Jul
4
Closed Today, Happy 4th!
July 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment
We hope you enjoy your holiday weekend. We will be open tomorrow, Sunday, from 11 to 5. Have a great day!
Cheers, and thanks for checking in!
- James
Jun
26
South Park Community Sale: Everything in the Shop 10% Off Until 1 pm!
June 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Last minute news, but tomorrow morning we’ll have everything in the store marked at 10% off until 1 pm! This is part of the South Park Community Yard Sale. You can pick up maps nearby at Grant’s Marketplace. Dozens of houses are included on the list as are a few business in the neighborhood. If you ever wanted to pick up a new kettle, Zojirushi, etc. this would be the day and time to do it!
Hope you all are enjoying your Friday. Thanks for checking in!
- James
Jun
25
Dragonwell Early Harvest Back in Stock
June 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment
We hope this note finds you all doing well. Just a quick note to let you know that our Dragonwell Early Harvest is back in stock with plenty to go around! We had a small quantity of this 2009 harvest and it sold out very quickly. Now it’s back, and it tastes so good. Clean, mildly sweet, with a crisp finish; some would say Dragonwell is the quintessential Chinese green tea. I don’t think I would argue with them.
Organic White Monkey should be in tomorrow. Many have been waiting to re-up on this tea for a while now. We’ll let you know first thing when it arrives.
Had a very busy day with the Old House Fair last Saturday. We met a lot of new people and had a great time. There were plenty of tea, biscuit and chocolate samples on tap throughout the day. It was nice to see strangers sitting together sharing tea and life experiences. The communal aspect of tea is powerful.
Thanks so much for checking in! More to come.
- James
Jun
18
Old House Fair This Saturday!
June 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment
This promises to be a great event. Historical home tours and seminars, music, art, good fun and good people. We’ll have tea samples and snacks on tap for everyone to enjoy. Be sure to stop in and mention this blog post for 10% off any single loose tea of your choice.
Find out more about the Old House Fair right here. We hope to see you!
Thanks for checking in!
- James
Jun
18
Featured Tea and Teaware
June 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Hey all, sorry for the delay in recent posts. It’s time to announce the current specials on a couple of items. As always, featured items are 10% off.
1. Featured Tea: Dragon Pearl Jasmine Superior
A premium artisan jasmine offering made from tender Fujian tea buds hand-rolled into small pearls and carefully scented over many nights with fresh high-quality summer jasmine blossoms. Yields a light liquor with an exquisite lingering floral aroma. A beautiful warm-weather tea!
2. Featured Reading: Uruwaza, Secret Everyday Tips & Tricks from Japan
Yep, if it looks familiar it’s because we briefly mentioned this little gem of a book right here. This book is just too much fun. Full of seemingly nutty tips that actually aren’t completely crazy. Seriously, who would have thought using Scotch tape to pull my eyes back slightly towards my temples would relieve computer fatigue in the shoulders and neck? Perhaps they just want to make us look ridiculous, but this worked! Come in, open the book and try out a tip or trick for yourself. You never know, it may be just what you’ve been looking for all this time.
Moving into Friday, hope all is well with all of you. Thanks so much for checking in.
- James
Jun
6
Guess Who’s Six Today
June 6, 2009 | 4 Comments
Six years old already??!!! I love you, sweetheart.
- Daddy
Jun
6
New Favorites in Stock: Rich Tea Biscuits
June 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment
I have always loved McVities digestive biscuits. Still do. But they have recently taken a backseat to a new favorite. Well, not entirely new as I’ve had them before. Last year, on our vacation we bought some Lyons Rich Tea Biscuits when picking up some travel tea and related goodies. They didn’t have McVities, so we grabbed the Lyons biscuits instead. I loved them right away. They are less “wheatie,” have a crisp bite, very mild sweetness, and feel lighter overall. They are perfect with a nice cup of hot black tea (like the Assam Mokalbari pictured here). After the trip, I didn’t seen them locally, so before we opened the shop I went back to McVities. Well, I recently found them stocked by a wonderful vendor and decided to bring in a couple of cases. Come in for a sample cup and try one to see what I’m talking about. So good!
