Small Business Spotlight: Tea Curious Water

I’m excited to share this next spotlight with you ! Rie, from Tea Curious is another wonderful tea person that I’ve connected with over instagram that has greatly impacted my tea journey. Nowadays, I think most of the discussion happens on discord but I remember watching many live videos on instagram of Rie asking the important tea questions that I didn’t always ask. These live videos always made me curious to experiment and enjoy tea the way I thought it tasted best. Rie and Steven have taken their Tea Curiosity to water and after years of experimenting are elevating our water experience! Water is so important to all aspects of life and tea is one of those things. Their innovative tea recipes can change your tea time and inspire your own curiosity. As I’ve always expressed, experimentation when drinking tea is so fun and also important !

Learn more about Rie & Steven and what they’re doing with Tea Curious Water!

Can you introduce yourself and Tea Curious Water?

Hey, we're Rie and Steven! We're professional tea nerds at Tea Curious, and we help people study tea through our online community and tea courses, workshops, and tours. And now we get to develop tools like Tea Curious Water, which has been a blast.

I actually met Steven while hosting a workshop here in Las Vegas, so we know first hand how much joy and connection can come from tea. And we work really hard to share that.

Anyway, Tea Curious Water is a tool for tea brewers who want more control and confidence when they make tea. It's basically a mineral concentrate -- you put a few drops in your kettle with purified water, and voila! You've made your own ideal brewing water.

This is important since certain waters can degrade the flavor compounds in tea. Just ask anyone who's ever had to brew tea with hard water, or see the difference for yourself:

You can imagine the difference in flavor, haha. There are two recipes:

• Original, which brings out more of the bright and zesty notes found naturally in tea (it's also amazing with old tree tea), and

• Autumn, which makes things nice and smooth, with a round sweetness, awesome for darker teas.

What first got you interested in experimenting with your tea water?

Oh yeah, when I was first getting into tea... You know how you sometimes order a whole bunch of tea samples because the tasting notes sound awesome? And then when you finally get to brew the teas at home, you can't really pick out the flavors they were talking about in the tea?

That happened to me when I mass-ordered a bunch of teas to try, haha, and when that happens, you don't know if there's a problem with you, or the tea, or the vendor. It was really frustrating, thinking I was doing something wrong even if I'd put in so much effort to brew the tea right.

Eventually I heard through the grapevine that water was important for tea, so I picked up a few bottled waters and did some side-by-sides with my teas. And my mind has been blown ever since, haha.

What did the process look like for honing your tea formula?

You know, at first we were really trying to find the Holy Grail, the perfect water for tea that we could share with everyone. But then we learned that just like everything else in tea, there is no one right answer -- it depends on your individual taste, and on the individual tea.

So we started by studying our favorite bottled waters, brands you hear about all the time in tea: Fiji, Poland Spring, Volvic, and so on. Then we'd formulate our own water with the same minerals found in those waters, making sure our DIY water performed just as well as the brands, with the same natural taste.

Then we'd test our water with as many teas as possible to see how it reacted with each tea type, from HK stored sheng to Jun Chiyabari autumn flush to gyokuro. Finally, from there we made tiny adjustments -- 0.01 grams more of a mineral here to take away sourness, or 0.02 grams there to reduce bitterness -- and we'd coerce family and friends into tasting the differences with us, haha.

Altogether it's been 12 years of experimenting with water on and off, and about a year that Steven and I spent almost entirely on water. Lots of late night experiments, lots of research papers, and lottttts of dishes. ;)

What inspired you to create Tea Curious Water?

We want people to be able to experience their teas with as much flavor as possible. Maybe even the flavors that the teamakers intended. Because if a teamaker in Kyoto uses soft water to evaluate their tea, there's a lot getting lost in translation if we taste their tea brewed in the extremely hard water we have here in Vegas. And that's a shame if, at the last moment, after all the tea farmers, tea pickers, teamakers, and tea vendors have put in everything to make a tea great... the ball gets dropped because the water isn't quite right. That's why you'll find a lot of tea shops and serious tea practitioners rely on bottled water to keep their teas consistent. We made Tea Curious Water so we could stop relying on wasteful bottled water while still getting excellent results from our teas. No flavor left behind!

