I don’t blend the teas until an order is placed, so nothing is sitting around going stale by any means but there are blends that are taking up space in the shop and cluttering up the page, so I’m going to be retiring a few blends in the next few weeks. These blends just haven’t done very well and I won’t be keeping the ingredients on hand anymore. However, if there is one of these blends that you personally adore and feel you still need to have access to, I can still make them it just may take a little longer to fill the order because I’ll have to order the supplies.  The blends being retired can be found here. The blends being retired are Latis Herbal, Durga Rooibos, Crone White & Flora Herbal. They’ve been discounted now so you can stock up if you really like one of these blends.

In addition to these discounted items I’m also offering a Spring Sale in honor of the fact that I just bought a plane ticket to go visit my family in Alaska in June. Plane tickets home, especially in the nice summer months, are pretty expensive so I’m offering a bit of a discount on orders for the next week. The discount code is good through 3/5/10 (next Friday).

Use code ‘Alaska10′ at checkout for 10% off your entire order. I’ll extend this to Tea of the Month club memberships as well if you pay for at least 3 months up front.

Happy Sipping!

Since my last blog update I’ve also added a few new tea blends to the shop as well. I have also purchased a new counter top espresso machine. This new little machine will be the star of many upcoming videos in a series I’m going to call “Let’s put Starbucks out of business.”

Not really, but I do plan on doing a series of videos with tips and tricks for making your own espresso drinks at home with an inexpensive counter top machine. We’ll go over how to steam milk properly (I do it by sound and feel more than temp.) as well as how to visually pull shots that taste good. The instruction manual for my machine says to pull the shot ‘until the cup is full’ which is a TERRIBLE idea.

In the current economic climate its good to be able to take those luxuries you may not be able to afford anymore and continue them at home. I recently gave myself a manicure, if I can give myself a manicure (and it looked nice!) than I can teach you guys to be your own baristas. The good news about being your own barista? You know how you like your drinks, you know how hot you want it, how sweet you want it. You also know that your milk is fresh, your espresso machine is clean and you’re not trying to make 16 other drinks at the same time. There is no better person to prepare your coffee or tea just right than you. Or maybe me, but I’m not there.

Also, I name things. So help me name my new espresso machine! Here she is:

I like girl names for things.  So help me out with some girl names. The last espresso machine I name (which was a beautiful professional machine at the coffee house I used to manage) was named Susie. I have no idea why, that name just came to me one day.

So when that same group of friends said “you should roast your own coffee too!”, well I bought a stove top popcorn popper, 4 lbs of green coffee beans and set to work roasting coffee beans in my back yard.

Thankfully after many years working in coffee houses I have a pretty decent understanding of how coffee gets made. I know about different roast levels and how the coffee is supposed to taste and what level. I have a pretty good idea of what it’s supposed to look like as well.

Yesterday I roasted a half pound of beans. I roasted about 12 oz. of an Ethiopian bean and 12 oz. of a Sumatra bean. The Sumatra was my first try and I was so scared of burning the beans that I pulled it out WAY too soon and it was barely roasted at all. It made a coffee the color of cheap beer. Not good at all. The Ethiopian was a smidge better but still woefully under roasted. Both of those batches went back into the pot to roast a little more.

Today I roasted some more Ethiopian and a Panama blend. These I roasted to what looks to me like a pretty dark roast. The beans are dark brown and shiny. I myself am not a huge fan of dark roast coffees but after polling my friends they all said they like dark roasts so I figured I’d give it a go.

Today’s roasting adventure went much smoother. I knew what to listen for (the audible cracks in the beans) and what to look for (roast smoke and color in the pot).

I feel much more comfortable with the roasting process now and I like the hands on process of roasting them in the popcorn popper. There are at home roasting machines available that do a lot of the work for you and take out a lot of the guessing but I think I’ll stick to the popper and my own 5 senses. I also really love the smell of the coffee as it roasts, very soothing to me for some reason.

I’m hoping to add a selection of hand roasted coffees to the Goddess Tea (& Coffee) line in the next few weeks/months. I need a bit more practice I think to make sure I can replicate roast levels on a consistent basis and I also need to order more green coffee and bags and such.

I will be continuing to document my progress as a novice home roaster though and will be sharing any new bits of information I learn about coffee as well. In the meantime if you want to be the first to hear about new products as they are added to the line be sure to sign up for the newsletter.

Your Tea of the Day today is Aphrodite Roobios Blend a sweet and floral blend of red tea and herbs. Use code ‘totd’ at checkout for 10% off your order.

The style of infusers that are most common and easier to get a hold of are the kind that feature some version of a little metal cage with holes in it attached to something so that you can easily remove it from the water when steeping is done. You can see here I’ve taken a picture of 3 kinds I have rolling around in my junk drawer.

