Joe Clare, owner of Edmonton’s Massage Therapy Supply Outlet, doesn’t approve of the new tea stir stick single packaging. Here he is telling all about it.

At a recent tea show, I picked up this super Yixing cup as a sample from the elegant display at TrYeh. This cup has now become my absolute favourite for drinking my morning black tea. I find that the included clay filter cup has holes that are often too large for my tea leaves, not filtering as much as I’d like, but if I’d decided to dedicate it to green or oolong then perhaps it might work better. Who cares? It feels great and I’m now in relationship with it, seasoning it further with every steeping!

At TrYeh they say: Yixing is considered by connoisseurs to be the best way to drink tea. Made from a red clay found in the Jiangsu province of China, these cups “season,” which means they take on the flavor of your favorite tea to enhance every cup. But for that reason, they should only be used for one type of tea (white, green, oolong, black, herbal) for the best possible cup. And you’ll be delighted by the delicious taste of your tea after seasoning your Yixing tea cup.

You may have missed this, but it’s a keeper!

On their site, the Intaba people say: “Intaba Bushbabies – Kids love the naturally sweet taste!”

So I put it to the taste test with the 2 nearest kids, Ember and Cora, asking them if they thought it would be a good tea for babies.

At first we tried it without adding honey. Mistake. These kids did not love the naturally sweet taste one bit.

Cora just made a face and refused it. Ember, the older, said rather pluckily, “Well, it has lots of flavour!” but didn’t want to drink any of it.

After we added honey – here’s the result:

I personally love the taste of both rooibos and honeybush, and don’t need to add any sweetener to them at all. However Intaba Bushbabies may be an acquired taste for kids. For these two it was something entirely new.

Find out more at Intaba’s site.

I recalled that great line “I love a strong Indian,” when I poured myself some Certified Organic Strong Breakfast Tea from Assam Belseri this afternoon.

Here’s the video, watch for the line, as the Two Fat Ladies prepare a gentleman’s tea. Clarissa and Jennifer make Queen Alexandra’s Sandwiches and Gentlemen’s Savoury Shortcrusts.

Some say that drinking green tea helps protect you against the effects of radiation, but what if your tea includes a dash of cesium?

At a recent tea market I asked some questions about radiation in teas grown in Japan. But when I spoke with people from Aoi Tea and Rishi Tea, both indicated that their teas were safe.

The people I spoke to reassured me that there wasn’t a reason to have concern about radiation from Fukushima’s ongoing leak having an effect on the tea I drink here in Vancouver, exports from tea harvests since the earthquake last spring.

Rishi Tea is a conscious company featuring artisan, organic and fair trade teas. Markets, said Benjamin Harrison, co-owner of Rishi, were still stable and there was no concern. They monitor all their teas over and above the required government tests and found nothing to be concerned about. I wonder if they tested for radiation? In addition, at the outset, before export, the Japanese Government did very rigorous testing of all products, recalling or holding back tea grown in the affected areas. At Rishi, they have seen no decline in supply at all, and the world tea market for Japanese tea appears to be functioning as it did before the terrible earthquake and nuclear plant disaster.

Aoi Matcha

Mount Fuji marks the center of Japan. From the Aoi Tea specialists in matcha, the word was that their fine tea plantations are  south of Mount Fuji. The damage that occurred was north of Mount Fuji. In addition, Chieko Yamamoto, VP and COO of Aoi, said that Japan is especially vigilant about radiation, and has been for decades, so there was trust that Japan would not approve any radioactive tea goods for export world wide, let alone for use within the country itself. At Aoi they were confident in continuing with business as usual, offering their fine matcha and green tea to the world.

So, as in Dune, the spice continues to flow.  And I, for one, am grateful as I truly enjoy the subtle matcha and its beautiful clarity.

