Tea Related: How to make Sweet Sun Tea

Just found a cool herbal recipe for sun tea. Check it out here——–>How to make: Sweet Sun Tea.

I decided to make a Facebook page to better connect with people and let them know about new posts check it out and like it here.

Just found this awesom song on Pandora. I usally loath Pandora, since when I pick out a band after about two songs it starts to play other bands or genras. However I found this one station that plays (mostly) new blues songs and have been finding a lot of good stuff. Here is there bio that I found for King Kong.

Ethan Buckler was originally the bassist for underground Louisville, KY, sensations Slint during the late ’80s, but after recording the 1989 albumTweez with the group, Buckler wanted to start a dance band in the vein of early B-52′s. Buckler left and formed King Kong with vocalist Amy Greenwood, bassist Willie Maclean, and drummer Ray Rizzo. The first order of business for the band was to record a self-released 7″. By 1990, King Kong had worked out a deal with Trash Flow Records, which promptly released the band’s second 7″, Bring It On. Within the next year, Homestead Records had made an agreement with the group to release their debut full-length LP, The Old Man on the Bridge. It was with this recording that Buckler started to make a conscious effort to begin writing conceptual story lines for each of his full-length releases.

The formula proved to be a success and The Old Man on the Bridgebecame a college radio hit. Following a brief tour in support of the record, King Kong recorded 1993′s Funny Farm LP for Chicago’s Drag City Records. The group was also featured on two compilations that year, which included the Self-Destruct label’s Louisville Sluggers, Vol. 3 as well as Drag City’s Hey Drag City. As 1994 rolled around, King Kong was gaining more notoriety as they received a feature in Spin magazine. They were even asked to perform on Lollapalooza’s second stage from August 12-18 alongside bands like the Boo Radleys and Shudder to Think. Following the Lollapalooza stint, the band released the two-song 7″ Hot Dog Days on Drag City that fall. 1995 saw the third full-length release by King Kong, titled Me Hungry. It was another concept album dealing with the primitive subject matter of a torrid love affair between a yak and a caveman.

When King Kong was preparing to record their next full-length LP,Kingdom of Kong, Buckler was growing tired of people analyzing the lyrics and concepts of each release. His decision was to write a record that wouldn’t contain a story, so much as a motif, and that way the listener could dance to it rather than sit and be critical. Following the October 1997 release of the album, the band toured Europe. At the end of 1998, King Kong decided to go on hiatus. Throughout 1999, Buckler worked at Churchill Downs horse track and also had a full-time job as a dishwasher. It wasn’t until December of 2000 when King Kong re-formed to play some shows in Louisville, the highest profiled of which was their February 3, 2001, headlining performance at Headliners Music Hall with former Slint guitarist David Pajo‘s band Papa M and VHS or Beta. Drag City released the King Kong demos and outtakes CD Breeding Ground late in 2001 on its smaller imprint, Sea Note, followed by the electro-inspired The Big Bang in 2002. Five years later, King Kong returned withBuncha Beans, which felt like a throwback to the band’s early albums. ~ Stephen Howell, Rovi

Tea: Triple C Tea

Tea: Triple C Tea
Company: none; My own personal recipe

This is the first post that has some of my own pictures in it. YAY!!!! PROGRESS! Anyways this is a tea that I like to make to help me relax at night. I love chamomile plain, but I am a bit of a spice fiend so I have been thinking of ways to add spices to it, and ended up coming up with a great tea blend. I call it Triple C Tea; cause the the three main ingredients all start with, “C.” Here is what you will need…

Main Ingredients:

• Chamomile  (If you can’t buy it loose, use 2-3 tea bags for 16 ounces of water)
• Cinnamon Stick (small or big)
• Cloves (1-3)

Now there are two versions of this. One is just plain tea and the other is a latte form. The latter I use a bit more chamomile and spices; I use only 1 clove and a smaller piece of cinnamon stick for strait tea, while I use 2-3 cloves and a bigger piece of cinnamon stick for the latte mix. Now for both I use 5-6 small spoon fulls of chamomile in my 8 ounce tea pot; that may seem like a lot, but I make it concentrated, and add water to it later.

Now that you have your ingredients it is time to brew. Put them into your tea pot (8oz or close to 16oz size) and pour 212F (boiling) water into the teapot and let it steep for 6-8 minuets. I would not steep it any longer then that, since it can start to get bitter and astringent  Also I recommend using a porcelain or stoneware teapot; glass won’t retain it’s heat as well, thus not extracting as much flavor.

