Show some Humanitea

This post is totally unrelated to tea.. minus the title. and I'm going to pretend that this Starbucks cup wasn't actually filled with Tazo tea.. but real tea...

On that note.. read/watch this:
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20120417/halifax-gay-activist-death-120417/


Now THINK and answer me this: Why in this day and age, when we have a revolution of people embracing diversity and differences does this shit still happen? Why does it matter if someone is gay, straight, bi, trans or whatever else? I have NEVER understood why who someone loves makes any difference to the rest of the world, and I am certain I never will. Stop fucking people up because they are different than you! Imagine if the world was filled with people who were all exactly the same? how boring would that be? Some chicks marry chicks! get over it! Some dudes marry dudes! move the fuck on! WHO CARES? all that REALLY matters (or should matter) is how much you love yourself or whom YOU love.. not whether its "right" or "wrong". Love is so not black and white, so why do we have to make people black and blue because of it?

So I'm heated about this as you may have guessed. I didn't even know the guy, but I know guys like him. Its so scary to me.. and sad.. I am so envious of straight people who never have to pretend to be someone they aren't.. or go into hiding just because the very nature of who they are is threatening to their life. Its horrible living this way and no one should have to.. so.. sorry that this wasn't really about tea.. although I might have some to calm myself down.. or cheer myself up? I guess I could try and think of some cheesy line about how there are so many flavours and types of tea in the world and no one gets killed because they prefer earl grey over English breakfast..so why can't we embrace differences in love as well? (yeah see how uber cheesy that was?)

ANY kind of love is better than all of this ridiculous fucking anger and hate.

Its time to think outside the bag

Well hello hello,
it's me again..back for some more sarcasm and getting yelled at for killing your tea? good good. learn how to make good tea you must..

soo.. the other day I was at a grocery store.. and was rather disgusted at the giant aisle filled with bagged tea. It seriously made me want to gag. Granted, it's still better than coffee.. I guess? The typical teabag contains tiny scraps of tea leaves, or tea dust..with the flavour equivalent of SAWDUST.. yum. Actually, I've heard a crazy amount of people come into the tea house that I work at and refuse to try green tea because its bitter and tastes like ass. This is because of A. They are burning it (see previous posts) and B. they are drinking "green tea" from bags. Once you go loose you never go,..noose? as in the string that hangs from your bag? I don't think that really worked but I tried.


Another comment: What is the teabag itself made of? ok so its usually some sort of material or synthetic stuff but I don't really know for sure because I don't drink it. I am going to google that shit right now. Wikipedia says plastic, silk or paper. What wikipedia DOESN'T say is all of the chemicals that are used in the bag itself. The lovely box of tea sitting in your cupboard may claim to be ORGANIC but that's the dust inside that they're claiming is organic. Also, there is no regulation on "organic" or "all natural" right now so.. anything can really put that on its packaging (although they are working on regulations!). As usual, off-topic. So most tea bags have been bleached.. bleach contains: (a solution of approximately 3–6% sodium hypochlorite), lye, oxygen bleach(which contains either hydrogen peroxide or a peroxide-releasing compound), and bleaching powder(calcium hypochlorite). (Thanks Wikipedia). So when you pour that boiled water over your teabag, some of the chemicals are released into the cup and you ingest them.. YUM! Also. I've noticed this trend that a lot of tea bags are STAPLED now instead of being sewn shut. MMMM love me some hot metal or aluminum or whatever in my tea.. TASTEA!!...not

See this lovely picture? Doesn't it resemble toilet paper (the cheap stuff) and the paper towel that you find in public washrooms? WHO would want to drink out of that crap? Not I... I would rather wipe my hands or butt with it thanks.

Also, the biggest most craptacular disadvantage of bagged "tea" is that because you are only drinking low quality scraps or dust you aren't actually getting any of the health benefits that you get from drinking a tea infused with full or loose leaf. So besides hydrating yourself..you're just drinking your dollars away you cheapo.

Customer Argument: Loose leaf tea takes too much time, so I just use bags, its the same thing

My Answer: WHY are you an idiot? (not really my answer but its what I think) it takes 2 seconds to put a tsp of loose leaf tea into an infuser and throw it into a cup of tea. Also, making tea itself should be a ritual and not a chore. It's believed that whatever feeling your emoting at the time you make your tea, ends up in the tea.. so if you're that stressed that you're just throwing in a bag, it must taste 100000 times worse than normal. You need to have a calm heart and calm mind in order to to create an calming cup of tea :)

This chick is gonna have the BEST TEA EVER!