Are there any water issues that you want to share about or organizations that you find are doing good work to help with water issues?

Absolutely, since as you work with water in tea, you'll inevitably grow your relationship with water in a bigger way too. We should care about the water we use for tea, and we should care about these pressing water issues by listening to people on the front lines and taking action as directed by them.

For example, there's Emma Robbins from Navajo Water Project and The Chapter House, who talks about Indigenous water rights and the treaties broken by the US government, so that today 1 in 3 Navajo homes is without running water.

And the People of Red Mountain Paiute & Shoshone who are protesting a lithium mine in Northern Nevada that would use 7 billion liters of water a year in one of the driest regions in the nation. We also appreciate organizations like Waves4Water, and try to make sure to read not just the materials put out by the international admins, but what the people on the ground are saying, the local leaders like Jenica Dizon who work in their local communities and for whom the work is solidarity rather than charity.

Water affects every community in different ways though, so I hope people can engage with the water issues that are closest to them and in the way that suits them best. For us, we make monthly contributions through Tea Curious Water to various organizations (inspired by Tea Thoughts!) and that just works for us -- integrating what we love with what we should take responsibility for.

What do you see in the future for Tea Curious Water?

I'd love to see the day where friends from different places could bust out the same tea -- let's say the latest oolong from Mountain Stream Teas -- and then brew that same with the same water, so they could have a really similar tasting experience.

We've been testing this already in small groups and it's been magical to see the tasting notes converge between people thousands of miles away. You get the sense that we're really tasting the same tea, and we can learn together almost like we're in person. It's a really intimate feeling. At the end of the day that's what Tea Curious Water is for -- simply set the stage, then let tea be.

Intuitive Brewing

Let’s talk about brewing tea. More specifically, intuitive brewing. What do I mean by intuitive brewing?

When I use this term I’m referring to the brewing the tea with experimentation and feeling. This isn’t to say that I never follow brewing instructions but mostly when I brew tea, I keep it pretty relaxed and don’t keep to a strict brewing method.

I wanted to share this post with you all because I get a lot of questions about tea and while I do know the answers most of the time and can talk about brewing, I also recognize that there are tons of bloggers and educators out there who can do a better job than I. One site you should definitely check out to learn lots of things about tea from basics to brewing is Nicole from Tea For Me Please! I really like the mix of tea related content on her blog!

There are so many great bloggers our there but a couple others that I really enjoy reading their posts are":

Marco- Steapd Tea

Jenn- Tea Leaves and Tweed

Let’s go over a few things before I get into some of my processes. The majority of the teas I drink (90%) are oolongs, white tea and ripe and raw pu’er. These are all teas that are perfect for gongfu cha style brewing and higher temperatures. Theses are the types of teas I am referring to when I discuss brewing methods.

Before I do anything, I will inspect the dry leaf of a tea. Is it loose? Compact? Dark? Light? Rolled? Green?

These don’t have too much of an impact on how I brew temperature wise but they give me a hint about how long I’ll need to keep each infusion. I also like to guess the brewed tea color or taste based off the look of the leaf and see if I’m right or not!

Boiling water: I know I’m not the only one who does this but this may be frowned upon by some people. For the teas I mentioned above, I always boil the water. Even if a tea specifically says that it should be lower temp I will try it at a lower temp and also try at boiling for comparison.

I find that the majority of these teas, can take the heat. I personally do like stronger tastes so this might be different for you if you don’t feel the same. I find that boiling water can help me see what the tea is made of and can extract some delightful flavors. So in terms of water, this is generally what I use.

Infusion Times: Here is where I get very experimental. Instead of throwing in the leaves and water and setting a timer, I like to get into the moment with my tea. To start, I may measure the tea or eyeball it. When using a gaiwan (my go-to), if I make sure the bottom is covered well in leaves it’s usually a good amount. If I am in for a strong brew I will fill the gaiwan up more.

