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With the move toward shopping online, especially for such things as tea, having a good online presence can be the only thing between you and a customer. Making a really good site that reflects truly who you are and why those customers should buy your products instead of clicking away to another site is absolutely essential, yet so easy to spoil.
Gorgeous photos like this one do not a good tea web site make.
Here are some no-no’s for the truly professional tea store site, things that can get people to click away faster than you can say “tea bag”:
- Misspellings — Yes, I said misspellings. No, we’re not talking spelling bees here, but if your site is peppered with things like “infooser” or “Darjelling” it can give customers the impression that their orders will get the same lack of attention to detail.
- Scant info about you — No “About Us” page or one that gives no useful info about you and your company can make some customers reluctant to deal with you. While we all know that we have to be careful about personal information we put online, having little or none makes it seem that your company is not legitimate, or that it is really a front for some larger company trying to look like a small vendor. A “Contact Us” page or section is also essential. Who wants to order from a company that is shrouded in mystery and has no way, not even an email address, to contact them for more information on their products and/or their company before ordering? Not me.
- Design overkill — Flashy design that’s hard to navigate through (Arizona Tea is a good example here) with things animating and/or popping up when you mouse over them.
- Broken links — Almost impossible to avoid and the bane of any web site owner’s existence, links that go to the wrong place or that pop up one of those “page not found” messages definitely say that this site isn’t all that important to you.
- Under construction or blank pages — Your site should never never never have these. They are so old school as in the early days of web site design, and they were a really bad idea then.
- Too much focus on the photos — Beautiful photography that ends up overwhelming the customer does not increase sales. Remember that the photos are there first and foremost to present your products truthfully to the customer.
- Overly sensitive click areas — Large linked areas so that the user ends up clicking and going somewhere they don’t want to directs your customers away from where they want to be and can lose a sale.
- Inconsistent menu display — “Now you see it, now you don’t” is fun for games but frustrating to customers trying to navigate through your site. Menu bars and “breadcrumb trails” will help here.
- Functionality that doesn’t function — This is especially true of your shopping cart feature. You may think this is a no-brainer with all of the shopping site setup applications out there, but it happens more than I care to think about. Test, test, and test again before launching the site, and keep checking it to be sure it’s still working.
- Insufficient/inaccurate product information —Unsubstantiated health claims are the worst, but the next one is a description that says “black tea” or “green tea” or something like “flavored with a mix of spices.” Food allergies abound, so you could be turning away potential sales. No one is asking you to give away your secret formula, but saying that your tea is Ceylon black with cinnamon and a dash of vanilla won’t be a real recipe revealer.
In addition to these no-no’s is the big issue of poor customer service. I try to assess how customers will be treated by the companies who send me their samples to try. For example, if a company emails me to ask if I want samples and I respond with yes and my mailing address and then they don’t send anything or contact me in any way whatsoever after that, it tells me that ordering from them will probably not be the best experience either. If they do send samples and they are the wrong ones, it can indicate that order filling accuracy is a low priority.
Hope these tips help you assure that your web site is a plus for you!
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Nothing can bring out such a range of emotions — from fear and loathing to elation and sheer joy — than the office birthday party. How you react could depend in large part on which side of the party you’re on: the celebrant, an attendee, or the party giver. It can also depend on the party fixins. Personally, I couldn’t imagine a birthday celebrated without tea, but others can, so for me to be the party giver and not be able to serve tea is a bit on the horrifying side.
I tend to view birthdays as something that should be celebrated with sincerity. Most office birthday parties lack this essential ingredient. They are either expected and done as a duty or lumped together into one big “monthly birthday observance” (which short changes those born in one of the most birthday filled months like August) or outright banned as a distraction from work and an unnecessary expense.
One year, I got caught up in the “office birthday party trap.” The way it worked at this particular place was that the last one whose birthday was celebrated in the office had to provide the next birthday treats. I told them I didn’t want to be feted, but they did anyway, obligating me to treat the next person in turn.
Okay, I can handle this, I guess. I’ll just ignore the fact that the person having the birthday is a co-worker I hardly knew and who had barely spoken to me since my duties didn’t relate to hers. Also, I wanted to plan a nice tea event, but she heard about it, told the department head, and I was summarily informed that I had to serve what she wanted. That turned out to be orange juice and donuts.
Yeah, I said orange juice…
and donuts.
