their iced tea was terrible. I just thought I'd have an iced tea to drink. It was so bitter and strong, I had to add sugar, something I rarely do to tea. Also what is up with putting the drinks in to-go cups when I asked for it for here. Ok, still on the look out for a good cup of tea in LA. Any suggestions? Still love Joan's, just won't order iced tea again.

Lamill Coffee in Silverlake

2009-11-30T10:42:00.000-08:00

Lamill Coffee in Silverlake is from the name, the place to get coffee, not necessarily tea. This is a coffeehouse but they do have a nice and well balanced list of teas. Went for lunch here and overall a good experience. I ordered a green tea they had on the menu, and even though I know quite a bit about tea, I didn't know how to pronounce the Chinese name or know the tea. So being adventurous I wanted to try this one, organic magnolia Yuncui green. When I said to the waitress, I would like this green tea, not sure how to pronounce it, hoping she would help me out, she responded, "I don't know either." Ok, not the answer I was expecting, but it is a coffee place. One friend got a silver needle, white tea and the other ordered iced tea. The iced tea was said to be a green tea. When it came it had other flavors in it, and having allergies my friend wanted to know what else was in the tea. That took quite a while and ended up having flowers in it, so she chose not to finish it. Side note food was excellent. Both the white & the green tea were bitter, again this could be due to too long steep time or too hot water. The tea came in a glass pot and the leaves had been removed, which is fine for presentation, but re-steeping, especially oolongs is important. The white tea was listed as a silver needle, but the waitress when asked said that all the teas were blended with lots of other ingredients & that nothing was pure tea. I didn't correct her, but my tea & the silver needle from flavor appeared to be just tea, not blends with herbs & flowers. They menu had cool names for the blends, but when asked what the ingredients were in the blends, the waitress responded, "there are 8 million ingredients in the blends," and therefore couldn't really give us a better idea of what was in the tea.
Things they did right:
- nice atmosphere & good music
- cool descriptions of tea, not the usual flowery, fussy, but modern & hip
- nice presentation with glass pot
- loose leaf tea (assumed because we didn't see the tea)
- tea given equal time in the beverage menu (beverage menu much larger than food)
- loose leaf tea tin available for purchase
Things that were off:
- staff knowledge of tea (might just be our particular waitress)
- took forever to find out what the iced tea was made of & it was a standard menu item
- tea preparation seemed flawed, not sure of the problem, but outcome was bitter tea
- no leaves so re-steeping isn't an option
- different cups for different tea, but no real reason
- price warrants better knowledge of what they are selling
Side note, the bench seats are uncomfortable & hard to get in & out of, recommend sitting in chairs.
3 leaves out of 5
For trying to make tea hip and atmosphere.
They might want to up their training of staff on tea, since about half the people were drinking tea.

Tea Review of Bird Pick Tea and Herb

2009-11-30T09:42:00.000-08:00

This weekend did some more checking out tea in Los Angeles & Pasadena.
I had been hearing about Bird Pick Tea & Herb, for over a year. Finally getting to check out the place. It is located in Old Town Pasadena in a great storefront. The shop is calming right when you walk in and you are greeted by friendly and knowledgeable staff. I didn't really quiz them but they were attentive and helpful. My friends both ended up buying tea accouterments. They have a wide selection of pots, cups, tools and everything you need to make a good cup of tea, and lets face it lots of things that you don't need but are cute and make nice gifts. I found the displays a bit overwhelming & the pre-made gift baskets not to my liking. The packaged sets were nice and so were the teapots available. They offered tea samples and I tried a gen mai cha, Japanese green tea with toasted rice, and a keemun, a Chinese black tea. Here is were they really fell down in my book. Both tea samples were bitter, I don't know if they steeped too long, or used too hot water. My friends thought the gen mai cha was terrible, I agreed that it wasn't good. But I didn't blame the tea, which I love normally, while others don't care for it, I blamed the preparation. I also think the way they display the tea is pretty, with large clear glass containers, but it is the worst way to store tea. Tea should be stored in a cool, dry location away from light. They even had matcha tea powder out in the sun, which I have always been told needs to be refrigerated in a airtight container to keep it fresh. I think they could keep the tea in glass for display only, but have other containers that they pull from to fill orders. I would not buy my tea from a vendor that stored tea in clear glass, because freshness means more flavor & more beneficial anti-oxidants.
Things they did right:
- greet customers & offered samples
- good location & atmosphere
- lots of choices for loose leaf tea
- lots of choices for teapots and accessories
- tea cart with on the spot preparation, cool feature
Things that were not great:
- tea stored in CLEAR glass containers (they did have air tight lids) in the SUN
- tea preparation not great or had changed in flavor sitting in airpots
2 out of 5 leaves
Mainly for the staff & atmosphere and bringing tea to the masses, but I would not recommend the store for buying tea, just tea accessories.
Since they are opening up 2 more stores in the Los Angeles area, they might want to re-think the clear glass jars!

Musings on a Rainy Day

2009-10-13T13:06:00.001-07:00

Finally got some rain. Not a lot yet, but it is fall in LA & that means the start of what I hope to be a good rainy season, and snow in the mountains. We are officially in a drought and on restricted watering for yards. Since I really don't have any grass, that has not been a problem. I ripped out my front yard slowly, but the change over the 8 years I have lived here are dramatic. I am posting a picture of the house when I first moved in & today. It has been the most interesting thing to witness the changes in wildlife to my yard. I have bees, butterflies, moths, birds, and all sorts of bugs. Some of them are beneficial & some not so much, but being eco-friendly/organic means not using chemicals on my yard. So I hope for ladybugs & use my spray bottle of dish soap & water on the plants. An easy eco-tip is use the dish water from the sink to water any plants with pests on them. You are using greywater that would go down the drain & the soap helps get rid of the pests.
I have lots of testing to do about tea & have to write about what I have found out, but just wanted to put this note in, on this rainy day in LA.