Here are some really cool steps to take in order to achieve a calmer state of mind/enjoy your tea more:



 1. Start the day slowly. Jumping out of the bed to start the day is very common, but we'd never expect our car to rev up cold, so why expect yourself to do this? Take it easy.


2.Observe how a cat wakes up from its sleep. It curls up and stretches awake. Even birds take a few seconds to take flight once woken up from sleep.




 3. Reflect on some good thoughts first. This is a very refreshing way to begin. Those with kids will find it satisfying to spend a few minutes with them. If not, spend a few minutes observing nature. In fact, now the urban areas have more birds than villages, listen to their songs, and if you have a garden look at it, or you might have a plant growing in your balcony; see how it is growing. You do not need half an hour to do this, surely a few minutes can be spared for yourself.
    
 4. Have your morning tea. 
          Try drinking the morning tea with total awareness about the whole process.


         Feel the weight, texture, temperature of the cup as you hold.Smell the fresh aroma of the tea,    
         and become aware of the thoughts that come to your mind as you hold it.


         Observe the intention to move the hand closer to the mouth, opening of the mouth, touching the     
         cup by lips.


         Feel the tilting of the cup and warm tea moving in to the mouth touching lips and the tongue. 


       See whether you can notice the place where the taste become apparent and listen to the sound of    
       swallowing and become aware of the whole movement of the drink inside the body.When you do 
       this you will notice much more about the tea than you had felt before. Maybe you can repeat the   
       process several times if the time permits.


5. Keep trying this and you will feel the difference. You might have to wake up a few minutes early     
to start the day a bit slowly. And allow the things of the day take you on or you take them on as it  comes. Rather than rushing early in the day and getting tired at the beginning of the day, this approach is much more stable and steady




wow this blog post is going to be crazy long.. :P 
There ARE some exceptions for tea bags.. like if you buy tea filters  (read the label carefully and make sure that there are no bleaching chemicals) and fill it with loose leaf tea.. just don't staple it for the love of Jebus!

100% Unbleached Tea Filters :) YAY!

Some super easy ways to brew tea:

In a Basket!! AMAZING!

Like I said before: Once you ditch the bag and start drinking loose leaf tea you will NEVER want to go back. My friends and I that drink loose leaf can TASTE the bag itself now if we are ever offered tea in this disgusting form :p Loose leaf has more flavour. SO much flavour that it will punch you RIGHT IN THE TASTEBUDS and you will want to cry and laugh and rejoice all at the same time.. I'm not even joking. 

To conclude:

BUT

Loose Leaf Tea= Nirvana (not the band)

well.. that's all she wrote for now.. well not really because I'm still writing. My next post will be the MUCH ANTICIPATED explanation of PROCESSING and a bit about the differences between the most popular teas :) I know.. its a cliff hanger! 


Cheers!

cookies

The best tea to go with chocolate chip cookies (store bought or home made) is Earl Grey Cream.

bahaha.. happy Easter.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LET ME SLEEP!

Well hello all my lovely blog followers.. so.. Matt.
Today I am feeling particularly stressed. Why? it all goes back to how annoying end of term school is.. but I already whined about that. Something else has developed to cause me to stress out like a crazy person.. (I would put a picture here but just refer to the one in the burnout post and it's pretty much the same idea). I CAN'T FALL ASLEEP! well.. ok that's not entirely true.. I can fall asleep, but it takes hours.  My brain, however burnt out it is, for some reason.. refuses to shut up! It just keeps going and going.. like the energizer bunny, only more annoying because instead of a drum beat it has thoughts.. and it isn't all fluffy and pink like the bunny.. and I'm pretty sure my brain doesn't wear sunglasses.. but it would be sweet if it did. Actually, that random babbly thought process that just happened is a lot like what goes on in my head while I'm trying to relax..

On a side note: I'm pretty sure whoever drew this cartoon was somehow listening to my thoughts when I was trying to sleep.. also..they got my hair colour wrong..but the cut is pretty much accurate.. I digress (again). 


