Tea for two...or two hundred!

Many, many of you have asked if I really have over 30 pounds of tea. Well, at one time I did have over 40+, but that was over a year ago. I used to compile it all on an Excel spreadsheet, but that just got too time-consuming. So now I just guesstimate.

To give you all some idea of some of the tea I really do have, I took the liberty to start cleaning out my stash and reorganizing the cupboards. Note that the tea has been "spilling" out onto the shelves, in the extra sink, on the....you get the picture!

Almost all of the tea packets have 4 oz of tea in them. Maybe 20 or so have less than 2 oz; and the larger jars have anywhere from 2-8 oz, depending on how much tea is left in each container.

I emptied most of the tea out of the huge cupboard over the refrigerator. (top picture)
The shelves are about 30" deep, so I have been able to stash lots of tea up there!

In the next two pictures are most of the bagged tea and medicinal teas (echinacea, colds, sore throat tea, etc.) in the left picture, a smaller side cupboard; and in the right picture, the cupboard is devoted mostly to sencha and shincha (first sencha of the year, from Japan).

Next four pics:

First pic: Group picture of most of the rest of my tea.
Second picture: green teas, white teas, needle teas.

Third picture: oolongs, special china blacks, yunnans and gold teas; Assam, Ceylon, and Darjeeling teas.

Last pic: Flavored black teas, decafs, and in the back: chai teas.

I also have a number of pu-er teas, and samples from tea companies that I will be sampling and reviewing shortly!

Just thought I'd share!

Knitting in Seattle/Victoria

My plan was to entertain you all with our voyages and exploration in chronological order, but I have to divert from that plan to insert a blog about knitting on the trip, and the people I met up with.

As always, click on the pics to enlarge them...

I have some anxiety about knitting in public. A lot of it is my own insecurity about being obviously gay in public. Just my own thing. I sometimes knit on the plane, but usually if I'm in a window seat, and I feel safe with the people around me--non-threatening people. I totally surprised myself on this trip, and knit most of the Chicago to Seattle flight! I am doing my first Coriolis toe-up socks using the "New Pathways For Sock Knitters, Book One" by Cat Bordhi. The yarn is from Kenny (part of my "pound of love" box), the Crystal Palace bamboo/merino/silk yarn in browns and golds. Yummy.

Pics: Above right--Jeanne models my first Coriolis sock (sorry, I can't claim the 'legs')
Second from top--my foot in the sock.
At right--Allie and Max

I started the sock with the garter diamond. New technique for me. Really cool. My goal was to do the master spiral, where the band spirals over the instep, over the TOP of the heel, and continues to spiral up the ankle and leg. I screwed up somewhere, and my spiral ran smack into the top edge of the heel! Instead of trying to fudge it and restarting it on the other side of the heel (which would have been an okay fix), i just dropped the band increase, and made up a top: modified 2X1 basketweave, some garter ridges, and ribbing on top, ending with an i-cord bind-off. This was another new technique for me, and I enjoyed doing it.

More Pics: At right--Nigel, Me, Hayley, and Allie at QV's Cafe
Below: Nigel shows off his shawl, below that: closeup of the shawl


I finished the first sock while in Victoria, and started the second sock before leaving Victoria. I even knitted on the ferry back to Port Angeles! I finished knitting the foot on the plane to Chicago, and just finished the heel and ankle since getting back to Vermont. I'm on the ribbing at the top right now, so I'll be done the second sock today.

While in Victoria I met up with Allie (from Victoria) and Nigel (from Vancouver, BC)--both people I met on the GLBT knit list. Allie met up with us, and brought her darling son Max with her on our first night in Victoria! We had a great time hanging out with them, and met the next day with Nigel, and Allie's partner Haylie, for some food and crafting.

Both J and I had a great time, even though J doesn't knit. Nigel showed off one of his shawls, which I also modeled (pics on his blog), and we walked up to the LYS, the Beehive. I bought 3 skeins of yarn.