By this time I had figured out that the party giver had two basic roles here: money machine and gopher. That last part was the real trick. Have you ever carried a briefcase, two boxes (the big flat kind) containing a dozen glazed donuts each, two one-gallon bottles of orange juice, plus plastic cups and plates from the parking lot, through the security gate, into a crowded elevator, and finally to the break room to put the orange juice in the refrigerator? Two words here: not fun. Two more words: near catastrophe.
At the appointed hour (10 a.m.), I had everything set up and ready and waited for people to arrive so we could get this show on the road. Attendance was a bit low. I think word had got around about the menu. We had quite a few people in our department who were watching their intake of sweets, especially donuts. We got through it all without too much disappointment, and my duty was done.
When the event was over, the birthday girl was walking away, talking with another woman and berating the whole thing, saying how disappointed she was in the event.
I think I should have stuck with the tea party theme. Sigh!
Next time, I’ll stay home with tea, a cookie, and a good book!
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Round and round the Sun we go. And round and round the calendar we go at the same time. Valentine’s Day is once again looming, and the brows of anxious husbands and sweethearts are beading with the sweat of wondering what will please their true love. Ok, guys, listen up: We want CHOCOLATE! Oh, and roses and some romantic dinner with candles and tea and something you cooked yourself.
Valentine's Bad to the Bone Ghirardelli Gift Set
Simple.
Well, maybe not too simple. Let’s take it a step at a time, starting with the chocolates. (The most important things first, of course!) There are many to choose from, but go for the best. True love is rare and special. Cadbury’s (the kind still made in the U.K.) has a reputation for being rich and flavorful, reflecting the richness of your feelings. Of course, the “bad boy” image has appeal, so some Ghirardelli chocolates with a “Bad to the Bone” bear will get the message across.
Even a more economical version of a chocolate-centered gifts will say “I love you!” loud and clear! The same goes for roses. You can go full out with the traditional dozen long stemmed red beauties, or keep it simple with a gift that includes a single silken rose.
Valentine's Gift Set - Tea and Chocolate
Of course, I fully recognize that we females like to give our special fellas tokens of our affections, too. Planning a special tea time for him can be a pleasure that could lead to “other” things. Heh heh! Be sure chocolate is on the menu, too, since it tends to make you feel a bit “glowing” inside.
A possible 3-course menu for your special “Valentine, Sweet Valentine!” Tea Time:
- First course: A cheese appetizer (brie or camembert) with crackers and Dragonwell tea
- Main course: Roasted chicken, new potatoes boiled and lightly buttered with a sprinkle of dill, braised green beans, and an assortment of raw vegetables (cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, etc.) served with a nice of Ceylon or Assam tea
- Third Course (Dessert): Strawberry shortcake served with some Darjeeling or even Tie Guan Yin.
Why do we go all through this every year? One story says that around 270 A.D. as the Roman Empire was crumbling, Emperor Claudius II banned marriage, thinking bachelorhood would make young men more willing to serve in his army, sorely needed since the empire was under siege from all sides. A cleric named Valentine at the local church, however, would secretly marry young couples who would come to him. For this disobedience, he was executed on February 14th. (Sorry, that’s not very romantic.) In the 14th century the date became associated with love. Greeting card companies took up the cause in the 1840s, issuing greeting cards that seem quite innocent and simple by today’s standards. You can still find some of these older designs on sites like Birdhouse Books.
One final thought here from Helen Keller:
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.
Here’s wishing you a fabulous Valentine tea time and beyond!
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Ok, so you know you’re a Tea Princess or a Tea Prince, or you are well on your way to being one. You want your tea just so and will no longer settle for that “stuff” they call tea when you dine out or eat in. But are you a serious lover of tea, too? Take this quiz to find out.
A great way to spend $5
- You have an extra $5 in your pocket, so you:
- Buy a box of tea bags at the local store
- Go to one of those coffee places and get a humongo-jumbo tea latté beverage
- Buy a box of donuts – hey, what’s tea time without donuts?
- Add that fiver to the special savings account you opened at the bank so you can afford to buy some of that special aged pu-erh later on
- Your birthday is coming up, so you:
- Hint to family and friends that you really like tea (actually, they will probably know this already, but it doesn’t hurt to remind them)
- Print out photos off of web sites of teawares and teas you’d like as gifts and leave them strategically placed where gift givers would find them
- Select the person you can count on to spread the word to others, then drag that person to the local tea shop and make sure he/she sees you mooning over certain teapots and/or teas, maybe even casually suggest that he/she take notes
- Make reservations at the best tea place in your area and plan to go there, by yourself if necessary (you’re your own person)
- An antique Yixing teapot pops up for sale on one of those auction web sites, so you:
- Yawn and click over to a news site
- Tweet the link to your Twitter buddies to see if one of them wants it
- Follow the bidding to see how high it goes (you’re just curious)
- Bid…bid…bid! until that beauty is all yours!
