Hello group,

I've lurked around a bit in order to find a good tea vendor online,
and, after reading this group for some time I settled on Upton. So
thank you group for everyone who has responded and posted, there are
those around who read and don't talk. Enough butt kissing onto my
question, but, first a bit of tea drinking history....

Hello rec.food.drink.tea, my name is Justin and i'm a tea addict.

I began back in high school brewing cheap tea bagged green tea with
milk and honey. I remeber distinctly the bubble gum flavor that
sometimes came across with even this cheap green tea. Of course I used
so much milk and honey that I called it knockout tea. Once a friend of
mine came over and asked me to brew him a bottle. I remeber warning
him "okay man, but this stuff will knock you out if your not used to
it." 5 minutes later he was flat on his back on my bed and I,
shrugging and chuckling to myself, went back to programming.

After I caught fire to the electric tea kettle I gave up on teas for a bit.

Recently though because of a problem with my stomach I had to stop
drinking coffee and switched over to tea. I started like most people
do buying the cheapest crap a person can find in the local stores
packaged in a bag. Eventually after a few cups of tea that tasted like
the sweet off the balls of Earl Grey's horse I stumbled across Twinings
stuff.

Of course I started into Twinings like any other novice drinking it
from tea bags. I did eventually discover that by keeping it in a
ziplock bag it tended to keep longer and didn't lose it's flavor. Over
time I decided to try infusing with a tea ball and bought some of the
loose leaf Earl Grey blend. That was the beginning of the end for me.
My wife and sister in law put up with my tea habbits while we lived on
the boat because so many of the people who where fellow liveaboard in
the harbor where English and enjoyed a decent cup of tea. However,
when we moved back into the interior of Alaska and i began to drink
more and more loose leaf tea they lost all patience for me. "You and
your stupid tea" one would say as I dragged them from store to store
looking for decent tea. Over time I discovered that the local Safeway
stocked Twinnings loose in 100g tins. However there was a problem,
they never had any! I remeber going to the manager in a red eye crazed
state of mind demanding to know when they would recieve more Twinnings.
She looked at me fearfully and expressed some solidarity and sympathy
by saying "I know, the company that stocks it never refills it like
they should." I gave up and started looking around online.

That is how I stumbled across your group and all the faq's associated
with it. Kuro5hin had a good article on it and I began to look deeper
into the world of finer teas. I settled on Upton and ordered up a
sampler and a 500g tin of their regular Earl Grey. I haven't had a
single problem with any of their teas. In fact I would agree with the
posters in the Upton reviews thread. It takes more than a sample
sometimes to figure out if you really like a tea or not. A bit like my
Pu-erh experience...

I ordered Pu-erh from upton because I thought it sounded like a good
tea for a student with a thermos on the run half of the time. Finally
a tea that wasn't so sensitive to steeping time. Ripping open the box
from upton when I first got it I brewed up a cup of Pu-Erh. PHEW!
Tasted like the bottom of a rabbit cage on a moist morning! But, being
a good consumer I drank the cup and resolved never to try again. The
next morning I grabbed the Pu-Erh by mistake and was halfway through my
cup before my brain woke up and I said "Dammit! the Cat took a dump in
my cup!" Over time though an extroadarny thing happend, I began to
enjoy it. The guy that did the Kuro5hin article was right, it really
is a very organic nice tea and I have become hooked. Now Pu-Erh
enjoyes second fiddle to my beloved Earl Grey in the cabinet.

anyway, if your still with me here are my question....

-Has anyone found a good caffeinated keep you awake for hours tea?
With the Pu-Erh i've discovered the caffeine content can be be pretty
good but I usually have to drink quite a bit before I really gets me
going. I'm looking for a tea that I can brew a mug of and work like
crazy through the rest of the night. This might be a bit much to ask
of a single mug buut I know there are teas out there that will keep you
going better than cowboy coffee...

-What about a good green tea? My wife remebers going to Japan and
drinking green tea all the time. She says she just can't drink green
tea here in the Us because it tastes like crud. Any suggestions on a
good powered green tea that will produce a slightly sweet frothy thick
cup?

Iv'e been very happy with Upton both in their shipping and
responsiveness so if you have any suggestions that upton would stock I
would be greatful. Although i've been interested in trying Adigo teas
as well.

Thanks again,
Justin KL1RL
Fairbanks, AK

nice post! no cup of tea, AFAIK, is going to give you a kick like coffee.
I could be wrong though. Here in CA we used to have caffeinated bottled
water that just tasted like water.. a buddy of mine used to make coffee with
it and claimed the resulting brew was better than crystal meth. Wonder
whatever happened to him..