 So back to the other story.. Last night I started volunteering at the local counseling center, being a "table coach" for a program that is designed to teach youth life skills. I loved it! but I was exhausted after, because you really have to be on your toes and pay attention to a whole bunch of different things all at once. Like..who has their cell phone out? what are the lead coaches teaching right now? why is that kid in the corner laughing like they're higher than a kite?, whats that funny smell?.. all kinds of other things were going through my head as well.. but I won't get into those. I also felt super dehydrated, probably because I drank a giant froster before.. and then some other stuff happened..but I digress. oh and froster=slushie.. if you're American that could have been confusing for you. I've had problems with falling asleep my whole life. When I was little my mom used to bring me warm milk to try and get me to fall asleep. I feel like it worked but I can't remember if it took awhile to kick in or if it was like an instant kind of effect. At some point the warm milk stopped working..mostly because I'm lactose intolerant so it resulted in excruciating stomach cramps and some other side effects that don't really need to be discussed. Then my mom introduced me to chamomile tea.. which I remember helping a lot.. but I wasn't a huge fan of the taste. Though if I put enough honey into it.. it was a delicious syrupy mess.

So. Chamomile is a flower that is related to the daisy family. It's used in for both children and adults and sleep isn't the only thing that it helps with. It's also being studied as a treatment for anxiety, and has been known to help with upset stomach, gas, an diarrhea. Yes.. its the pepto-bismol of the flower family, but it's not disgustingly pink, thick and goopy, and doesn't taste like chalk. Chamomile contains a flavanoid called Chrysin, which is apparently what helps reduce anxiety and makes us relaxed and sleepy. As you can probably guess, it's used as a tea. Yes, GOOD NEWS! you don't have to go buy a flower and mow down on it, you can actually just go to any good tea store and get a bag of chamomile to steep for your own enjoyment! 

PLEASE NOTE: when I say bag of chamomile.. I don't mean those little sorry excuse for herbal blends that are found in TEA BAGS. I mean a bag of the dried chamomile flower that you steep as you would a loose leaf tea. BUT the differences between bagged teas and loose leaf is an entirely different entry all together.. oh it'll happen.. don't you worry.

ANYWAY. As I got older, I grew to like the taste of chamomile (light, refreshing and slightly flowery), without all of the honey, and still find that it works to this day. BUT I found something that works (FOR ME) much better.. 

ROOIBOS (Roy-boss) or African Red Bush tea.. 
why is rooibos awesome? because it comes in a variety of flavours (or unflavoured) and because it tastes like heaven in my mouth. 
Rooibos tea comes from Africa, from a bush (woahhh no shit right) called Afrikaans..which translates to Red Bush..see how its allll making sense now?. It's an herb so its naturally caffeine free. It's really super pretty and has little yellow flowers.. 

Rooibos is also awesome because its very hard to over steep and also pretty strong..so as long as your not throwing it into a fire pit.. probably won't get burnt (yay no killing your tea!!) After Rooibos is processed (yes I WILL get to a blog about what that means at some point) and roasted it looks likeee this:

Rooibos has a bazillion health benefits:


• Sodium necessary for fluid and acid-base balance
• Potassium facilitates metabolic processes• Calcium builds strong teeth and healthy bones• Magnesium Allows for the maintenance of a healthy nervous system and for other metabolic processes• Copper necessary for different metabolic processes• Zinc encourages growth, development and healthy skin• Manganese essential for metabolic processes and for bone growth and development• Iron transports oxygen in the blood

Low in tanin and as I mentioned CAFFEINE FREEEEE! 

Rooibos teas are also high in antioxidants (that help to fight free radicals)

Rooibos helps your body relax.. helps fight stress.. has anti-viral and anti-fungal properties and most of all makes me SOO sleepy that I can usually barely finish a cup! Also.. Just a side note..Rooibos is related to Honeybush, which is another tea that is relaxing and delicious. Rooibos has a sweet and subtle earthy taste, Honeybush has a sweet smooth taste with no earthiness. Honeybush also has the SAME health properties.. woo hoo! After trying a few different sleeping pills.. I switched to rooibos and it works soo much better than anything that a chemist can brew up.. also no side effects (except for a delicious taste sensation in your mouth). I felt like a zombie trying to wake up when I used to take sleeping pills.. but rooibos doesn't give you that nasty effect..