But I can’t help wondering about the not-so-perceivable effects of still-ongoing radiation leak. Yesterday I saw a television drama that proved an art forgery by analysis of the linseed oil. It seems that linseed oil-based paints created after the atom bomb all have trace radioactive elements. Surely the sensitive tea plant would reveal similar effects. Today’s quick google search brought up many articles on the topic – here are only a few:

Cesium over limit found in tea using Saitama, Chiba leaves

Kyodo

Radioactive cesium exceeding the legal limit has been detected in four tea products that reached the market and were made with tea leaves from Saitama and Chiba prefectures, a recent health ministry inspection showed.
One of the products, using tea leaves from Chiba Prefecture, contained 2,720 becquerels of cesium per kilogram, far above the government-set limit of 500 becquerels, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Friday.
The three other products, made with tea leaves from Saitama Prefecture, were found to contain between 800 and 1,530 becquerels of cesium. It is the first time cesium exceeding the maximum limit has been detected in Saitama tea leaves.
The cesium levels were recorded during snap inspections of farm products by the ministry.
The Chiba and Saitama prefectural governments plan to recall all the products from store shelves. A ministry official said the products do not pose an immediate health risk to consumers.
-Japan Times Online

And in the NY Post:

Japan’s green tea contaminated with radiation

Last Updated: 2:21 PM, June 9, 2011

TOKYO — Japanese green tea, esteemed around the world for its purity and health-enhancing properties, has become contaminated with radiation, as fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant continues to blight Japan’s agricultural heartlands, authorities revealed Thursday.

Authorities admitted for the first time that green tea from Japan’s biggest tea-growing area, the Shizuoka prefecture, contains radiation higher than the officially-permitted level. The contamination has opened a furious argument among local and national officials about how to measure the radiation, and what constitutes a safe level of contamination.

Dried leaves from the year’s first harvest in the Honyama area of Shizuoka were found to contain radioactive cesium at a level of 679 becquerels per kilogram, above the permitted maximum of 500 becquerels. But the discovery was made by chance, and the authorities admit that earlier consignments, which were not examined and have gone to the market, may have also been contaminated.

Limits on the sale of tea from areas closer to Fukushima have been put in place, but Shizuoka is to green tea what the Champagne region of France is to sparkling wine, and the effect of the news will be devastating.

Japan produced 95,000 tons (86,000 tonnes) of dried tea in 2009, and 42 percent of that was from Shizuoka. The prefecture, supported by the ministry of agriculture, has insisted on carrying out radiation measurements in such a way as to minimize the suggestion that its precious product is dangerous.

The problem is that, unlike other vegetables, tea leaves are processed before going on sale and are not consumed directly. When fresh leaves are dried, the removal of water concentrates the radioactive elements to five times the former level.

But when they are infused in a tea pot the amount of radiation in the resulting brew is between 30 and 45 times less, according to the agriculture ministry.

The Shizuoka government wants the 500 becquerels limit to apply to the less intensely radioactive fresh leaves. But the health ministry argues that consumers might swallow dried leaves in a cup of tea, as well as in products derived from tea, such as green tea ice cream, and that the 500-becquerel limit for fresh vegetables must also apply to tea.

The high reading was discovered not by the tea grower or the local government, but by a mail order tea company in Tokyo that carried out its own measurements.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/

Don’t stop drinking your green tea for its wonderful health benefits, but I recommend that you do your own intensive search, and if possible, ask your tea supplier for truthful answers on this important topic.

Incredible – looks animated!

An oldie but goodie

The kettle is back on the boil!

It’s been way too long since I last posted! I confess I have been happily enjoying life with tea and not sharing it with you, dear readers.

Watch for new posts, and maybe even a new look for this venerable old tea blog.

Here’s a photo of me giving some Tetley Colour Therapy tea to the 2nd prize winner of last winter’s Tea Haiku contest, Carol Sokoloff of Victoria, BC.

Her winning Haiku is:

Winter drizzle stings,
I pour warm tea, revive
the frozen spirit.