Hope all is well with all of you. Thanks very much for checking in.
- James
May
31
Featured Items
May 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Featured items are 10% off.
1. Featured Tea: Salima Orthodox
An excellent large-leaf black tea from Malawi, Fair Trade Certified. Smooth taste, mild bite, with a full rounded body. Great self-drinking tea, can take sweetener if preferred, but really shines without milk. A very unique offering, it quickly became one of our favorites!
2. Featured Book: Tea, Aromas & Flavors Around the World
I love this book! One of my absolute favorites on the subject, this book is a perfect balance of history, culture, preparation techniques, technical & botanical info., etc. With lots of nice photography, this book really captures the romance of tea in a way that will have you heating the kettle immediately after reading. A joy of a book!
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Cold and drizzly here the past few days. I’ve actually enjoyed it!
Looking forward to a performance of the Camera Lucida chamber music series tomorrow evening, June 1st, at UCSD. One of our favorite customers, Charles Curtis will be performing with fellow musicians at the Conrad Prebys Concert Hall, 8 pm on the UCSD campus. They will perform Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire (1912) and Schubert: Quintet for Strings in C Major (1828). If you haven’t been to any performances, the UCSD Music Department always seems to have something interesting happening.
As always, thanks for checking in!
- James
May
29
25% Off These Teas!
May 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment
As we make room for new tea arrivals, it is time to move out the remaining stocks of a few teas. Quantities are limited. You may see one you already love, or it could be a good way to try something new. So, 25% off the remaining stocks of these gems:
Sencha Shan Izumi
8 oz. left of current stock. New crop now available.
Huang Shan Mao Feng
Only 3 oz. left of current stock. sold out New stock now available.
Tung Ting
8 oz. left of current stock. sold out New stock now available.
Jade Tikuanyin
5 oz. left of current stock. sold out New stock now available.
Limited, right? We keep a pretty tight ship here. We stock just the right amount of teas to maintain consistent turnover. This means better quality, fresher teas for you.
Hope you all are well. Thanks for checking in.
- James
May
28
New Teas: Some Here, Some Soon
May 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Come in and see them up close. Better yet, come in for a taste!
Sorry for the quick photo, but we are really excited about these new teas. We are also expecting more new teas tomorrow, and even more over the next few weeks. Several of the teas are top tier grades of selections our customers have already fallen in love with. The teas pictured above are in stock, and many of you have already purchased them. I’ve already talked about the Darjeelings, but I thought a quick overview was in order. So, starting with the teas shown above (L to R):
1. Silver Needle Reserve Grade
Exceptionally clean, crisp body, fruit notes with a lingering smooth sweetness.
2. Dragonwell Early Harvest
We have a small amount left of this first batch. Excellent example of a perennial favorite with buttery smooth body, mild nuttiness and sweet finish.
3. New Harvest Sencha Shan Izumi
This is our favorite Japanese green, the same we carry throughout the year, but this new batch incorporates the early harvest Shincha. The result is an incredible Spring-green freshness with a more pronounced crispness.
4. 1st Flush Darjeelings: Margaret’s Hope and Puttabong Queen
I mentioned these in prior posts, but they are worth listing here. Incredibly floral, top tier offerings. For more on these, check here and here.
Coming Soon:
New crop Huang Shan Mao Feng
Have you had this yet? Clean, subtle sweetness, lingering mouthfeel.
Tung Ting winter harvest
Formosa Oolong, even lovelier than the Spring version
Jade Tikuanyin Special Reserve
Anxi Oolong, handcrafted gem
Iron Goddess of Mercy Special Reserve
Anxi Tikuanyin, it doesn’t get better than this
New Dragon Pearl Jasmine
Incredibly aromatic, less astringent than our prior offering. Handcrafted heaven for Jasmine lovers.
Stay tuned, there’s more to come. Thank you all for checking in!
- James