The Search

We’re on the search for more tea! We’ve been having some trouble with the original black tea that we sourced, and so we’re trying some other varieties that are due to us sometime next week. We really want to finalize a good Earl Grey base recipe, and our hope is that with some other base black tea varieties we can get a really nice Earl Grey out of it. Or, we’ll find out that the original black was just fine, but we had been messing something up along the way!

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There and Back Again

It’s been a few weeks, hasn’t it? We haven’t had much to report due to some travel that got extended due to Hurricane Florence, and the prep involved with being gone for so long. But, that doesn’t mean we didn’t get a chance to do some tea work while we were gone!

We were in Orlando for a conference as part of our travel, and that of course meant that we had to go visit the house of mouse - Walt Disney World. Normally, we aren’t interested in gimmicked, super branded teas, but we actually adore some of the tea that is branded with Alice in Wonderland. Our favorite? The Mad Tea Party Blend - a bit fruity, but not so much that it masks the essential tea flavor. You can get it in a kit like in the picture, but we aren’t as big of a fan of the other fruit inclusions. If you’re in a Disney park, see if you can find the packages with just that blend, you won’t be sorry (if you like fruit teas)!

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Water Everywhere

When we were thinking about building this proto-company, it was actually a question about what our next home would look like. We eventually settled on building a home somewhere with a decent amount of land, but then, what do we do with that land? A few folks in this area that have large lots rent that land to the farmers, but couldn't we do something with it that blends our profession and our love of tea?

This brought us to the idea of building a hydroponic farm, with automation systems in place to monitor and even harvest the plants we grow. We're pretty far from that goal at the moment, but it is the long-term vision of where we want to take this. And even kid #1 got into it and did a hydroponic farming activity at a local middle school, bringing home her first hydroponic plant (pictured above)!

Not now, but hopefully soon.

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Week 1

Well, this week's update is going to be super short and sweet. This was week 1 for us here at the College, and we just didn't get a lot of time to do much anything other than getting the academic year started. We have plans for some serious tea work this long weekend though! Have a great and safe Labor Day weekend for those of you in the States!

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An Excuse to Drink Tea

This week has been all about research! We got a bunch of tea from NYC and, thanks to Tim and Meggie, we got some awesome samples from Huntsville. Needless to say, we've been drinking a lot of tea. We're still getting through all of it, but thus far, the winner has been the tea from Piper and Leaf (www.piperandleaf.com). Their approach of sourcing produce locally and working with the best tea producers abroad is something we strive for and I personally love that there are tea blenders out there like us!

We're also on attempt number 2 for our Earl Grey base. We got the pipettes in and immediately put together a new recipe to try. It's aging now and we'll be trying it early next week. We are also on the hunt for more suppliers of black tea, and if I can convince Lindsay, of green tea as well. The black tea we're using is great, but we want some different varieties to use as a base.

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