Tea Sommelier by François-Xavier Delmas and Mathias Minet - Book Review + Giveaway

I recently finished a tea sommelier course so my interest was piqued when Tea Sommelier, a new tea guide by François-Xavier Delmas and Mathias Minet was brought to my attention. Delmas and Minet are renowned in the tea industry for the Le Palais des Thes boutiques so I knew I would be reading quality content. I wasn't disappointed. A pleasant surprise was the playful graphic design which is hinted at by the cover image. The charming graphics and straightforward narrative make this book an accessible guide.

A brief introduction precedes eight chapters covering election and preparation, tasting, tea types and processing, tea plantations, tea families, tea and food pairing, cooking with tea, and sommelier training. My major quibble with the book is the order of the chapters. For example, Chapter 3 (What is Tea?) which details tea botany, tea types, and tea processing should be the lead chapter. Leaving aside my preference for the flow of the content, in my short time with the book, I've already grown attached to particular chapters. Chapter 5 (The Families of Tea) might be my favorite chapter. Twenty major tea types and tea styles are given their own factsheets on preparation, aromatic profile, dominant and secondary aromas, and pairings. Another favorite section is the spread titled "In My Pantry". Imagine the teas in your stash and then imagine what food or drink you could prepare with those tea, all in a matrix!

Tea Sommelier is a great reference book. It is not esoteric, however. Nor is it solely a book for people beginning their journey in tea. Can you explain retronasal olfaction off the cuff? Win a copy of Tea Sommelier and read pages 40-41 to refresh your memory or to learn how olfaction works. Enter the giveaway below.

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A copy of Tea Sommelier by François-Xavier Delmas and Mathias Minet was provided for review.

Jane Pettigrew World of Tea - Book Review + Giveaway

As luck would have it, this week I received my Tea Sommelier certificate and my children start school. In honor of all of this school news, I am delighted to share my review and a giveaway of Jane Pettigrew's new book, World of Tea.

World of Tea is Pettigrew's 18th book and her longest at 434 pages. You could read it cover to cover. It's worthwhile to do so even if you've been a longtime student of tea. Pettigrew's writing is anything but dry so don't worry that you'll be treated to a dull read about the world of tea. You could approach the book as a lively reference and use the excellent Table of Contents or Index to guide your journey.

The book is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter is an introduction to the basics of tea: origin species and cultivars, terror, harvesting, processing, storage, and preparation. You may have read these elementary aspects of tea in other books before, but Pettigrew makes them seem fresh again. I especially like the graphic representation of how different categories of tea are processed.

The remaining six chapters cover the world. A chapter is dedicated to each continent on which tea is grown: North America, South America (Central America is included here and not with North America), Africa, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. These six chapters are where Pettigrew's expertise really shines. The reader is presented with a staggering amount of detail about teas in each region in each country in each continent. Those details include number of gardens, total area of cultivation, terrain, altitude, main cultivars, types of tea, and more. The chapter on Asia is over 200 pages long. Furthermore, Pettigrew tells the story of how tea arose in each place. So many stories! Did you know that a five-acre experimental tea plot was planted in Washington, DC in the 1850s?

Related: United States of Tea - Mauna Kea Tea, Hawaii

I have found a new gold standard for tea books. It's World of Tea by Jane Pettigrew. Enter the giveaway below to win a copy for your library.

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A copy of World of Tea by Jane Pettigrew was provided for review.

T2 Tea Flask and Teas Giveaway

The T2 Tea Flask is the best tea flask. That period should be an exclamation. The T2 Tea Flask is the best tea flask!

There are two primary reasons why I've given the highest rating to the T2 flask. The company describes its flask as "completely leakproof" and I agree. I agree. I use the flask often, not daily but fairly close to that. It has not leaked. I have used several flasks and they all leaked and within days of first using them. I have traveled with the flask upright and sideways in my coat pocket, in my backpack, and in my handbag and it has not leaked. Another great feature of the T2 flask is that it keeps your tea (or water if you are steeping leaves in the infuser) very close to its starting temperature. Since it's winter, I am mostly drinking hot tea. My hot black tea will stay at a comfortable drinking temperature for a few hours. T2's claim is that the flask will keep tea at "60°C for up to six hours." 60°C is 140°F.