And, I don't know if anybody else is like this, but tea is like a slow ramp
up in the caffeine kick whereas coffee hits me fast. Tea can energize me
hours after drinking it.



"Justin" > wrote in message
news:2005030520193520267%zorton@jtancom...
> Hello group,
>
> I've lurked around a bit in order to find a good tea vendor online,
> and, after reading this group for some time I settled on Upton. So
> thank you group for everyone who has responded and posted, there are
> those around who read and don't talk. Enough butt kissing onto my
> question, but, first a bit of tea drinking history....
>
> Hello rec.food.drink.tea, my name is Justin and i'm a tea addict.
>
> I began back in high school brewing cheap tea bagged green tea with
> milk and honey. I remeber distinctly the bubble gum flavor that
> sometimes came across with even this cheap green tea. Of course I used
> so much milk and honey that I called it knockout tea. Once a friend of
> mine came over and asked me to brew him a bottle. I remeber warning
> him "okay man, but this stuff will knock you out if your not used to
> it." 5 minutes later he was flat on his back on my bed and I,
> shrugging and chuckling to myself, went back to programming.
>
> After I caught fire to the electric tea kettle I gave up on teas for a
bit.
>
> Recently though because of a problem with my stomach I had to stop
> drinking coffee and switched over to tea. I started like most people
> do buying the cheapest crap a person can find in the local stores
> packaged in a bag. Eventually after a few cups of tea that tasted like
> the sweet off the balls of Earl Grey's horse I stumbled across Twinings
> stuff.
>
> Of course I started into Twinings like any other novice drinking it
> from tea bags. I did eventually discover that by keeping it in a
> ziplock bag it tended to keep longer and didn't lose it's flavor. Over
> time I decided to try infusing with a tea ball and bought some of the
> loose leaf Earl Grey blend. That was the beginning of the end for me.
> My wife and sister in law put up with my tea habbits while we lived on
> the boat because so many of the people who where fellow liveaboard in
> the harbor where English and enjoyed a decent cup of tea. However,
> when we moved back into the interior of Alaska and i began to drink
> more and more loose leaf tea they lost all patience for me. "You and
> your stupid tea" one would say as I dragged them from store to store
> looking for decent tea. Over time I discovered that the local Safeway
> stocked Twinnings loose in 100g tins. However there was a problem,
> they never had any! I remeber going to the manager in a red eye crazed
> state of mind demanding to know when they would recieve more Twinnings.
> She looked at me fearfully and expressed some solidarity and sympathy
> by saying "I know, the company that stocks it never refills it like
> they should." I gave up and started looking around online.
>
> That is how I stumbled across your group and all the faq's associated
> with it. Kuro5hin had a good article on it and I began to look deeper
> into the world of finer teas. I settled on Upton and ordered up a
> sampler and a 500g tin of their regular Earl Grey. I haven't had a
> single problem with any of their teas. In fact I would agree with the
> posters in the Upton reviews thread. It takes more than a sample
> sometimes to figure out if you really like a tea or not. A bit like my
> Pu-erh experience...
>
> I ordered Pu-erh from upton because I thought it sounded like a good
> tea for a student with a thermos on the run half of the time. Finally
> a tea that wasn't so sensitive to steeping time. Ripping open the box
> from upton when I first got it I brewed up a cup of Pu-Erh. PHEW!
> Tasted like the bottom of a rabbit cage on a moist morning! But, being
> a good consumer I drank the cup and resolved never to try again. The
> next morning I grabbed the Pu-Erh by mistake and was halfway through my
> cup before my brain woke up and I said "Dammit! the Cat took a dump in
> my cup!" Over time though an extroadarny thing happend, I began to
> enjoy it. The guy that did the Kuro5hin article was right, it really
> is a very organic nice tea and I have become hooked. Now Pu-Erh
> enjoyes second fiddle to my beloved Earl Grey in the cabinet.
>
> anyway, if your still with me here are my question....
>
> -Has anyone found a good caffeinated keep you awake for hours tea?
> With the Pu-Erh i've discovered the caffeine content can be be pretty
> good but I usually have to drink quite a bit before I really gets me
> going. I'm looking for a tea that I can brew a mug of and work like
> crazy through the rest of the night. This might be a bit much to ask
> of a single mug buut I know there are teas out there that will keep you
> going better than cowboy coffee...
>
> -What about a good green tea? My wife remebers going to Japan and
> drinking green tea all the time. She says she just can't drink green
> tea here in the Us because it tastes like crud. Any suggestions on a
> good powered green tea that will produce a slightly sweet frothy thick
> cup?
>
> Iv'e been very happy with Upton both in their shipping and
> responsiveness so if you have any suggestions that upton would stock I
> would be greatful. Although i've been interested in trying Adigo teas
> as well.
>
> Thanks again,
> Justin KL1RL
> Fairbanks, AK
>

On 2005-03-05 21:17:21 -0900, "Falky foo" > said:

> nice post! no cup of tea, AFAIK, is going to give you a kick like coffee.
> I could be wrong though. Here in CA we used to have caffeinated bottled
> water that just tasted like water.. a buddy of mine used to make coffee with
> it and claimed the resulting brew was better than crystal meth. Wonder
> whatever happened to him..