- A famous tea expert is in town giving a demonstration of a particularly tricky steeping technique, but it happens to be on the same day as your daughter’s wedding, so you:
- Say to yourself “I’m the mother/father of the bride, so I have to be at the wedding” and you do your part
- Attend the wedding, but ask a friend to go to the demo and report back to you
- Ask your friend to stand in for you at the wedding and to wear a face mask that looks like you for all the photos
- Reschedule the wedding — hey, you have your priorities!
- You signed up for a tour of the tea gardens of the Darjeeling area of India but just heard that monsoon rains were extra heavy, washing out some mountain roads, and the tour is cancelled, so you:
- Shrug, pocket the refund, and think that the trip to Disney World is now on
- Go buy a book about the tea gardens of Darjeeling and read it with a pot of Darjeeling tea
- Steep up some of your most special Darjeeling tea, put on some Indian music, and pretend you’re there
- Decide to go there on your own and hike from one garden to the next as best you can (you bring along your mountain climbing gear just in case)
Well, how did you do? If you answered anything but “d” to all of the above, then it’s time to get more serious about tea!
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Porcelain Teapot - Victorian Rose
Like any great quest, the seeking of perfection is all pervasive and can even invade our dreams and the quiet repose of our tea time. The perfect teapot — is it Cordoba’s mythical Fountain of Youth?
Plato, a philosopher from long, long ago (as in before even I was born), had the idea that everything around us is an imperfect version of a “perfect” version that exists in the ether somewhere. There is a perfect tree out there from which are spawned all the imperfect trees around us. The same goes for everything from aardvarks to zithers. If Plato is right, then there’s a perfect teapot somewhere out there in the ether. Now, where’s this ether? Drat, there’s always a catch.
As a tea devotee, I regard the very concept of a perfect teapot just as I do the concept of a perfect cuppa tea: it is an individual quest and achievement. Only you can decide which is your perfect teapot, just as only you can know when you have achieved that perfect steep.
Even so, there are teapots and then there are teapots. Some seem to suit the steeping of one tea versus another for various reasons. Here’s a bit of a rundown based on the material(s) from which the teapot is made:
- Bone China/Porcelain — Tends to cool a bit quicker, so you may want to use with teas that need steep times between 2 and 4 minutes. However, you can extend the time the teapot stays warm with a nice tea cozy or a tea warmer stand. Very stylish and used as much for their appearance as their tea steeping ability.
- Ceramic/Stoneware — Made of a thicker, coarser clay, and holds heat fairly well, but still needs a cozy or warmer to keep the tea warm for the length of your tea time. Black teas with strong flavors are great contenders here. The Brown Betty is a classic stoneware teapot. The U.S. company Louisville Stonewaremakes some fine ones, too.
Glass Teapot - Zen Style
- Yixing clay — Unglazed and therefore porous, meaning that they absorb the flavor and aroma of the teas steeped in them. Each teapot needs to be confined to one particular type of tea; for example, one for green teas, one for oolongs, etc. They are small, lending themselves to teas needing short steep times and that can be infused multiple times. My collection is small but an important part of my tea arsenal.
- Silver — Holds heat well so works best with teas that can withstand higher temperatures and longer steeping times. Generally, that means black teas, especially Darjeelings according to some tea experts.
- Glass — Good for a wide variety of teas, but the clear glass kind are especially appropriate for “show teas” (ones that are a delight to watch while steeping). A good example is blooming/flowering tea, but you can also get quite a good show from teas like Tie Guan Yin (Ti Kuan Yin, Iron Goddess) where the leaves unfurl from their cocoon-like shape.
- Cast iron— Unique in that you can place them on an open flame or on your woodburning stove to heat the water and then steep tea directly in them. The finest ones are said to come from Japan. They are great for green teas, but could be used for other teas as well, such as dark teas from Darjeeling, India. The metal really holds the heat, so watch your steeping time, or your tea leaves will get cooked.
Stainless Steel Teapot - Algonquin
- Stainless steel — Holds heat fairly well. Great for most teas. Popular in restaurants since they can take a bit of banging about and even dropping without too much damage.