Eco Ideas large & small

2009-09-15T14:27:00.000-07:00

I was planning to do a second eco-salon, but the first Sunday of the month was Labor Day weekend & then I just didn't get my act together to do it the 2nd Sunday, so next month will be the 2nd eco-salon.
The reason I didn't get my act together was I was in the Rocky Mountains at the Telluride Film Festival. It was beautiful as always and they are doing some really cool eco friendly things with the fest. I worked the Festival as the assistant manager of the Abel Gance, the outdoor theater in the middle of town. Beautiful to see films under the stars, but it gets cold & there was some rain. That didn't stop us, we still showed movies.
Back to the eco/green ideas. Biggest one was they had Brita as a sponsor & every pass holder & all the staff were given Nalgene (BPA free of course) water bottles. Then they set up Water Filling Stations around the theaters so people could fill up. They lost out on the revenue of selling bottled water, but what a great idea. The water was just filtered town water, filters provided by Brita, naturally. The Wastemasters (trash pickup by the staff) were so happy. They said the worst part of the job was picking up the trash with so many 1/2 empty bottles of water, super heavy & messy. They had to empty them to recycle them.
NOTE: The lids on bottles are usually not recyclable so if you leave it on, it may get thrown in the trash to save time or it has to be twisted off by a sanitation worker to be recycled. So REMOVE YOUR LIDS when recycling plastic bottles. Or better yet, don't buy them & use a refillable bottle.
Ok enough about that, they also had Alice Waters consult on the food provided by the festival. She made a menu that took advantage of locally grown ingredients and organic ingredients. Funny thing is Ann Cooper used to do the food program & is now big in revamping school food programs, check out her lecture on the TEDtalks program. Will try to post a link for that.
So getting back into the swing of things here in Los Angeles. Miss siptea and talking tea, so tonight I am going to see Gail at Algabar, a great place to buy tea in Los Angeles, that is also closing it's doors. I think LA needs to pick up it's game in the world of tea & all things green. Prove me wrong, tell me about green things happening in LA.
Will post soon lots to blog about. Forgot how good it feels to get some of these things out there.

Eco-Salon

2009-08-18T13:25:00.000-07:00

So it's been awhile & I finally put together something I had been planning for a while. An eco-Salon at my house. We had the first one on the 2nd of August. There were about ten people here, our guest of honor was Erik Knutzen. He lives in my neighborhood and has a blog. http://www.homegrownevolution.com/ also has a book, called "The Urban Homestead." It was fun and topics ranged from greywater, to chickens, to gardening. It was a fun mix of people and made me realize I needed to have a sign in sheet or some way to keep track of the people who came & the interest & expertise. Lots of knowledgeable people. The next one is set for the 2nd Sunday in September. Hope to be better about blogging closer to the event and want to start a link database for the sites/resources that were talked about.

Intelligentsia for Tea

2009-07-20T10:54:00.000-07:00

Another in the series of reviews of tea in Los Angeles.
Intelligentsia in Silverlake
I ordered an Oolong, Iron Goddess of Mercy $4.50 (I think that was the price) Sat down with my friend who had a Cafe au Lait, which they messed up by giving her a regular drip coffee but soon corrected. Had a nice chat in the sun after having hiked in Griffith Park and had 2 steeps out of the leaves of this fabulous Oolong tea.
Good things:
-Loose leaf tea! No teabags!
-Nice setting with outdoor seating.
-Good but small selection of teas.
-Tea presented in a glass double wall cup without handle & small glass teapot. Cup looked to be about a 6 oz. cup, but might have been 8. Teapot was perfect size to fill cup completely.
-Glass pot let you see the leaves as they opened up.
-Wood tray to hold cup & teapot.
-Told by staff that I could get another refill on water. Nice, especially for an Oolong.
-Tea smelled wonderful and could tell it was quality just from the scent.
Things not up to the level of the coffee preparation:
-Don't know when the water went into the pot & no instructions about how long to steep from staff, so guessed when the 3 min were up. Standard steeping time for an Oolong, but I guessed wrong because the tea was already a bit bitter. Still could tell it was a really nice Oolong.
-Seems like they put too much tea in the pot. I recommend 3g per 6oz. water or approximately 1 table spoon per cup. Looked to be about 2 times the tea I would recommend. Just makes for a stronger cup, but shouldn't be bitter if steeped properly, just strong.
-Glass cup was nice, but couldn't really see the color of the liquor, the tea took on the color of the table & changed with the color of the wood tray. Still prefer white porcelain. Points in my book though for the non-traditional presentation, very nice with the glass pot.
-2nd steep I thought I would have more control, since I brought the pot in to get refilled so I could see when the water was added. Here was the DOWNFALL of the whole process, ONE water boiler, I assumed set at boiling, so the tea was in water that was too hot.
-Tried to compensate with a shorter steep, but still slightly bitter, most likely due to the water being too hot.
-No mention either time how long the tea needed to steep from the staff.
-Tea seemed an after thought for the staff.
-Price reflected the quality of the tea, but not the preparation or training of the staff on tea. Seemed overpriced for what I was given.
Seems like tea is still a second class citizen in the coffee-centric US & Los Angeles. I have read about the person who buys tea for Intelligensia & he seems very dedicated & as concerned with quality as the coffee roasters. The website even mentions that the tea needs to steep at a lower temp. & recommends a 30sec steep, which wasn't relayed to the customer by the staff. I think the quality of the tea was done a disservice by how the staff prepared the tea. They need to get another water boiler, or have a way to hold water at different temperatures. It would have ruined a good green tea, if I had order that. Intelligentsia is giving people who want to try tea a bad taste in their mouth, bitterness rather than the sweet variety of an outstanding Oolong Iron Goddess of Mercy.
4 out of 5 leaves for the quality of the tea

Sunday Salons

2009-06-27T10:29:00.000-07:00

So the website is up but still needs some tweaking. Need to add the teapots & other products to buy.
Getting ready for a yardsale, had to make room for the stuff from the store to go in my house & then on to new adventures.
My latest idea is to do monthly (at first, then might increase in frequency) Sunday Afternoon Salons. There would always be free tea tastings and then demonstrations & information about green practices, products, and people in Los Angeles. There are so many people doing great things but only a handful of people know about them, so want to raise awareness & give out information to people that want to learn how to incorporate green practices in their life easily & have fun doing it too. Doesn't help that they get some free organic tea in the mix. Details will be coming soon.
check out the website.
www.siptea.biz

