STeaP - The Tea Podcast

Host: Brandice Schnabel Guest Co-Host: Cathy Schnabel Teas: Teavana Silver Needle and Ocean of Tea Silver Needle For discussion of this and other episodes, or to ask questions about STeaP or tea in general, check out our online community, or leave comments at STeaPtv.com!

Let's talk about STeaP and where it's headed. :)

If you are a loose leaf tea veteran, this week's show is probably not for you, because it is a very basic introduction to loose leaf tea, something that I've wanted to sit down and do for some time. All too often, I find someone who is interested in tea or already loves tea , and upon giving them a sample of loose leaf tea from my massive tea collection, I get this blank stare that clearly says I have NO idea what to do with this. Leaving typical teabags behind can seem daunting from the outside, but it's much simpler than it looks, and very worth the transition, so this episode if for anyone who wants to know more about the basics of making loose leaf tea. If you're already an expert and you receive that same blank stare from your friends and co-workers, share this video with the people who might benefit from a (hopefully) straightforward crash course on the basics. Keep in mind that this is simply the talk that I typically give to a tea novice, and the advice is based largely on my own opinion and my own experiences. It's also simplified for a tea beginner, and I sincerely apologize for the glare on my glasses, but it went so well on the first take that I simply balked at the idea of filming it again with better aligned lighting. This will have to do. :) Host - Brandice For further talk of tea and further advice on that tastiest beverages, please visit STeaPtv.com and browse our past episodes, or interact with other fans at our tea-chatty STeaP community.

Host - BrandiceGuest Co-Host - DianahTea - Ocean of Tea Earl Grey Premium, 3 minutes, boilingFor discussion of this and other episodes, or to ask questions about STeaP or tea in general, check out our online community, or leave comments at STeaPtv.com!

Happy New Year, STeaP viewers!! Hope that all of you are safe and with loved ones for New Year's Eve, and don't forget that a strong cup of tea the morning after the festivities will help you recuperate for New Year's Day festivities. :) Host - Brandice Guest Co-Host - Dianah Tea - Teavana Golden Monkey For discussion of this and other episodes, or to ask questions about STeaP or tea in general, check out our online community, or leave comments at STeaPtv.com!

Hosted by Brandice, with guest co-host Dianah. Beverage - Tea Frog Assam Banaspaty, first in apple cider with Biltmore Estate Wassail Spice Blend, then steeped with just the Biltmore Wassail Blend added Blog - http://steaptv.com Community - http://steaptv.ning.com

Host - Brandice Guest Co-Host - DianahFelicitea Vanilla Spice - 5 minutes, 212º Tease Vanilla Chai Spice - 5 minutes, 212º, 1/2 warmed milk http://steaptv.com

This week's episode features a whopping six teas, all part of the Mighty Leaf Abaca Tea Box (linked, with teas listed below). I thought it would be fun to review the teas throughout the previous week, with a couple teas being reviewed by others, and I'm happy with the results (both of the video experiment and the set itself). Host: Brandice Schnabel Guest Stars: Renae and Dianah Tea: Mighty Leaf Abaca Tea Box (6 Teas: Organic Breakfast, Bombay Chai, Marrakesh Mint, Organic Hojicha Green Tea, Rainforest Mate and Ginger Twist) For discussion of this and other episodes, or to ask questions about STeaP or tea in general, check out our online community.

This week's episode is an application to join Revision3 Beta, in hopes of eventually becoming a Revision3 show. It's not a full review episode, but next week will bring a special episode with several reviews done solely by yours truly, so stay tuned. I promise you that we will not be wearing the head gear any longer after this week, and if you'd like to leave some "Yes, STeaP is Revision3-worthy!" comments in the timeline to encourage Revision3 to give out some tea love, please feel free. As always, you can discuss the show here in the comments or at the Ning community (did you know that you can view the STeaP community on your mobile device in mobile format?), on Twitter (@STeaP), or by emailing Brandice at brandice [at] steaptv [dot] com. Stay tuned for next week's review of Mighty Leaf's Holiday Tea Box!

