Saturday, September 29, 2007

James Norwood Pratt on The Perfect Cup of Tea.

Greetings posters,

My apologies for having so few entries, but being a full-time student can be very time consuming!

This time around, I'd like to let you know about a great resource which was shared with me by Chow.com.

James Norwood Pratt, a prominent tea connoisseur much like myself, has put forth some effort into producing a very excellent series of video clips, in which he discusses many tea-related products, including water quality, tea bags, and even Starbucks! He is a very knowledgeable and charismatic in his approach. In his view (and I would tend to agree), tea is not merely a beverage, but "a work of art."

All in all, this is probably the most comprehensive series of video clips on the subject I have seen. I hope you will take the time to have a look at this and hear the opinions of a self-made expert on tea.

The clips can be found at: http://www.chow.com/stories/10721

Over and out,
Relznuk Zero Relznuk

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Put Your Summer on Ice.

Hello all.

As some of you know, I live in Utah, USA. This time of year, Utah is hot. Really, really hot. You just wouldn't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly hot it is. That being said, I sometimes have to think twice before brewing myself a hot beverage like tea. Iced teas are an alternative, but sometimes you want something a little different.

One way that you can do this is to create custom ice cubes, using different juices or different brewed teas. This can lead to some especially interesting beverage creations.

Instead of drinking straight iced tea, you could blend it with juice cubes, or add some delicious white tea to some apple juice or another mild fruit juice.

Another interesting thing you can do with this concept is to enjoy your favorite teas in a true summer fashion - by making teasicles! This can be especially fun when there are other people around to share your creation with. When I create a teasicle, I usually sweeten the tea alot more. I also tend to choose a more flavorful or spiced tea, such as blood orange, or chai.

Tea cubes and juice cubes can also make excellent additions to other beverages, like sodas. Lemonade cubes in particular make a great addition to lots of beverages, including most teas. I can imagine that adding a healthy dose of frozen chai to some almond milk might also be especially delicious...

Anyways - I hope some of you living in hot places get some mileage out of these ideas. I know I sure do.

Cheers, and have great summers,
Relznuk Zero Relznuk