I also like that the flask holds a lot of tea -- 500 mL or 2 cups.

Like the body, the infuser is also stainless steel. The filter is silicone. The lip and lid are polypropylene (plastic). The infuser and filter are separate components. I did not taste or smell anything other than tea when using the flask. If you are into colorful tea-ware, then know that the T2 flask comes in 9 colors/patterns.

A drawback might be the dimensions of the flask. The flask is 7.75 inches tall (without the lid) which shouldn't pose a problem unless you carry a small bag. The base diameter of the flask is 2.75 inches yielding a circumference of over 8 inches. This width dimension could be challenging for someone with small hands.

I've been filling my flask with T2 black teas. One of my favorites is the Morning Sunshine, a blend of Assam, Darjeeling and Rwandan black tea. Although I typically drink my teas plain, I like to add oat milk to Morning Sunshine and lightly sweeten it with honey. It's such a treat especially when birdwatching on cold mornings. The New York Breakfast Blend was the first T2 black tea I drank. It's a decadent tea -- it tastes like a dessert -- and is a best-seller. It's a flavored tea for all the purists out there. The Grand Yunnan is a tippy tea with a sweet smoke profile. The latter would appeal to folks who like sheng puerh will a bit of age on it.

THE GIVEAWAY

My experience with the T2 flask has been such a positive one that I reached out to the company about providing a prize pack for Notes on Tea readers. I am pleased to offer this giveaway on the blog. The prize pack includes a T2 Stainless Steel Flask and three (3) teas. Flask color/pattern and tea flavors are subject to stock availability. This giveaway is only open to the U.S. and Canada. See full details in Terms & Conditions.

UPDATE: A winner has been chosen. Congratulations, Kim! Thank you to all the participants.

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The tea flask and teas reviewed in this post were provided by T2 Tea.

Endangered Species Chocolate Bars and Spreads Review + A Giveaway

Last year I taste tested three chocolate bars by Endangered Species Chocolate and professed my love of the Owl, a dark chocolate with sea salt and almonds bar. Endangered Species Chocolate has a great ethos. On the production side, its chocolate products are made with certified fairly traded, kosher, and GMO free ingredients. The company goes beyond sustainable sourcing; it donated 10% of net profits to support two wildlife conservation organizations, African Wildlife Foundation and The Xerxes Society

Given the quality of their chocolate and their environmental orientation, I gladly accepted the opportunity to review more of their chocolate. I chose the Rhino, a dark chocolate with hazelnut toffee bar. In addition, I also selected two spreads, almond with cocoa and hazelnut with cocoa. The lion is featured on the almond spread while the African elephant is pictured on the hazelnut spread label.

The Rhino bar is rich and smooth with a slight dried fruit flavor. The bits of toffee are buttery and crunchy. It's quite a good combination. The rhino feared on the chocolate bar is the Black Rhino (Dicers bicornis) of southern Africa. Horn poaching is the biggest threat to the rhino; the horn is in demand in China for traditional medicine and in Vietnam where it is believed to cure cancer and hangovers and is a luxury gift.  Endangered Species Chocolate has highlighted the role of the International Rhino Foundation working in Africa and Asia.

In graduate school, a couple of girlfriends and I would eat a popular hazelnut spread on toast and drink hot Milo. When I realized the impacts of palm oil farming on Southeast Asian forest ecosystems, I more or less stopped eating that popular hazelnut spread or any hazelnut spread for that matter. I  have been looking for a high quality hazelnut spread without palm oil and the Endangered Species Chocolate hazelnut spread delivers. The spread is deliciously creamy. Although hazelnuts are the third ingredient, you can taste their nutty, sweet notes.

The almond spread is also very good. The flavor layering of almond and chocolate excellently satisfies your sweet and salt receptors.

Endangered Species Chocolate is sponsoring a sustainably sweet chocolate bar and spread raffle. There are two prize packs, each contains a bar and a spread. The pairings are (1) the Rhino bar (dark chocolate with hazelnut toffee) + the hazelnut spread and (2) the Owl bar (dark chocolate with sea salt & almonds) + the almond spread. Enter the giveaway below, and good luck!