Host - Brandice Guest Co-Host - Dianah Tea #1 - SerendipiTea Red Oz, 5 minutes, 212º Tea #2 - Tea Guys (Tease) Citrus Burst, 5 minutes, 212º For discussion of this and other episodes, or to ask questions about STeaP or tea in general, check out our online community.

Dianah is back for a second STeaP episode, with two rooibos-based tea blends. GIVEAWAY ALERT: Want a full tin of Carrot Cake, donated by Tea Guys? Email me in pirate speak and the most creative email will win the full sized tin! Host: Brandice Guest Co-Host: DianahTea #1: SerendipiTea Buccaneer, 5 minutes, 212º Tea #2: Tea Guys (Tease) Carrot Cake, 5 minutes, 212º

Host - Brandice Guest Co-Host - DianahTea #1 - Stash Mangosteen Green (3 minutes, 180º) Tea #2 - Stash Pomegranate Raspberry Green (3 minutes, 180º)For discussion of this and other episodes, or to ask questions about STeaP or tea in general, check out our online community.

Today is the first episode since Joe's departure as a permanent co-host, which means you'll be meeting Dianah. I'm still getting things settled in terms of filming at my apartment, so please excuse lighting and placement of tripod while I slowly figure out the best settings. Thanks to Dianah for great job, and I hope you'll enjoy the episode, which ran a little long this week. :) Host: BrandiceGuest Co-Host: DianahTea: Tea Guys' Tease Afternoon Apricot, 3 1/2 minutes, 212º For discussion of this and other episodes, or to ask questions about STeaP or tea in general, check out our online community.

Hosts - Brandice and JoeTea #1 - Felicitea Hibiscus Mint (4 minutes, boiling) Tea #2 - Golden Moon Vanila Mint (4 minutes, boiling) http://steaptv.com

Hosts - Brandice and JoeTea #1 - Tea Source China Black Special, 5 minutes, boiling waterTea #2 - The Simple Leaf Dawn, 5 minutes, boiling waterhttp://steaptv.com

Hosts: Brandice and JoeTea: Starbucks Green Tea Latte (First with regular preparation, second with no melon syrup, and third with no melon syrup and extra matcha powder)STeaPtv.com

This episode features two flowering teas from Stash, but we also have news about the future of the show and where it's heading after a year's worth of episodes. Be sure to watch the episode all the way through and contribute to the conversation about the future of the show on the STeaP community site. Hosts - Brandice and JoeTea #1 - Stash Flowering Basket Flowering Green Tea, 3 minutes, 180º Tea #2 - Stash Amaranth & Jasmine Flowering Green Tea, 4 minutes, 180º For discussion of this and other episodes, or to ask questions about STeaP or tea in general, check out our online community.

Hosts - Brandice and JoeTea #1 - Serendipitea Holiday Cheer, 5 minutes, 212º, ~ 1/3 warm milk Tea #2 - Dragonwater Black Spicy Chai, 5 minutes, 212º, ~ 1/3 warm milk

Today we are trying Firefly from The Simple Leaf and Darjeeling Makaibari Estate from Choice Organic Teas, both at 5 minutes with boiling water. It's also Joe's 30th birthday celebration! Are you having fun yet?For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

Today we are trying Felicitea's Earl Grey Brandice (4 minutes and 3 minutes in boiling water), a tea that Brandice herself helped make. Will it be able to stand up to Joe's sarcasm as well as the original Brandice? Yes, actually it does. And it's so nice, we tried it twice!For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

This week we're doing two black teas: seredipiTea's Namaste (5 min, boiling) and Boulder Dushanbe's Boulder Breakfast Blend (5 min, boiling) (say that 5 times fast).For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

This week is features two very green teas; O-Cha.com's Sencha Yutaka Midori (3 min, rumbling) and Mellow Monk's Top Leaf (3 min, rumbling), both claimed to be top notch green teas from each company. Do both teas live up to the hype? Was this episode sponsored by KFC? (No.) Should it have been? (Yes.)For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