Again, I emphasize that perfection is whatever suits your tea needs, no matter what that Plato fellow said all those centuries ago. He didn’t even drink tea but was more of a mead man. So, this quest for perfection is up to you. Happy hunting!
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
One month of the year down already! Amazing how fast time flies, especially for those of us busy learning about, enjoying, tasting, and writing about tea. Time for another round of fabulous things in life that deserve a lift of the teacup and a cheery “Salute!”
Celebrate Cherry Pie Day (February 12th)!
First, let’s forego the obvious, such as Groundhog’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and President’s Day, which are already given sufficient recognition. I’m also skipping over sad events like the plane crash in 1959 where Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper passed on (known as The Day the Music Died).
Let’s begin with a toast to any New Year’s resolutions you’re still keeping, such as your resolution to drink more tea. Clink! Now, on to the list.
- Wave All you Fingers at Your Neighbor Day — February 7th — Set your teacup down first, or a true disaster could ensue. It’s also a full moon day, so your tea time can go late into the evening with all of that wonderful moonlight.
- Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk Day — February 11th — A bit of milk spillage is just part of life, so there’s no need to raise a fuss over it. Unless, of course, it’s the last bit of milk in the house and you’re the type to add a bit of it into your tea. Then it’s an utter (or should I say “udder”?) catastrophe!
- Plum Pudding Day — February 12th — Little Jack Horner sat in a corner, stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plum… or some such thing! Anyway, plum pudding, typically a treat served during winter holidays, can be perfect anytime and makes a splendid tea time treat.
- National Battery Day — February 18th — Get your charge on with some high-voltage tea!
- Cherry Pie Day — February 20th — No need to chop down that cherry tree. Just pick those sweet cherries, bake ’em into a pie, and serve it up all warm and fruity at tea time. A hot cuppa Keemun tea might be a good accompaniment here.
- International Mother Language Day — February 21st — No, we’re not talking about the cooings you say to your newborn or the shout outs to young Johnny or Susie to come in for lunch. We are talking about the language you grew up speaking. So often it shapes us and how we see the world. Just be sure to include the language of tea in that lexicon!
- Walking the Dog Day — February 22nd — In addition to your normal implements for cleaning up whatever your lovely doggie leaves behind, take along a nice travel mug of tea.
- National Tortilla Chip Day — February 24th — You might want to serve your tea chilled or iced on this date to go with those chips and the super hot salsa they pair with so well.
- No Brainer Day — February 27th — Tea + hot water + teapot = a great cuppa tea! Total no brainer.
- Leap Day — February 29th — Don’t miss this once-in-four-years event, an extra day you can enjoy as you please, whether it be a special tea time, a wild tea party, or a cozy tea for two.
Don’t forget to toast birthdays and anniversaries of any of your loved ones and such events of major importance as the arrival of that latest order of teas. Get those teacups clinking. Salute!
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Forgetfulness is not the exclusive province of the elderly. At least that’s what I keep telling myself, and thus am assured that being forgetful is not a sign of being over the hill. Many people — even some decades younger than me — forget things due to their busy lives, including attending to their children. I don’t have that excuse either. So, why do I often forget to time my tea? No idea, but I do know that it’s not a total disaster.
A big note on the teapot to remember to time the tea!
The good news is that forgetting to time your tea is not the end of the world. Nor does it mean that you have to dump the oversteeped tea down the drain (or water your garden with it). There are options:
- If it’s a fairly strong black tea such as an Assam, you can add a bunch of sweetener and, if you are one who can stand milk in your tea, you can add some milk. That will take away the bitterness.
- If it’s a green tea like gunpowder, I find that thinning it with some water heated to the proper steeping temperature helps.
- A little lemon juice would be a help, with just the right amount of sour balancing out the astringency.
- Ditto for a sprinkle of cinnamon or some other flavoring according to your particular taste. In fact, if you have typical chai spices on hand, turn your oversteeped tea into a spiced chai.
- And then there are recipes where you can use strongly steeped tea in place of broth or water. Soups, stews, casseroles, baked goods, or more, are possibilities here.
Of course, the best cure is prevention. Time to implement a timer. Having a full set of fingers and toes, I nevertheless find using them as my instruments to keep track of the passing seconds and minutes for steeping to be a tad tricky. With so many timers available, from those shaped like mini hourglasses and filled with colored sand to high-tech apps for your iPhone or computer, timing your tea should be a no-brainer.