Pics of yarn: (top skein) Arequipa (65% superwash wool, 20% alpaca, 15% nylon in moss earth colorway;

middle skein: Fleece Artist merino in browns, golds, and salmons;

bottom skein: (suggested by Nigel) Hand Maiden 'Casbah' (80% merino, 10% cashmere, 10% nylon), in a purple/moss greens/merlot.

I normally don't fall for anything with "cash" in it, as I think it's usually a ripoff with 5-10% cashmere in it, but the hand on this is buttery soft! And it was $5 off....

I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent with Nigel, Allie, and the gang. Super people, with fabulous personalities. Hope we all meet again! (Nigel even spent the afternoon with us touring Butchart Gardens, that's another blog in itself!)

I had several contacts for a knitting meetup on our last day in Seattle at the end of the trip. But, unfortunately things fell through (hope all is well with you Z!), but I did manage to get together with Jeanne--that was a blast!

I met Jeanne through Ravelry.com. She metup with J and I at Uwajimaya, the famous Japanese/Asian store in Seattle. This was a scream for me, as it had tea, chocolate, Asian food, and was connected to an Asian food court and a Japanese bookstore! Phew! Way too fun!

Pics at right: Jeanne with her Forest Path shawl, a close up of the shawl, Jeanne pouring tea (all over the table, mind you!) at a wicked cool teahouse near her neighborhood.

Great tea, great conversations, wonderful knitting, and nice uh, accessories to look at...

I'm looking forward to continuing these friendships. Thanks for meeting us, spending time with us, and sharing your love of knitting with me.

Open invitations for all to come visit us in Vermont!

Ciao!

Tea Review: Japanese Shincha, Hibiki-An

Similar to Beaujolais nouveau, shincha is the first japanese sencha of the season. Typically only the first week or two of picking the new, bright green shoots, shincha is a must have for tea connoisseurs! In my journey through teas, I have gone from first flush Darjeelings of the season, which are light, fruity, and slightly acidic, to various first picks of Assam, Ceylon, and China greens. However, to cup a shincha is to embark on a blissful journey of fresh, green delight!

My two selections are from hibiki-an from Japan. The first (I haven't tried yet) is Farmer's Shincha. Available at $26 for 5.64oz. They shipped it in two small, sealed bags. This is great, as it will only last for a month or so before degrading after opening. Once opened, it needs to be stored in a tightly sealed jar, out of light and heat sources. When shincha is processed, it goes through five stages: steaming, drying, shaping, sorting leaves and stems, and drying. The tea leaves that don't go through the final two finishing processes, sorting and drying, are called "Aracha", which means unaffected or minimally processed. Japanese tea farmers have been enjoying "Aracha" for many years - it is the traditional drink for farmers. "Aracha" contains stems, known as "Karigane" and therefore has a natural unprocessed taste. "Karigane" tea stems also make the tea more sweet in flavor.

The second tea, which I tried, is Shincha Fukamushi. It was available at 2.82 oz for $21. I've seen shincha prices vary from $18 to $38+ per oz, so this is on the low side, but still very high quality. When I cut the bag open, I immediately could smell the green, fresh, smell. This tea had almost a minty hint to it! The leaves were a very nice, dark emerald green.

I steeped it in my cute Littlemountaintea.com steeper, which holds an amazing 18oz, which is 3 tea cups worth. I usually use 1.5 teaspoons of tea, and do two infusions per batch. I steeped each infusion for 30 seconds, which were combined in the beaker. The infusion was a medium-light green. Very typical of shincha. The fragrance was very grassy and fresh. I was salivating over this one!

The liquor was amazing. A nice contrast of grassy, mellow, with a nice blend of bitterness. I used 180 degree water, but I think it was a bit too hot. It was more bitter than mellow. Shincha, and most senchas, typically are more mellow with slightly cooler water. 170-176 should be fine. The second batch I steeped, which was the 3rd and 4th infusions, I used 170 degrees. Again, I steeped each infusion for just 30 seconds. This round was much smoother! Very nice and crisp. The sweetness was more pronounced, yet still crisp. Unfortunately, by this time the fragrance was gone. But very enjoyable. I highly recommend this tea! You can find it at Hibiki-An.com.