The top one is by far my least favorite of the designs. It’s a ball that fits together with a little groove/notch thingy but is almost impossible to actually put together and take apart.

The one slightly to the right and below of that one is my favorite (or rather the one I hate the least) of the three here. It is a fine mesh material which is nice because it doesn’t allow debris to go through into the cup. It has a little lever that closes easily and efficiently.

The bottom left one isn’t too bad but has some fatal flaws: namely the holes are a little too big and a lot of debris gets through.  It has a handle that when squeezed opens the two sides of the basket.

I’m not a huge fan of these types of infuser because they are often unreliable. I find that you can only put about 2 teaspoons worth of tea in them otherwise it doesn’t steep evenly. As I mentioned the two with holes let gunk into your cup and while the mesh one is the best of the bunch I just generally avoid these unless I’m trapped in a hotel room for two weeks with nothing but a microwave and a tiny tin of Marsala Chai. (This is not an exaggeration, that’s how I came to own the mesh one. I left my good infusers and tea at home while I was living out of a hotel room.)

At left here is one of two other types of infusers I own. This one is Bodum’s The de Chine mug/infuser combo.

This is a cute little set and mine came with hand tied green tea that flowers when you steep it. It’s really quite pretty. I received this as a gift this last Christmas and I use it regularly. I find it’s best for teas that don’t have small pieces in them because the slats on the bottom that the tea drains through can let some debris in as well. This is perfect for straight up blends though, like black, green or white teas that don’t have a lot of other herbs mixed in. You can use the infuser with most other mugs as well, it doesn’t have to be the mug it came with.

I do love that it has a lid for steeping and if you put the lid down on the counter you can even set the infuser in the little indented area to hold any leakage you might have, then reuse the tea in the infuser again for a 2nd cup if you  like.

I have to say though, by far my favorite infuser is my Teavana Perfect Tea Maker. It’s not the prettiest device but it sure gets the job done.  This little beauty has a flip top lid, a fine mesh bottom and little levers underneath that release the liquid when you set the maker on top of your cup or mug. The tea then drains down into your mug leaving all the leaves, herbs and debris right where it belongs. The handle is great because to empty it I just grab the handle and dump it over the garbage can, knock it a few times with my palm and then rinse it out for the next use. It comes with a little plate to stand it on so if it drips after you’ve released your tea it drips on the plate and not your counter top. The mesh filter doesn’t hold on to flavors at all so I can steep my spice heavy blends in the morning and my light herbal blends in the evening with no carryover flavors.

This is the infuser I use daily as does the rest of my family. You can’t beat the price either, at about $18 it’s definitely worth the investment if you drink loose leaf tea on even a semi regular basis.

So things to consider when you’re looking for an infuser:

• How easy is it to open/shut?
• Can it be cleaned easily?
• Look for fine mesh strainers over actual holes in the device
• Is there a way to take the infuser out of the hot water safely?
• Will the material used hold on to flavors and/or discolor easily?
• Look for food grade materials only, like stainless steel. You don’t want rust in your tea. Gross.
• Is this the right price point for how often I will use it? Obviously there are very high end infusers out there and if you drink a lot of tea or feel you would get the use out of something on that end of things then go for it! However if you are only an occasional tea drinker you may want to keep to the less than $10 category of infusers.

Todays Tea of the Day is the Luna Herbal Blend, a great bed time tea and perfect for relaxing and mellowing out. Use code ‘totd’ at checkout out for 10% off your order of this tea for the next 24 hours.

At some point I’ll do reviews of various instruments used for steeping loose leaf teas and what I consider the best or most efficient devices for doing so. However for today I’ll just go over a few basic types of things you can use instead of specific brands or devices. For most people who are new to brewing loose leaf teas you’ll probably just use the reusable muslin bag that comes with your tea order (if you’ve ordered tea from Goddess Teas you’ll get one at least.) or  you may use a type of metal tea infuser. These are all pretty straight forward; you put your loose leaf tea in your bag or infuser and submerge it in hot water.

Here’s where you can make or break your cup of tea though, there are some things you can do to make your cup much tastier and it doesn’t take a whole lot of extra effort. First thing first is being sure to store your teas properly before you even get to making a cup. The enemy of tea (and coffee as well.) is oxygen. You want to keep your teas in an air tight container if possible or at least keep the bag it came in closed securely. You want to keep your tea in a dry cool place and preferably not in the direct sunlight. I keep my tea blends in small plastic containers in an area next to my stove but not close enough to be effected by heat. This area is away from the sink and the kitchen window. Ideally these containers should be solid (not clear) to keep out light as well as moisture and air. You do not want to keep your tea in the fridge or freezer. (Or your coffee either no matter what some misguided barista tells you, but that’s a whole different blog post.)