I will usually try a very short infusion at first to see what the tea is like. like 10 seconds. If you’re new to gonfucha, this isn’t strange but it may feel strange if you’re new. The amount of tea used in such a small vessel allows for a wonderful flavor in multiple, shorter infusions.

After a couple short infusions, I start adding a little time. Sometimes I will count, sometimes I like to just open up the lid of the gaiwan and look at the leaves and the liquor color. Are the leaves expanded? Does the liquor look the color I want it to be? The nice thing about a tea that you can infuse multiple times is that if you don’t get a brew that you like, you can always adjust and try again!

Other aspects: Other things I make sure to do throughout this process is make sure to check on the leaves. Not only is this beautiful but it lets you know how they are holding up. Don’t forget to smell. Smell the dry leaves, wet leaves, lid and bowl! All of these aspects help you feel “closer” to the tea and to me, improves your tasting experience.

Do you have any questions for me? Other topics you want me to discuss? Comment and let me know!

Ways to make your tea time more calming

Sometimes tea time can’t be calm. You need tea but you don’t have time to sit somewhere and have an intentional practice. I’ll still take rushed tea over no tea at all!

When you do make the time for tea though, you want it to be used to the fullest. I think there are some ways that you can make tea time a calm and peaceful time.

One of the most important things you can do for tea time in my opinion is to set the right environment! Having a place where you’re comfortable is key. If it’s a cool day, make sure you’re warm. If it’s sweltering, make sure you’re cool!

I have a quick and simple guide in my shop where I go over some specifics for meTEAtation that I think can be really helpful if you don’t know where to start.

Besides being comfortable, the ambiance of your tea spot can help make tea time better. There are two different things I like to do to achieve this!

The first is good music. I will throw on whatever artists I’ve been into recently and jam out while I drink tea. Some days though, I need to unwind and one easy way for me to do that is to listen to “zen music.” I searched this one time on youtube and there are TONS of videos, some 6 hours long or more! These videos capture nature type sounds or soothing sounds. Have you ever had a massage? You know that calming music they play, that’s the stuff!

Without getting too scientific because this isn’t my area of expertise, music calming you down isn’t a coincidence! The types of music that I found under “zen” when searching youtube have specific sounds and style that can aid in lowering your heart rate, blood pressure and even helping with muscle relaxation. While listening to music we enjoy can also help us be happier and more relaxed sometimes you need the relaxing music !

Here is one of my favorite youtube videos

I also made a short playlist on spotify and will add to it as well!

Another way to bring calm to your tea time is by having fun! There are SO many different ways of doing this but I’ll go over some of the things I like to do. When you engage in some intentional activity during tea time, you’re putting all your attention into that and there is a break from stressful or damaging thoughts. It can be healthy to have temporary escape like this. I think it makes me a generally calmer person and less likely to explode when things go wrong. That’s not to say it NEVER happens ;) but I think since I started more routine and intentional tea practice, my mood is different.

Try a different way of brewing that you’re used to! I only ever knew one type of brewing and then I discovered the world of gongfucha! I always encourage people to try this style of brewing because there are so many elements to it that it can be a ton of fun!

I’ve shared a video below that shows someone brewing in gongfu style. You can see that there are many more elements involved than western brewing style. I think these additional elements make tea time more fun and intentional!

Some items you might see:

-Tea Pets

-Tea Tray

-Smaller tea pots and cups

If you want to get some of these things and don’t know where to start, check out BItterleaf Teas, one of my favorite shops! I also made an amazon list of tools if you want something at a lower price point.

Finally, I want to talk about something that might seem silly but it’s super important to me. Attire! I could never enjoy tea time in something tight or rough.

My ideal tea time is when I can throw on a pair of sweats or leggings, a loose top and either slipper socks or fun socks! These types of clothes engulf my body in comfort and allow me to be more relaxed. I’m also usually less upset if I spill tea on them!

What are some ways you like to make your tea time more relaxing ?!