For this episode, we're bringing out the glass tea set from Teaposy in order to try Teaposy's Falling Water (boiling water) and Dragonwater's 3 Flower Burst (steaming water, 3-5 minutes).For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

Today's teas were both floral (rose and jasmine) with green tea. First, we tried Floral Jasmine by Felicitea (3 minutes, 180?) and then Really Goethe by SerendipiTea (prepared in the same way). Both teas were found to be very floral, but Brandice got a bit feisty about one of them... beware! You'll have to watch to find out more...For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

Today we look at two very different Oolong teas. First up is Formosa Wenshan Baochong Choice by AuraTeas and then Tankha Oolong from The Simple Leaf. Both have their own special taste, but which is more oolong and, more importantly, which is better?Special Note: The Formosa Wenshan Baochong Choice is AuraTea's current tea of the month.For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

Today we're rocking the genmai cha a second time, with Upton's Gen-Mai Cha (3 minutes, 180 degrees) and Choice Organic Genmaicha (3 minutes, 180 degrees). Joe and Brandice each enjoyed one more than the other, but as usually, disagreed on which one. You can see which one might be a cha-cha-liscious option for you by watching the episode.For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

This episode is a smörgåsbord of random conversation, peppered with some ice tea tastings here and there and chock full of every topic imaginable. If you've ever wanted to see Brandice and Joe just sit around with some iced tea and just chat about life and all things geeky, then this is likely to be one of your favorite episodes. Iced tea seems to generate lots of conversation, so prepare yourselves for a lack of tea talk (aside from one of the iced teas drawing some angry berating) and an abundance of random chit chat. Iced teas sampled: Honest Tea's Just Green Tea, Upton Kirkoswald Estate FBOP, and Upton Midsummer Dream (all iced).For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

Brandice is back from her wedding and we're trying two new flavored Green teas; serendipiTea Fiji (3 minutes, rumbling water) and Kyoto Lemon Flavored Green (3 minutes, rumbling water). Joe also nearly chokes to death, but whatever.For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

Today, we're having two Caffeine-free, fruit-based Rooibos teas from Dragonwater. The first is Dragonwater's Green Rooibos Strawberry Peach (7 minutes, boiling water) and the second is Dragonwater's Rooibos Apple Cinnamon (7 minutes, boiling water). Will we finally like a fruit-based tea on the show?For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

We once again have two Earl Grey's duking it out for our affections. Can one of them pull ahead of the other? The first contender is TeaFrog Earl Grey Special Flavored Black (4 minutes, boiling water). And in the silver shorts is Dragonwater Earl Grey de la Creme (4 minutes boiling water). Who will win the battle of the Greys? Let's watch. For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

We're revisiting Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse a second time, with two more of their teas: Silver Dragon Green (no link) (3 minutes, rumbling temp) and Jasmine Silver Needle White (4 minutes, rumbling temp). As usual, Joe and Brandice spend most of this episode in complete and utter disagreement with one other, perhaps even more so than the average episode.For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

This episode features two teas with similar flavors: Adagio's Foxtrot (boiling, 7 minute steep) and Felicitea's Sloth Tea (3 minutes, rumbling). This is Felciitea's first time on STeaP, so give Summer (the masterful tea blender behind the Felicitea name) a friendly welcome. You can also add both Summer and Ilya to your friends list over at our community. For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

This is the "giving pu-erh another chance" episode. In trying both Golden Moon's Pu-Erh (four minutes boiling) and Adagio's Pu-Erh Poe (five minutes boiling), we have mostly likely succeeded in disappointing pu-erh lovers around the globe a second time. Let us know, pu-erh lovers... what are we doing wrong, or do Joe and Brandice just not get pu-erh?For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

Today STeaP is looking to nature for tea, and finding some in it's own backyard. We will be trying two tisanes, Dandelion Leaf Tea, steeped for 7 minutes in boiling water, made by Joe himself, and a Sassafras Root Tea, steeped for 5 minutes in boiling water, made by someone else himself. For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

