One of the best sites out there that maybe a lot of people haven't heard about is called Steepster, which is a social network for tea enthusiasts. Think of a sort of Facebook for tea lovers. While it's not as fleshed out as Facebook in terms of features like sharing photos, general wall posting back and forth, gaming, etc, that's obviously a conscious decision by the site runners and a good one, IMHO.

A site such as Steepster after all should focus on the one thing it does, which is bring together tea lovers, give us a place to post our thoughts on teas, comment back and forth on those specific things, and that's about it. That's pretty much all we need. And Steepster does it pretty darn well.

That said, they have been steadily rolling out new features over the past year, like a discussion area, private messages, cool contests, and I'm sure a lot more to come. If you're a tea lover, I think it's a must have on your bookmark list. I know I've discovered quite a few new varieties of tea there, found a few good deals from tea sites, and made more than a few new friends.

By the way, I'm at steepster.com/jrking if you want to become my friend.

I just received a comment on a post that got me to thinking about something I hadn't thought a lot about before. As a tea enthusiast, I have drank a lot of flavored teas over the years. Now, setting aside the debate on whether teas should be flavored or not, the question the commenter brought up was the reverse question:

Rather than having my tea flavored with something, how would I like something else flavored with tea? For example, rather than mint flavored tea, how about tea flavored mints?

To be honest, it's not something I'd ever thought about, a lot. I have seen and been a little curious about some recipes I've run across in the past. Like perhaps a chicken baked in tea leaves, or Maeda'en's awesome looking green tea ice cream.

As for the specific question asked (thanks Chocolate Blush) on perhaps mints, or chocolates with tea flavoring... as they seem to suggest in their own comment (and I would agree), it seems to me that coffee for some reason to be a better pairing with this type of taste. Although I am not averse to giving it a try, and if anyone comes up with something, feel free to fill out the contact form at the top of this page, shoot me an email and I'll be glad to review some samples for you!

A quick Google search turns up a few pages with recipes for cooking with tea, including this nice article on the Teamuse site from a few years ago. It seems there's quite a tradition of cooking with tea, and one that I might have to get on board with if I am to call myself a true tea enthusiast.

The only problem is... I'm not much of a cook.

Just a quick post to highlight some of the social networks/sites I use:

• Twitter - @rubofthegreen
• Facebook - Rub of the Green page
• Facebook - my personal page
• Steepster - Facebook for tea enthusiasts
• Youtube - random videos that don't make a lot of sense to anyone but me. Sometimes I do post videos of my golfing exploits, and plan on more in the future.
• Digg - I don't digg much, but I am a member.
• Flickr - similar to Youtube, most of the pics here don't make a lot of sense to anyone but me.
• Friendfeed - I honestly don't use this site that much.
• LinkedIn - again, don't use it a lot.
• Posterous - this is where I post random things that don't fit into any other categories. Just random links and videos I run across while surfing the web.

Feel free to friend me up on any of the pages above. I love meeting new friends!

Okay, not really, but I had to come up with something after my last post title. For the most part it has been determined that Ancient Egyptians mostly preferred a form of beer called "Hqt". In fact, the modern way we brew beer may have originated there. Apparently pretty much everyone drank it, from adults to children, poor to wealthy... even the workers who built the ancient pyramids were fed beer three times daily as part of their rations.

But there is also evidence that Ancient Egyptians did prepare drinks in the way that we prepare tea today, in the form of the herb chamomile (still popular today amongst the world of tea) and also from a plant known as Catha edulis. Apparently, "the ancient Egyptians considered Catha edulis to be a most sacred plant, a "divine food" like royal jelly to bees, capable of releasing humanities nascent divinity."

With common names such as Abyssinian tea, African tea, Arabian tea and Bushman's tea, there can be no doubt that one of the ways the Egyptians prefer(red) to prepare the leaf is as we would a true tea. That said, it appears to have quite a different effect, including "excitation and increased motor activity, being wakeful, talkative, energized and cheerful are some of the feelings that users describe. A sense of exaltation, of being outside the sphere of space and time. Approximately 30 % of the people who use Khat (Catha edulis) experience sleepiness as opposed to excitation. Larger doses can lead to boisterousness and aggressiveness. Initial effects of ingestion can be a little disconcerting, including dizziness, increased heart rate and possibly mild stomach pain. The less pleasant feeling soon subside, and gently merge into a sense of bliss and euphoria, boundless energy and clarity of mind."

I think I'll just stick with the Chamomile.