He's that guy you see sitting out front of the grocery store begging
for spare change in order to buy more coffee. Caffeine kills man, just
look at the number of road deaths this year alone!

>
> And, I don't know if anybody else is like this, but tea is like a slow ramp
> up in the caffeine kick whereas coffee hits me fast. Tea can energize me
> hours after drinking it.

I don't know. I know that ive had some teas that have kept me going
for hours and hours while coffee seems to kick me up way to much and
drop me like a stone. Tea seems to be the diesel fuel of caffeinated
beverages. Takes a bit to get started but keeps you going for a long
time.

Justin

On Sun, 06 Mar 2005 05:19:50 GMT
Justin > wrote:


> -Has anyone found a good caffeinated keep you awake for hours tea?
> With the Pu-Erh i've discovered the caffeine content can be be pretty
> good but I usually have to drink quite a bit before I really gets me
> going. I'm looking for a tea that I can brew a mug of and work like
> crazy through the rest of the night. This might be a bit much to ask
> of a single mug buut I know there are teas out there that will keep you
> going better than cowboy coffee...


Ahh, a geek like myself, I presume?

You might find this interesting:

http://freshmeat.net/projects/rth/

>
> Ahh, a geek like myself, I presume?
> You might find this interesting:
> http://freshmeat.net/projects/rth/

Uhh...no, not really I just code from time to time. And i'm also a EE
major, and a ham radio nut. Umm...well...you ever wish you could live
on only 2 hours of sleep a night? Or, finding you want about another 3
hours between 12:00am and 03:00? How about direct neural to texinfo
interface?


Justin

On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 04:51:20 GMT
Justin > wrote:

> >
> > Ahh, a geek like myself, I presume?
> > You might find this interesting:
> > http://freshmeat.net/projects/rth/
>
> Uhh...no, not really I just code from time to time. And i'm also a EE
> major, and a ham radio nut. Umm...well...you ever wish you could live
> on only 2 hours of sleep a night? Or, finding you want about another 3
> hours between 12:00am and 03:00? How about direct neural to texinfo
> interface?


Ah, one of you hardware guys.

I used to work for a guy who only slept 2 hours a night. His crutch was
chocolate. lots of it. and somehow had a metabolism that let him get away
with it.

Screw texinfo, I should be able to render directly to postscript.

Seriously, though, it's the Russian Tea HowTo, written by a russian
hacker. Explains the russian traditions of tea-making in a technical way.
Interesting stuff.

"Eric Jorgensen" > wrote in message
news:20050306220616.6ed378ae@wafer...
>
> I used to work for a guy who only slept 2 hours a night. His crutch was
> chocolate. lots of it. and somehow had a metabolism that let him get away
> with it.

Chocolate has caffeine, too, about 25 mg per bittersweet oz. or 6-11 mg per
milk chocolate oz compared to 4-20 mg per fl oz of brewed drip coffee and
2-14 mg per fl oz of tea:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine.

--
~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi but not in email.
Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.

"Justin" > wrote in message
news:2005030520193520267%zorton@jtancom...
<snip>
> Hello rec.food.drink.tea, my name is Justin and i'm a tea addict.

HI, JUSTIN!

> After I caught fire to the electric tea kettle...

Dang!

> However,
> when we moved back into the interior of Alaska and i began to drink
> more and more loose leaf tea they lost all patience for me. "You and
> your stupid tea" one would say as I dragged them from store to store
> looking for decent tea.

Tch, tch! No spirit of adventure?


> I ordered Pu-erh from upton

Which one?

> Tasted like the bottom of a rabbit cage on a moist morning!

I got the ZH25 and thought it quite good.

> -Has anyone found a good caffeinated keep you awake for hours tea?
> With the Pu-Erh i've discovered the caffeine content can be be pretty
> good but I usually have to drink quite a bit before I really gets me
> going. I'm looking for a tea that I can brew a mug of and work like
> crazy through the rest of the night. This might be a bit much to ask
> of a single mug buut I know there are teas out there that will keep you
> going better than cowboy coffee...