But, how do you remember to use the timer? Ah, as the Bard said, there lies the rub. You could enlist your spouse or other family member or a roommate to remind you, but who will remind them? This could end up being an infinite regression, like images in fun house mirrors, with Donny reminding Susie to remind Tiffany that she promised to remind Harry to remind you to set the timer when you steep your tea.
Hm… maybe a note on the teapot would be simpler.
A big note.
A big big BIG note.
Well, anyway, even if you forget to time your tea, you can save it with the options listed above. And don’t worry about your forgetfulness being due to old age. Blame it on insufficient sleep, your mind being occupied with deep thoughts, or some such excuse… uh, I mean legitimate reason.
See also:
Time to Time Your Tea
Nothing Beats that “Golden Pour” of Tea
Tea Gadgets and Novelties
It’s Teamaker Time
Tea Time Horrors
Time to Time Your Tea
Tea Brewing Techniques ß correct spelling
Tea-Timing!
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
A Jasmine using the tipmost leaves of the tea bush
Jasmine teas fall into what the tea experts call “scented” teas. I just call them “flavored” teas, since items used to create the scents usually affect both aroma and flavor.
Whether you call it “flavored” or “scented,” jasmine tea has been around a long while, starting some time during the Song Dynasty in China (960-1279). The best grade is supposed to be from the Fujian Province, but versions are also available from Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang provinces.
Tea leaves are harvested in Spring and stored until the jasmine flowers are in bloom in early Summer. The flowers are then picked when the petals are tightly closed (usually in the early morning) and kept cool until night when they begin to open. It is at this time that the tea leaves and those little white flowers are combined and stored overnight while the tea gets infused with the scent of the blooms, a four-hour process that may get repeated as many as seven times.
Jasmine teas come in a bunch of forms, including:
- Pearls (full leaves hand-rolled into little pearl shapes), also called “tears”
- Needles (full leaves processed into long, thin shapes)
- Blooming (full leaves and often flower petals sewn together in a “bud” that opens up as it steeps like a flower blooming)
- Full leaf (often this is the two-leaves-and-a-bud picking from the very end of the tea bush branches)
- Broken leaf (leaves from further down on the branch or that have been machine harvested and processed either by hand or machine and possibly further broken)
- Fannings (machine processed tea leaves ground to smaller pieces but larger than dust)
- Dust (machine processed tea leaves ground down really fine for easier bagging and/or steeping and usually flavored with jasmine oil instead of real blooms)
- Compressed shapes such as hearts
Jasmine with Flowers Green Tea
Black, green, white, and oolong teas are all used as the tea base, although green tea is by far the most common. Expect to pay a bit more for the better quality jasmines from vendors with a good reputation like Golden Moon, Harrisons & Crosfield, and Harney & Sons.
My favorite jasmine is dragon tears (or pearls). For one thing, it’s easy to measure out the right amount. I just count the pearls (2-3 per 8 ounces of water) and toss them in a cup of hot water, watching them unfold as they steep. Blooming jasmines are alright, but I find they are more fun to watch than to drink and can often be overly strong on the jasmine. Which brings me to another issue…
The floral aroma of jasmines can be quite overwhelming to those of us with sensitive sniffers. While I enjoy the flavor, which is often much milder than the fragrance, I have to be careful not to inhale too deeply when preparing the tea so that my nose doesn’t go into overload mode. Of course, this also means that jasmine teas need to be stored properly, that is, in air tight containers away from your other teas, or you could end up with a whole cupboard or tea pantry full of jasmines, whether you intend it or not.
Jasmine tea is said to have numerous health benefits, including:
- destroys free radicals and helps to slow aging
- lowers the risks of developing cancer
- helps keep bad cholesterol levels down
- is effective for dysentery, influenza and cholera, and in preventing colds
- stimulates the body to burn calories which encourages weight-loss
- has a calming and soothing effect
Jasmine Blooms (Photo by Maria Brzostowska from Fotolia.com)
Give jasmine tea a try and you could get a very pleasant surprise!
Disclaimer: This is not intended as medical advice. Please consult your physician for your particular needs.
See also:
Review — Jasmine with Flowers Green Tea
Jasmine Dragon Tears and Michael Williams’ “Trajan’s Arch” — Magical Realism and Real Magic
Review — Golden Moon Jasmine Pearls
Jasmine Tea Choices
The Tea Provinces of China, Part I
The Tea Provinces of China, Part II
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Part 1 gave you some idea what Yixing teapots were all about while Part 2 showed how to prepare your teapots for use. It’s finally time to start actually steeping tea in your teapot to drink and enjoy!
