Tea from bejing

My coworker went to Bejing for class project she bought me back tea !! And tea accessory a wood strainer. 

The tea she got me is called puerh tea -- it's made and packed into a cake and set away to age.  These tea cakes can range from a few dollars to thousands!  Here are some facts on puerh tea:

Pu-erh Tea has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for generations to inhibit "internal dampness" (a term used in Chinese medicine to describe a build up of internal energy due to the spleen`s inability to transform energy that it receives from the stomach) and to invigorate the activity of the spleen and stomach. Other traditional uses include the removal of toxins from the body, curing dysentery, weight loss, improving eyesight, promoting blood circulation and reviving those who have over indulged in alcohol.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/026747_tea_Pu-erh_cholesterol.html##ixzz2yQdjhnJv

Morning tea

Making my first blend

Green tea : organ Sencha
Mixed with white tea: silver yin zhen pearls

The taste: the green tea is the dominant flavor but finishes with the sweet floral undertones of the white tea. 

Don't laugh at me drinking tea outta Mason jars lol

Either way I hope this blend provides good energy about to drive back home to attend church homecoming with my family.

Caplady out!

Ps this first blog attempt from mobile device hope it look ok

what have i been doing all summer?

working . traveling . gardening. enjoying life & shopping

LOL - hello! can you all believe we are looking at Fall my my time is rollin!

Let me pick up where I left off... so the DC move again my commute is wonderful but I tell ya what (king of the hill voice) lol not having my 495 has been killer.. meaning getting to places has been difficult. I must keep at it learning the DC streets. I've been enjoying taking the bike out to explore when I can get home by 6 and we don't have the kaboom thunder activity afterwork.

Now my bldg; granted I am not the friendliest person upon first glance but jeezus first of all everyone is import (new trend of DC) cars in the garage downstairs from Cali to Connecticut (alot of NYC of course).. these folks in here are not friendly I'm not going to play the race card but even when I try to put on a smile and 'ish *cold stares*. I swear I'm going to kirk out one good time on somebody next time they ask "do you live in the bldg?" Reminds me of Higher Learning "b1tch show me yo lease before u check me" LLS seriously .. big turn off!

ugh sprint service.. of course no way comparable to Verizon but I'll smile off the strength of my cheaper bill. I finally rooted my Android Phone to CyanogenMod (CM7) that def bought some stability to my phone and can I say i LOVE android.. while I have a macbook on my wishlist and respect iOS.. 'I LOVE ANDROID" The multi-desktops and widgets sold me.. now the security and stability - give it time and more on that later.

my current obsession:
i couldn't resist any longer and so glad i waited and did not hop on the IPAD bandwagon.
Got a tablet pc Android based (honeycomb) Motorola Xoom. My coworker put me onto woot.com so trust I did not pay full retail but OMG love love love my tablet.



Of course at work the Ipad mtg crew be going in... "why don't you carry your xoom to meetings" "why are you still using your paper agenda" I just realized as techy as I am LOL I'm a paper chick. Stickies, pen, pencils I write on paper - so I'm weaning myself off this habit. My beef with putting your life in a phone/tablet is security. I don't like clouds dont sync MY DATA.. I need everything password protected, encrypted - I need time to figure out how to secure my 'ish than I'm all for it. I tested Google 2 step password verification, in short summary send your device a code after you sign in with password. Gosh props to google joint worked so good I kept locking myself out but that's the type of 'ish I need. I'm such a private person I will be sad if my devices where lost but I'd die if my data was viewable by outside eyes.
my travels

Chicago


My job sent me here for 4 days for Auditing Oracle Application Course. Uhhh class blew my mind lol but OMG Chicago is a beautiful city. We stayed in downtown Chicago and did most of our exploring via foot lol. My coworker and I visited the Willard/Sears tower, Millennium Park and we ate well. Of course being a Vegan I didn't have time to find a place where I could get deep dish pizza but none the less the variety was on point.
I checked out the local tea scene which was dry... but Argo Teas was the local spot. I bought

Las Vegas

Embarrassing but this was my 1st time visiting "Sin City" My job sent me here in support of attending Black Hat (technical security conference). The conference no words was just blessing to be amongst so many smart individuals and learn about my field. Ok forget the slots forget the gourmet food options - the freaking shops :0 :0
I was just done with the lux brands being connected to my hotel
Shops as Pallazo kilt me..
I can't go back to Vegas alone... cuz nope I need a baby sister for my wallet LOL

& what happens in vegas... got shipped to DC
(badgirl)















