Silver Lake Green Fair

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

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!

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

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?

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

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

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!