Jin Patisserie Tea Review

2009-06-08T17:11:00.000-07:00

Another in my series reviewing tea service in Los Angeles.
Jin Patisserie in Venice on Abbot Kinney.
I had been here a couple of years ago, when they were carrying teas from Le Palais des Thes, a French company with a branch here in Beverly Hills. They have lovely teas, pricey, but very nice. Jin Patisserie is now carrying a new French tea line, The O Dor, don't know that name, but the menu says it is a newer company. The setting is great with a small enclosed courtyard around a central water feature. My friend & I had tea, plus a chocolate that they had samples of at the register, don't miss out on the samples! It was a passion fruit chocolate. Incredible intense flavor in such a compact package, really lovely. My friend had a blend with roses & I had a Lotus green tea. I am not remembering all the information on the teas & didn't take good notes, so thought I would just get it off the website, but no such luck. Another pet peeve, websites with music, please stop, plus the pretty site was hard to navigate & get info. Next step was to phone, but must have called at the wrong time, no answer. This is from memory so if I get some details wrong oops.
Things they did right:
-Lovely, peaceful setting, that isn't overly fussy.
-Tea is brought to you already steeped with the leaves removed, so no over steeping at the table.
-White porcelain cup & teapot. White color is the best to show off the color of the tea liquor.
-Perfectly steeped tea, they do know what they are doing.
-Pour the first cup for you, a nice touch.
Things that bugged me:
-Were there any organic options?
-Tea is brought with tumbled raw sugar lumps, and pretty big in size too. So if you wanted sweetener you would get lots.
-They remove the tea leaves. Which as I said above is good, but what if you want a re-steep? You have to buy a second pot, which I'm fine with the paying for more tea, but what if you get an Oolong? The 2nd steep is usually better than the first because the tea has a chance to open up. It just seems a disservice to tea in general not to let people see & smell the leaves & get to experience re-steeping of a good tea.
Liked the white cup, but not crazy about the handle on the tea cup, I kept trying to cup it like a Japanese style cup. This is my preference & I know many people like handles especially for black tea. Style points for the pot & cup being simple not flowery.
On a personal note, I think I picked the wrong tea for me. The Lotus tea I had was interesting & I had never had that particular tea before, so I got it to expand my taste palette, but liked it, wasn't in love with it. That is not part of the review but my own take on the tea.
In general, Jin Patisserie has good tea & even better chocolates & desserts.
Still in search of a perfect tea in Los Angeles, besides the ones I make at home.
4 out of 5 leaves

Tea Nazi Looks at Tea in Los Angeles

2009-05-31T21:00:00.000-07:00

I was called the Tea Nazi by Ed Fuentes. Now that siptea is closed I am on a mission to educate & inform Los Angelenos about tea. Proper, good, tasty tea. Here is my first review of tea in and around LA.
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (Blueberry Pomegranate Oolong special on Steeping sign)
First the positives:
-Equal time to tea in the name & inside the store. Signage is the same for tea & coffee, not a second class citizen on the signs
-Asked if I could get it in a cup/mug rather than paper & they gave me a glass mug
(Tea, and coffee for that matter, taste much better in ceramic or glass than paper.)
-A decent selection of all types of tea, except pu'erh (didn't see any, but might have missed it)
-Loose leaf tea sold in tins (protected from moisture & light)
-Tea bag was pyramid style with loose leaf blend inside
-Proper use of "steeping" on the signs rather than "brewing"
Now the negatives:
-A tea bag, nuf said
-One source for hot water, so no temperature control, just boiling (so water was hotter than it should be for Oolongs)
-Didn't see any Organic options
-Tea bag was pretty stuffed when done steeping (a problem with tea balls, tea stick & bags in general - not enough room for the tea to fully expand, especially an Oolong)
-No place to put the teabag, just put it on a napkin on the table
-Flavor was okay, but thin & didn't really taste like an Oolong, blueberry & pomegranate flavors (chemicals?) took over tea taste
-Tea bags stored in glass jars (HUGE pet peeve, looks pretty, but the essential oils that make the taste & have health benefits, need to be protected from sunlight.)
-2nd steep was blah, nothing left & this is usually a better cup for a true Oolong, so makes me question if it was an Oolong or a mistake on the sign (left the bag in for the rest of the time drinking)
-No mention from staff on when to remove the teabag from the water & really not expected to, since it was tied around the mug handle
Well less than stellar example of tea in LA, no wonder people aren't drinking more tea, if this is what they normally experience.
2 leaves out of 5 for the things they did right.

Online

2009-05-26T13:26:00.000-07:00

Still working on the online shop. Hardest part is the descriptions. Have lots of pictures of tea, sharing some of them here.
Just to give you a heads up, there is someone taking over the lease, and it is an amicable take-over, so they are going to try to transition into the space for the next 3 months, while siptea goes online & looks for a new location. So the space will look the same, with slow changes happening as the new owner takes over. They like the teas & the service so will be carrying siptea, along with juices & coffees. About half the teas will be represented, which are the most popular ones, hopefully your choices will be included. Will keep you up to date on what is happening as soon as I know it.

getting punched in the gut by a former customer

2009-05-20T16:38:00.000-07:00

The blogdowntown is a great source for LA to read about what is happening in our city, specifically downtown. Ed Fuentes wrote a really nice send off piece about siptea closing our doors. I just want to say that the economy & difficulties in opening my business in general made it hard to weather the storm here in a slightly more desolate section of downtown. Yet there are successful restaurants that have made it right around the corner, so I know that there might be other factors. Well I got two blogdowntown readers views & felt like they (really one in particular) punched me in the gut. I guess my response would be how the next writer responded, why didn't you say something? The one writer didn't like any of the seating, "uncomfortable", didn't like the food, didn't like the staff, I was listed as "ok", wanted us to carry the NY Times, wanted sofas & comfy chairs, too expensive, layout bad, signage bad, erratic hours, wanted more non-caffeinated options, wanted more events. I know that comments tend to the negative & that his bad review prompted another bad response, but really, what is the point of kicking someone when they are already down. I am not in business anymore & you could have said all that in a more positive way or if you felt so strongly & came in 15 to 20 times over the 7 months, couldn't you have said at least one thing? I know that no one suggesting getting the newspaper, it was suggested to be open on Sunday so we were, sometimes making as little as $50, we never closed early. We had a small selection of teas, that did increase over time & we tried to get things people asked for, I don't remember being asked for more decaf options. I know I could improve the staff's customer service & that will be something I learn from this, but as a business owner here is my advice to my customers, if you want something different ask for it, there is no way to serve the customer if we don't know what you want. I will do more surveys & have a suggestion box at the next location & would love to have your comments here so I can learn from them. You can email me too with complaints or suggestions on our 1st location & would love to hear how to improve what some people loved & others obviously thought was severely lacking in many ways.

rantings of a tea addled brain

2009-05-05T18:00:00.000-07:00

I sit here after basically drinking tea all day long, a lovely Bai Mu Dan & now I need to vent. Customers are wonderful & also weird. Someone came in the other day & asked me, the owner of a tea house that sells bulk tea, if there was any place downtown I would recommend to buy tea. Huh?! I replied fairly politely, "besides here, no." WTF! You can buy tea wherever you want, but our teas are all organic. Think about the fact that tea is picked, then withered & processed, there is no cleaning or rinsing. So if you have chemicals on your tea plant, you are now pouring hot water on those chemicals & drinking them down. Tea should be organic. I think all food should be organic, but I am a crazy eco/green/liberal/tea drinking/prius driving/solar panels on house/greywater/native plant/permaculture/chicken raising/Los Angelino. So there!
Here are some pictures of my chickens, my neighbors are upset with them right now. Well I guess I should say they are upset with me, I was letting them free range in the whole backyard. Now they are coop bound, it's a big coop & they are fine. I need to be a better neighbor, have been at the shop too much, yard is a mess & my garden is in need of some major weeding/tending. Filled up my green bin in a couple hours yesterday on my day off. Well sort of day off, had bills & food to pick up so more like 1/2 day off. I think that siptea may have to become more of a tea/dessert place less of a lunch place. Too much work & not enough pay off. We have changed the hours, opening later in the mornings, 10am and closing earlier 7pm, except on Friday.
Tell me what you think siptea should be. Would like to expand the retail with more eco-friendly products, and cut down on the food.
What do you think?