Seattle

My family lives out here and since I was more than halfway across the country decided to spend the weekend in the Pacific NorthWest. The timing was perfect because although I've been to Seattle 4 times now my cousin was getting married so it was also a slight family reunion.
The usual coolness and clouds but I was able to get a peak at Mt. Rainer.
My cuzin took me to a fabulous tea shop in Tacoma - Mad Hat Tea. Overwhelmed I was...
picked up 2006 puerh tea cake, some black tea and ginger rooibos for my friend.
The owner was so sweet gave me a cup of ti kin yuan to go and man started my trip off on a bang!



my herbal garden

I'm going to make this a 2 part blog update To be continued....

tea tour continues

Sat - DC has a taste of spring.. which closed up quickly because Sunday I awake (cold) and it was rainy and cloudy :(

Sux because I've finally upgraded my bike (thanks to my job and their 500% health subsidy) to an entry level pro hybrid. Its an REI special aka purple lightening.. not the vicious cannondale I desired but hey.. I've taken it out twice and it already drives/feels 9million times better than my target special

ok back to Saturday went on a Georgetown walking tour with my tea meet up group.
We visited:
Cha Cha Chang
DC Tea & Spice Exchange
Capital Teas

1. Cha Cha Chang -1063 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W

I've shopped here many many years - they sell the best empy tea bags ever. Its small very very traditional tea house but this time I finally was able to sit down enjoy tea and eat.
I ordered veggie dumplings and broke down got $20 pot of my #1 fav tea ti kuan yin (oolong).

Our group learned a traditional way to enjoy tea via the assemble to the left.
Not pictured but we had a reg kettle filled with hot water
(working off memory here but description about 80% accurate)

1. take hot water and pour into brown(clay) pot that has the tea leaves
2. you always want to discard the 1st brew --> goes into the bigger white/blue pitcher
3. take the discard pour into middle cup
3. take the discard and pour on outside of brown teapot

(2&3 are supposed to keep the pot and cups warm- something like that )

4. hot water poured into clay pot (let steep about 60 secs)
5. pour brewed tea into white/blue pitcher
6. serve in the small cup (bottom right)

repeat

What I most enjoyed what the heavy clay teapot and holder like of course you spilling water everwhere and the bottom part catches everything. Clay pots rock so heavy and unlike ceramics require no soap & water bc chemicals eventually steep into the liquid.

2. DC Tea & Spice Exchange
Small shop in a rowhouse... def worth visiting if you want to check out custom spice blends. Customer service wasn't all that and the Alexandira location is bigger. The tea selection is so-so - I wouldn't necessary be pressed to come here often. Coolest thing was the salt blocks for sale LOL

3. Capital Teas- I've blogged about them already but man these folks keep opening more and more DC stores.. this was my first time visiting the gtown location. The store is in an alley but
same selection as the National Harbor store. Great customer service- and I had to shout these guys out bc after becoming a facebook fan I won a free giveaway- Royal Wedding Tea

A commemorative union of our bold Cream Earl Grey Black and our light and refreshing Cream Earl Grey White, enhanced with the essence of roses. Available for a limited time only. Price is per 4 oz.

I have not sampeled yet- I'm not a big fan of flavored teas but just happy to have won something. DC be on the look out for these guys to overtake Teaism they have 2 more store opening planned Friendship Heights and another NW location.

Weekend Recap

hewwo peeps....

tired and busy.. went out to U st the last 3 Fridays in a row up till 5am.. im 29 body is old LOL

Friday night attended the Kem/Ledisi and Mint Condition show at DAR Constitution Hall
Being lazy and not up for the 10-15 min walk from Farragut North/West metro I drove and didn't even leave my spot until 730 show started at 8 and oddly it started on time LOL
so I missed Ledisi who they only gave her about 20 mins bc Mint Condition came on 830 I got there about 845 so I was able to see some of the best R&B band of my era!

Kem came out very dapper gray suit hat.. slim and short dude. He sung a variety of songs from each cd and genuinely sounded just like his cd very strong voice.


---

I'm geeked off a new tea shop I found down that National Harbor in Maryland.
Capital Teas - the shop was small but I loved the wall of tea. The tea was held in glass jars for customers to smell. I purchased the basic 2oz (minimum) of Basil/Lemon Oolong [can we say perfect with an Italian dinner] & Stimulating Herbal Tea - it is an intense blend of ginger roots, cardamom, coriander, tumeric, cloves and nutmeg. I could not help myself I brewed a halfcup of the herbal tea tonight and OMG - u know anything w/ ginger is spicy-yum but the other herbs heighten the senses to a new level - I LOVE THIS TEA!