Then once it is done strain it into another vessel that is at least 16oz or more; a Pyrex is perfect. The strainer I use is a tea strainer I got online, but a wire mesh one should also work, though it may not stop all the particles.

To make sure you get all of the brew shake the contents of your tea pot lightly and re-pour to get every drop you can. DO NOT MASH OR PRESS IT OUT OF THE FLOWERS! This will make the brew more bitter and astringent. When you are done and if you brewed it in a small  8oz teapot it should look something like this.

Do not drink this! It is a concentrated form of the brew and will not taste good and could upset your stomach. Since I use enough leaf for 16 ounces we need to add 8 more ounces. Re-heat the water back up to boiling and pour in another 8 ounces. Even if you use an electric kettle with a keep warm function I recommend reboiling it. When you let the water sit around it gets stale and won’t make as tasty of a brew verses freshly boiled water.  OR…. If you want a really strong latte you could pour this in to a cup and add about 4oz of cream or almond milk, then add sweetener and be done.

GOLDEN BREW!!!

After you add the water or if your teapot was bigger (about 16oz) your tea should now look like this.

DO NOT EAT!

Now I know what you are thinking. “Hey I like to eat bits of my herbal teas and those flowers smell so good and honey like. I’m going to try to eat one.” NO!!!!! They taste horrible. They are bitter and nasty. Trust me I know……

Now that you have strained your brew you have two choices depending on which drink you are going for. If you are just doing strait tea all you need to do is add sweetener. I recommend your favorite honey or light agave nectar and can either be served for two in 8 ounces glasses or one mondo size 16 ounce mug for one. If you are doing a latte you just have one more thing to do. You just have to pour it either into one big mug or two smaller ones. Then add a splash of cream or almond milk (vanilla almond milk is great for this) and then a pinch of sweetener (honey or light agave), and serve. Remember not to add to much cream or milk or it could over take the flavor.

TIPS FOR SERVING: If you are going to serve the tea strait use a mug(s) that is white on the inside, since it really shows the yellow liquor. However, if you are doing the latte form I recommend using a mug(s) that are not white, and are a dark color to show off the yellowish creamy brew (brown, purple or red would look nice). You can also shake up the container that has the cream or almond milk in it to give your cup a nice frothy top.

PLEASE EXPERIMENT: Just because the main ingredients above are listed doesn’t mean you can’t add or remove any. Don’t like cloves or cinnamon? Take them out and just make a creamy chamomile latte. You could also add ingredients too! Maybe some lavender to make it even more soothing and floral. Maybe some marigold flowers to add antioxidants and color. You could also add some orange peels or rose hips to add a citrus tang to it as well. Maybe even some spearmint or peppermint. Please feel free to mix and match ingredients to make your own sleepy time latte or tea. 

P.S: If you want, I’ve created a custom blend at Adagio.com that can be brewed in a similar way. I call it Sleepy Time Chai. You can look at it here.

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Quick Overview:

Strait tea:

Pot: Porcelain
Water: 8oz (add another 8oz or just use a 16 oz pot)
Leaf: 5 small spoonfuls of chamomile
Cinnamon stick: smaller sized
Cloves: just one; more can tend to overpower
Steep Time: 6-8 minuets
Sweetener: a small spoonful or less of light agave or honey
Makes two 8oz servings or one big 16oz mug

Latte tea:

Pot: Porcelain
Water: 8oz (add another 8oz or just use a 16 oz pot)
Leaf: 5-6 small spoonfuls of chamomile
Cinnamon stick: use a bigger piece
Cloves: 2-3 is good
Steep Time: 6-8 minuets
Sweetener: a small spoonful or less of light agave or honey
Additives: a splash or almond milk or cream
Makes two 8oz servings or one big 16oz mug

I don’t know about you, but I LOVE MONSTER HUNTER!!! It is one of my favorite hack n slash games. I am so excited cause it looks like they are going to make an American MMO and it is going to use the Crysis 3 Engine! I JUST CAN’T WAIT.

So I decided I would share one the the battle songs from the Japanese MMO that is out. I so wish I could fight this thing.

Here are some people battling it. Trust me, they make it look easy.

