Tea People: Eric Daams of Tea Finely Brewed

This week, we sit down with Eric Daams from Tea Finely Brewed. His blog is a wonderful mix of insights, reviews, and amazing photos that I'd highly recommend to anyone looking to explore the world of tea.

Q. Why did you decide to blog about tea?

A. It's actually an idea I had floating around in my head for quite some time before I sat down and started the blog. Originally I'd wondered if there would be enough to write about. Now, I know there's always something to write about.

But to get back to your question: Blogging about tea combines two of my greatest passions. Tea. And blogging. It's as simple as that really!

Q. How do you decide which teas to review/write about?

A. To an extent, it's something of a whim. I like to sit down and take my time with the teas I review, so when I find myself with a nice big block of free time, that's when I decide which tea to review. A lot comes down to what I feel like at that minute, though I do occasionally like reviewing a few similar teas in a row (for example, I reviewed four Darjeeling teas from different estates earlier this year).

I've been lucky to receive quite a few free samples from various tea sellers, so I also try to split my time between them.

Q. What’s your favorite kind of teaware to brew in?

A. Lately I've enjoyed brewing in our porcelain Japanese teapot, which was a wedding gift. I use it primarily for green teas, especially the batch of shincha I bought from O-Cha.com earlier this year. With time, I've developed a nice little routine with it. Basically I bring the water to the boil, pour it into the pot, let it sit for a while and then pour it into a Pyrex measuring cup to cool. That's when I put the tea leaves into the pot and enjoy their aroma, which is deepened by the heat of the pot. Once the water has cooled down enough, I add it to the leaves and let the steeping begin.

Q. Do you prefer a cup & saucer, mug, glass or gaiwan?

A. My sister-in-law thinks it's a disgrace that I call myself a tea lover but don't use a cup and saucer, but I prefer a mug. I have a mug that my wife bought for me as a Christmas gift from Oxfam, which has a small basket and lid to make it really easy to steep the tea.

Q. Do you take your tea straight up, or with sugar and/or milk?

A. Straight up. The only tea I'd add sugar and milk to is chai, but even then I sometimes prefer having it without either of those.

Q. Do you remember the first cup of tea you drank? How was it?

A. I've been thinking about this, but can't remember! I'm guessing it was probably a Dilmah or Twinings tea. I must have enjoyed it, because I did become quite a fan of tea!


Q. Do you drink loose tea, bagged, or both?

A. For the most part, I drink loose leaf tea. I've enjoyed Mighty Leaf's tea pouches lately, and continue to have rooibos tea from tea bags, but the rest of the time I find the character of loose leaf tea to be far superior to that of tea bag tea.

Q. Do you drink tea predominantly for health or enjoyment – or both?

A. I drink mainly for enjoyment. I've spent quite a bit of time researching tea's health benefits, and while I have no doubt that tea is a pretty good addition to a diet, I think many of its supposed health benefits are overblown by marketers. Tea's weight loss benefits are the perfect example. Yes, tea can help you lose weight, but it takes an immense amount of tea before you'll see it have much effect (and by that stage you've probably consumed too much caffeine!). For those who are interested, I wrote more about the whole weight loss tea issue here.

Q. What are your three favorite teas?

A. I'm a big fan of Earl Grey tea. Lately I've tried a few different varieties of Earl Grey, including one blended with Lapsang Souchong and longan (a Chinese fruit). I think it's fantastic how even a simple moniker like Earl Grey can hide a world of variety.

I've also really enjoyed this year's shincha (Japan's first harvest tea). We bought O-Cha's Yutaka Midori and loved it. Many a fine day in the past few months has started with a pot of shincha.

Another tea I've been smitten with this year is Yunnan Golden Monkey black tea. I picked this up from a local tea shop and find myself coming back to it again and again.

Q. What’s your favorite pairing of food with white, green and black teas?

A. I've got two. I love to combination of Japanese food with gen mai cha tea. And for those of you with a sweet tooth, try Turkish Delight with a fine Jasmine tea. Brilliant.

Q. Do you have a favorite tea company? Which one, and why?

A. I wrote about a few of my favorite tea companies on my blog, but I'd say two of my favourite companies are Narien Teas and O-Cha.com. O-Cha specialize in Japanese green tea, and they do it very, very well. If you like Japanese green tea, you cannot go wrong with O-Cha.com. Narien Teas are a newcomer to the scene. They don't have a huge range, but I've really enjoyed every one of their teas that I've tried. They also stock some rare Hawaiian green tea, which I'm looking forward to trying.

Q. Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?

A. Thanks Jamie! It's great to see another tea blogger on the scene. I look forward to seeing how your blog continues to develop!

Thank you, Eric - it was great to learn more about you and your tea tastes! I'm going to have to try that Turkish Delight/Jasmine tea combo, and forsee an order to O-Cha in my future.

Follow Eric on Twitter: @ericnicolaas
Comments are open below for further discussion...

This Week in the Teasphere

What's new in the world of tea this week? Let's see...

News

The Fowler Museum at UCLA is excitedly announcing a new exhibit called Steeped in History: The Art of Tea. It will be on display from August 16th through November 29, 2009, and sounds absolutely spectacular, judging from the press release. The teapot to the left is one of the items that will be on display, a Bianchi teapot by Carlo Landi circa 1840.

