Welcome to my blog. I hope you will join me for a cup of tea!
This Forever Spring Oolong tea belongs to a sampler box which includes 6 different oolongs from Taiwan and China. I was pleasantly surprised by its aromatic profile and balanced taste. An easy drinking tea that everyone should have in their collection.
When I moved to Los Angeles a year ago, I was not sure whether I would find enough tea here. Luckily, Los Angeles proved me wrong. In the past 12 months, I came across all sorts of examples that excellent tea not only exists here but thrives. You have to know where to look for it, almost like a treasure hunt....but there are plenty of options! And this year I want to show you the best tea Los Angeles has to offer. Ready? Let’s dive right in!
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure to attend a very special Korean tea tasting in the Arts District of Los Angeles. The tasting was held by Jessica Choi at The Good Liver, a curated home good store.
Four years ago, Elisa Da Rin Puppel moved to Tokyo, Japan. The Italian tea enthusiast and blogger (Il Bollitore) has an academic background in Japanese art with a focus on ceramics but her passion for tea blossomed later on. “I acquired a deep knowledge of Japanese pottery but I knew almost nothing about what was served in those beautiful vessels,” she admits. Visiting a Japanese tea farm has always been a dream of hers and last September that dream finally came true.
I won this cake a while ago at a giveaway on Instagram and it had been sitting - untouched - in my tea cabinet for a while. Puerh is meant for aging, so I was not overly concerned and I was waiting to be in the mood for it. Let me tell you, I’m rarely in the mood for puerh. I can hear all the pu-heads gasping in horror. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy it a lot, but not for solo tea sessions. Strange, isn’t it? Anyways, I somehow associate young (or relatively young) raw puerh with grape skin notes, but I could not detect those here and I did not miss them because there was plenty of other intriguing notes going on.
These pancakes are shockingly easy to make and they pack a ton of matcha flavor. Gone are the days of tasteless matcha-flavored stuff! Did I mention they are dairy-free and low in sugar? I don’t like my pancake batter too sweet because you’re going to drizzle maple syrup on top anyway, right? The secret to fluffy pancakes every time is not a secret at all, my dear matcha loving friends! Whip egg whites to stiff peaks and fold gently into the batter and voila! Enjoy! Recipe right this way.
Happy first day of fall, tea lovers! How are you celebrating this wonderful season? I can’t say it looks or feels like fall here in LA (yet?), but I can celebrate nonetheless, right? Luckily, I have some tea-infused recipes up my sleeve. Right this way for some cozy tea goodness.
Machiko is known to have the distinctive aroma of sakura, cherry blossoms, and fukumidori was described to me as bitter but in a good way, which is not a priority for me when choosing green tea from Japan (umami is at the top of the list usually). Apparently, Japanese tea drinkers seem to enjoy bitterness in their green tea and I was curious to see what that was like. Read on to discover my tasting notes and thoughts.
If you’re new here (welcome!), tea and murals might sound like a far-fetched duo to you. Well, let me explain. Pairing tea and murals is my quirky way of combining two passions in a mindful way and a good “excuse” (as if you needed one!) to explore neighborhoods through tea and art. I’ve been asked what the tea scene in LA is like. Right this way, ladies and gentlemen! I enjoyed the mural, I drank the tea and I’m showing you where to go in one of my favorite LA neighborhoods (oh, hello Culver City) if you want to do the same.
A version of the famed Bloody Mary sans booze but with a tea twist. Cheers!
I tried the Camelia Sour tea mocktail recipe by Portland-based Smith Teamaker. Here’s what happened.
I tried the Silver Lining white tea mocktail recipe by Portland-based Smith Teamaker. Here’s what happened.
It was a damp, chilly, foggy summer night in San Francisco and I was having dinner with my husband at a fine dining restaurant, a newly opened neighborhood gem. Things were going pretty well, beautiful space, amazing food, thoughtful and friendly service. It couldn’t have been any more perfect until the dessert menu arrived. On a whim, I decided to order tea with my dessert, because the selection seemed promising. Big, big mistake, Anna, big mistake, sweetheart.
My tasting notes of a very unique and intriguing tea, Ceylon Uva with Camellia Sinensis Flowers.
My Japanese tea journey of discovery took me to the narrow, winding streets of Setagaya ward in Tokyo to what has been dubbed “the world’s first hand-drip green tea shop”, Tokyo Saryo.
Last December, my tea travels took me to Japan. In Tokyo, I finally explored the amazing variety of Japanese tea. In this post, I’ll tell you more about the Sakurai tea experience. If you’re doing only one tea thing in Tokyo, let it be that.
Kyoto is one of those places where I get what I can only describe as a fizzy feeling of excitement, sheer happiness bubbling up for no apparent reason. It’s the texture of the linen door curtains I gently move to the side with my hand, the brightest pop of yellow of the beautifully fan-shaped gingko leaves, all the shades of fire coloring the Japanese maples, the sound of water trickling into a stone basin, the soft rustling of a paper-paneled sliding door, the perfume-y smell of the cedar wood soaking tub, tatami mats under my feet. Four years had gone by since last time. This time, tea was at the top of my list. Here’s what happened.
This time of year, we might get caught up in a great deal of stress and anxiety instead of enjoying ourselves and our loved ones and we might need a grounding inspirational moment to find balance again. I hope this collection of quotes and some of my most recent tea photography can help you ground yourself in your most stressful moments and inspire you to make a cup of tea for yourself or to share with someone else, because after all a mindful tea moment can be one of the most effective self-care strategies.
Have you ever heard the quote “where there’s tea, there’s hope”? I took the liberty of rewriting that into “where there’s excellent tea, there’s the tea squirrel” because wherever you can find top notch tea, you can be sure that place is on my radar and you might find me there to enjoy it. So naturally I had to visit Oyatsuya, a pop-up Japanese dessert and snack tasting with tea pairings in the Mission neighborhood of San Francisco.
