Inventory and Traveling

Maybe I’m the only one who finds herself in this position, but I’ve recently realized that an inventory of my tea would be a very handy thing indeed, what with trying to decide what I have reviewed, and what I should review or revisit next. I think at this point I’ve tried and reviewed just about everything in my tea cupboard, and since I didn’t have the opportunity to buy any tea at all last month (it was a bad financial month), I actually don’t have any new tea in the house at all! This is a good thing, in that I’ve actually been “drinking down” my stash, and clearing out leftover bits of this and that from my cupboard to make room for fresh buys. But it’s a bad thing for…oh…say…tea reviews. It wouldn’t be so bad if I could remember which teas I possibly haven’t reviewed yet though. An amusing situation to find myself in, for sure.

This weekend I’m going to do something I haven’t done in ages. I’m actually going to buy some tea locally. I’m attending a writer’s meet-up on Saturday evening, at a bookstore that sells Harney & Son’s tea. It also happens to be near a store that has a wall of Republic of Tea, as well as a few other obscure brands, so I may see if I can find anything interesting there to try out. Then next week (payday), I’m planning to order some replenishments for favorite teas I’m low on, and a few new teas to try as well. Needless to say, I’m quite giddy about the prospect of some new teas to try in the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, it’s been about 6 months since I last did the puerh tastings with my meager collection of cakes. So the next four reviews or so will be revisiting several of my badly mistreated puerh cakes to see if any changes have occurred in the taste in that time. I’ve done nothing special to store them, in fact, they’ve been moved around quite a lot as I haven’t found a good place for them yet, so it’s anyone’s guess as to what they may have absorbed as far as smells go in that time. Let’s just hope it’s nothing too terribly nasty…

And finally, I’ll be taking a trip Nov. 4-7th to Las Vegas, Nevada. And I’m desperately trying to figure out what to take along to heat water for tea, since hotel coffeepots just don’t work at all (I’ve tried). I need to find a small, 12oz maximum type hot pot or electric kettle that I can pack in my luggage…something that will bring water to a boil for black teas. I have my travel gaiwan set, I just need something to boil water in. Any suggestions are more than welcome, obviously – I’ll be looking around here in town to see if I can find anything too.

Also, if there's a fun tea shop I should visit in Vegas, let me know. I can't guarantee I'll make it, since we're traveling with my in-laws, but I'll certainly do my best!

So that’s what’s “up” here at Tea on Tap. Friday is the first puerh review – unfortunately, I can’t say which one, because I haven’t decided yet, but it will include pictures!