Tea: Banana Pudding

Tea: Banana Pudding
Company: 52 teas

Ok when I saw this tea I had to grab it. I love Franks banana flavor and it has coconut? YESTH!!!

Ok the dry leaf smells exactly like banana pudding. It’s a really strong sent too. Very sweet and creamy, with a lot a banana and a hint of coconut. The brew smells just as good as well.

Ok one thing I have noticed is that Franks banana flavor doesn’t come out when it is hot. I mostly tasted sweet black tea. But hey, you eat banana pudding cold right? So after I put a nice bit of lite agave nectar in my cup and left it in the freezer to get cold……. it was perfect. Supper sweet and pudding like. I loved the hints of coconut as well. The black tea base is good as well with a nice light malty flavor and little astringency. I bet this would do great as an ice late’.

Overall it is a very good tea and definitely taste like banana pudding. The only down side is that it isn’t as good warm, but that is fine with me.Idea pops in head, I SHOULD EAT VANILLA WAFERS WITH THIS!!!!

The amount of pouches that are currently left is 12. 

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Specifics

Pot: Porcelain
Water: 8oz per steep
Leaf: 1.5 tsp (5 grams)
Steep Time: 2:45 minuets; 3:00 minuets
Sweetener: a good small spoon full per 8 oz
Temp: 200F

Combined two steepings in one cup.

Tune: Snow

I just found out about these gals from Pandora. They rock!!! I need to do some more research on them. 

Following in the tradition of the Black Keys and the White Stripes, the Pack A.D. play a blend of rock and electric blues. The female duo is comprised of drummer Maya Miller and vocalist/guitarist Becky Black, both of whom left their previous Pixies-styled band to focus on bluesier music. After emerging in 2006 as one of Vancouver’s more buzzworthy bands, the Pack A.D. signed with Mint Records in 2007 and released a debut album,Tintype, the following January. Funeral Mixtape, the duo’s second offering, was issued eight months later. The group toured heavily in support of both releases and eventually returned to Vancouver, where the bandmembers holed themselves up at Hive Studios and began tinkering with new sounds. Although still a blues band at heart, the Pack A.D. found themselves drawn to punk and garage rock, both of which steered the sound of 2010′s We Kill Computers in a slightly different direction. ~ Andrew Leahey, Rovi 

Tea: S’mores Genmaicha

Tea: S’mores Genmaicha
Company: 52 Teas

I have had this tea for a while and been waiting to rate it, since I have been messing around with it. But I have figured out weather or not I like this tea….. I do. This tea is basically the offspring off one of Franks other Genmaicha teas, Marshmallow Treat; that review is coming up.

Ok the first time I smelled the dry leaf it wasn’t the best thing. It smelled like chocolate liquor, but in a meh way. However, when I bought the tea Frank had just made it and he also mention to other people talking about the smell that he might not have let them air out as long as they should have, and that it would disparate over time. Needless to say he was right. When I went to smell my tea today it was great. It smelled so toasty, gooey sweet and chocolaty. YUM!

The taste is pretty good. You got the gooey sweet from the marshmallow, a lot of chocolate flavor, and a toasty butteryness coming from the genmaicha. However, there was one flavor I wasn’t getting that is part of a s’more…… gram cracker. Luckily I figured out that if I put a small (very small) piece of cinnamon stick in my tea pot it helped add that cinnamon gram cracker flavor that it was missing. I do kinda wish it had more lapsang souchoung so it could be a bit more smoky though. Then again I am the kind of person that either roast there marshmallow to perfection OR get it on fire and let it burn a nice crispy shell around it. Hmmm burnt sugar…..

Overall S’mores Genmaicha is a very tasty tea. If you are looking for a good sweetly flavored Genmaicha or something a bit different to try, pick this one up. But you better hurry though. There are only 5 left  4 left.

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Specifics

• leaf: 1.5tsp
• Pot: porcelain (no top)
• Water: 8oz
• Temp: 185F
• Steep: 2:20 minuets; 2:45 minuets

Tea Related: 52 Teas re-blends.

Just thought I would mention that 52 Tea’s has a new flavor out and some re-blends as well. One of them being Smaug. I went ahead and bought a pouch, since I was running out of it. You can check them all out here.

I know this is not tea related or anything, but I can’t stop watch this. It is just to funny. The muffin seal is a better explanation that what really happened. I lost it when they started to drive cars.

Fair Warning: has a pinch of language and adult themes.