Visiting the Gold Tips motherland

Let me sing you - if you could get me singing anything while I'm NOT in the shower - the praises of the Yunnan Gold Tips. This type of tea is the basis for the hot honey wine in my cup, lightly steaming, as we speak (write). It's total cheese (I know, I know), but I'm breathing in the malty aroma, and, in doing so, I breathe in a bit of smooth contentment. (CUT! - this commercial is a wrap!)

It's sorta making it hard for me to work. haha.

My taste for (the preparation of) loose leaf tea comes and goes; certainly for the past couple of months I've been a straight-up teabagger (um.. yeah), but I was inspired last week.. I *had* to break out my little tote of Ito-En teas from their dark hiding place - one of the many stashes of loose-leaf tea in my apartment - and indulge in some of this quality China snuff.

I mean, I brought so much tea back from my summer travels.. beyond this Ito-En shizz (acquired from their flagship store), I gots greens and blacks from Russia, from Kyrgyzstan.. Rainbow Grocery too! My Beehouse has been awaiting for me to fill it with more than just Honey Ginseng Green from Republic of Tea or the "new" Black Pearl pyramid tea bags from Lipton.

It's been waiting until this week, that is. My snooty little teapot got what it's been asking for; I'm glad to be an enabler. And, as I alluded to above, my favorite taste thus far has been the Yunnan Gold Tips from Ito-En; their look sets them apart from other black teas, but, once prepared, you can't beat the smell of that sweet, sweet, liqueur.

Ah, this reminds me.. I need to totally bring back mad amounts of tea - Gold Tips or otherwise - when I go to Beijing for a work trip this coming month. I'll, basically, be in the motherland! ;)

Mixtapes for new kettle selection

In between episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, icing my damaged (body) parts.. and making Chipotle Smashed Sweet Potatoes (it's pretty good), I've been playing a few of those mixtapes that I sometimes namedrop in casual conversation. Yeah, I've been playing them loud.. and, I guess, doing some approximation of dancing at my desk chair and/or on the floor. haha.

Here are my favorites; check them out:

1. Top Billin - Megamix Vol. 8
2. Djuna Barnes - Urbanizer mix
3. Crimp Yr Hair DJs - Eyeball & Chainsaw Mix

and.. still top dog:

4. Sam Sparro - Songs Not Bombs

Ok.. time to attend to another pot of tea. Ah, that reminds me, the handle of my ancient (but beloved) stovetop kettle broke the other day, so we've upgraded to modern times. It's amazing that sometimes it's the simple things in life that can be the most pleasing; drink up!

A new tea embassador: James Norwood Pratt

I won't introduce this video interview of James Norwood Pratt too much, except to say he seems to be most gentlemanly; and his iconic status will surely extend easily from the world of wine to the world of tea.

The Proper Cup of Tea: James Norwood Pratt is steeped in it
By Meredith Arthur and Eric Slatkin
(http://www.chow.com/stories/10721)

Be sure to at least check out the segment called "Most Interesting Tea". He describes a simple scene, drinking tea with a "tea statesman" in Japan - an individual who, in his youth, served tea in the most incredible of circumstances!