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Resolutions for 2016 + Paper Source Hello!Lucky Bird Stationery Kit Giveaway

It has been several years since I made a new year’s resolution. Actually, I made a resolution not to make any resolutions. Year after year I made resolutions and somewhere between winter and spring they fell by the wayside. Most of these resolutions had to with eating differently or exercising more, which are the most common types of resolutions to make and to keep.

Last fall, I decided that I would take up the new year’s resolution mantle again but make it about relationships and tea. Initially I defined six resolutions but that began to feel like I was setting myself up to not succeed, so I narrowed the list to three.

One of three is to handwrite more letters. I don’t hand write as much as I would like. My Kindergartener handwrites more than I do! When my mother moved a few years ago, she gave me a box of my old diaries, greetings cards, and letters. The box contained letters dating from the late 1980s. I was an avid letter writer. I even had pen pals. I bought stationery wherever I traveled resulting in an eclectic collection. But these days I hardly open my stationery box. When it comes to communicating with family and friends, I send emails or texts. With the rise of various social media platforms and apps, it’s so much easier (quicker) to ask friends how they are doing, to wish them happy birthday, to share photos of my latest tea acquisitions, and to pass time between appointments.

I’m not a luddite but I feel like I am losing something by engaging in more and more virtual communication. Don’t you love getting real postal mail? It’s so disappointing when my mailbox is full of junk mail. But you have to write a letter, to receive a letter. So this year, I am going to break out the stationery and handwrite more letters. Or notes. Paper Source is helping me with this resolution by providing me with a stationery kit. The kit includes 16 letterpress cards and a Gelly Roll pen. The paper used for the cards and envelopes are good quality. The gel ink does not seep through the paper. And two additional features of the kit that receive high marks are the inclusion of two patterns as well as the coordination between the colors on the cards and the pen ink. Thanks to Paper Source, two readers will each win a Hello!Lucky Bird Stationery Kit! Enter the giveaway below, and good luck.


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Giveaway - The Art and Craft of Tea by Joseph Uhl

You are probably familiar with Joe Uhl's teas via Joseph Wesley Tea. Joe is also an author. His new book, The Art and Craft of Tea, is beautiful. It looks and feels like a "coffee table" book. The writing is strong and the photographs are fantastic.

I have partnered with Quarto Cooks and Quarto Books to giveaway TWO copies of The Art and Craft of Tea. We are hosting the book giveaway on our Instagram page. The giveaway is open to residents around the world. Enter now. Good luck!

Giveaway - Kikkerland Ora Teapot & Tea Cup Set

I should have saved some of my De Pelikaan Geurthee no 5 to prepare in the Kikkerland Ora Teapot! What's the connection? Kikkerland hosted the US launch of De Pelikaan teas on May 7. The tea that christened my Ora Teapot was Summertime Chai by Piper & Leaf based in Alabama. I steeped the loose leaves with hot water and served the hot tea from my Ora Teapot. You don't need to steep the tea in a separate pot either. The teapot has a wire infuser to prevent leaves from pouring into your cup. The double-walled design of the teapot and the tea cups kept our hands body temperature and the tea at sipping temperature. Th tea set works well with chilled beverages, too. Actually, the Ora teapot and cups are great transitional tea-ware from summer to fall.

I really like using this tea set! Thanks to Kikkerland, a Notes on Tea reader will win an Ora Teapot and a set of Ora Tea Cups. Enter below. Best of luck!

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This giveaway is open to residents of the continental US. It ends on September 21, 2015 at 12:00 am EST. After being contacted, the winner has 48 hours to respond, otherwise a new winner will be chosen. 

P.S. For the remaining Summertime Chai, I cooled the liquor slightly, flash chilled it in the freezer, then transferred it to the refrigerator. The Summertime Chai served very cold the next day was very fine! Stay tuned for a review.

TeaVivre 2015 Chinese Spring Green Teas

2015 Spring Green Tea Assortment via Teavivre (source)

My experiences with TeaVivre teas have been good. The greens: Huang Shan Mao Feng, Pi Lo Chun, and Bai Mu Dan. The blacks: Premium Keemun Hao Ya, Bailin Gongfu, and Golden Monkey. The green teas on offer this spring include Premium Dragon Well Long Jing, Bi Luo Chun (Pi Lo Chun), Huang Shan Mao Feng, Lu Shan Yun Wu, and Xin Yang Mao Jian.