Earth Day Birthdays!!

2009-04-22T19:14:00.000-07:00

We are extremely pleased to announce that Rosalyn Grant, had a little baby girl this morning. So excited for Jesse & Rosalyn that they had a 7lb. healthy, and according to her father, beautiful baby girl. Of course she would be beautiful. Rosalyn had the baby naturally & without any drugs, just like she wanted. It is extra impressive, that she was working at siptea until the 10th of April! All I can say is, WOW & that we are so happy for her. Can't wait to see the new little baby girl, who is now sharing a birthday with me & the earth.
Our Earth Day Green tea discount was a success & we gave away chico bags to customers who brought in their own cups. Kudos to you who made the extra Earth Day effort!
Thanks to our great customers & Rosalyn for making this a very special Earth Day indeed!

Educating & Adapting

2009-04-16T21:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday a woman came in and ordered a green tea, I will clarify, a tropical pineapple green tea. We do have lots of people come in for green tea. Unlike the grocery store there is not just one "green" tea, we have a few, and that confuses some people, because they do sell tea called "green" tea in the grocery store, right next to the box labeled, tea. She gets her tropical pineapple and asked if it could be made hotter. I said it was steeped at a lower temp. because of the type of tea it is, so it isn't bitter. She just wanted it hotter & asked to microwave it, which we don't have. So the conversation continued with her asking if she came in & asked for it made with hotter water, would I do that? I replied, I would warn you it would be bitter & would probably suggest a tea that is made with hotter water. She seemed to be testing me to see if I would make a bad cup of tea if I was asked to, the final answer is yes. That is the art of tea, you can make it any way you like, I would just like people to have tea prepared the way it is recommended first, then they can make it anyway they want. I am trying to educate as well as serve the community.
Being adaptable is the only way to survive & I would give any customer what they want, after saying my disclaimer. Another way we are adapting is that we are going to change our hours. Starting May 5th we will be open from 10am to 6pm Tuesday through Friday, with Saturday & Sunday hours staying the same, 11am to 6pm. The economic downturn has been rough on everyone & to stay here and survive we need to adapt and shorten our hours. Hopefully in 6 months we will be open longer hours.

Happy Easter & Passover

2009-04-12T18:52:00.000-07:00

Flowers from my yard.

random acts of destruction

2009-04-12T18:28:00.001-07:00

I just don't understand some people. We have 2 rolling planters outside our storefront. They have been there 6 days a week for 6 months now. We get occasional trash thrown in, now more than ever since the trash can on the street corner was removed. What is up with that LA? Bring our trash can back, but that is another story. Today I look out to see that someone has uprooted a plant in the planter. The vine that goes up the trellis is out of the soil & laying on the table next to it & when I investigate further, another plant, the vinca is also uprooted & left on the rock mulch. WTF people? Why would someone rip a plant out of the soil? It took some force, because they broke some of the roots. And on Easter Sunday to boot! Come on, I just don't understand, they didn't even take the plants with them. That is what they do in my neighborhood, just steal the plants with a shovel. This was just random destruction of plant life. It makes me sad & I hope that it doesn't kill the plant. I replanted it, but with the roots torn it could cause problems. Arrgh! Let's hope it doesn't die & becomes the Easter vine.

Thanks to Jessica Needleman

2009-04-08T15:15:00.000-07:00

Today we had some people stop by from the Eastern Columbia building. They didn't even know we were here, been here six months, directly across from them, but they never had seen our storefront. Jessica Needleman, who is the daughter of Steve Needleman who owns the 9th & Broadway building (where siptea is located), the Orpheum Theater & all the Anjac Fashion buildings you see in Los Angeles, sent them an email. So nice that people are watching out for us, we a small place, and don't have a large advertising budget, so any help we get is just wonderful. So here is a public thank you to Jessica for promoting us to the neighborhood.

Coupons

2009-04-01T22:11:00.000-07:00

So trying to spread the word in downtown about siptea. We got some postcards made, with recycled paper, and now are making them into coupons by putting stickers on them. The stickers are also recycled and it makes the postcards very adaptable & hopefully they will end up in the hands of happy tea drinkers and not in trash/recycling bins.
Only 21 days until earthday, which ironically is my actual birthday! Seems I was born to be green.
If you start stopping by siptea, we have a frequent buyer program, so ask us about it & we will start you on your way to a free tea.
On a happy & sad note, Rosalyn is going to be leaving us soon to have her baby & enjoy the joys of motherhood full-time.
We are planning to do a green event for earthday & it is also going to be Fiesta Broadway on the 26th of April, so are thinking we should get some green/eco info set up to give out to the hispanic community.
If anyone has any ideas on green companies or products that need an outlet, hook me up, would love to make this a great community event.

twitter

2009-03-24T18:15:00.001-07:00

okay I think I made a mistake with the twitter address, it is http://twitter.com/siptea
hope this helps

twitter & other things

2009-03-22T16:16:00.000-07:00

siptea is on twitter, if you want updates daily on what we have as special, our soups, etc. you can follow us, siptea.biz
We have some followers already, so join in & get up to the minute updates.
Also wanted to let everyone know we have 11 award winning organic teas for you to try. Every year the World Tea Council judges the teas at the World Tea Expo & hands out prizes for the top 5 in each category. Some of the winners are not organic, but we still have almost a 3rd of our teas that have won awards. We do have two new teas to try, a Tropical Pineapple Green tea & a Blueberry Pomegranate White tea. Both are good hot & iced.
Next Friday & Sunday we will be open a bit later because of shows at the Orpheum, will twitter the exact times on the day.
Also welcome our newest member of team siptea, Jasmine. How appropriate right?!, she's still learning the ropes so be gentle. And maybe have a Jasmine Pearl green tea in her honor!

Photo of Broadway Last Sunday

2009-03-14T17:52:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo of the view out the front when a TV pilot, Flash Forward took over Broadway last weekend.

Afternoon Tea

2009-03-14T16:58:00.000-07:00

We found an organic baker, Oh My! Bakery in Glendale, and we are now serving afternoon or some call it high tea. We have a full afternoon tea that is a real meal or a mini tea that is sweets only. Both afternoon tea choices come with an organic pot of tea. Really excited to see if people respond to this & want to see if we get any feedback on doing afternoon tea in downtown. It's a bit different than what the Biltmore offers, so not sure if that is what people are looking for.
Tonight there is another show at the Orpheum so will have a later closing than usual to accommodate the crowd.
Also on a crazy note, we were recording when the slow dude (a guy who walks around downtown extremely slowly, more like a shuffle) passed by our storefront. We had him coming by between 3 & 4pm and then he was not seen for 3 weeks. Now you may think we just missed him, or he came at another time, or we were busy when he walked by, but let me just say that he walks so slow, it takes almost 5 minutes to clear the front, and we think one of us would have seen him. Plus we were on the look out to record his time, so we thought maybe something happened to him. As the weeks passed we were getting concerned about his absence. Well happily he returned on Wednesday & everyone who works at siptea let out a cheer! So he is alive & well and still walking slowly around downtown.

