I was sent on my first Coffeewiz homework assignment - to brew my own cup of loose leaf tea. I am a coffee lover first, but I enjoy a good cup of tea, too. I am going to be trying alot of the products that we carry and capturing video (and our staff, will be trying it too!). I look forward to bringing you behind the scenes here at Coffeewiz, and bringing the staff who makes all the magic happen to YOU.

After watching Yingci brew loose leaf green tea in a Chinese Tea Cup, and putting up the video on the YouTube, I was ready to see if I could do it, too. I never really brewed loose leaf tea from scratch. I've only had green tea if it was brewed in a the Keurig machine, if it was in a tea bag, or at a sushi restaurant (I LOVE sushi!). Well I was going to find out!

I sampled a loose green tea, Jaf Green Tea Gunpowder Tea using a mesh tea ball infuser.

I filled the mesh tea ball infuser about a third full, because I knew that gunpowder tea would swell, and unravel into whole green tea leaves. This tea wasn't a shredded variety.

Now, I enjoy a strong brew and a more woody green flavor to my teas. No sugar. I find that its often watered down at the sushi restaurant, and I'm not sure how it's prepared.

The tea brewing process was fun - it wasn't hard at all, and I felt that the experience of brewing whole leaf tea myself actually made it more enjoyable.

I really enjoyed not only drinking this tea, with its rich green flavor, but I really liked seeing the whole green tea leaves when I poured it out in a plate from the mesh tea ball infuser.

AND, I will tell you that after shooting this video last night, and then going out for sushi dinner, I think I'm going to turn into a tea snob...My tea tasted so much better!

So I give it a definite thumbs up, and am sitting here with another cup of brewed tea at my desk. So, maybe that homework just did turn me into a whole leaf tea convert! :)

Yingqi, our resident tea expert at Coffeewiz, wanted to record this video for you right away, since we got started with social media. She wanted to share with you how easy brewing whole leaf tea can be. She has been enjoying whole leaf tea since childhood, in Shanghai. This is just one way to brew it, but we will be sharing more video with you in the coming weeks.

This Blue Dragon Tea Cup is a simple brewing option, and is available on our website.

Do you brew whole leaf tea or do you prefer tea bags? Have you ever used a Chinese brewing tea cup? Please share your thoughts. Look forward to hearing from you!

Coffeewiz is now on Facebook!

Just this week, Coffeewiz has jumped into the social media conversation, and now you can join us in conversation on our Facebook Fan Page.

The Facebook Fan Page is designed to allow you and your friends/family to share your coffee and tea experiences. Coffeewiz will allow you to share photos (perhaps how you enjoy your favorite brew!), videos (maybe how you brew your favorite cup, or "unpack the magic" of a Coffeewiz delivery!) and your comments.

Coffeewiz also plans to capture photo and video so you can be part of the family behind the scenes here at Coffeewiz.

Your Facebook Fan Page will act as a platform to communicate with fans and will let users of the popular social media network get the latest updates about Coffeewiz including special offers, reviews and photos. You can also add your own reviews and comments.

Please become a Facebook fan on our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/coffeewiz.

You can find us on social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook, and more to come soon!

Please share your thoughts with us on our page, and you can also let us know what you think right here on this blog. We look forward to hearing you!

We know you've been waiting, and our Customer Service Department wanted to send you this update, on out of stock and backordered K-Cups varieties.


Gloria Jean Flavor Variety K-Cups

Gloria Jean Mango Tea K-Cups

Gloria Jean Morning Edition K-Cups

UPDATE: These items will be available to ship with an estimated arrival of February 17.

Green Mountain Hot Cocoa K-Cups

UPDATE: We are unable to fulfill orders for this product at this time, and we just don't know when the manufacturer will be able to ship this product.

The manufacturer is unable to acquire the raw material for cocoa needed to make this product.

STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS:

We are understand and are sorry to keep you waiting! We have asked our staff here at Coffeewiz for recommended substitutes to introduce you to for our K-Cups fans:

Gloria Jean Mango Tea K-Cups: Substitute Jaf Mango Banana Loose Green Tea.

You can be introduced to the wonders of whole leaf tea by brewing this in a cup, using your Keurig machine for its hot water.

-From our Coffeewiz resident tea expert, Yingqi

Gloria Jean Flavor Variety K-Cups: Substitute Celestial Seasonings Tea Sampler K-Cups

A great substitute for the Keurig K-Cups tea fan, this variety pack contains a good variety mix, including green tea, English breakfast tea, Lemon Zinger and Sleepytime Herbal Tea.

Gloria Jean Morning Edition K-Cups: Substitute Coffee People Donut Shop K-Cups

Because fans of the Gloria Jean brand enjoy a medium to dark roast, a comparable substitute would be Coffee People Donut Shop K-Cups, made on the West Coast.