 I suppose adding milk to Rooibos could be acceptable.. but that is it's one weakness and YOU WILL KILL IT!! 

Some of my favourite rooibos flavours include:

-Mudslide (chocolate banana mmm)

-Earl Grey

-Strawberry Cream

-Vanilla Cream

-Mint Chocolate

So.. the moral of the story is.. "traditional" herbal remedies like chamomile for example.. work really well and are great to help relax.. Howeverrrr.. if you get sick of the same old flavour and want to experience a few more health benefits then maybe pick up a rooibos (or honeybush) tea NOT IN A BAG.. and see if it helps you out..After all.. varietea is the spice of life :) see what I did there? yah that would normally say variety but I changed it so it says tea.. 

Cheers!


P.s. This just in.. the rooibos bush is considered a legume.. also I am enjoying a red velvet latte right now: Vanilla Cream Rooibos with a bit of chocolate and raspberry syrup.. but I skipped the milk.. ;) 

a quick warning..

This is just a super short post.. because..I have nothing witty to say today (well not much anyway) and because I need to get out of my PJs and run to the mall and grab the new Our Lady Peace album! and so do you.. DO IT.. Lief Teaterson says so..

So.. I realized that when I made my post about putting milk into tea and killing it and all of that jazz I forgot to mention one crucial point. See if you can figure it out from my lovely equation picture for the day. I'm off to rock out with my..tea sock out! Woop! Go buy the CD for real.. and don't ever do THIS:

Just in case you didn't get it: When you add milk to fruit tea it curdles and is disgusting.. 

That is all.

Burning and burn out..both suck

Hi again
I think I'm basically talking to myself..but its all good..I'm starting to think that's probably the main point of a blog?
Alrighty.. today I am sitting in front of my lap top, and until I started typing my lovely blogeroo, I was staring a the little blinky line that is in the place of where my words are supposed to be in my assignment. It blinked at me for a very very long time.. until I was convinced it was trying to tell me some secret message in morse code.. ok so I'm a little crazy. Anyway..as I mentioned in my wonderful post yesterday, its the end of term and there are 500000 things to do.. I usually pride myself on being UBER motivated and SUPER organized. The student that gets shit done like a week before its due.. not an hour after the deadline. However, in the lovely world of social work, we have this thing called burn out. Its the point where you've taken on too much and you crash (just in case people didn't know).

So...since I have to relate all of my babbling to tea somehow...I would like to let everyone know that you are probably drinking burnt tea RIGHT NOW. Don't freak out! well.. ok maybe freak out a little bit.. after all you are killing all of the hard work that went into fermenting or processing or drying the little hand picked tea leaves that are trying so hard to make you a delicious cup of tea but failing because you are boiling the water to the point of hell-hot temperatures and burning the shit out of those delicate little leaves of love.

time for a DID YOU KNOW THAT??
Green tea is NOT actually bitter? When you have a big ol' cup of bitter green tea the most likely cause is that the leaves were burnt. Green tea should taste earthy, but earthy doesn't mean bitter and disgusting. Another little fun fact: Tim Horton's sweetens their green tea leaves so that when they burn the flying fuck outta those babies you can't taste it...again.. back to my point.. There IS a way that you can save your tea from this horrible fate. 1) Don't use boiling water.. 2) don't over steep! The recommended water temperatures and timings(kind of) are not just guidelines like the pirate code. They are an art..a LAW that has been made to prevent you from committing tea crimes. As Mr.Leaf-Man will attest to (yes I did JUST make up Mr.Leaf-Man and YES I will be using him in future blogs..and YES he does need a better name)

So:

Green Tea/White Tea/ Light Oolongs: Water temp should be 170-180F (just under boiling) the best way to do this is to actually take the temperature of your water.. if you don't have the time to do that..as soon as you start seeing or hearing little bubbles form in your tea kettle its ready!

Black tea/Lapacho/Yerba Mate/Dark Oolongs: Water temp should be 205-212F (which is pretty much a full boil)

Herbal/Rooibos/Fruit Tisanes: 205-212 F (again..a full boil)

Why do green/white/light oolong teas need a lower temp water? BECAUSE I SAID SO...no really.. the leaves are much more delicate because they aren't processed nearly as much as other tea leaves. ALSO these lovely delicious delicate teas only take MAXIMUM 4 minutes to steep. I recommend a 3 minute steep so you aren't over-steeping, which is probably the 2nd most likely cause of biterness. Just a little side note:when I say processed I'm not referring to adding chemicals or turning the leaves into a cheese slice or anything.. but I feel like that's probably another blog entry all together...

