Texas Tea

I recently participated in a tea seminar with one of my distributors, Sunbelt Imports, down in Houston Texas. I presented a brief history of tea followed by processing methods, brewing practices, implementing a tea program that is right for your business and a tasting.

I always love exposing people to the world of tea through tastings. It’s one thing to talk about the various methods of processing and how they affect the flavor profile and something else entirely to follow that up with a tasting, side by side, so you can experience the difference. You can literally see the ‘Ah ha!’ moment and watch the excitement build which is the most amazing part of educating.

We tried a variety of white, green, oolong and black teas from different growing regions as well as some herbal teas and tisanes.

My favorite of the day was a Jade Oolong from Taiwan. The leaves were rolled into little nuggets that unfurled beautifully during steeping. I could not resist playing with the leaves and found a completely intact ‘two leaves and a bud’.

I even went so far as to actually eat one of them and found it quite pleasing, like any other bitter green, I could see it being served alongside fish with rice and lemon, yum!

To learn more about tea visit www.tea.co.uk

Next stop

Portland, I have arrived. Seems like a fitting point in my life to get back on the blog wagon. It was quite a trip out here in the Suburban packed with all of my worldly possessions, my dog and my brother.

Our road brought us through Bismarck, ND where I met a friend’s 7 week old baby girl for the first time, then Livingston, MT where we ran into our first problem, a broken valve on one of the tires. Shit. $12 later we are on the road again to Bozeman, John, losing his glasses somewhere between the two. We decide some Mexican food will lift our spirits

and find a little joint that had amazing jalapeno poppers, just roasted jalapenos with cheddar melted on them and a piece of bacon, I have to recreate the magic. After lunch we realize that another of our tires is going flat so we bring it in and find out that the seals were leaking. F*&^ck!!!! $30 later we have brand spankin new seals on all 4 tires. After thanking the travel god’s for not getting a flat in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night we feel like a soak in the hot springs will set everything right once again.

Missoula. Iron Horse Brew Pub www.ironhorsebrewpub.com that is not actually brewing their own beer because the partners got ‘divorced’ and it was easier to keep the Brew Pub name and explain the situation to weary travelers, offers local brews on the menu. Shitty. Buuut, they had amazing salads, it’s their thing. They make all of their own dressings which are spot on and build the salad with delicious ingredients. Score.

Missoula to Portland via the amazing Lolo National Forest and stunning Colombia River Gorge. The intensity and contrast of the gorge is certainly a sight to behold and I will return to explore.

So now here I am. Portland. Home.

Blink

If you are unfamiliar with Malcolm Gladwell and his works, I urge you to run out immediately and pick up a copy of Blink. He tackles questions we have all thought about, albeit fleetingly and weaves together case studies and impressive research to dig below the surface.

Blink; the power of thinking without thinking, explores rapid cognition, the snap judgments that occur in our subconscious and how they affect our daily life and interactions with others. it is a thought provoking work that will change the way you see the world.

Here is an excerpt everyone can relate to:
'A person's bedroom gives three kinds of clues to his or her personality. There are, first of all, identity claims, which are deliberate expressions about how we would like to be seen by the world: a framed copy of a magna cum laude degree from Harvard, for example. Then there is behavioral residue, which is defined as the inadvertent clues we leave behind: dirty laundry on the floor, for instance, or an alphabetized CD collection. Finally, there are thoughts and feelings regulators, which are changes we make to our most personal spaces to affect the way we feel when we inhabit them: a scented candle in the corner, for example, or a pile of artfully placed decorative pillows on the bed. If you see alphabetized CD's, a Harvard diploma on the wall, incense on the side table and laundry neatly stacked in a hamper, you know certain aspects about that individual's personality instantly, in a way that you may not be able to grasp if all you ever do is spend time with him or her directly.'

Hopefully this passage inspires you to go and pick up the book!