The First Drinkable Potful — Once the teapots were ready for use, hubby and I selected one of them (eenie – meenie – minie – moe!) for our first steeping of drinkable tea. The “Dragon” teapot was the winner. Since we had designated pu-erh (pu’er) as the type of tea to use in the teapot, the selection of tea was simple. We went for Young Pu-erh, a tea we had tried some time ago and really liked.
We steeped some of this pu-erh in the “Dragon” teapot. Since this style of teapot has a “built-in strainer” comprised of tiny holes inside over the spout opening, so you can toss loose tea leaves in the pot and not need to use a strainer when pouring out the tea liquid.
I couldn’t photograph the holes inside the “Dragon” teapot, so here are the ones inside the “Cicada” teapot
Not having a tea boat (a special tray to collect any water and/or tea that overflows the teapot — all part of the steeping process), we made do with a cookie sheet and a cooling rack. Not pretty, but very utilitarian for now until we can shop for something appropriate. The teapot sits on the cooling rack which sits on the cookie sheet.
Make-shift teaboat setup
Right: The tea leaves are in the teapot and the hot water is poured in. Left: The water is let overflow the teapot (be careful, since the tea leaves will float to the top and may flow over the sides of the teapot — pouring more slowly as you get to the top of the teapot will help prevent this).
Time to steep
We were generally pleased for now, the flavor being what we had experienced in our earlier tastings. We are looking forward to the tea flavor deepening with each use of the teapot, though. A patina will build up over time on the teapots as we use them and will enrich their colors. All part of the joys of this type of teapot.
There you have it — the basics of our dive into the world of Yixing teapots. Your turn. Take the plunge!
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
When you first dive into the world of Yixing (“Ee-sheeng” or “Yee-sheeng”) teapots, you need to be sure to get the real deal and a good deal (see Part 1). That accomplished, you are then faced with the scary question: “Now what?”
To that end, I spent several days after our three teapots arrived on researching how to prep them properly for use and then how to use them.
Far Left: “Dragon”; Far Right: “Simplicity”; Center (Blue): “Cicada”
Prepare for First Use — There is a ton of info online about how to prepare your Yixing teapot for its first use of steeping tea. Some involve several days of your time, but hubby and I found the one below to be sufficient.
A simple preparation process:
- Rinse the teapot and lid in cold water. DO NOT USE SOAP.
- Put the teapot and the lid in the bottom of a pan large enough so that the teapot and its lid aren’t touching each other.
- Cover both the teapot and the lid completely with cold water.
- Bring the water slowly to a boil. (Quick temperature changes could crack the teapot.)
- Reduce heat to medium-low.
- Simmer for about 30 minutes to remove any wax and to sterilize the teapot.
- Carefully remove the teapot and lid from the water.
- Let them cool completely and air dry. Caution: do not put the lid on the teapot until both are completely dry to assure that mold does not start to grow inside them.
The “Dragon” teapot ready to be simmered
Assign a Tea to Your Teapot — Yixing teapots are not glazed, so they are not sealed and therefore tend to absorb flavors and odors around them into the clay pores (microscopic spaces between the clay molecules). They especially absorb the flavor and odor of the tea steeped in them. For this reason, you should ideally use your teapot for only one general type of tea (and also keep your teapot away from anything with a strong scent such as scented candles or a package of cinnamon flavored tea).
The teas I designated to each teapot:
- Green teas for “Simplicity”
- Oolong teas for “Cicada”
- Pu-erh teas for “Dragon”
Steep a Seasoning Potful — The all-important first potful will affix that type of tea to that teapot. This tea is not to be drunk. It is to season the teapot, so steep it up extra strong.
Here is one recipe:
- Place 4 teaspoons of loose tea leaves in the teapot.
- Fill the teapot with boiling water. Caution: The tea leaves will float to the top, so be careful as you pour.]
- Put the lid on the teapot. (Be sure there are no leaves around the rim so that the lid will sit properly and seamlessly on the teapot.)
- Steep the tea until it and the teapot are cool (be patient — I had to let my teapots sit overnight to cool thoroughly).
- Empty the teapot, discarding the tea liquid and leaves.
- Rinse out the teapot with water.
- Repeat steps 1 through 6.
- Allow the teapot and lid to completely air dry before putting the lid back on the teapot (a good practice every time you use your Yixing teapot).
Fill to the brim and beyond
Once this is done, you are ready to steep that first drinkable potful, as you will see in Part 3.
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