TeaVivre has graciously provided me with 5 coupon codes for its 2015 spring green teas! The first five readers to leave a comment about their favorite Chinese green tea will receive one coupon code each. The coupon is good for a sample assortment of five green teas and free shipping.

Happy commenting and tea drinking!

Rafflecopter Review + Subscription Giveaway

This blog's first giveaway was the Tea Ave Oolong Giveaway which closed last week. I used Rafflecopter to manage the giveaway including the selection of the winner. I signed up for the very basic plan, Free Forever. The service was very user friendly from start to finish and even beyond which I will explain below. Because of my positive experience I wanted to share a review with you. Also, I thought it would be nice to pair the review with a giveaway of a Rafflecopter Basic subscription so you could judge for yourself. I presented the idea to Rafflecopter and you can guess from the post title that they liked it. First my review, and then the giveaway details.

How did I hear about Rafflecopter? Jee has used it for giveaways on Oh, How Civilized and recommended it. Many lifestyle bloggers use the service too. Actually, it was a post on Design Mom that reminded me to check out the company. I will walk you through my process. First, I looked at the plan and pricing options. I did not want to commit to a paid plan even for one month because not only was the oolong giveaway was a first for the blog, but it was unlikely that I would host another within the month. This made the plan selection easy. Rafflecopter's most basic plan is Forever Free. It does not come with a lot of "bells and whistles" but all the essentials are there.

Once I created an account and logged in, Rafflecopter provided clear prompts to set up my giveaway - naming the giveaway, entering the prize, adding an image, choosing the entry options and deadline. In the sidebar I was reminded about setting terms and conditions (there is a pre-fill option) and there was a helpful Quick Answer toolbox there, too. Once I previewed my giveaway I was given an embed code for my blog. There was also a widget for installing and running the giveaway on the Notes on Tea Facebook page but I declined to use this option.

During the entry period, I received emails from Rafflecopter about how to market the giveaway. The strategies were fun and easy to implement. Rafflecopter kept track of the time left in the giveaway entry period as well as the number of entrants and the ways in which they chose to enter the giveaway. At the close of the entry period, I was encouraged to choose a winner quickly. Random.org is integrated into the Rafflecopter interface so selecting a winner was easy. (You even have the option to disqualify the first random pick or you can choose a runner-up.) I chose to post the winner's name (first name, first initial of last name) on the Rafflecopter widget, created a separate post to announce the winner, and tweeted and posted on Facebook about the winner. I also emailed the winner. To officially close the giveaway, I mailed the prize to the winner. In the introduction I mentioned that the Rafflecopter service goes beyond the length of the giveaway. What do I mean by this? Well, my favorite email/advice from Rafflecopter was about how to send out the prize. I sent it out as quickly as possible, I purchased insurance and tracking, and the fun part -- I asked the winner to take a photograph of the prize and share it via social media. Gail V., I hope you do!

And now the giveaway.

Free Month of a Rafflecopter Basic Subscription

Rafflecopter has generously provided a free month of Basic subscription. The winner will be sent a link that will be good for one free month of a Basic subscription. Enter to win. Good luck!

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Please note that this review of Rafflecopter is based on my use of the service. The review is my honest opinion of my experience using Rafflecopter Forever Free. The prize was not given in exchange for my review. This post is not a sponsored post and does not contain affiliate links.

Readers' 6 Favorite Oolongs

Image: Oolong tea leaf photo by Shizhao via Wikimedia (source)

Some of the entrants in the now closed Tea Ave Oolong Giveaway told us about their favorite oolongs. My current favorite is the LiShan from Tea Ave.

Julie Mitchell -- Jasmine Oolong from Teavana

Jee of Oh, How Civilized -- Winter Sprout from Song Tea & Ceramics

Gail Vincent -- Wuyi and Phoenix oolongs

Stephanie Rodriguez -- Tie guan yin and red robe oolong

Is yours among the list? If not, please tell us your favorite in the comment section.

