Milwaukee Specialty Food and Coffee

East Side/Riverwest: Tea: Earl Grey Tea @ Alterra Humboldt

I'm drinking Earl Grey Tea at Alterra on Humboldt.  I think a lot of other folks are also becoming tea-curious these days, so this presents a real opportunity for places to attract new business and, let's face it, retain existing business.  I'd never had tea at Alterra before, I don't think.  It comes in a hand-tied teabag that looks very crafty indeed. 

Another tip is to train your staff on how to respond to what I told the counter person a minute ago: "I've never had tea here before..."  It might help to make the choice of configuration (size, etc.) a little easier by having the baristas suggest a size.  This is probably a really good time to wean your staff off of the expectation that the customer will specify his or her drink with Starbucks-like detail ("five-pump, 165-degree...").  After all, fewer folks are darkening the Mermaid's door!

By the way, does Alterra make their own tea or serve Rishi?  I'm unclear on that.

East Side/Riverwest: Snapshot: Starbucks on Downer

Seems every year around this time, I get into self-caring mode and decide to start drinking lots of tea and less coffee.  Accordingly, tonight's beverage is a mug of Tazo China Green Tips.

Cruisin' A-hunnert: 24-hour Starbucks

I'm at the aforementioned Starbucks.  What a remarkable place!  The average age in the room is probably 24.  Gadgetry is wielded effortlessly: laptops are surfed upon, digital snapshots are taken frequently, cell phones are in hand.  I'm housesitting for my parents in Glendale tonight--clear across town--but the North Shore rolls up the sidewalks at 10, so there's no place for me to go there.  The North Shore suburbs, despite their resident wealth, seem to be on the wrong side of a demographic and technological divide that's underestimated and perhaps over-powerful.  The technology of the North Shore is, in my mind, the newspaper (aack!), the television (eek!) and the large-screen theatrical movie (yuck!).  The technology of today and tomorrow is the portable, interactive content transmission and delivery device--whether it takes the form of a cell phone, laptop or multifunctional iPhone.  I think this also lends itself to thinking of oneself at home wherever one is.  I'd imagine that the young crowd here arrives at this crossroads from widely scattered workplaces and residences.

I'm drinking green tea, which tastes like basically nothing to me.  It was the only way I could think of (without drinking coffee) to not be saddled with a paper cup.  I've ordered for-here cups here before and had the request overlooked.  For all its technological savvy that I rhapsodize about, the younger generation needs a sense of finiteness.  That's the kind of sensibility that steers a person away from three fast-casual take-out meals and multiple packaged snacks per day, with the accompanying flood of garbage.  And need I even mention that all of them are charged to the newly acquired credit card?

Tea: Starbucks Tazo Tea Drinks

I've been drinking a lot of Starbucks' new tea drinks lately.  As a Gold member, I received two coupons in the mail, which I used last weekend.  One was for a free drink and the other was for a $2.00 discounted drink, but the cashier misread it and I got that one free too.  (Don't worry, Starbucks isn't making a loss on me.)  The Vanilla Rooibos is my favorite thus far, but the next one to try will be the berry chai.  The sample-happy barista in Whitefish Bay gave me a sample tonight, and it was great.

Enlightenment in a Tea Cup

Created by "the girls"--their descriptive, not mine--of Domestic Construction, Ted Lights are teacups recycled into lighting fixtures. Buy as a single or in a bunch.

Link (via Boing Boing)

Rishi Tea Rolls a Lucky Seven in LV

I've just received word that Rishi Tea won 7 First Place awards during the World Tea Championship held this past weekend at the 2008 World Tea Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. As I posted last week, the Milwaukee tea importer and crafter was competing in 13 of 25 categories, and to win the #1 spot in more than half is really quite remarkable.

Here are Rishi's first place winners:
Black Tea
Breakfast Blend: Organic China Breakfast
Earl Grey: Organic Earl Grey

Green Tea
Japan Style: Organic Sencha
Jasmine Premium: Organic Jasmine Pearl

Herbal Tea
Mint: Organic Peppermint Rooibos

White Tea
Silver Needle: Organic Silver Needle
Blended/Flavored: Organic Osthmanthus Silver Needle

A source at Rishi stated in an e-mail, "We are especially thrilled that all of our winning teas are organic when most of the other entries were conventional." Huzzah to that!

