Sometimes we're all in need of an extended tea break, I'll be back

"I like my tea to taste like a stable, my scotch to taste like burning dirt, and my woman to taste like trouble."

~Andy Bothwell, Astronautalis

Morning tea with Frontier Bancha

There is nothing like starting the day with a simple cup of tea. The coffee fanatics are missing out. I never could get into coffee, even in my sleep deprived, stressed out college days. Everything about tea is calm and subtle, zen, the essence of nature. Coffee feels like a rock concert; it's there in your face, purely for the caffeine and adrenaline. Not to say that isn't sometimes what is needed, but there is definitely something to say about tea.

I am drinking Bancha this morning by Frontier. Organic loose leaf I got from my local natural market. I find myself moving away from my previous staple green, Miyako's Sononokaori, to this as my go-to everyday drinker. It's cheap, there isn't a whole lot going on with it, not a lot of complexity on the tongue. It is just a very solid, good green tea. Quite obviously of higher quality than the similarly priced Sononokaori. At $1.35 an ounce in-store I think it will be tough to beat in the bang-for-the-buck factor.

I would really like to get more info about the Frontier tea company, as they seem to be producing an increasing amount of the tea I drink. Perhaps that could be the subject of a future article here.

I am not going to attempt a rating on this tea quiet yet as I've only gone through maybe 4 ounces of the stuff, I will make a rating in a future post. Though if you need some verdict to take away from here, it would be that this is a good tea at a good value.

I am at the bottom of the cup now where you'll find my favorite part of tea, the bottom centimeter. With a melange of tea sediment, earth and dirt, where you get all the flavors of the leaf in one go... and with that I am off to begin the day, slightly more prepared and focused.

The Universe in a Cup

"We had a kettle; we let it leak:
Our not repairing made it worse.
We haven't had any tea for a week...
The bottom is out of the Universe." 

~Rudyard Kipling

I am a tea enthusiast. With this blog, the universe in a cup, I will be posting tea reviews and tasting notes, interesting tea-ware and rituals, as well as a look into the tea industry itself, and maybe the occasional interview.


I have high hopes for this blog. I am not a professional writer so please forgive any mistakes that I may will make.


Stick around, maybe you'll find something interesting.