Today's pairing was supposed to be a duo of fruity herbals, but an atomic fire broke out in the studio and we quickly realized that these two teas have absolutely nothing in common. Check out the episode to find out what we thought of Dragonwater's Blood Orange and Boulder Dushanbe's Boulder Tangerine, both prepared at boiling temperature with a five minute steep.Disclaimer: No one was actually harmed or lit on fire during this filming. Joe briefly lost his mind and thought he was on fire, but we're not liable for his mental health or its effect on your viewing pleasure.For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

This week Joe and Brandice try two totally sweet teas from Mighty Leaf, the Orange Dulce (a sweet black tea) and Chamomile Citrus (a sweet herbal/tisane), both with notes of citrus. Both teas were steeped in boiling water, the tisane for five minutes and the black for four minutes. It was totally sweet.What is even sweeter is that we totally steeped the tisane a second time. What could be sweeter than that? We don't know. It was pretty sweet.For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

This week, the episode falls on my (Brandice's) birthday, so I got to pick the tea. If you don't yet know this about me, I am a HUGE fan of primates, so the obvious choice for my birthday was Monkey Picked Tea. In addition to the monkey-themed tea, I also brought a sizeable portion of my monkey collection, and general monkey-related merriment was had by all (mostly by me). I hope you'll enjoy watching us try a tea that was hand-picked by monkeys in a remote mountain village. I really enjoyed trying the tea and sharing some of my stupendously awesome monkeys with all of you. :)For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

Today's episode features another tea from The Simple Leaf called Pure Decadence, a white tea grown in the district of Darjeeling, India. With a name like Pure Decadence, Joe thought this luxurious tea deserved its own episode, so that we could also try steeping the tea a second time (something often done with white teas) and seeing how well it holds up to multiple infusions. The tea was prepared with a 7 minute steep in rumbling (not quite boiling) water for both infusions, and you'll have to watch to see if it was really "Pure Decadence." Many thanks to The Simple Leaf for sending the sample.For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

This week we're trying some Oolongs, one from The Simple Leaf and one from our old stand by, auraTeas.The Simple Leaf's Honeybee is an Oolong grown and prepared in Nepal. This is produced by the Meghma Tea Estate and is quite different than most any other Oolong you'll find on the market.Next up is auraTeas' Formosa Mingjian Retro Oolong, a simple Oolong and not as complex, or expensive, as the other Oolongs we've had from auraTeas. Will it stand up to the STeaP taste test?For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

Can this show get anymore Assam? Absolutely! This week we bring you two strong Assams; TeaFrog's Assam Banaspaty Organic FTGFOP-1, steeped for 4 minutes in boiling water, and The Simple Leaf's Mountain Malt, steeped for 3 minutes in boiling water. How will they compare to the Sessa from episode #18 and Upton GFOP Assam from episode #11? Watch and see!For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

This week, we're trying one of the more rare kinds of tea blends, the Green/Black blend. How is it possible to steep a tea made from both Green and Black teas? This episode will answer that question. The first tea is Upton's Midsummer Dream, a mix of China black tea and green Sencha along with sunflower petals, cactus blossoms and rhubarb steeped for 3 minutes in rumbling water. The second tea is Teasource's Prairie Passion, black and green tea blended with papaya, rosehips, sunflower and passion fruit steeped for 3 minutes in boiling water. Will the green and black teas play nice with each other? We'll find out.For photos from this episode, visit our Flickr pool, and for more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, tea drinkers! We bring you a very green tea today, in the event that you're looking for something other than (or in addition to) green beer today. O-Cha.com Green Tea has generously shipped us some very high quality teas, including our choice for today, the Uji Matcha Kiri no Mori. They also included very helpful and specific instructions for properly preparing matcha, which can be found on their website. I also (Brandice) made a promise to discover whether the two types of matcha (usucha and koicha) are different by preparation or are actually different tea leaves. I very quickly found the answer here, which is that the usucha is a thinner tea with much more astringency than the koicha, which is why it's made with fewer scoops of matcha. The koicha is thicker, milder, and is made from much older leaves (often at least thirty years old). The tea that we're trying in this episode is a usucha.

