Last night the gaijin girls (smart, adventurous ages 8 and 12) and I attended our first tea tasting together. The New Mexico Tea Company is located on the northeast corner of Mountain and 12th. The owner, David, hosts these weekly tastings, which take about an hour and a half, and are free. You call him to sign up in advance; there's only 6 spaces at each. The summary: you'll have a good time and get some education in a wholly snob-free environment.
Product
We tasted several teas--white, flavored white, green, flavored green, oolongs, smoked and blacks, as well as rooibos (not really tea). In addition we experienced the difference between different steepings of the same teas. The choices were diverse and sometimes challenging, and really gave a good cross-section of the possibilities out there. I feel David's prices are reasonable; he only sells bulk tea, priced by the ounce.
David gently busts some myths about the various teas. Many people know that regardless of variety (green, white, whatever), tea comes from only one plant. David explains the difference in processing between the varieties and goes into some of the more exotic means of preparing tea--for example, some jasmine teas are made by placing a tea leaf into a jasmine flower, letting the flower close overnight, and then removing the tea leaf the next morning. Who knew? He also handles questions about caffeine adroitly: "If you are really worried about caffeine content between the different teas," he suggests, "look for something else to drink." Different caffeine levels can be achieved by rinsing the leaves after their first steeping, he explains. And the taste difference between the different steepings (we went to four on a ginseng oolong!) is subtle, nuanced and really interesting.
Environment
It's very friendly and relaxed. Sometimes in life, you meet people who feel that, as experts in their field, it's their job to demonstrate their superior education and then gently guide your tastes in the proper direction. I can't stand that. David approaches the tea as a shared experience that a person should have some fun with. As with wine, my favorite approach is 'try what you want to, explore what you like, and don't go back to what you don't like.' This fits perfectly with the vibe at these tastings.
So What the Hell does ridin Know About Tea?
More than the average bear, actually. Before becoming unemployed and wretchedly poor, I used to work for Yogi Tea in Marketing, and I was exposed (sometimes reluctantly) to several tastings a week. New products and reformulations all had to come through my department for feedback. Staff at the tastings always included hardcore types like the brand manager and the director of marketing--Sikhs who had drunk some tea in their time, let me tell you. I thoroughly enjoyed the tasting at New Mexico Tea and I heartily recommend it! It would make a fun date, including a first date. There really wasn't anything about it I didn't like, and you guys know I can be a bit...um...discerning at times. You'll have fun, you'll learn a thing or two (I did), and you'll expand your taste buds' consciousness. Without busting your wallet's chakras.
New Mexico Tea Company Open 7 days a week from 10am till 6pm Located on the corner of Mountain and 12th street in downtown Albuquerque. Phone: 505-962-2137
Also on the northeast corner of
Mountain and 12th, New Mexico Tea
Company’s owner, David Edwards,
not only brings teas from around the
world into one location but also offers
handmade soaps from Taos, paintings
by local artists, unique teapots,
Japanese incense, saggar-fired incense
bowls made in Carrizozo, free tea
tastings and classes with a Chinese
tea master. 10 AM-6 PM, every day;
It's important that Virgos comfort themselves after long, über-productive days. These "fortune teas" are wrapped in beautifully folded origami paper, which can be hung as ornaments. Inside, there's an affirming fortune and a flowering tea. White, green or black tea leaves are sewn into a ball that, with hot water, "blooms" into a beautiful tea flower. The tea flower makes up to three pots or can be displayed as a centerpiece for up to five days.
Stuffed, I walked across the street to the store that supplies Sunshine Café with its robust menu of teas and herbal infusions. New Mexico Tea Company is a small, super-classy storefront owned by 26-year-old entrepreneur David Edwards. I had an absolute blast hanging out and chatting with him about loose-leaf teas, blends and the comparative merits of the new silky pyramid tea bags (turns out they allow more room for tea leaves to expand) versus the old pillow-style dippers.
Edwards is a tea lover’s wet dream—his noggin houses an almost encyclopedic knowledge of everything tea-related.
“All tea comes from the same plant, all four types: black, green, white and oolong,” he said. Then he enlightened me about trendy herbal infusions like Rooibos.
“They’re called tisane [pronounced tee-saan], which means anything that is not tea, like leaves, twigs and berries,” he explained.
Edwards’ collection of teas is quite sophisticated and seems to have something for everyone.
The greens are comprised of gunpowder, sencha, matcha and long ching, the blended greens include Moroccan mint, genmai cha (with the little toasty popped rice kernels), jasmine pearl and a mint-and-lemon gunpowder blend. He carries traditional, pure black teas like lapsang souchong (think deep wood smoke), assam and ceylon, and black blends like Scottish breakfast, huckleberry black, black jasmine cream and Russian caravan.
I purchased an ounce each of jasmine pearl ($5.50), masala chai in sachets (Edwards blends this himself with black pepper, $.65 each) and Casablanca ($3.44), which is my new personal favorite. Casablanca's dueling flavors of green and black teas, infused with mint and bergamot, is spectacular any time of day.
When I asked Edwards if he had any advice to share with newbie tea drinkers, he smiled and said, “Pick a tea you like, and drink a lot of it. It’s really good for you—lots of different antioxidants in both green and black.”
David Edwards is a young entrepreneur who knows more about tea than one man should. It’s a good thing too, because he is the owner of New Mexico Tea Company, located next to FHAB. And while he doesn’t actually serve tea, he will happily show you the proper tea-brewing technique. He too, is enthusiastic about the growth of the area.
“Everyone is interested in the (Mountain Road) area,” Edwards related, “and they care about it. Many (of the owners) live in the area too.”
