Category: Uncategorized

  • Hime – Genmai Cha

    This hardly merits a review. Genmaicha is a lower grade bancha mixed with toasted brown rice kernels. The point of the toasted rice is to mask the inferior flavors of the tea. I have drunk a lot of this tea. I really like the toasted rice flavor, and that’s the appeal. It’s like drinking a…

  • What Does “CTC Tea” Mean?

    CTC means “crush, tear, and curl”. Teabag tea is also called CTC tea. Orthodox Teas are whole leaf teas manufactured using the traditional process of making tea. CTC Teas are made through the Crush, Tear, and Curl (CTC) process of manufacture producing a granular leaf particle. They comprise of 3 main grades: the brokens, fannings,…

  • Starway Tea King of China – Tie Kuan Yin Oolong Tea

    I’m not an expert or even an intermediate level tea drinker, so I’ll try to keep my opinions out of this. This is the second tie kuan yin I’ve had. My first was in a small pack of samplers, and it was far and away the best tea. I wish I remembered where I got…

  • Twinings Chai (Tea)

    I know almost nothing about Indian tea, except that it’s called chai. My ignorance is profound, so I asked on Quora a little bit, and also read several posts, about Indian tea. The gist is this: the common style of tea is to start with a black tea, like Assam region or Darjeeling region teas,…

  • ABC Tea – Formosa Pouchong

    This is a new, semi-regular feature where I’ll review teas from the supermarket. It’s not high end gourmet tea reviews. It’s just tea from the supermarket. It can be good. The pouchong is a type of oolong largely grown in Taiwan. It’s milder than the typical oolong and may be classified as “green”. This particular…

  • Friday, April 19, is National Rice Ball Day

    While this isn’t a food blog, I will share the basic riceball recipe. Several sites out there have it very, very wrong. Riceballs, or onigiri, are a traditional comfort food. They are used as a kind of “walking food” or something you take along with you to work, or into the fields, and eat as…