To sum everything up: I am burnt out and don't want to do anymore school work.. but that doesn't mean that you have to burn your tea and make life miserable for yourself..

Now that I have thoroughly procrastinated from completing my project.. and thoroughly entertained myself by drawing a tea-leaf wearing pirate swag..I feel like its time for a cup of tea..and maybe some cheese slices mmm..

Cheers!

Hakkunah MaTEAta (yes I AM that lame)

So. This is my first blog post EVER. I really don't know if I understand the purpose of blogs still.. but I guess the best way to figure it out is to try it. I have this crazy idea in my head that I'll start writing some profound shit and then get a million people reading, have a huge film made after me and be very rich. If I WAS very rich, I would still finish school and get a job, I would just get to be really picky about which job I actually choose. That would be pretty awesome. I sometimes get Hakkunah Matata stuck in my head when I think about becoming famous from a little random blog on the internet.. but its like a cheesy elevator music sans lyrics kind of Hakkunah Matata.. like the part where Simba grows up. I digress.
Right now school is hell. It's end of term so I have projects out the wazoo and exams to study for and all of the lovely stuff that I like to complain about while I'm in school, but miss like crazy when I'm in the real world. So, I'm parked in front of my computer.. with $14 worth of veggies and dip and a home made matcha smoothie. Matcha is actually super helpful when you're trying to study. It's also green and pretty to look at. Also, my Matcha smiles at me, I am THAT special.

Matcha is made from green tea leaves that have been dried and ground into a fine powder. It's not brewed in the traditional bag of leaves in a cup kinda form. Take a giant heaping tsp of Matcha, put it in a Matcha bowl, add some hot water (best to use water that has just started to come to a boil so you don't burn your tea!) and whisk in an M shaped pattern until the powder is dissolved and its all frothy and delicious. Some people like to add honey or sugar to their Matcha.. I drink it straight up. I'm not going to lie, it does taste a lot like I imagine grass tastes like, mixed with some dirt. I'm actually pretty addicted to the earthy flavour and refuse to sweeten it UNLESS I'm getting a green tea vanilla latte, OR its in a smoothie mixed with some sort of delicious fruit. There are some different grades of Matcha. When I was working at Teaopia we had 2, Pinnacle and Superior. Pinnacle was made with a higher quality of tea then superior, and was hand picked. It tasted earthier and stronger. Both have the same health benefits and one is way cheaper than the other. I've also heard of grades being "industrial" and "tea" or "thin" and "thick". I would have to do more research on these to find out what the difference is...but since I'm still hooked on Teaopia's Matcha I don't really have the motivation to do that. PLUS my placement is researched base and I do enough sitting on the computer and reading stuff already. Matcha is also good because you can put it into things that you bake, shortbread is my favourite, but I have a recipe for a Matcha cake that I am DYING to try when I get the energy to make something that doesn't come from a box with some sort of processed cheese-like topping. Anyway.. back to Matcha.. You can also throw it into yogurt, smoothies and other drinks. When I get enough energy and have decided that I'm actually into this blogging stuff I'll throw in a few recipes for cocktails and what-not. Health benefits? TONS! beta carotene, anti-oxidants, boosts your metabolism, fights cancer, has amino acids and all sorts of great stuff. Matcha is renowned for numerous health benefits.  It is rich in nutrients, antioxidants, fiber and chlorophyll.  It is sugar-free, an ideal drink for diabetics and others wishing to reduce their sugar intake.  The health benefits of matcha exceed those of other green teas because matcha drinkers ingest the whole leaf, not just the brewed water.  One glass of matcha is the equivalent of 10 glasses of green tea in terms of nutritional value and antioxidant content.
Time for a little DID YOU KNOW THAT? when you put milk into green, white or yerba mate (prounounced ma-tay) teas you KILL the antioxidants? and make me gag. PLEASE STOP KILLING YOUR TEA!

In short.. Matcha really does energize and help focus, sorry guys, it does NOT help with procrastination at all. In fact it may inspire you to start a blog instead of working on a video critique, and somehow gets Hakkunah Matata stuck in your head.
Cheers!