The exhibition will combine art from three continents that spans centuries to explore the history and culture of tea. If you love tea, tea culture and history, a trip to see this exhibit would be a wonderful vacation. Sadly, I won't be able to make it down there, but if you're going, I'd love to hear all about it, and see pictures!

For more information, contact Beatrice Eyales, UCLA Fowler Museum, Marketing and Communications Dept.

In other news, I received a note from Tom McLaughlin this week about the new Wikiteadia community he's building. Here's the crux of what he envisions for the site, from his email:

"I'd like Wikiteadia to be a bit different - a not for profit, completely unbiased site with tea information, specific tea reviews, tea company reviews, and most of all an active community. "

I think this is a great idea. And since it's starting off fresh this week, we all have the chance to submit articles and reviews that will help make it a comprehensive resource and community for those of us who are passionate about tea. Consider submitting something to the site, and supporting this important project.

Blogs to Visit

Walker Tea Review: This blog gives tea lovers a completely new way to taste tea, with video guidance to walk you through the whole process. Order your teas, get the video on the scheduled day, and you're ready to go!

teatunes: Aside from my initial cringe at the lack of capitalization, I've found this blog to be not only informative and unbiased (blogs that post negative reviews as well as positive have my undying respect), but also extremely amusing. These two guys are excellent writers, and while I'm not much of a "tunes person", their tea posts should be marked "do not miss". Check 'em out - you won't be sorry.

Twitterers to Follow: Rather than listing them here, I'll go ahead and do the #FollowFriday thing on twitter. My followfriday reccomendations are general done by RT's (re-tweets) of my favorite posts throughout the week, so follow me, and watch for the #followfriday hash tag!

This Week in the Teasphere

Lots of fun stuff going on in the Teasphere this week.

I recently got an email from a company named “Red Mango” emailed me to let me know about their new “probiotic tea” that will be available starting July 27th (Monday). Here’s a quick bit from the press release – sounds like it might be fun to try, though I don’t think I can get it here in Montana:

Red Mango, the fastest-growing retailer of
authentic nonfat frozen yogurt, today announced it will become the
first retailer to offer made-to-order iced teas fortified with
probiotics. Three proprietary flavors, all incorporating
GanedenBC30®, a patented strain of probiotic shown to help support the
immune system and regulate the digestive system, are available in
participating Red Mango stores beginning July 27.

Lemonocity™ (Lemonade Green Tea), Mysteaque™ (Vanilla Black Tea) and
Fanteasia™ (Wildberry Hibiscus Tea) iced teas are each uniquely
delicious, low-calorie, sweetened with natural cane sugar and contain
a significant amount of probiotics, or good bacteria.

For more information, you can visit their web site at: www.redmangousa.com

Links of Interest

Caffeine and Tea: Myth and Reality - From the CHA DO blog, an older article (Feb. 2008) on just about everything you could possibly want to know about the caffeine content of tea, and decaffeination techniques. Excellent information, and very thorough.

Free Iced Tea Recipes – The Tea Site is giving away a free ebook of iced tea recipes, very handy information to have around the kitchen this time of year. Download yours today, and stick around…the site is chock full of fabulous tea information.

Stain: The Tea Cup that Improves with Use – From the archives of “Tea Finely Brewed”, I found this gem on cups that reveal patterns with repeated use. Fun idea!

I’d Like a Cup of Snake Oil with My Meal – from the Gonfu Girl blog last week, a wonderful post on keeping it “real” with regards to the purported health benefits of tea.

Blogs to Check Out

Lainie Sips – reviews, news, information…you name it, Lanie’s got it!

The Tea Nerd – Brent has always had very thoughtful reviews, and he’s currently exploring teaware with a set of in-depth articles that will leave you breathless, and also very well-equipped to brew the perfect cup, no matter your style. Take a peek…

Teasphere – An aptly named (*wink*) blog journaling a tea lover’s personal journey on the tea road. Insightful and interesting…give it a look.

Some Twitterers to Follow

@TheTeaSite
@lainiep
@TheMeaningofTea
@youareprecisely
@teapotandteacup

Until next week - Happy Sipping!

This Week in the Teasphere

Featured Articles
I’m trying to get back into the iced-tea mindset with the onset of warmer weather this week. Here are a few recipes for iced tea I found interesting. I’ll be trying the iced Japanese greens this weekend.

Making the Perfect Iced Tea
Iced Green Tea
Strawberry-Basil Iced Tea
Iced Peach Tea


Featured Blogs

My Steeped IdentiTea – Brittiny’s reviews are wonderful, comprehensive and accentuated with amazing photos. There’s a good variety on her blog – stop in and check it out when you have time.

Gongfu Girl – This blog has been around since I started really learning about tea, and it’s every bit as valuable today as it was then. It’s not just reviews – it’s slices of life and tea together. Definitely give them a read.

Twitterers to Follow

@thetearooms
@jasonwitt
@39steeps
@TeaBoat
@TheNecessiTeas
@TeasEtc_Newman

Happy Sipping!