The Mayor of Los Angeles

2009-03-06T14:41:00.000-08:00

Celebrity sighting here at siptea! Antonio Villaraigosa came in today to have a pot of green tea & a meeting with Jessica McLean of the Bringing Back Broadway Project, along with his bodyguard. I used the opportunity to mention the green roofs project that the Mayor of Chicago started and that we should use some of the green stimulus money for putting green roofs in downtown LA. He was interested in the build out of the space & I told him we followed LEED standards, but couldn't afford the certification, because you had to have an on-site LEED representative to certify your project. Too large a cost, $25,000 to $50,000, for a tea house. He said that was something the city should look into for small projects and small businesses.
He also got a kick out of the bathroom & the fact that I put Councilmember Jose Huizar's plaque up in the restroom.
Some of the customers texted friends of the Mayor sighting. Overall very cool & receptive to the place & what we were trying to do as a green business.

Techno

2009-02-26T17:53:00.000-08:00

Okay so the issue is the modem, maybe? Everything is working but I can't get on the internet in windows mode, only Mac mode, which is cool with me. Hopefully next Monday will solve the problem, getting a new router.
Looking to get some new teas, people have asked for something with ginger, still looking for that one, but found a great tropical green tea. Also want to get a kukicha, japanese twig tea. Need to get another pu'erh and more oolongs. Any other suggestions?
So here is the scoop on the frequent buyer card. We are holding onto it, it has the customer's name on it, so you don't have to remember to bring it in, just remind us to stamp it when you get a tea so after 12 you get one free. Some people are already a quarter of the way there!
Made some apple crisp in the crock pot that worked out.
Looks like we have an organic baker, so in March we will start doing high tea on the weekends.
Not sure if anyone reads this, but have been surprised by people mentioning things from my blog, so I guess someone does.
Our new green tip: If you buy bulk tea from us, bring back your pouch & get 75 cents off your tea refill. Another way to reduce/reuse/recycle.

Bad Techno Day

2009-02-24T19:02:00.000-08:00

Ok, so usually I'm not a complete dunce when it comes to technology. I do have to admit to not really understanding all the geek talk, but most things make sense. Full disclosure, I use a Mac. Today everything technical seemed to go haywire. I couldn't get the printer to print out some labels for my new postcards. Got around it in a really strange way. I have to have my Mac in Windows mode to run the cash register, ended up emailing a pdf of the menu & labels to print them in Windows mode, because Mac mode wasn't able to print. Then the cash register (pos) system went down, wouldn't run credit cards, then wouldn't respond quickly to the touch screen, took forever to get an order in, literally 3-5 minutes to type it in, hopefully without any errors. Arrgh! Don't know what is wrong with technology & me today, maybe it is something in the air.
Then the tech problems seemed to spill over into other areas, someone took my compost bin from the alley & they didn't send the replacement like they said they would. Had an event at 'Pussy & Pooch', doggie tea party, we provided the tea. Try to find a place to park after 3pm over at 5th & Main, yikes! Got the stuff to them after a 1/2 block walk, carrying everything at once, only to get a call from siptea saying I forgot the pump for the airpot & so drove back to Pussy & Pooch to give them the pump. Double Arrgh!! I just want the day to be over so nothing else can go wrong. (by the way the labels didn't work with the printer after all, they were labels for a laser printer & the ink jet just smeared :( so had to hand write the coupon on the postcards, not very professional double frowny face :( :( )
Here's to a better day tomorrow.
So we are starting a frequent buyer card, buy 12 teas, get one free! Come in & ask us about what else we have coming up!

To Go or Not To Go?

2009-02-17T18:20:00.000-08:00

So that is the question we ask people when they order from siptea. Is that for here or to go? Most people answer with what they are going to do. But we do have the occasional person who says "to go" then sits down & eats the whole thing in house & throws the box & utensils in the compost (thanks at least for doing the compost part). This is because they think they are leaving or might not finish everything and want to take what is left with them. Okay, that's nice, but the amount of energy & resources that go into the to go container, is so much more than our dishwasher uses. Also if they don't eat everything, we have smaller to go containers that are less trash & also happen to cost us less. The urge I have every time is to tell the individuals that are doing this, that they are wasting compostable containers and we would much prefer to give them a plate/glass/cup and wash it & maybe even give them in the end a to go container for the remainder of their meal/drink, then give them one in the beginning. We don't have many people ask for doggie bags, so if you think you want to stay, but might have to leave early, still say "for here" that is the better choice.

Updates

2009-02-10T14:05:00.000-08:00

So the tree was hit by a UPS truck, if you didn't read the comments. I don't know if it is being replaced, but sounds like the Eastern wants it replaced.
We are going to have paintings by Todd Becraft up for Thursday's Downtown Artwalk. Stop by & also check out Gary Leonard's new gallery 2 doors down from us. He will also be open til 9pm for Artwalk.
Friday Night Flights are lots of fun, slowly catching on, we are hopeful people will get into them & tea as much as we are. This Friday we will be open to 11pm for a Poetry reading event. More details to come & will post links too.
Just wanted to let people know what we are up to!

Trees Cut Down on Broadway

2009-02-03T18:04:00.000-08:00

So this morning I get to work to see one of the ficus trees in front of the Eastern Columbia building, is now in pieces on the ground. Within a few hours the tree was chewed up & gone. I don't know the reason, roots in the sewer? The trees were just trimmed a few months ago, at the buildings expense, and now the city cut the tree down. The stump is still there & if I know ficus trees that thing will be a crazy looking bush in a matter of months & I don't know if the city will remove the stump, but if they don't the roots will still be an issue. What gives LA? I thought we were suppose to be planting trees not cutting them down.