Interview with Tea Ave's Jeff Chen

I was really pleased to see the interest in the Tea Ave Oolong Giveaway. Thanks to everyone who participated and congratulations to the winner, Gail V. I would like to share a couple more things about the company and its oolongs. Next week Tuesday, I will post about the favorite oolongs of some of the contest entrants. Today I have answers to an email interview I conducted with one of the Tea Ave founders, Jeff Chen.

You are a few days past the launch of the company. What has been the
response?

Thanks for asking! The launch went smoothly, the response to our tea has been
incredible. We’ve been getting a lot of great comments about our products: reviews,
YouTube videos, and social media shares. People seem to love our design, too,
which feels really good—we worked hard on it!

Did you drink tea as children (how old were you)? And what types of tea did
you drink (only oolong)?

Hmm, let’s see. We were probably around 8 or 10, but tea was such a big part of
daily life in Taiwan that it’s hard to remember exactly. I do remember my dad doing
gongfu sessions every day while I watched alongside my brother, William, and sister,
Heidi. It was pretty common to serve tea to guests or relatives when they visited,
and we were always allowed a taste. We always drank oolong—either LiShan or
Alishan.

How much tea per day do you drink now? Do you use a gaiwan, tasting set,
other?

Anywhere from 10 – 50 grams per day. When we’re tasting teas, we use a gaiwan or
a tasting set; we burn through teas really fast when tasting. When I’m drinking tea
for pleasure, I probably drink more like 10 – 20 grams a day. If I have time—or if I
need to recapture my zen—I go for a gaiwan or tasting set. Otherwise I use our
Chillaxer Cold Brew Bottle: I love being able to wake up, grab my tea and head out
the door.

I really like the level of detail you provide on the tea packets. Can you talk
about your educational ethos?

I’d be happy to. We’re all about accessibility and transparency. When I got serious
about oolong a few years ago, I was fascinated by all of the information out there—
and a little overwhelmed. We believe it’s really important to make things clear and
easy to understand, and we make a sustained effort to transmit our expertise about
oolong to our customers, asking ourselves (1) Are we telling our customers
everything they need to know about this tea? (2) Did we deliver the information in an
accessible way?

I also really like the company's logo. Can you talk about your design
aesthetic?

Thank you! In crafting our company’s signature style, we wanted something modern,
minimal and refreshing. So we took cues from geometric lines, shapes, and
typography and avoided heavy illustration. Each of our teas has its own unique icon
formed from these lines and shapes. For our signature colors, we stayed away from
expected earth tones and chose a fun, refreshing shade of turquoise.

Who designs your teaware?

We source our teaware from a variety of different vendors. As with our teas, we work
hard to find manufacturers who put out a high-quality product and also share our
values and beliefs in how a business should operate. We spend a lot of time finding
the perfect pieces to put together into sets—it took five months of searching to
locate the perfect tea tray and aroma cup for the Tea Ave Aroma Cup Set—and we
add personal design touches to the teaware when we think it makes sense.

Were you ever nervous about starting a "family business”?

“Yes” would be an understatement! The planning stage was all fun and excitement,
but I still vividly remember putting in our first order for tea and teaware: My dad
called and asked, “Can you double-check and confirm that this is what we really
want?” It was an unusual feeling—I realized we’d reached the point where there was
no looking back, and we had to do anything and everything to make it happen.
It’s a huge commitment, but it’s also so comforting to have support and help from
your family; it would’ve been impossible on my own. It freaks me out a little bit to see
how far we’ve come, and I want to pause here to thank my sister, Heidi, who did an
awesome job running our marketing efforts (including scoring this interview!)

Did your family offer any advice?

Yep. My parents have been in the trading business for over 30 years, and gave us a
lot of guidance that led us to toward Tea Ave’s successful launch. In particular, two
things: to always be humble and persistent no matter what. This advice has gotten
me to where I am today, and continues to be a core principle of Tea Ave’s ethics as
well as my own.

How do you make connections to tea farmers?

Some were introduced to us by friends and family. Others we cold-called. At the end
of the day, we wanted to make sure we’d done everything we could to connect with
the right farmers. We drove to remote mountains and tea farms to sit down with the
farmers—or, as I like to call them, “si-fu,” to discuss our vision and begin building
relationships.