Green Mountain Hot Cocoa K-Cups: Substitute Timothy's White Hot Chocolate K-Cups

Tea Musing: The tea drinker’s cheat sheet
Tea Musings No Comments » I recently reflected on my tea drinking and how much it has evolved over the last few years. There was a time long ago in my shameful past when I thought the low-grade tea dust found in your average tea bag was all that was available to tea drinkers. Now, many years later, after having explored more fully the world that is tea and having reviewed over 300 teas for Teaviews, I realize that one could reasonably spend a lifetime devoted to exploring tea and trying every variety out there. Thus, I also realize that for many people, getting into tea could become overwhelming. Add in the increasing number of tea vendors and you could make yourself dizzy trying to figure out what you want and where to get it from. For that reason, I am briefly summarizing what I consider to be some of the best tea options out there. This summary is intended to provide some suggestions to readers interested in exploring more tea types and making new purchases. What follows is all in my humble opinion, and in no way is an endorsement by Teaviews of any particular tea or retailer. And of course, this is not an all-inclusive list, as I am sure that I will have accidentally omitted a retailer or two.


Expanding your horizons: Once you’ve got the hang of tea and you’ve cleared off some shelf space for a greater variety of tea, there are several tea retailers worth checking out. Specialteas, Teas Etc., David’s Tea, TeaFrog, Teavana and Tea Gschwendner each offer a respectable variety of black, green, oolong, white, herbal, and flavored teas. Many of these routinely offer special discounts, free samples, and/or free shipping on large orders. From my experience, these retailers also offer reasonably priced teas, so that you can order lots of different items, and even if one ends up not being your favorite, you didn’t have to break the bank to buy it, so it’s no huge loss.

Selecting superior teas: Tea is a lot like wine or beer. We’ve all thrown back the $5 bottle of cheapo table wine and thought it tasted just fine. But once you’ve tasted the good stuff, the cheaper, more accessible stuff suddenly becomes a lot less desirable. So if you’re ready to start drinking teas that excel in quality, I would recommend you check out any of the following: Zhi Tea, California Tea House, American Tea House (formerly Le Palais Gourmet), Jing Tea, and Teatulia. Many of these vendors have less variety than other tea retailers, but the products they offer are top of the line. Of course, you can expect prices for some (but not all) of these teas to be a bit higher than prices from other vendors, but the saying “you get what you pay for” often rings true in the world of tea (although I will note that some of the best teas I’ve had were very inexpensive while conversely some rather expensive teas failed to meet my expectations).

Finding your niche: Once you’ve dabbled in black tea, experimented with white tea, de-stressed with herbal teas, and so on, you’ve probably figured out what types of tea best suit you. And to that end, you may be seeking out more offerings of your favorite tea type. Green tea lovers should give Maeda-en a try. If oolong is your thing, be sure to check out Naivetea. Herbal tea lovers will be quite pleased with the offerings from Specialteas and TeaGuys. Flavored teas, particularly original blends, are the strong point of The Necessiteas. Darjeeling lovers need look no further than Thunderbolt tea. Chai lovers can find every imaginable blend at Yogic Chai, but Indonique and Adagio also offer some high-quality chai blends. TeaGschwendner, Zhi, and Mighty Leaf all offer some great takes on white tea.

The Bottom Line
As with almost anything in life, drinking tea can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. If you, like me, have a passion for this stuff, you’ll want to explore every aspect of tea and sample as much as possible. To that end, I hope this little guide has been helpful and perhaps inspired you to purchase a new tea or two.

Vanessa
Teaviews.com Reviewer

* Says deal values Diedrich at $26/shr

* Says deal to enter single-cup coffee mkt

* Deal to help earnings after 2010

* Peet's shares fall 4 pct, Diedrich stock up 23 pct

Nov 2 (Reuters) - Gourmet coffee chain Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc (PEET.O) agreed to buy Diedrich Coffee Inc (DDRX.O) in a $212 million cash-and-stock deal, to enter the fast growing single-cup coffee market.

The deal values Diedrich at $26 a share, a premium of 28 percent over its Monday closing price of $20.36.

Diedrich, a wholesale coffee roaster and distributor, makes and sells K-Cup refills for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc's (GMCR.O) single-cup Keurig brewer system through a licensing agreement.

Under the deal, Peet's will acquire Diedrich's portfolio of brands including Diedrich Coffee, Coffee People and the single-serve rights to the Gloria Jean's coffee brand.

Peet's said it will finance the acquisition through a combination of cash on hand and $140 million of debt financing.

The acquisition, expected to hurt earnings in 2010 and add to profit thereafter, is scheduled to close by the end of 2009.

Shares of Peet's were down 4 percent at $33.18, while those of Diedrich were up 23 percent at $25.14 in trading after the bell. (Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bangalore; Editing by Anne Pallivathuckal)