Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Hawaian Tea

The castle gardens at the castle in Spiez, Switzerland. These are pansies and I took this picture especially for my friend Carole, who loves pansies.


Did you know that not only do we have a tea estate in South Carolina that regularly produces and sells tea, but there is one in Hawaii as well?

'Tis true. Go to www.maunakeatea.com and discover it for yourself. I haven't tried any of their teas, but I have heard positive things about them from other bloggers.

I saw an ad for an innovative "tea bag". I am not sure what to call it. Premeasured tea in a longish cylindrical sack comes enclosed in a cardboard tube that you peel off, leaving a small handle. You put the sac in your cup and proceed as with a tea bag. I don't know if they are on the market yet, this was an ad in a trade journal. There are many tea infusers that are creative, but you really need to wonder if they work or are just a "gotcha" for the market, gone with the first try out.

A week from today is the big moving event and I finally feel like we are going to make it. I am so very happy I won't have to do this again.

3 comments:

Alex Zorach said...

I do find it interesting that there are commercial tea gardens in South Carolina. Do you know there are also ones in Washington State? I've been collecting this information on RateTea.net's page on The United States as a tea-producing region.

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About this new tea bag...it seems misguided how companies are always "innovating" by creating new teabags which involve so much packaging...it's so unsustainable. Loose tea is so great but if people are going to go with teabags, why can't they focus their inventive energy on making the teabags simple, practical, cheap to produce, and biodegradable/compostable?

In today's world where environmental issues are a top priority, I have little desire to promote or pass on as "cool" or "inventive" any innovation that isn't first and foremost about sustainability.

Rosemary said...

We had a wonderful opportunity to tour the Mauna Kea Tea Gardens on the Big Island of Hawaii this past January. It was a beautiful tea garden, and the owner was delighted to share his growing adventure with us. Following the tour, we had a tea tasting that included their organically grown green tea and also a hand picked and processed premium green tea. Very lovely. We shared our experience on our blog Rosemary's Sampler.
http://therosemaryhouse.blogspot.com/2010/02/mauna-kea-tea-garden-tea-tasting.html . Hopefully the link will not break!
Nancy

Marlena said...

Rosemary - thank you for the reminder - I did read your post and if I can get to Hawaii, that will definately be on the to do list.