Musings on Life Downtown

2009-01-25T15:14:00.000-08:00

Crazy stuff.
The bunny guy. The older gentleman who wearing a suit, pushes a baby stroller with a live rabbit in it, around the city. I love this guy!
The (ex-pimp?) preacher who wears matching suits and hats, I've seen purple & white. The hat is trimmed with fur & usually has a rhinestone cross on it & also he has a flashing colored light cross on his breast pocket. Makes you know there is a god.
The slow waking guy, who shuffles by everyday, except one day he was moving at a normal pace? Hmm.
The woman (?) in a spacesuit looking outfit with so much make-up on it was practically dripping off her face. She left & the smell of Brut stayed for about 45 minutes.
The lady who stole our trashcan from the bathroom. She came in with lots of big bags (I suspect full of stuff from other places) ordered a tea & used the restroom. Then left with her tea & our trashcan! We know who you are lady & are keeping an eye out for you.
The adults who think it is okay to take the rocks out of the planter, why? I am crazy too, because if I see it, I run after them & ask for it back. They always say sorry! Sorry that I saw you, or sorry for taking something that doesn't belong to you? (I usually look the other way when it's a kid, but come on people, you're an adult, what do you need a rock for? It's mulch for the plant, not a free sample)
The guy who took the time to pour out the wax from the outdoor votive candles, so he could stuff the glasses in his pockets. I chased him down & got them back, with an "Oh sorry" from him.
The guy dressed like the Lakers Jesus, walking down the street. In white robes with a purple sash & gold crown of thorns. I think he was a true Lakers fan!
Of course these are the exceptions to the generally lovely & nice people we have everyday, but they sure are fun stories to tell.

Parking at siptea

2009-01-21T19:39:00.000-08:00

So lots of people ask me about parking. Well the bad news is there is no real free parking. The 9th & Broadway building is surrounded by parking lots, and there are meters on 9th. Sadly most of the meters end at 3pm (some end at 4pm), but they are free after 7pm. The meters are also $3.00/hour. I don't many people who keep a sack of change in their cars, so that is another drag. Don't forget to read the signs on the meters, the tow trucks come out at 3pm & it's expensive to get your car back - $250 or so. I now owe a friend big time who came down & ended up getting towed, luckily she got the car off the truck, but not before having to fork over, on the spot, 250 buck. Liz you get free tea for life for that one! So sorry!
The lots vary from $5 to $10 per day. The cheapest lot is south of 9th on Broadway. On the west side of the street, right after the Tacos Mexico stand. (Which I recommend if you want meat. Of course come here first for your Jamica - Hibiscus tea. So you can have some organic tea with your Taco.)
Basically if you are coming for more than an hour it is cheapest to go to a lot. We looked into validating, but it is too expensive at this point, still going to try to work a deal.
Here is the scoop for free (not guaranteed) parking. On Sunday the lot behind the Eastern Building is usually unattended, ignore the "no free parking anytime" signs. Also meters are free on Sunday. Broadway's loading zone, right in front of the building is free (?) after 7pm, at least according to the signs.
There is also a bus stop right in front of our door. So have an adventure and use public transport!
Hope to see you soon.

WOO HOO!

2009-01-20T16:28:00.000-08:00

So we had positive feedback from our Obama promotion, it's still going on for a few more hours.
It has been an emotional day. I don't know if it's the heat or the events in Washington, but I am hopeful and feel I need to get things rolling her at siptea, got to start moving the economy.

Inauguration

2009-01-19T15:24:00.000-08:00

Everytime I spell inauguration, I always think it looks wrong. I know it's not, but it's still a weird word.
Tomorrow is the big day for the USA & I am really glad & a slight bit worried some crazy white guy is going to try to disrupt the events. (Keep knocking on wood)
So in honor of our 44th president taking office we are offering a 44 cent discount on any purchase at siptea.
Tomorrow is going to be a great day!

notes about tea & more

2009-01-17T16:04:00.000-08:00

Okay my crock-pot love is waning because the breakfast casserole was crappy. It was overcooked, and just not good. Made more bread pudding & that was excellent again!
So I took some photos and have some information to give out about tea in general & our tea in particular.
Did a little photo shoot of tea bags, one regular and two specialty tea bags. So first off let me say if you are using a regular tea bag, open one up and see what is inside. It is probably dust and small pieces of tea, called fannings. It will make a strong cup of tea with flavor, but will not take a second steeping to save it's life. The tea in the tea bag looked similar to ground pepper when we opened the bag up. If you are spending 25 cents for a tea bag and a dollar for a pot of specialty tea it seems that the tea bag is cheaper. You need to factor in the steeps you get, if you get 4 steeps out of the specialty tea, you have the same price value. You also get 4 steeps that especially with oolongs or pearls, can actually change and get better with multiple steeps. They say the 2nd steep on an oolong is always better, because the first steep only partly opens up the leaf.
The specialty tea bags are better, you can re-steep, but some of the twisted types of teas, like ooloongs just don't have enough room in the bag to open up fully. That is one of the reasons I don't like teabags or balls. The best way to get the most out of your tea is to put it in a pot loose to interact fully with the water. Then you can re-steep the tea as many times as you like, basically till you get something that doesn't satisfy you, then you start fresh with new tea leaves.
Okay I am new to this & don't know how to easily change the order of the photos, so they should be looked at from the bottom up.

Cooking

2009-01-10T19:27:00.000-08:00

I know this is stupid, but I think I'm in love with my crock-pot. Since we can't really cook here, we've become creative in ways to get things done. Actually have to credit my friends Amy & Susan for the idea, they use one at home. So we made bread pudding yesterday in it, excellent! Used some leftover organic baguette, almonds, currants, apricots & of course eggs, milk, cinnamon & some cardamom pods. I had some for breakfast this morning with cream drizzled over it, yum.
So back to the crock-pot, it has a timer so when I leave tonight I have it set to make a breakfast casserole to be done for Sunday when we open. Pretty cool, gotta love technology & the human ability to adapt. Hope this works, we will see tomorrow.
2009 seems to be looking better for siptea already, still some bumps, but the word is getting out & we are getting more new faces. Always nice to meet our neighbors & people who work in the area. Also nice to get cooking again.

2009

2009-01-06T16:54:00.000-08:00

I usually don't make resolutions or even really enjoy New Year's Eve. I like New Year's Day.
This year I didn't do my New Year's Day Party, with Collards & Hoppin' John, mainly, because just didn't have the funds. I would like to think everyone will get money & luck even if they don't come to my house & eat on New Year's Day.
So the world seems to be in even more screwed up than ever, yet I am somehow hopeful. I think our economy will bounce back & maybe it will make people more decerning consumers. I never liked the blind consumerism that has been overtaking the US, and even though I started a business, I am trying to follow the tenant of natural capitalism, not consumerism. Maybe this is just to large a subject to get into...
Lets just say I resolve to have hope for the coming year.

