GREEN TEA TIME

I told you in an earlier post about the Decaf Hot Cinnamon tea from Harney & Sons. 

http://www.harney.com/

Now, I want to tell you about the Decaf Sencha green tea that I ordered, but mainly because I want to tell you about my cool teapot.

I bought this teapot a few years ago from Tea Guys.  http://www.teaguys.com/  They still have teapots but not this glass one...they have switched to a ceramic pot, but the same idea with a stainless infuser.  You can still find the glass ones at http://www.teavana.com/ plus several other cool shapes and sizes.  Just search glass teapots.  They also have cast iron pots like you see at PF Chang's restaurants.  Don't even get me started on PF Chang's...love it!  http://www.pfchangs.com/

Okay, back to green tea and teapots...I'm so easily distracted by good food.  Add some water to the pot.  I heat about 1 3/4 cups at a time, then if Daddio comes to steal it, I have a cup also.  Just pop it in the microwave.  I've read that green tea brews best at 180 degrees, which is about 3 minutes in my microwave.  Yours may be different, just play around with the times and stick a thermometer in it and see.

Drop the infuser, with suggested amount of tea, into the water to steep.  The infuser is a small glass with tiny slits cut in the bottom to let the water in, but keep the tea leaves out of the water.  You will still get a few tiny specks, but it won't hurt you.  I would really suggest this kind of pot for loose tea, because you can cut out the straining step.  Green tea tastes best when steeped for 3 minutes and after that it starts to taste bitter.

Put the cute little lid on and wait.  This is the hard part, so go put a load of laundry in...and your tea will be ready.  I actually have to set a timer, because if I walk away, I will forget about the tea and leave it too long.

And the tea is done!  See the nice color, not really green.  The green teas I like best have a green color before steeping, but look like regular tea, after.  The ones that are still green are okay, but not my favorite, too weak tasting for me.  I like the strong stuff.

Be sure and check out the Teaguys website because you can mix your own tea flavors.  I've done some good mixing and I've done some bad, so make sure you know what you like before you start the mix. 

The Teavana, which is a new site to me, has really cool stuff and yummy looking tea, but I haven't tried any of them.  I will be checking it out, though.

And just go to PF Chang's and eat!  Oh yeah, and order some tea, it's a fun time.