Hungry for something different? Got some leftover tea? Why not try cooking with your tea?

Gotta whole lot of extra tea? Why not use it on your lawn?

How about a few more excellent ideas for tea recipes?

If you love tea so much you’d considered taking a job as a tea taster, you’d better hurry.

The machines really seem to be taking over!

How to roll your own herbal teas.

Feeling really adventurous? How about rolling your own kombucha?

Tea stains happen. Here’s how to fight them.

That should keep you busy for awhile…

For this first installment, I’ll begin with green teas, since they tend to be the most popular overall. But, don’t worry; I plan to clue you in on the best white tea and black tea.

So, without further ado, I present the top-rated green teas as determined by individual consumer reviews.

From Teavana:

This is one of those standbys I mentioned before. Reviewers tend to enjoy it for its light, smooth flavor profile. This is a good recommendation for those who want the benefits of drinking green tea, but are turned off by the stronger vegetal tones in some green teas.

Fruta Bomba — you have to love that name! This is a wonderful, fruity tea that combines green and rooibos tea — a great health 1, 2 punch — with succulent peach and papaya fruits. Overall, a very refreshing summer tea.

Dao Ren is an organic Chinese green tea of exceptional quality. The flavor is buttery and nutty without being too heavy or intense. A slight citrus note adds complexity.

This page is starting to look delicious!

Moving on…

From Adagio:

Citron green is a light, lively green tea that is perfect for summer. Some have described it as “liquid Fruit Loops”. Hard to go wrong with that!

From The Might Leaf:

Vibrance Green Tea is an invigorating, minty brew. A moderately priced tea, it is a good choice for a morning eye-opener or as an after dinner dessert tea.

Gyokuro Green Tea

This is tea perfection. Gyokuro is the highest quality green tea you can buy. The flavor is sublime, just expect to pay for it.

Seattle’s Post Intelligencer has six great ways to de-stress. Bet you can guess one of them.

Maybe all that de-stressing is why tea seems to lower the risk of stroke.

Uh, on second thought this might cause some tea-drinkers distress.

Ok, so you’ve got stinky feet. Eeek! Better take care of that! Well what tea is best for foot odor?

New research suggests the weight loss benefits of green tea are enhanced when combined with this supplement.

Chowhound asks “Where can the best leaves in LA be found?”

Curious which tea is best for diabetics?

Got that? Good. Don’t forget. Or, how to never forget who takes what with their what.

In Japan, you never have to decide between Coke and Tea. America is truly slipping behind — or sipping behind. Er, nevermind.

On a completely different subject, eh-hum; you may soon be using a green-tea-based vaginal gel to fight HIV.

I think I’ll quit there for now.

Cheers!

Speaking of buzz, how do you crack down on violent pub goers at last call? By playing classical music and handing out biscuits and hot tea of course.

Tea Social. I haven’t explored this yet, but there is a new social network for tea lovers called Entitea.

The Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa is seeking volunteers to study whether tea compounds can prevent prostate cancer.

It is said this ‘tea’ has antioxidant properties 50 times greater than green tea; that it helps alleviate eczema, hay fever, stomach cramps, and depression. Curious? Meet Rooibos.

OK, this is the reason you should always drink tea with the lights on.

Even tea is not safe from price bubbles. Apparently, the Pu’er tea market has collapsed.

I not sure why you would want to do this, but tea and yogurt make a healthy match.

Amanzi Tea offering free natural ‘flu shots’ to turn your immune system’s T cells into ‘Hulk Cells.’

Do you know you Presidential tea history?

He can literally taste in a cup whether it rained yesterday. Meet the man who sips 1,000 cups of tea a day.

Protecting your Teath.

Where can you get a good cuppa in New York?

Do no evil, huh? Google has gone too far this time.

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The leaves are small, black, and tightly twisted. Their aroma is fruity and slightly reminiscent of fresh currants. I expected this might be overwhelming or even artificial tasting given the strength of their scent, but instead the flavor was well balanced and natural. In fact, the flavor of fruit is really secondary to the feeling of sweet creaminess in the mouth. It feels a bit like having just eaten a butterscotch candy. Even the color of the liquor reminds me of the candy.