Resolutions for 2009

2009-01-02T16:12:00.000-08:00

Resolutions:
To blog more.
To promote siptea more.
So here I go with doing both in one fell swoop.
Things that I need to write about are tea, weight loss & new hours.
We have genmaicha now, that great japanese green tea with toasted rice. Reminds me of childhood & having puffed rice for cereal.
We got another mention in the world tea news! Will post the link.
On a personal note, not that any of this isn't personal, but I have lost 2 dress sizes in 3 months of working at siptea. The only thing that has changed is eating organic and drinking lots of tea daily. No change in exercise, or types of food, still eating bread, but it's organic. I think it's the tea, of course!
We surveyed our customers, at least the one's on the email list & found out that people think we should have more breakfasty stuff & be open earlier. So starting Tuesday the 6th, we will open at 8:30am.
We have two breakfast panini's & french toast w/organic maple syrup. Can't really do anything else with the lack of a kitchen. Will experiment with some pastries/muffins but they will have to be purchased somewhere else & brought in, due to no cooking on site.
To clear up any confusion the issue is ventilation & there is no possible way to correct the problem in the space we have. There is a possibility of sharing a vent hood in the next space over, but that all depends on who moves in next door. It is something we are actively working on, but would be months before that happens. Thanks for all your suggestions.
Here is to an awesome year for siptea, our country & the world!

Business on Broadway

2008-12-20T14:42:00.000-08:00

So last Saturday was a great day, we were busy from the get go & had lots of sales and happy customers. Today there seems to be lots of foot traffic and cars on the street, but no one is coming in. I just don't get it. I cannot predict what days will be good & what days will be slow. I was thinking that now that the weather has turned colder, more people would be interested in sitting down to have a nice cup of tea, but it's hard to know if people are just not spending because of the bad state of the economy or that I am not reaching them in some way as a business.
So we are going to do tea tastings on Sunday in hopes of getting people in here on the weekend. Might start doing them on weeknights too! It's going to be like wine bars with a flight of tea, they get to sample all 5 of the different types of tea & get information on each type of tea. Now I just have to come up with the information to give our customers. Well I guess that will give me something to do on this slow day!
Oh we have genmaicha now too! That is the japanese green tea with toasted rice added to it, reminds me of puffed rice cereal I had as a kid. Great to wake up to!

Ideal Bite & Water Bottles

2008-12-17T19:06:00.000-08:00

So we got a mention in the idealbite.com in Los Angeles. Really great to be getting such nice press. Hope the new year brings even more coverage, so more people can see what we are up too!
I have had numerous people ask if we had bottled water. We hope to start selling stainless steel bottles to reuse, but we will never carry bottled water. It is such a waste of packaging & most end up in landfills. If you must have water to take with you, we will offer you water in a compostable cup. Hope to make people aware without being too preachy or weird.
Today someone asked for tea, I asked if it was for here or to go? They said here, but lets get it to go, so if we leave. I said we would prefer to give it to them in a cup we wash rather than a paper cup, if they had any left we would give them a paper cup. They ended up not getting the paper cups, so less waste! Yeah! Small milestones, trying to educate lightly & politely. It's not aways easy when people are used to the wasteful behavior & the fast, to go mentality. That is one of the things siptea is about, slowing down, enjoying & being mindful of what your decisions do to the world around you. Or maybe just don't waste a paper cup...

Sustainability

2008-12-07T16:26:00.000-08:00

When we first opened, I didn't want to hit people in the face with the fact that everything was organic & that we were a green business. After seeing that people weren't getting it, I realized I was going to have to hit people over the head. Everything is organic, but a few items, like the cheeses. I got tired of putting on the menu kale salad, made with organic kale, organic darjeeling tea, organic pear, organic olive oil, organic white wine vinegar, organic pepper, salt & humbolt fog cheese, but I think I need to do that on the next incarnation. All our cheeses are from California, with one exception. They are not certified organic cheeses, but are really reputable producers that have a great product. We do have a raw milk cheese from Spain, the manchego, it's too good & haven't found a replacement with a CA cheese. There is always that dilema. So you know I think of all the ramifications before I buy a product. To offset the fact that tea is not produced even close to here, I try to buy things made in the USA. So here is what I did to make our business green, all the glasses & plates are USA made. Sadly couldn't get silverware that was decent & made for food service, that was made here. All the teas are organic, some are even fair trade and biodynamic. All the materials that were used in the build out were as sustainable as building code allows. Denim insulation, recycled paper drywall, medite MDF, dual flush toilet, energy star appliances, industrial recycled wool felt, the list goes on. We also recycled all the existing materials that were demolished from the old business and any scrap metal, copper & pipe from the job site. I was a familiar face at the scrap yard, with my 4 year old prius, next to all the pick-ups. There are many crazy stories that go with opening a business & also with trying to really be green. So we are always striving to be as sustainable as possible & if someone has a tip, I'm all ears & if anyone knows of a truly organic local bakery that sells wholesale & is good, I'm all over it.

Happenings at siptea

2008-12-06T20:26:00.000-08:00

The holiday sale was great. Thanks to all who participated and to all the people that came. Might try to do another one on the 20th. This Thursday is Artwalk and we are doing the free large hot or iced tea to anyone who mentions "artwalk." We also have new photos up on the art wall. Photos from India taken by David Kagen. This coming Saturday, Stella is playing at the Orpheum & we will stay open later to accomodate the comedy crowd. We are also having a band play that night, 'Confessions of a Corn Silo' hope you can stop by to hear them & have a spot of tea too.
Hey we were mentioned in Angeleno Interiors as being "hipper than thou" pretty cool that we are getting this rep. I am so not hip, but some of the people who work here are. I just like to work in a relaxing, nice atmosphere, if that's hip, then great. I'm a white chick from New England, no chance of being hip. I guess they think the place is hip, that would make more sense. I just know I like it.
steep on by... & decide how hip we are.

Tea Nazi like the Soup Nazi

2008-12-04T20:57:00.000-08:00

So I think it's actually cool that someone thinks I'm that particular about tea. I do have to say I won't sell anything I don't think will make a good cup of tea, so you will never see a teaball or teabags for sale at siptea. (We do have some tea bags, that you fill yourself, in the back, given to us by a tea importer. We give those away if people ask nicely!) That said I do have to say there is an art to making tea and if you like what I consider a bad cup of tea, have at it. That is your choice and the way you like it. Some people like the astringent quality that green tea gets when it is over-steeped, I think that is bad green tea, but if you like it that way, then follow your art. Someone suggested that to speed things up we use teabags that people could take with them, but again, they might leave the tea in the water too long & think we serve bad tea. At siptea the max you have to wait is 5 minutes for the tea to steep properly. For those people who freak out waiting that long we always have 3 hot & 3 cold express teas that are ready right away. We try to change them up, so people can try new stuff.
Big news is that we have hot soup, we can't cook in our space, not ventilated, but we can do slow cooker soup & have soup warmers, so check out our butternut squash soup. It's vegan & all organic, except for the salt & pepper. Two people today said it was the best butternut squash soup that they had ever had, not bad for a teahouse. Hey maybe I could be a soup nazi too!
Check out Ed Fuentes article & keep steeping...
http://blogdowntown.com/2008/12/3852-touring-downtown-wifi-siptea

Holiday Gift Sale on Saturday December 6th!