Rishi Tea Sings "Viva Las Vegas"

Today marks the start of the 2008 World Tea Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada and Milwaukee steeped leaf dealer Rishi Tea is there to show the folks why it continues to be an award winner year after year. Interesting choice of host towns, by the way--I keep envisioning infinite rows of old ladies slumped over the slots, one hand on the lever and one hand gripping a steaming cup of Oolong. Trippy.

This year, Rishi will introduce two new product lines to tea aficionados: 100% Organic USDA Certified Japanese Teas and five Hubei, China origin Organic & Fair Trade Teas. While I don't claim to be a tea expert, far from it in fact, I certainly wouldn't turn down a chance to cup their new Japanese Organic Sencha.

The 2008 World Tea Expo runs all weekend and events include the World Tea Championship. The Expo's web site has announced Rishi as a Hot Tea Class Finalist in an astounding 13 of 25 categories:

Black Tea
Darjeeling 2nd Flush: Organic 2nd Flush Darjeeling, Rishi Tea
Breakfast Blend: Organic China Breakfast, Rishi Tea
Earl Grey: Organic Earl Grey, Rishi Tea

Green Tea
Blended/Flavored: Organic Orange Blossom, Rishi Tea
Jasmine Common: Organic Jasmine Yin Hao and Organic Jasmine Chun Hao, Rishi Tea
Japan Style: Organic Sencha, Rishi Tea
Jasmine Premium: Organic Jasmine Pearl, Rishi Tea

Herbal Tea
Mint: Organic Peppermint Rooibos, Rishi Tea
Rooibos Blend: Organic Blueberry Rooibos, Rishi Tea

Oolong Tea
Dark: Tae Guan Yin, Rishi Tea

White Tea
Bai Mu Dan: Organic White Peony, Rishi Tea
Blended/Flavored: Organic Honeydew Melon, Organic Osthmanthus Silver Needle and Organic Peach Blossom, Rishi Tea
Silver Needle: Organic Silver Needle, Rishi Tea

Right on! Go kick some serious leaf, guys!

Link (via Coffee Talk and Teapot Diversions)

Your Brain Needs Tea

A study conducted by the department of psychological medicine at the National University of Singapore found that drinking tea helps stave off dementia, memory loss and overall cognitive decline--all good things, no? (To that question you should respond yes, unless you’re really looking forward to functioning in a geriatric haze.)

Tea naturally contains catechins, which help protect brain cells from protein buildup--sort of like that waxy, dull coating on your Aunt June’s cheap wood dining set that you used to scrap off with your fingernail at Thanksgiving--and too much protein on your brain cells, along with brain-cell degeneration, leads to impaired cognitive abilities.

Of course, no one thing can keep you lucid, so go ahead and puzzle your puzzler with a crossword or plunge your noodle deep into The Buddha-Karita of Asvaghosha the next time you’re sipping your steeped leaf. Can’t hurt, right?

Link (via Coffee Talk)

Tea Strainer for the Messy Steeper in All of Us

Tired of making an unholy mess whenever you go about the serious business of steeping your tea? Well, you're in luck because Joel Johnson at Boing Boing has found the perfect solution: the $16 Drop Stop Tea Strainer.

Whether you prefer loose leaf or the bagged variety, you'll never have to wipe up another errant tea drop again. Or, ya know, you can just use a spoon.

Link

Black Tea: An Alternative to Coffee with Intriguing Benefits

A snappy little article by Marissa Mancini of the The Recorder, a student-produced publication of Central Connecticut State University, makes the case for black tea as a positive alternative to coffee. Not that any of us Javaheads would willingly give up our coffee fix, but there are times when we all feel like changing things up, aren't there? Absotootly.

According to the article--which, by the way, is pretty well researched for such a short piece--black tea has the caffeine you crave with the added benefit of being an effective de-stresser with high levels of antioxidants. Good stuff, eh?

Read the article here. (via Coffee Talk)

Seriously, it's a very tiny thing--you'll be done reading it before your water even has a chance to boil.