His passion for tea is catching; so much so that Sunshine, Golden Crown, and the recently-established walk-up coffee shop, Caffe Michelangelo, have begun to carry many varieties of Edwards’ tea. Tea tastings are offered every Saturday at 9a, and Chinese Tea Classes (for $35) are held every Saturday, from 9-11a.
Americans don't have quite the love for tea that the British do. But David Edwards said it is his mission in life to change America, or at least his little part of it, from coffee drinkers to tea drinkers.
Edwards and his mother, Diane Edwards, own and operate New Mexico Tea Co. on Mountain Road near 12th Street. "Tea is so much better for you than coffee," Edwards said. "My goal is to educate people about tea and to make it an everyday kind of beverage."
Edwards admits that convincing Americans to drink more tea is an uphill battle that goes back more than 200 years. He explained the American aversion to tea most likely stems from the Boston Tea Party in which a group of American colonists protested a tax the British had imposed on tea by dumping a shipload of tea into the Boston Harbor. "It's not that they didn't like tea, but they didn't like the tax," he said.
Tea became a British symbol and to differentiate themselves from the British, Americans took to drinking coffee. Now is the time to come back to tea, Edwards said, not only because its different varieties taste better than coffee, but because it is a healthier beverage. Tea is loaded with antioxidants, which help prevent damage to cells.
Edwards said all teas are derived from the same plant. However, consumers need to be aware that some products are not tea at all, such as chamomile and other herbal "teas." "They are very good products, but they aren't tea," he said. The different types of tea come from the different processing of the tea leaves, he said.
One type of tea that Edwards warns against is anything mass produced and packaged in the familiar paper tea bags. The tea in the bag usually comes from different locations, is ground up and put in the bags, which dull the flavor. "Companies do that to have a consistent flavor," Edwards said. "I call it consistently bad."
The New Mexico Tea Co. has more than 50 varieties of tea as well as accessories, such as teapots and strainers. The store also sells a large variety of Japanese and wild crafted incense, a nod to Diane Edwards. "I originally wanted to open an incense store but we decided that probably wouldn't have been too successful," Diane Edwards said.
The tea available at the store is sold in bags, loose or in tins. David Edwards said he sells it in small amounts so customers are able to take a sample home with them. The store opened Nov. 1. Edwards said he has been surprised at the support the store has been given. "There are a lot of tea drinkers and there are more in this neighborhood than we thought there would be," he said.
Edwards said he is working with providing tea to local restaurants— including offering the expertise in preparation. Right now, the store has its loyal customers and Edwards says the number is increasing as word of mouth spreads.
"It's great," he said. "It's not work if I can talk about tea all day."
The crisp little tea shop at 12th and Mountain was too sunny and too new to drive by. Plus, it was open on a Sunday.
And so Sophie and I chatted up the proprietor of Albuquerque's newest tea shop, a visionary guy named David Edwards.
David
opened New Mexico Tea Company about 2 months ago in what real-estate
types are calling "an up-and-coming" part of Albuquerque's downtown.
Indeed,
signs of gentrification are everywhere -- from the numerous art
galleries on Mountain to David's tea shop itself, all spotless and
linear.
Tea snobs may wish for more loose-leaf selections, but the offerings are hardly sparse.
Sophie
and I sipped oolong and rooibos. We lusted after those expando blooming
tea blossoms and some pretty ceramic tea sets. Ultimately, we took home
a pomegranate white tea (Sophie) and a tangerine oolong (me).
I'm
drinking the oolong right now, in fact, and it's pretty darn great,
especially if you mingle it all up in your mouth with a bite of Maya
Gold chocolate from the Coop.
Check out the place for yourself and let us know what you think.
UPDATE:
I drank so much oolong last night that I couldn't fall asleep til 4 AM,
which makes makes me one overly satisfied customer.
The Albuquerque Tribune By Tamara Shope Monday, January 15, 2007
Dinosaurs, sculptures and high-wire bicycles are far from the only cool things to be found on Mountain Road Northwest at the edge of Old Town.
And the street seems to be getting more chic by the minute.Take, for example, New Mexico Tea Company and its ultra-hip owner, David Edwards.
Edwards knows just about everything there is to know about tea, and he's more than happy to share that information. His shop, 1131 Mountain Road N.W., sells nothing but the best varieties - try the blueberry rooibos - as well as high-quality incense, sleek pots and local art. (He'd love it, by the way, if local artists wanted to sell their teapots there, too.)
What he doesn't do is sell the tea by the cup. He wants you to enjoy it all at home.
Last night the gaijin girls (smart, adventurous ages 8 and 12) and I attended our first tea tasting together. The New Mexico Tea Company is located on the northeast corner of Mountain and 12th. The owner, David, hosts these weekly tastings, which take about an hour and a half, and are free. You call him to sign up in advance; there's only 6 spaces at each. The summary: you'll have a good time and get some education in a wholly snob-free environment.
Also on the northeast corner of
Mountain and 12th, New Mexico Tea
Company’s owner, David Edwards,
not only brings teas from around the
world into one location but also offers
handmade soaps from Taos, paintings
by local artists, unique teapots,
Japanese incense, saggar-fired incense
bowls made in Carrizozo, free tea
tastings and classes with a Chinese
tea master. 10 AM-6 PM, every day;
It's important that Virgos comfort themselves after long, über-productive days. These "fortune teas" are wrapped in beautifully folded origami paper, which can be hung as ornaments. Inside, there's an affirming fortune and a flowering tea. White, green or black tea leaves are sewn into a ball that, with hot water, "blooms" into a beautiful tea flower. The tea flower makes up to three pots or can be displayed as a centerpiece for up to five days.
Edwards is a tea lover’s wet dream—his noggin houses an almost encyclopedic knowledge of everything tea-related. 
