Hello, my name is Marilyn and some people say I am a tea nerd.
As a young girl, I was raised by a single mom. Occasionally she would get depressed, especially about finances. There were a couple times where she suggested we take one Lipton teabag and make a pot of tea with a side of toast cut in what she called soldiers, strips of toasted bread. We would sit at the old formica kitchen table with the chipped teapot and pretend (with pinkies up) that we were rich ladies. It always made her laugh, and she felt much better after our teatime together. You see my tea loving days started a very long time ago.
These days I drink top end teas from around the world and connect with tea farmers in India, China, and Japan. My professional life for 25 years was as an apparel patternmaker. When I decided to make a career change, I made a list of what I loved. Tea was one of the top things on my list. I thought I would open a tearoom, but with research I realized that it involved food and that wasn’t my expertise. My experience was in product development, and I could picture making products for other tearooms.
Thus, I developed a line of jams and jellies made with tea and a line of tea cozies to wholesale in other tearooms. I sold jams and jellies for 9 years in 11 states in the US. So many people requested the pattern for the tea cozies that I started selling the patterns on etsy/marmaladys along with several other tea related sewing patterns and still do that 20 years later. My sewing patterns have traveled to many countries, including South Korea, Japan, Germany, Ireland, England, Australia and Canada.
Tea took me to Paris on a tea tour where I enjoyed having flavored teas in a different tea shop each day for a week. Then tea also took me to Taiwan where I met tea farmers and picked tea, sipping along the way.
The secret to learning about tea is to drink, drink, drink. There are many books that write about tea and it is a lifelong learning experience. Tea is grown very much like wine and there are many varietals. A true tea comes from the camellia sinensis plant, which is in the camellia family. They all have caffeine; some more than others depending on the terrior it is grown in, the process in production, and type of tea the producer chooses to make. An oolong or a black tea could come from the same bush. There are thousands of different black, oolongs, puers, greens, and white teas, not counting the teas that have been flavored by the addition of herbs, flowers, and as many additional flavors the creator can imagine. Then the developer may decide to roast the tea too, giving it another profile taste.
Taste teas when you travel and you will experience taste profiles popular in that region. Ask questions from the vendors. When they know you want to learn, they love sharing their knowledge. I have heard that in China that the more you ask for the good teas they will go in the back room and bring out the better teas. In France many of the teas are flavored because France loves a beautiful perfume. One of the most popular teas at Mariage Freres in Paris is Marco Polo, definitely worth a try. One time I was at Mariage Freres and when they realized I knew about tea they totally redirected me to some fascinating teas. One oolong, which I absolutely loved, was grown next to opium poppy fields. It was a very lovely tea. My favorite oolong teas come from Taiwan.
Darjeeling black teas are amazing from India. Depending on the time of the year a Darjeeling tea is picked it will be very different. I love the first flush which is the first picking in early spring when it is a light tea. By autumn Darjeeling teas are a lot darker and full body. Then there are some wonderful black and puer teas from the southwest part of China. The more you drink the more you will learn what pleases your palate. On a side note, if you don’t add milk or sugar, there are no calories. Did you know tea is the second most drunk liquid next to water in the world?
Besides just enjoying a cup of tea there is much to learn about brewing a pot of tea. Most of you are probably familiar with the English teapot, but the Asian style of brewing can be fun to explore too. Each way of making tea can influence the flavor. In some of my pictures you will see a handleless cup with a lid, that is a gaiwan. Or you might see a tiny teapot in an Asian market or store. When I was young, I thought the tiny teapots were for children, but actually they are for grownups. English style brewing is about 3-5 minutes to steep and Asian style in the gaiwan or small teapot can be just seconds or a quick minute. Generally there is one steeping when brewing English style, but Asian style can be steeped 8-12 times. The amount of tea brewed can be the same, just the steeping is different.
If you are interested in learning more a new book just was released at the end of November. It is 101 Teas to STEEP before you Die by Nigel Melican, James Norwood Pratt, Maria Uspenski, Shabnam Weber. They are all very special tea people and the book covers good basic information for any tea connoisseur.
Then 20 years ago I joined a tea ceremony group where I added tea friends to my life. After some bouncing of ideas off each other we decided to start TeaFestPDX, a tea festival in Portland, Oregon, in 2017. I organize the British tent events each year and have an amazing team to help run the tent the last Saturday in June.
Tea has brought much joy, friendships, and time of meditation to my life. I love connecting and praying with a cup of tea in hand. The warmth that permeates my soul soothes me, sometimes makes me laugh, and gives me peaceful moments.