Next is making sure you’ve measured out the right amount of loose leaf tea for the kind of cup you want. I personally like my black teas strong (I’m a coffee drinker at heart but an ulcer and chronic migraines have forced me to curb my coffee consumption.) so I use a bit more tea for each cup than most people probably would. The thing about tea is that you can’t simply steep it longer to make it stronger because over steeping makes the tea taste bitter, so if you like a stronger cup you need to use more tea to begin with.  For a 16 oz. mug of hot water I use a heaping table spoon and a half of tea leaves. For herbal blends I use just one tablespoon of the tea blend, the exception to this is the Krishna and Durga blends I carry. These are spicy herbal blends and I like the robust flavors of the blend to be strong.

You want to heat your water before you put your tea in. I either set my kettle on to boil or if I only want one mug of tea (but really, how often do you only want one mug of tea? That’s silly.) I fill my mug with water and microwave it to a rolling boil, which in my microwave is about 2-3 minutes. I submerge the tea in the hot water and cover with a plate or some kind of solid something, this keeps the water hot and lets the tea steep undisturbed. Let the tea stand for 3-5 minutes and then pull the tea leaves out of the cup. This is very important! Leaving the tea in the cup will cause it to over steep, leaking yucky tasting tannins into your delicious cup of tea.

Depending on the blend and your personal preference you can add honey, sugar, cream or any other flavor you fancy to your cup at this point before serving. I take my black teas with a bit of honey and a splash of heavy cream. I like my herbal blends with honey and lemon occasionally. If you’re not sure how you like your teas it doesn’t hurt to experiment. I thought for years that I didn’t like honey but I found that in the right kind of tea it’s really quite nice. It’s also better for you than granulated sugar. If I have to use sugar in my tea I try to use raw sugar instead of granulated, I’m not sure exactly why but to me this just tastes better.

To recap for anyone skimming:

• Store teas in an airtight and/or secure place out of the way of moisture and direct sunlight.
• Measure your tea properly, experiment to figure out how strong you like your tea
• Boil water before putting in tea blend
• Cover steeping tea with a plate or other object to keep water hot
• Do not oversteep. Remove tea before drinking.
• Experiment with honey, cream, sugar, etc. in your teas to make the perfect cup just for you

Keep checking back for more information on tea and coffee preparation. If you have any specific questions about teas feel free to comment here and I will do my best to answer them if I can!

Happy Sipping!

(P.S. Your Tea of the Day today is the Brighid Black Blend. A spicy blend of flowery Earl Grey and Ceylon black teas mixed with star anise, allspice berries and cinnamon. A wonderful winter blend. Use code ‘totd’ at checkout for 10% your order of this tea.)

A little about the name and concept: I have long been fascinated with mythology and ancient religions. I am a Sociology/Anthropology major in college but my love of mythology goes as far back as early childhood. I love the stories and the meanings attached to the ancient religions and have always been partial to the way these early religions had deities with very specific job titles. The pageantry of the Gods and Goddesses was always fascinating to me as well. As a card carrying feminist I have a particular affinity to the female deities and their special powers as well. It comes as no surprise then that I would settle on a concept that encompasses each of these interests.

Truth be told though this inspiration was not my own. I have a group of incredibly dedicated friends and customers who have been enjoying my teas since I began offering them last year in my other shop. It was suggested by one friend awhile ago that I move my teas out of that shop and establish a brand devoted just to the teas. I dismissed the idea at the time because I didn’t feel like I had enough of a customer base to support a ‘tea only’ shop. In the last month however the teas have become the darling of my existing product line and my friend was right; they needed their own brand and shop.  The same friend referred to me as the Tea Goddess during an online conversation. While I myself don’t think I am a Goddess, I do love Goddesses in general so that sparked the idea of naming each tea after a Goddess.

I spent the large part of my day yesterday renaming my existing tea blends (and developing 3 new ones) to go with this new theme. I didn’t just slap any old Goddess on any given tea, however, I spent a lot of time finding the perfect Goddess to honor with each blend. Tea has a long standing history as being linked to divinity and often plays a major role in rituals and ceremonies honoring various deities the world over.

My hope for Goddess Tea is that I can provide a bit of history, theology and mythology to each blend I make. Of course my highest priority is providing my customers with delicious, healthy and beneficial teas.

Every once in awhile (I’m hoping at least once or twice a week) I’ll be offering a ‘Tea of the Day’ discount here on the blog.  Today’s Tea of the Day is the Eir Herbal Blend. Enter the code ‘totd’ at checkout for 10% off your order of this tea.

Eir Herbal Blend

The Eir Herbal Blend is one of my new blends and is a mixture of soothing chamomile, peppermint and ginger root. This tea will help settle stomachs, smooth out ragged nerves or calm stress and is a wonderful bed time tea. Eir was a Goddess of Healing and Medicine. She is one of Freya’s handmaidens and comes to us from the Norse tradition. I named this blend after her as an homage to her healing abilities and the healing nature of the tea itself.