2008-12-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

Come join us from 11am to 6pm. Local artists and artisans will be selling unique gifts and crafts for the holiday shopping season. Here are some of the people attending:
www.thissitebelieves.com
www.swamppink.com
www.deeandlala.com
www.glendarolle.com
www.spitfiregirl.com
There will also be jewelry by Kate Holland, hand knitted baby hats & flower pins by Max Wong & bags by PERI.
We of course will be selling tea & eco friendly gifts also, but here is a chance to support the local community.
Also you can become a fan of siptea on facebook by following the link.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Los-Angeles-CA/siptea/27893145278?ref=ts
Lots of great stuff and it's all local!
See you on Saturday!

New Teas and Teapots for the Holidays

2008-11-22T14:41:00.000-08:00

We have two new White Teas to offer and a new Oolong. The Oolong is called Wuyi and is a Oolong that tends more towards the black teas, with 60 to 80% oxidation. It has a smooth mellow taste with a slight pepper finish. A favorite of the staff already. The Whites we have are a Christmas blend with almonds and a flavor reminisent of a sugar cookie. The other white is an Elderflower White. The Elderflower give a sweetness to the White tea from Southern India.
We are also putting together gift baskets for the holidays. Come and see some sample baskets, or we can do a custom one for you. We also just got in some new teapots and teabrewers that are really nice. Come by and receive a 1/2 oz of free organic tea (of your choice) with your retail teapot/teabrewing purchase.

NY Times!

2008-11-16T15:32:00.000-08:00

Hey check out the link for our mention in the NY Times! They profiled 8 businesses downtown & siptea was one of them!
http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2008/11/16/style/t/index.html#pageName=16map
So cool to be listed with the other great places downtown. Check them all out!
It's cool inside siptea & we have our plant wall to help filter the smoke, so beat the heat & bad air with a great iced tea. Tea helps boost your immune system & also helps open your lungs!
So stoked about the NY Times! Come in and mention the article & get a free tea.

Holidays & siptea

2008-11-14T16:34:00.000-08:00

Just to let you know we will be closed Thanksgiving day.
Here is what I am thankful for: our great customers; a terrific staff; our wonderful teas; all my supportive friends.
Have a wonderful holiday & will be updating you on some up coming sales.

Pottery Show

2008-11-08T18:42:00.000-08:00

Lilith Rockett, the woman who made the cups at siptea and also the pendants for the hanging lights, has a gallery opening tonight at the Fifth Floor Gallery in Chinatown. Not sure how long it goes for, so will give more info soon, so people can check it out.

Here's to a New USA!

2008-11-05T14:10:00.000-08:00

Well I have to say I went to bed glad that Obama had won the election. I was sad to see that Prop. 8 looks like it will pass, but I am hopeful it will be found unconstitutional.
Today I am very proud to be an American and hopeful that Obama can unite this country and make it better in the eyes of the world.
In the world of tea we experimented and came up with a great new drink for the holiday. An Egg Nog Latte, made with Caramel black tea. Really delicious. Come in for your organic holiday latte and sip a while...

Vote!

2008-11-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

To encourage voting, we will offer a free large hot or iced tea if you show us your "I voted" sticker or tell us you voted absentee. So get out there and do your civic duty and exercise your right to vote. Then exercise your body & walk over to siptea to exercise your tastebuds with some delicious tea!

The Holidays

2008-10-31T15:41:00.000-07:00

So we have just a little bit left of the Pumpkin Pie tisane, but do have a new flavor for the holidays, Caramel. The Caramel is a organic black tea with caramel pieces in it, a nice rich cup, that stands up to sweeteners and milk. We are also going to get in a White Christmas blend. It is organic white tea, with almonds and vanilla, kind of like drinking a sugar cookie. Both the Christmas tea and the Caramel are good as lattes. Steep by and check out the new flavors...

Halloween

2008-10-30T22:11:00.000-07:00

Stop by on Halloween and get a treat with your tea. Plus if you mention "steepings" you get 50 cents off your tea!

Hey in case you didn't hear, we are closing at 8pm on Fridays now & are open Saturday & Sunday 11am -6pm, hope to see you for a cup...

Perks

2008-10-29T19:24:00.000-07:00

So today I have been drinking mainly Oolong tea. One of the best perks of this job is getting to drink tea all day long. I try to take some time during the day where I really stop and enjoy, and savor the tea. Never during the lunch rush, but in the late afternoon, it's a nice break in the day to sit and sip. Hope you get to do that in your day too! Did I mention that I really love Oolongs. They are complex and change with each steep. Hope you can come by for a tasting & experience the difference processing has on the taste of the tea.
Here's to taking tea breaks!

Blogging to get things off my chest

2008-10-27T15:03:00.000-07:00

Okay so we have some good reviews on yelp, but I wish there was a site to review customers. We thankfully have customers that are supportive, get what we are doing here and like the place. We do also have people that think of themselves as minor critics that spend their time here online reviewing the place while being some of the worst customers a business could ask for, I wish we could post stars & warnings to other businesses on them. But in their defense I haven't done the best job of telling people what we are here at siptea. So here goes.
I am passionate about tea, not just the plant but the science and precision that goes into steeping tea properly. If you ever want to get bored or wish you never asked me about it, ask me about tea. The thing about tea is that it isn't just the #2 beverage in the world, after water, but it is the social aspect and the slowing down of your day to actually sip and enjoy for one brief moment something perfect, to be in the moment and enjoy, to have an oasis in your life and a break in your day.
siptea is also trying to be a new business in the changing world, embracing natural capitalism and trying to be a business that gives back to the community, the country and the earth. It's a big challenge, but we are making small steps in our quiet revolution.
here's to revolutions...

New Hours for siptea

2008-10-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

siptea has been open for a month, officially only a week, and in that time I have noticed that people want businesses to be open all hours, but they just don't come. I have listened to people who want us to be open on Sunday, so we are. As far as being open late on Friday & Saturday, just can't do it anymore. We literally have no one between 8pm & 10pm, with the exception of friends visiting the staff. I wish we had the customers to stay open late. I envisioned this to be a community hangout where people would exchange information and also as an alternative to the local bar scene. Guess it might evolve into that, but with the economy in the toilet, it has had an impact on my vision. I hope that the Sunday hours will become popular and that we will get more locals visiting us on the weekends.
So here are the new hours:
Monday closed
Tuesday thru Friday 10am (an hour earlier than before) til 8pm
Saturday & Sunday 11am til 6pm
As an incentive to come in from 6pm - 8pm weeknights we will offer flights of tea, you get to sample the 5 types of tea for the price of a large pot & get information on tea to boot!
Tasting flights are also available on Saturday & Sunday from 3pm - 6pm
Hope to see you steeping by...