Confessions of a tea blogger – TAG!

Confessions of a tea bloggerA game of tag for tea bloggers was started by Lu Ann of The Cup of Life.

It consists of answering a list of questions in a blog post, and then tagging other tea bloggers.

By the way, I was tagged by Rachel Carter of iHeart Teas. Thank you Rachel!

1) First, let’s start with how you were introduced & fell in love with the wonderful beverage of tea.

I’ve never liked coffee, and I’m not a big fan of chocolate, so for a hot drink I would usually have a tisane known in Colombia as agua aromática. It consists of different herbs, sometimes it has fruit pieces too. It’s a traditional beverage in Colombia.

In college, I had Japanese friends and even began learning their language. One thing led to another, and I had the opportunity to study in Japan for a year. It was there that I first tasted loose leaf green tea and have loved it ever since.

2) What was the very first tea blend that you ever tried? 

As many others, my first blend probably came from a Lipton teabag. As for flavored tea, it was genmaicha. It’s still one of my favorite teas.

3) When did you start your tea blog & what was your hope for creating it? 

I started my blog in July 2012. I first looked for Japanese tea information online but didn’t find what I was looking for. I then decided to start my own Japanese tea blog and become rich and famous (that part didn’t work) 🙂

4) List one thing most rewarding about your blog & one thing most discouraging. 

The most rewarding thing about my blog is the feedback that I receive from readers, it makes me feel that I’m doing something worthwhile.

The discouraging part is that gaining new readers takes a long time, and producing good content takes a lot of effort.

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I wish that I could one day make some meaningful income in the tea industry. That’s a project that I’m working on right now.

5) What type of tea are you most likely to be caught sipping on?

I’d like to drink matcha daily, but my budget doesn’t allow it. So it’s usually genmaicha and bancha/sencha.

6) Favourite tea latte to indulge in?

Matcha latte, of course!

7) Favourite treat to pair with your tea?

I usually have it with a meal, or by itself. But if I had access to it, I’d love to eat wagashi as a treat with my tea.

8) If there was one place in the World that you could explore the tea culture at, where would it be & why?

Since I blog about Japanese teas, it has to be Japan.

When I was there, I had a lot of tea but didn’t get to visit tea farms and the like.

9) Any tea time rituals you have that you’d like to share?

This isn’t much of a ritual, but what I often do is smell the tea leaves before I brew them. It gets me in the mood for tea drinking.

10) Time of day you enjoy drinking tea the most: Morning, Noon, Night or Anytime?

Anytime is fine. That being said, I always have tea with breakfast. It’s a habit of mine.

11) What’s one thing you wish for tea in the future?

I see that tea is gaining more traction in North America as well as Europe, there are more tea lovers now than ever before. I want South America to join the trend too! I’ll try my best from this part of the world.

— Who do you tag?

I TAG:

Derek from Peony TS
Matt and Griff from The Art of Japanese Tea
Kohei from Tales of Japanese Tea

7 Comments

  1. Griff
    November 19, 2013

    Thank you for the tag! 😀 This sounds like great fun, and I’ll have a post up in a week or so.

    It was a very interesting to know more about your background/goals/experiences as a tea blogger 🙂

    Reply
    1. Ricardo Caicedo
      November 19, 2013

      Looking forward to your post, I also want to know more about both you and Matt.

      Reply
  2. Geoff (Steep Stories)
    November 20, 2013

    Glad to see you joined the tagging fray. I’m surprised to hear that there isn’t much of a tea movement in South America. I mean, Brazil and Argentina make their own sencha, for heaven’s sake.

    Reply
    1. Ricardo Caicedo
      November 20, 2013

      Hi Geoff
      Actually many countries in South America produce tea, the problem is that most of it is used to make bottled iced tea.
      Don’t know about Argentina, but Brazil makes sencha as you say. It’s exported though, so not sure how many Brazilians drink it. One brand that you may find familiar is Yamamotoyama, they have Brazilian sencha too.

      Reply
      1. Geoff (Steep Stories)
        November 23, 2013

        Oh, I’m quite familiar with YTY. They’re the ones that bought the American mega-company Stash. Haven’t seen Brazilian sencha pop up with their Sash YTY sub-brand…yet.

        Guatamala and Bolivia are also two other tea producers. Teas I’ve had from there, though…aren’t so great.

        Reply
  3. Xavier
    November 21, 2013

    It is so nice to read about your story and to know you a little more.

    Reply
    1. Ricardo Caicedo
      November 21, 2013

      Thanks Xavier.
      I read your post too!

      Reply

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