I went for a couple of weeks without this holding court on my tea shelf and those two weeks have taught me that I’m not going to be able to let that happen again. I’ve been waking up with black tea in the hiatus, and while I enjoy a good black tea, it just doesn’t cut the mustard for me in the morning. [Where the hell did that saying come from, anyway? I could probably look it up…]
To be honest, it’s probably not entirely fair. Ryokucha is going to hold a special place in my heart for numerous reasons. A big one is because I credit it for being one of the first teas that really woke up my palate. A second one is the fact that it just spikes my energy in such a good way.
When this is combined with the fact that I can’t get enough of its vegetal sweetness with the toasted grainy taste of breakfast cereal and just a splash of creaminess rounding everything together into a little bubble of wake up and smile!
Happy sigh.
Ryokucha for me is the feeling of waking up in bed feeling refreshed after a good night’s sleep. It’s stretching out under the coolness of the sheets and the heavy fluffiness of the comforter and being ready to tackle the day.
And now, bonus. I hope that someday we’ll be able to review teaware and such things so that I don’t have to keep hiding these little things in my reviews and hoping that you Steepsterites stumble upon it, but in a recent order I picked up Samovar’s new travel tumbler. http://bit.ly/9SRrJt
I love it. I love it more than I was expecting to. It’s double-walled, so that the outside doesn’t burn your hand, the lid screws down to prevent leakage and keep things hot. And let me tell you guys – I drank some Ryokucha this morning as I was getting ready for class and set aside a second steep in this tumbler so I could take some to class. And then I realized that I left it on my desk when I got to the building. [It was one of those mornings.] Well, I got home and forgot that I had it at my desk, fell asleep because I was exhausted, woke up, had some other tea, did some work, and then had to get ready for physics. As I was getting ready to leave, I then remembered the tumbler. After half a second of debating whether I should bring it, I nipped downstairs and grabbed it, figuring I just wouldn’t drink anything caffeinated when I got home.
It was still hot. Not room temperature warm, definitely not cooled, but that nice drinkable temperature that’s levitating between hot and lukewarm. And did I mention that this was eight hours later? Eight hours later.
Tonight, I’m going to do an experiment. I’m going to make some Ryokucha before I go to bed and leave it in the tumbler and have it on my nightstand for the morning and see how it goes, because if this means that non-functional-me can have hot tea in the morning without having to do crap… FEAR ME, MORNINGTIME.
[All right, I looked up “cut the mustard,” and it appears that no one knows for sure. First literary reference was back in 1902. The more popular theories are that it either alludes to an old cowboy saying or the fact that mustard seed is very difficult to cut.]
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Here’s to hoping your Ryokucha is drinkably warm and your morning is awesome!
Excellent! I am digging my vacuum-lid travel tumbler that I got when that Teafrog thing was the select, but…it’s hard to go wrong with more access to tea. Gonna be curious to see if it…well…cuts the mustard, overnight.
Yeahhh, I’m definitely thinking of investing in a travel tumbler for work. I tend to drink my tea in the afternoon at work, so it’d be nice to have it still warm by the time I got to it.
Also, did you have to shake the Ryokucha, tak? Did all the matcha settle out?
ok wrong comment, deleted, let’s do the right one this time…..wow 8 hours?!?! i can’t wait to see how this test goes as i am always in a rush in the AM
That’s the one I have. Mine’s the Nissan unbranded one. It does a great job and holds it hot, but my only complaint was the plastic retained the smell of your tea. I stopped using the drinking lid and I just uncap the whole thing now when I drink it.
Okay, stupid sleep coma induced question, but do you steep your tea in the mug leaving the leaves in overnight, or just pour your tea in once steeped, or just remove the leaves? (sititng here thinking 8 hours is a REALLY long steep!). Don’t mind my mind fog this morning!
Yes, mustard seed would be very difficult to cut, but why in the world would anyone want to do so? It can be crushed relatively easily if that’s your aim. Perfect half-mustard-seeds just don’t seem like a goal worthy of an idiom.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/cut-the-mustard.html
Some good thoughts there, but nothing conclusive. Just thought I would chime in.
Success! I even slept a little bit longer this morning [like 9.5 hours; I was exhausted] and it was still pleasantly warm, so this is how I’m rocking from now on. EXCELLENT.