Also after a long convo with my tea twin at work.. I invested in a measuring spoon to help with ensuring my tea purchases last- ex 4oz of tea should yield 20+ cups.. me scooping a pinch of tea each morning LOL kills the ratio and now that I'm on a tight budget (explain lata) plus honestly adhering to proper temperature, quantity makes for a better cuppa...I'm slowly getting there.




Anyway about to finish watching my FAVORITE show Chopped (All-Stars) than going bed TIRED

its december

Tea leaves
tea loves
loves tea
Lives tea
leaves tea?
never.
-UNIEK SWAIN

I'm excited just sent out invite to my fab0O-ulous birthday tea party.
this is the year of 29 - no comments on that LOL....so I know yall she just gonna flow into blog without apologizing for the 4 month lay off.. I think my thirst for twitter slows my passion for blogging. I plan to work on that ratio in the 2011

One of my good college friends "j9musiclife" started her own blog and I served as a guest poster when I reviewed the Rhianna concert in Sept. Horrible I know :( neglecting my own blog for someone else. Here's the story

So in July - I was a disheveled mess preparing for the CISSP exam.. the great new me passed! woooot I'm a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) feels good I def worked hard for it.

I've been peeking back into the world of academia. Sat in for a GRE course- went WAY like Stratosphere over my head. I felt like ok did I even get a college degree the math was okay but that GRE verbal no good son! I also enrolled in pre-req (Networking 101) for the grad program I'm feeling GWU High Tech Crime Investigation. The program is excellent the tuition OC & the GRE is required unlike most other grad programs in the area, but I know its worth the struggle to get accept so I'm still 50/50.

as always attending the 2010 Logan Circle House tour this year with one of my coworkers. Upset I went on a slight work trip to Hampton last month and left my digi cam in the rental major FML.. so no pics this year though Ill get my friend to take some. Just a sidebar but I'm def moving into the city next year possibly a house staytuned #stillscared ...but there are deals so lets just claim it early for the 2011 #noshopping I've given my CC, Neimans, & Macys cards to my best girlfriends so and I'm about to start leaving my debit cards and home I really need to focus and not be a "single black female/addicted to retail" such a capricorn/woman issue LOL...

let see back to tea.. I've tried many of the last few months .. thanks to my new fav forum
tea chat I found new vendors:

Golden Teahouse
First-Grade Tie Guan Yin- basically an oolong best tea i ever. It had like sweet rose tasting tea and what I've learned good tea can be re stepped a good 4-5x and the flavor gets better each time.. yum a 5star tea LOL

Jing Tea
Lychee Red Black Tea- naturally sweet black tea no sugar/honey needed
Li Che Hong Cha- chinese green tea..i like normally the 2nd steeping and beyond is when the flavor really takes off
Traditional Iron Buddha Oolong (Monkey Picked*)- I ordered this bc local shop pearlfinetea had this last yr 2nd best tea I ever had.. this was good but not like the one I tried in the past
Tie Guan Yin Wu Long- umm was not as good as Golden Teahouse version but I enjoyed

Zhi Tea
Darjeeling Green- Green tea from Indian i loved it- quietly need to re-order some more
Dong Ding Oolong - Bought off of a recommendation it was OK
GABA Oolong- Gaba is a chemical that reduces stress.. but makes tea taste Nasty-- i hated this

ok me out.. hopefully catch yall before year end mi loves :)

Tea Fiend

my name is caplady1225 and I Love tea...

I can't get into a lengthy blog because I'm about to take a nap. My entire life is disheveled.
Work = insanity and I'm signed up for the CISSP exam again next month (more on those topics in a future post)



No its not a cookie (lmao) its a PUERH (pooh-air) tea cake (circa 2005) from Teaism (DC).
Here's how it looks unwrapped:


Scary yes! its literary tea leaves pounded together and aged. Puerh tea cakes from way back in the day can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars..
Its prepared by being chopped apart into teaspoon sizes from there you can put into a tea bag or brew via loose leaf brewer. It can be re-stepped 4-5 times and has aged earthy flavor.

Puerh tea is close in family to black tea which is the strongest compared to White (lightest), Green, Oolong (cross btw Green & Black) & Black (strongest).

But if you are following me on twitter like u should!! You'll see my daily ramblings different teas I try and more..

ok loves off the nappy land