Tues. Tea - The TeaCup

I am so excited - my favorite tea spot on Queen Anne has just opened it's newly renovated store! It's much bigger and homier than the old spot. The staff at the TeaCup are so knowledgeable and friendly. Especially Brett - he is solely responsible for my pu-erh addiction. I started off a green tea drinker; moved to white tea; then from his recommendation an oolong / baozhang drinker. Then one Sat., I sat down to a Chinese Tea tasting with Brett and I tasted pu-erh. That sealed the deal. Oolong bothers my stomach (as does black tea) - but pu-erh calms it! And pu-erh gets better with age, unlike most other teas that only last about a year. All the better for me - that way I can collect it! And collect it I do!!!!

TeaCup is also where Norm had his first show - and a successful show it was!

So thanks to TeaCup and Brett. You can read more about it on Brett's Black Dragon Tea Bar blog.

Tues. Tea - Floating Leaves

In attempt to blog more, I decided that I should set aside certain days of the week to write about particular subjects. You may have noticed that on Fridays I partake in Illustration Friday. Well, T is for Tuesday and Tea, and I being what my family loving calls a "Tea Snob" gives me the opportunity to share my view of what real tea is!
That brings to me to a lovely Taiwanese teashop in Ballard (Seattle) called Floating Leaves. The owner Shuiwen is one of the kindest people I've met - not to mention she knows tea! Floating Leaves sells teas that will please even the pickiest tea geeks (I bought a 1979 Pu-erh Toucha a couple of years ago) or Shuiwen will help (with the utmost patience) guide the novice. If you haven't tried oolong tea (that isn't in a tea bag), you will be amazed at the flavors that await you! Alishan High Mountain Oolong is one of my favorites, although I have to admit I'm stuck on pu-erh these days!
and for those of you who are curious about how I got the label "Tea Snob", it is because I refuse to drink the family favorite tea (did you know in Canada they drink ALOT of tea?) - Red Rose - which is just the tea dust left over after they've processed all the tea leaves for black tea. It's like eating bread crumbs from a box when what you want is a fresh loaf of artisan bread.