I've read that new tea leaves contain less caffeine than older, large tea
leaves and that green contains less than black, but according to Upton, that
isn't the case:

http://www.uptontea.com/index.asp?ho...ion/INFOhealth

or, http://tinyurl.com/4hu9f.

> -What about a good green tea? My wife remebers going to Japan and
> drinking green tea all the time. She says she just can't drink green
> tea here in the Us because it tastes like crud. Any suggestions on a
> good powered green tea that will produce a slightly sweet frothy thick
> cup?

"powered"? "frothy thick"?

Sounds like she wants matcha, a Japanese tea - powdered Gyokuro, and has
been getting Chinese or other green teas that aren't powdered and aren't
sweet. Check out Upton's TJ80, TJ85, and TJ90.

For a sweet Chinese green, I like ZG32 Green Dew Gunpowder and ZG71 Lung
Ching.

--
~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi but not in email.
Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.

On Mon, 7 Mar 2005 13:52:01 -0600
"Bluesea" > wrote:

>
> "Eric Jorgensen" > wrote in message
> news:20050306220616.6ed378ae@wafer...
> >
> > I used to work for a guy who only slept 2 hours a night. His crutch
> > was
> > chocolate. lots of it. and somehow had a metabolism that let him get
> > away with it.
>
> Chocolate has caffeine, too, about 25 mg per bittersweet oz. or 6-11 mg
> per milk chocolate oz compared to 4-20 mg per fl oz of brewed drip coffee
> and 2-14 mg per fl oz of tea:


Yes, but it's the theobromine that gets you. Same family, different
structure, slightly different action.

"Eric Jorgensen" > wrote in message
news:20050307133757.1be18af5@wafer...
> On Mon, 7 Mar 2005 13:52:01 -0600
> "Bluesea" > wrote:
> >
> > "Eric Jorgensen" > wrote in message
> > news:20050306220616.6ed378ae@wafer...
> > >
> > > I used to work for a guy who only slept 2 hours a night. His crutch
> > > was
> > > chocolate. lots of it. and somehow had a metabolism that let him get
> > > away with it.
> >
> > Chocolate has caffeine, too, about 25 mg per bittersweet oz. or 6-11 mg
> > per milk chocolate oz compared to 4-20 mg per fl oz of brewed drip
coffee
> > and 2-14 mg per fl oz of tea:
>
> Yes, but it's the theobromine that gets you. Same family, different
> structure, slightly different action.

Why not the caffeine? Actually, I think it's both.

--
~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi but not in email.
Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.

On Mon, 7 Mar 2005 15:12:29 -0600
"Bluesea" > wrote:

>
> "Eric Jorgensen" > wrote in message
> news:20050307133757.1be18af5@wafer...
> > On Mon, 7 Mar 2005 13:52:01 -0600
> > "Bluesea" > wrote:
> > >
> > > "Eric Jorgensen" > wrote in message
> > > news:20050306220616.6ed378ae@wafer...
> > > >
> > > > I used to work for a guy who only slept 2 hours a night. His
> > > > crutch was
> > > > chocolate. lots of it. and somehow had a metabolism that let him
> > > > get away with it.
> > >
> > > Chocolate has caffeine, too, about 25 mg per bittersweet oz. or 6-11
> > > mg per milk chocolate oz compared to 4-20 mg per fl oz of brewed drip
> coffee
> > > and 2-14 mg per fl oz of tea:
> >
> > Yes, but it's the theobromine that gets you. Same family, different
> > structure, slightly different action.
>
> Why not the caffeine? Actually, I think it's both.


Because there's 12 to 15 times as much theobromine in chocolate than
caffeine.

"Eric Jorgensen" > wrote in message
news:20050307142431.0bd808f4@wafer...
>
> Because there's 12 to 15 times as much theobromine in chocolate than
> caffeine.

I see.

--
~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi but not in email.
Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.

>
>> I ordered Pu-erh from upton
>
> Which one?

The latest ones i've enjoyed is ZH30. Portable tea I call it, quick
and easy to make, don't have to worry about over steeping it. I can
just throw it into a thermos in the morning and rush out the door.
>
> "powered"? "frothy thick"?
>
> Sounds like she wants matcha, a Japanese tea - powdered Gyokuro, and has
> been getting Chinese or other green teas that aren't powdered and aren't
> sweet. Check out Upton's TJ80, TJ85, and TJ90.
>
> For a sweet Chinese green, I like ZG32 Green Dew Gunpowder and ZG71 Lung
> Ching.

I'll check out a sample next time I do an order

Thanks,
Justin