This week, we take a look at two "blueberry" flavored teas, although upon further inspection, it seems that one of our choices didn't actually have any blueberry in it. Our first tea was a Blueberry-Flavored White from Tea Frog, steeped for 2 minutes with rumbling water, and our second tea was serendipiTea's Berry Blueberry, steeped for 5 minutes with boiling water. In the past, neither of us have enjoyed a tea or tisane with blueberry flavors, so we thought we'd try a "real" tea with blueberry and a tisane with blueberry, and see if TeaFrog or serendipiTea could change our minds. Watch the episode to see if they did. For more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

It's time for another battle! This time there is a duke-out between Tea Source's Earl Grey White Tip (steeped for 4 minutes at boiling) and Upton's Saint Isaac's Blend (steeped for 5 minutes at boiling), and it gets quite heated! See these two teas duke it out, and you might see Joe and Brandice duke it out as well. Be sure to check our Twitter feed, because we might be giving something away from this episode. :) For more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

Tired of the winter weather? The endless snow, slush, and blistery winds? Well, STeaP visited the tropics this week, with two tropical-friendly teas. We first tried Mighty Leaf's Green Tea Tropical (which some of you won samples of, from our Twitter giveaway) with a 3 minute steep in rumbling water, then we gave Golden Moon's Coconut Pouchong a go with a 3 minute steep in boiled (and then momentarily cooled) water. Take a break from the cold and enjoy our tasting in the tropics! For more episodes and other tea tidbits, visit STeaPtv.com. Contact Joe and Brandice via steap@steaptv.com.

Today was a battle between two dragonwell green teas: TeaSource's Dragonwell Wild Mountain (generously donated for review by TeaSource) and Adagio's Dragonwell (from Brandice's collection). Each tea was prepared with rumbling water and a 3 minute steep time. Which of these mighty green tea dragons will 'win' the battle? Watch and see! For more info on STeaP, visit STeaPtv.com.

Joe and Brandice bring you two love-themed teas for Valentines Day, trying Tea Frog's Love Flavored Rooibos (boiling water, 5 min. steep) and then the Chocolate & Ginger Spice (boiling water, 6 min. steep). To order these teas and try them for yourself, visit Tea Frog's website and use the promotional code "steaptv" to receive a 10% discount on any purchase.For more info on STeaP and our ongoing adventures, visit STeaPtv.com.

Joe and Brandice try the Upton Pu-Erh, a fermented/aged tea. We don't really know a lot about pu-erh, but this particular tea seems to have an enthusiastic following, and can taste very different, depending on age. Chair at A Tasty Beverage did a review of some pu-erh teas as well, and we've rounded up some informational links on pu-erh for those of you who may be as new to this type of tea as we are:Pu-Erh Wikipedia // Pu-Erh.net // Pu-Erh on About.comHave any of YOU tried pu-erh? Tell us what you think, and be sure to keep an eye on STeaPtv.com for all of our STeaP updates.

STeaP revisited Aura Teas for our 20th episode this week with an Formosa Mingjian Osmanthus Guihua Oolong. This was prepared with a very short, specific steep time, like all Aura Teas, and it is an incredibly complex oolong that continued to evolve as we made our way to the bottom of the cup. We hope you'll enjoy our 20th episode, and be sure to visit STeaPtv.com for all of our tea-related tidbits!

This week, STeaP?s in New York! We had a little visit to the Big Apple and stopped by Alice?s Tea Cup: Chapter 2 at 156 East 64th St. We had a great time and even meet up with Chris and Michelle, who have been life-long STeaP fans. We first interview Haley Fox, one of the co-founders of the Alice?s Tea Cup chain of tea rooms in New York City and talk to her about tea rooms and what compelled her to start one in the first place. We then try two of their most popular teas, Mauritius, a strong tea from the island of Mauritius, and Sessa, and very round bodied and smooth Assam. Exciting things are in store for STeaP. Stay glued to the website to learn more! www.steaptv.com.

Inspired by Masto?s sCHeaP epsiode, we take on Adagio?s version of Chai, Oriental Spice. We?re not much for milk or sugar in our teas, so how will a Chai stand up to our ?refined? taste buds? You may be surprised.