I love tea, and I have to take the time to rave about a tea that I absolutely love.
Backstory — I was at a friend’s bridal shower a few weeks ago, which was a wonderful tea party and very un-bridal-shower-like. No silly word scramble games, no pin-the-penis-on-the-man (yes, I’ve actually been forced to play that game at a shower. It’s not fun.) Anyhoo . . . the hostess made several different varieties of tea, and each table was equipped with 5 decorative teapots so that we could all sample each tea. It was a beautiful event.
So . . . one of the teas was Green Coconut from TeaGschwender. If you like green tea and coconut, this tea seriously rocks.
The funny thing about tea shops is that the employees are total tea snots. When I went to purchase my very own bag of loose Green Coconut tea, the sweet salesgirl mentioned that I should make sure that I’m steeping at the right temperature, which is apparently 90 degrees.
I’m at a loss for how to measure the temperature of my boiling water. I didn’t dare mention to Tea Girl that I planned to boil water in the microwave. I’m sure she would have slipped into cardiac arrest, forcing her to drop the sample cup of Ayurvedic Chili Tea that she was handing to me (and by the way, if anyone ever offers you a cup of Ayurvedic tea that incorporates chili peppers, your esophagus would be grateful if you said no. In fact, say no, while you still retain the ability to speak).
Before my chat with Tea Girl, I was familiar with the perils of oversteeping green tea. I’m a bit of a green tea snot myself, and tend to give lectures on the dangers of allowing the tea leaves to steep for longer than 1-2 minutes.
For all of you who are unfamiliar, green tea tends to become bitter if allowed to steep for any longer. It tastes like bark and ass. Yuck. And if you order green tea at a restaurant, and it arrives in one of those continuous steeping pots, have one cup, and one cup only. By the time you pour your second one, you will be hit in the mouth with ass taste — and who wants that??
Anyhoo . . . I must have done a great job with the tea, because I’m sipping in between lines of typing and it’s delish.