@Meghann M Thank you! And I steep it in the tumbler and then remove the leaves. They have a little basket strainer that the tumbler comes with, but I’ve discovered that my Finum basket fits in it perfectly and it’s much finer, so I use it. I can’t imagine what 8-hour-steeped anything would taste like. Not good, I think!
@sophistre Ah, the JoeMo thing? [Is that right? Am I making that up?] Carolyn really likes hers. I meant to check it out. Also, thanks for the link. I guess the world will never know for sure. I’ll file it in my brain under how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop.
@teaplz Nope. I actually enjoy drinking a lot of it at the end. I like that grainy, powdery, gritty texture. I was kind of afraid it would get stuck on the lid or on the sides of the tumbler, but I opened it up to check when I was done and it was virtually matcha-less.
@AmazonV It’s seriously worth a look. I love it, though I haven’t had it for long so I can’t vouch for its longevity yet.
@Ricky Good to know. I’ll watch out for that.
@mlc Good point, though I find it questionable as to why people feel the need to do or focus on so many other things, too. Cutting mustard seeds ultimately doesn’t seem quite so bizarre.
Wow that is brilliant. I have considered a Teasmade for a while, but ready-made and brewed tea would be even better really. My Dad used a Teasmade and it was his little routine to have tea with a Kitkat in bed every morning. I’d love to do something like that one day. When I’m a grown-up (I love using that phrase even though I’m too old for it really) I’ll do that and so many other things
Here’s to hoping your Ryokucha is drinkably warm and your morning is awesome!
Excellent! I am digging my vacuum-lid travel tumbler that I got when that Teafrog thing was the select, but…it’s hard to go wrong with more access to tea. Gonna be curious to see if it…well…cuts the mustard, overnight.
Yeahhh, I’m definitely thinking of investing in a travel tumbler for work. I tend to drink my tea in the afternoon at work, so it’d be nice to have it still warm by the time I got to it.
Also, did you have to shake the Ryokucha, tak? Did all the matcha settle out?
ok wrong comment, deleted, let’s do the right one this time…..wow 8 hours?!?! i can’t wait to see how this test goes as i am always in a rush in the AM
That’s the one I have. Mine’s the Nissan unbranded one. It does a great job and holds it hot, but my only complaint was the plastic retained the smell of your tea. I stopped using the drinking lid and I just uncap the whole thing now when I drink it.
Okay, stupid sleep coma induced question, but do you steep your tea in the mug leaving the leaves in overnight, or just pour your tea in once steeped, or just remove the leaves? (sititng here thinking 8 hours is a REALLY long steep!). Don’t mind my mind fog this morning!
Yes, mustard seed would be very difficult to cut, but why in the world would anyone want to do so? It can be crushed relatively easily if that’s your aim. Perfect half-mustard-seeds just don’t seem like a goal worthy of an idiom.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/cut-the-mustard.html
Some good thoughts there, but nothing conclusive. Just thought I would chime in.
Success! I even slept a little bit longer this morning [like 9.5 hours; I was exhausted] and it was still pleasantly warm, so this is how I’m rocking from now on. EXCELLENT.
@Meghann M Thank you! And I steep it in the tumbler and then remove the leaves. They have a little basket strainer that the tumbler comes with, but I’ve discovered that my Finum basket fits in it perfectly and it’s much finer, so I use it. I can’t imagine what 8-hour-steeped anything would taste like. Not good, I think!
@sophistre Ah, the JoeMo thing? [Is that right? Am I making that up?] Carolyn really likes hers. I meant to check it out. Also, thanks for the link. I guess the world will never know for sure. I’ll file it in my brain under how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop.
@teaplz Nope. I actually enjoy drinking a lot of it at the end. I like that grainy, powdery, gritty texture. I was kind of afraid it would get stuck on the lid or on the sides of the tumbler, but I opened it up to check when I was done and it was virtually matcha-less.
@AmazonV It’s seriously worth a look. I love it, though I haven’t had it for long so I can’t vouch for its longevity yet.
@Ricky Good to know. I’ll watch out for that.
@mlc Good point, though I find it questionable as to why people feel the need to do or focus on so many other things, too. Cutting mustard seeds ultimately doesn’t seem quite so bizarre.
Wow that is brilliant. I have considered a Teasmade for a while, but ready-made and brewed tea would be even better really. My Dad used a Teasmade and it was his little routine to have tea with a Kitkat in bed every morning. I’d love to do something like that one day. When I’m a grown-up (I love using that phrase even though I’m too old for it really) I’ll do that and so many other things