I know your favorite oolong is LiShan. Have you come to greatly appreciate
any other since founding the company?

Yes! It blows me away to think about the perception I had about scented oolong two
years ago: I thought it was feminine and unsuited for serious oolong lovers. It turns
out that I’m a huge fan—my current favorite is Osmanthus Oolong. When done right,
these teas are just so lovely.

Is there a question or questions you hope a customer will ask of you?

We hope people will be curious about what’s trending with Tea Ave! For example,
our current bestsellers (as of March 2015) are Alishan Jim Xuan Oolong, Dong Ding
Oolong, and Wenshan Baochung Oolong.

Many thanks for your thoughtful answers, Jeff. Thanks also to Heidi. And best wishes for Tea Ave.

P.S. Top image courtesy of Tea Ave.

And the winner of the Tea Ave Oolong Giveaway is...

Gail V.! 

Congratulations, Gail, and thank you for entering the Tea Ave Oolong Giveaway. You have won an aroma cup set, 3 samples of oolong, a $15 gift card, and a tote bag. The prizes were provided without charge by Tea Ave. Please provide your postal address in an email to thenotesontea(at)gmail.com.

Thank you to everyone who entered to win this apalooza of oolong!

Tea Ave Wenshan Baochong & Oolong Giveaway

The review package from Tea Ave included LiShan, Oriental Beauty, Wenshan Baochong oolongs. I reviewed the LiShan last week and today I present my notes on the Wenshan Baochong, a new-to-me oolong. After the review, I'll also announce the details of a Tea Ave Oolong Giveaway, but don't skip past the tea review!

Wenshan Baochong is an unroasted oolong with twisted, not rolled, leaves. This particular Wenshan Baochong is the Qinxin cultivar from Ping Ling District in New Taipei City, Taiwan.

To start, I followed the gaiwan instructions but filled my tasting set, not my gaiwan, half full of dried leaves which was the entire sample of this oolong. I infused the leaves for 30 seconds at approximately 95 degrees C. (I poured boiling water into a pitcher and cooled it down for 1 minute before pouring it into the gaiwan.) The aroma from rinsing the leaves was heady, very creamy. The liquor from the 30 second infusion was brightly colored. It tasted bright too and further sips revealed spinach and asparagus and lots of Easter lilies.

The second infusion was 40 seconds in length and I think the water was too hot. There was a strong astringent flavor but as the liquor cooled this disappeared.

The third infusion was 50 seconds in length and I got the temperature just right. (I waited 1 minute after the water boiled before pouring it into a pitcher then I waited another minute before pouring the water over the leaves.) The wet leaves smelled like flowers. The liquor was smooth with heady floral notes and a hint of dryness.

For the fourth infusion, I steeped the leaves for 60 seconds. The aroma of the wet leaves reminded me of bok choy! I used a longer steep time of 80 seconds for the fifth infusion. The directions recommend increasing your steeping times by 10-15 seconds for each infusion.

According to the gaiwan instructions, the Wenshan Baochong can be steeped up to 7 times. I started drinking the tea fairly late in the day so only steeped the leaves five times before placing them in a cold infusion bottle overnight. The resulting brew was refreshing and flavorful. I think I prefer the cold brew method for this oolong. It is kinder the floral complexity of this tea.

I liked the predominantly floral notes from this unroasted, lightly oxidized oolong but of the Tea Ave oolongs I have drunk thus far, I prefer the LiShan. I think I'm not that fancy! Here's a description of the Wenshan Baochong from the Tea Ave website:

If oolong tea can be chic, Wenshan Baochung is it: sophisticated, refined, unctuous (save it for your fanciest friends—or for yourself).

And now, the giveaway.

TEA AVE OOLONG GIVEAWAY

Tea Ave generously sent me two oolong kits, one of which is the prize in this giveaway. The kit includes three samples of oolong (LiShan, Oriental Beauty, and Wenshan Baochong), an aroma cup set, a tote bag, and a $15 gift card for a total value of $100. Enter to win using the Rafflecopter below. There are seven ways to enter and the first two options give you the most points. Good luck!

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P.S. Read more about Tea Ave and its founders, Heidi and Jeff Chen.