For most people, it will likely not be bold enough as a breakfast tea, but as an afternoon or after dinner tea, it is superb. I would highly recommend this as an introductory tea to someone just beginning to explore the world of tea.

Marco Polo can be purchased directly from Mariage Freres online, or can be located in Williams Sonoma stores nationally.

Do you know your oolongs?

Do you really love tea? How about spending your next vacation at a Indian tea plantation? Or, there is always Sri Lanka.

Dr. Oz answers the question: does decaffeinated tea lose its health benefits?

China auctions off the world’s largest tea brick.

Carter had peanuts. Reagan had jelly beans. Obama has Black Forest Berry Tea.

China ups imports of English tea. Blur frontman Damon Albarn probably not too happy about that.

Starbucks can’t be too far behind, as Indian tea drinkers start to turn to coffee. Too late. Or not.

The first tea I sampled was dubbed “Tankha.” Tankha is an unusual tea for a number of reasons; it is a oolong from Darjeeling, and it is a very light-bodied oolong. Historically, oolong teas are sourced from China, but recently India has focused on producing higher quality local oolongs.

The first thing I noticed on opening the pouch was the pronounced muscat grape aroma. This is a unique flavor found in Darjeelings, and is unmistakable. The leaves fairly long and twisted with a mixture of browns and the occassional green.

The liquor is light and golden. The taste is also light with an slight floral sweetness. I also detected a distinct hint of woodiness. It is only slightly astringent.

Overall, I am a big fan of this tea. It is complex and pleasing at a very affordable price. If you do pick some up, I suggest you not brew it above the recommend 180 degrees as this tends to blunt the flavor profile.

This is great news as it proves once again that tea is a excellent anti-inflammatory and has dramatic health effects in as quickly as three weeks.

It doesn’t make a lot of sense.

A 16oz. sports drink has roughly 100 calories. For a 130 lb. person, that equates to 20 minutes on the treadmill.

There is a better choice.

Sugar-free green tea has no calories, and studies show it can burn an additional 17% more fat during a 30 minute workout. That’s like extra minutes with no extra work.

And don’t forget the other health benefits of tea.

So, forget what the commercials say; the real power drink is tea!

As I got older, I occasionally considered having one put in our house. I am glad now I never did. It seems that these in-sink dispensers have a horrible habit of breaking down after a couple years. I was disappointed as it seemed my dream of instant hot water would never be realized.

Fortunately, this tale has a happy ending.

I recently discovered the Zojirushi dispensing pot. About the size of a small toaster, this pot holds four liters of water, which is plenty — even for a large family. What makes it even better than in-sink dispensers is that it can maintain water at one of three temperature settings: 175, 195, or 208 degrees. Each setting is designed specifically to be ideal for white/green, black, and herbal teas. Switching between the temperatures is straightforward, only requiring the push of one button. If you drink a mix of teas, I would suggest keeping the water at 175 and increase it as needed. The pot boils water much more quickly than it allows it to cool. Going from 175 to 208 takes just a few minutes.

Dispensing the water requires pushing two buttons: unlock and dispense. I have already found the unlock button to be an essential safety feature, as my 4 year-old son apparently shares my fascination with hot water devices.

The pot also includes a window that allows you to see how much water is remaining. When you do need to refill the pot, it automatically boils the water after closing the lid, and then drops to the specified temperature.

Zojirushi also included a water dechlorination and descaling feature. I’m not sure water sort of voodoo-water-magic is involved, but it is a nice feature.

My only two complaints with the device are that it could be more attractive, and the way the cord plugs in the back of the unit is odd. Instead of inserting the cord into the pot, the cord is magnetically attached. My guess is that this is a safety feature in case the pot ever falls off a counter.

Overall, I am thrilled with the pot. If you are serious about drinking more tea — and given the health effects of tea — you should be, you should really consider buying the Zojirushi pot.