there's tea for hard water?

Was at a Markt der Sinne this last weekend, which translates (poorly) as 'market of the senses' or in a more racy way 'sensuous market'.  I know some of you are going to have fun with that one.

But unlike its name might suggest, the Markt der Sinne was mostly artists and artisans selling their wares.  I stumbled round trying not to look some of them directly in the eye.  Although some stands were selling only homemade objects, there were a few shops that had set up their wares.

And instead of buying a necklace made of monkey teeth or a candle that'd help me align my chakras, I found one shop that had different products from The British Isles.  I didn't expect to find anything I really wanted, but then I noticed some packages of loose-leaf tea.

What caught my eye was a package from Yorkshire Gold.  I've mentioned before that I think this tea from Taylor's of Harrogate is a reliable blend of black tea that might be a good beginning for someone just getting into tea.  But this package had something written on it that I hadn't seen before.

It was tea for hard water. Wow, really?

Now, maybe you come from a place with hard water and you've seen products specially made for this sort of thing.  I haven't.

I know the water's hard here, but does it really affect the taste of the tea?  There was only one way to find out.  Something I didn't know even existed a few minutes earlier?  Now, I had to have it.

Then on my way home, I thought, 'Wait.  Is the tap water in Munich even very hard?  I know it has a lot of chalk in it, but does that make it hard?'  Luckily, I found this website that explains Tap Water Quality in Munich.

No idea how accurate that information is, but at least I felt more confident that I had the right hard water for my new tea.

How does it taste?  Hm...I brewed it.  I've actually brewed it a few times.  Even served it to a few people.  It's ok.  The reaction from others has been that it's a bit weak, but...

This isn't a tea review.  I'll do that more seriously when I've had a chance to try it with varying amounts of tea and lengths of steeping times.

I mainly wanted to ask if you'd tried tea specifically blended for certain water where you live?  Have you even heard of this?

the 'best tea'?

Was asked by a friend today what the 'best tea' was. What a question, eh? But I love a good debate. And blog comments. In case I've been unclear in the past, I really really like blog comments. So here's my not-so-humble answer. I wonder how the rest of you might respond.

Many teabloggers focus on green and/or Oolong tea, but as much as I like them, I've focused more on black tea. Most tea sellers in Germany make their own unique Ostfriesen Blend that is often a mix of strong, malty Assam and a Chinese Keemun (and maybe an Indian Nilgiri). If I had to choose my favourite non-single estate tea, it'd be one of those specialty blends.

But if it's brands we're talking about, the tastiest and most consistent tea I've found is 'Yorkshire Gold' made by Taylors of Harrogate. But that's only if we're talking about black tea blends.

I'd say the best non-green/Oolong tea, in my opinion, is still a single estate Darjeeling (to be truly accurate, most 'black' Darjeeling is really only 90% oxidised, so it's actually Oolong). I like stronger tea, so I enjoy second as well as first flush Darjeeling.

But the best brand? If you're buying from a seller that can tell you on which estate a Darjeeling was grown, then the likelihood is that it'll be better than something labeled simply as 'Darjeeling'. The estimation is that 40,000 tonnes of Darjeeling are sold worldwide, while only 10,000 tonnes are grown. Logically, one isn't always entirely sure that purchased Darjeeling was actually grown there.

Again, I'm very grateful for the question. Clearly the answer you'll get is entirely objective. I like thinking about how to make loose-leaf tea drinking more attractive. If I were a tea snob, it'd be the worst way of going about the whole thing.

What about you other tea obsessives? When someone asks you what the 'best tea' is, what might you say? I know on the face of it, it's an impossible question. But please jump in and claim your stake on this issue.

Did I mention that blog comments are encouraged?

Tea drinking in America

Thought I'd be able to blog more easily while waiting for my flight, but the wifi is spotty. Am at some sort of odd public terminal, and I thought I'd quickly get down a few of my thoughts.

Because I wasn't all over America, my blogpost title is a bit of a reach. The first thing I noticed was that tea drinking isn't an inexpensive pastime here in the land of Stars and Stripes. I was pleased to see that tea drinking was at least an option, but the specialty shops I went to seemed to be overpriced or incredibly overpriced.

I hear people on twitter complain about selection of tea in supermarkets, but it really seems to depend on which one you go to. Texas is the birthplace of Whole Foods market, and they had both loose-leaf, as well as decent bagged tea options.

There were so many I couldn't try, but the Mighty Leaf tea bags I tried were quite good, and the Yorkshire Gold that I've heard so much about was a fantastic black tea blend. Really.

I only had a chance to try one online tea shop while I was stateside, but I'm going to be writing much more about the excellent experience I had with Upton Tea. Very quick and personal service.

The next time you hear from me, I'll be home in Germany. Can't wait to brew all this new tea I picked up.

brewing underground

Am watching a Whodunit on German television that takes place during a mining disaster, and I'm wondering what tea goes with miners. Were I to work underground, what tea would I take with me? I think it'd have to be a strong blend of black tea. And just for practicality's sake, I think I'd take bagged tea down into the mine.

So I'm going to say Yorkshire Gold. I assure you that no-one's paying me to say this. Who would anyway? But that's my brief daydream for the day.

I don't think there's any way I'd be a miner anyway, but there it is. Yorkshire Gold.