Since many others here have some sort of website devoted to tea, from
basic to elaborate, I figured - being the computer geek I am - that I
should at least make a showing. So I created "teasphere" at
http://teasphere.wordpress.com/ I'm not really digging Wordpress at all
(very inflexible), so most likely I will end up hosting it myself and
the URL will change... but I did do a quick job of trying to chronicle
my tea journey on the "About Me" page and in the off-chance anyone
cares, it's there.

- Dominic

Hi Dominic:
You always have good information here, so I will read there too. Could
not log in there so here's
a comment about that flavored tea. I didn't like the one I had because
it was artificially flavored.

Can just adding a drop of vanilla and some pomegranate juice to the
Ceylon tea work?

I can't try this now as I'm out of black tea.
Melissa

wrote:
Hi Dominic:
You always have good information here, so I will read there too. Could
not log in there so here's
a comment about that flavored tea. I didn't like the one I had because
it was artificially flavored.

Can just adding a drop of vanilla and some pomegranate juice to the
Ceylon tea work?

I can't try this now as I'm out of black tea.
Melissa

By no means is it meant to rival this or anyone else's serious
websites... I just figured it would give me a place to post some
photo's of my teapots and different things so that when I post here I
have a place to link to that is more permanent than an image host. The
info and writing will be fairly minimal, just what I'm drinking and a
bit about it, what books I'm reading, and occasionally a thought or
idea or a photo or two of my progress in building my "zen" garden or my
bonsai. I'd also like to keep kind of a photo journal of my tea trees
that I am growing from seeds because I have found it pretty enjoyable
to watch myself.

As for the Monk's Blend, yeah it has been a very frustrating thing for
me to find a high quality version of. I still stick to the Mlesna Brand
tea bags because even though they are teabags they are all natural. I
will have to experiment with a spot of grenadine and a drop of vanilla
and report back, I have a feeling getting the balance right will take
some trial and error. If you enjoy pomegranate (its a favorite of mine)
I have found POM pomegranate juice to be an amazing (but expensive)
treat.

Take care, thanks for being the one interested person
- Dominic

wrote:
You always have good information here, so I will read there too. Could
not log in there so here's
a comment about that flavored tea. I didn't like the one I had because
it was artificially flavored.

Can just adding a drop of vanilla and some pomegranate juice to the
Ceylon tea work?

If you want a vanilla tea, put some black tea in a tin, add in a vanilla
bean or two, seal it up and leave it on the shelf for a month or so. I
think a lighter Chinese black works better than a Ceylon, but lots of people
would differ with me (many of them British).
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

USENET is good enough for me. I consider this group the Congressional
Record of Tea. It has no meaning if said elsewhere unless reviewed
here. I wouldn't participate if DejaVu or Google didn't care to
archive what I had to say on the subject or anybody else. BLOGGING is
essentially a solitary activity even with the media support. My Beta
camera failed, my VHSC camera failed, my MEDIA computer failed.
Otherwise I would put up some video on a TUBING site for the MTV
generation.

Jim

Dominic T. wrote:
Since many others here have some sort of website devoted to tea, from
basic to elaborate, I figured - being the computer geek I am - that I
should at least make a showing. So I created "teasphere" at
http://teasphere.wordpress.com/ I'm not really digging Wordpress at all
(very inflexible), so most likely I will end up hosting it myself and
the URL will change... but I did do a quick job of trying to chronicle
my tea journey on the "About Me" page and in the off-chance anyone
cares, it's there.

- Dominic

Good for you!
BTW, I first had Monk's Blend at Far Leaves in Berkeley. $10.00 (4 oz
tin) - very nice. Chado and many others carry it loose, as well.
I like it on a cool, foggy, Bay Area morning with milk and a bit of
sugar (scandalous!).
Shen
Dominic T. wrote:
Since many others here have some sort of website devoted to tea, from
basic to elaborate, I figured - being the computer geek I am - that I
should at least make a showing. So I created "teasphere" at
http://teasphere.wordpress.com/ I'm not really digging Wordpress at all
(very inflexible), so most likely I will end up hosting it myself and
the URL will change... but I did do a quick job of trying to chronicle
my tea journey on the "About Me" page and in the off-chance anyone
cares, it's there.

- Dominic

Space Cowboy wrote:
USENET is good enough for me. I consider this group the Congressional
Record of Tea. It has no meaning if said elsewhere unless reviewed
here. I wouldn't participate if DejaVu or Google didn't care to
archive what I had to say on the subject or anybody else. BLOGGING is
essentially a solitary activity even with the media support. My Beta
camera failed, my VHSC camera failed, my MEDIA computer failed.
Otherwise I would put up some video on a TUBING site for the MTV
generation.

Jim

Flint and tinder work too, so toss out that stove. I'm not sure why you
have a burr lodged somewhere, but you very often have humor and insight
to share... and instead stick to derisive and esoteric comments much of
the time. I guess every group needs a couple of those to keep them
honest, but I just don't get it.

Usenet is great for a lot of things, but posting photo's or just
posting a silly or off-topic post doesn't always fit. It's the wrong
tool for some jobs, and I'm not a "I have a hammer, so every problem is
a nail" kinda person. A lot of people around me always want to know
what I'm drinking or like to try things I like because they are not tea
experts, and this was a quick easy way to post it. Same goes with
books, I read a ton of books and a lot of people find some neat
off-beat titles from me that would otherwise not be on their radar. I'm
not looking to create a "community" or even looking for comments or
feedback... I really just thought maybe one or two people would be
interested to find out that my journey started not with some great
revelation but with an average 1984 flick The Karate Kid on the "About
Me" page. I find the background and history to how people find their
way into tea to this level is generally very interesting. I just wanted
to share my tale. If it isn't for you, no problem.

- Dominic

Shen wrote:
Good for you!
BTW, I first had Monk's Blend at Far Leaves in Berkeley. $10.00 (4 oz
tin) - very nice. Chado and many others carry it loose, as well.
I like it on a cool, foggy, Bay Area morning with milk and a bit of
sugar (scandalous!).
Shen

Great! Thanks for the new leads, I'll be ordering some as long as
they'll ship it. I found it strange that not all "Monk's Blend" is
vanilla and grenadine though, I've found many places are very different
flavorings which makes it tough to find the right thing. It's funny you
mention the weather because yesterday it was a cool, rainy, foggy
morning here in PA and that was what I turned to as well. (Minus the
milk/sugar, I wasn't ready to be wrapped up in that scandal too since I
was already *enjoying* a teabag It has a hypnotic effect on me, I've
always heard vanilla is a scent that has a good deal of power of males
and it does... in fact there is a perfume called "Hypnotic Poison" that
cuts right through me instantly that is very similar to the scent of
the tea.

- Dominic

Hey Dominic,

Good to hear! Your teasphere is already on my favorites. However,
leaving comments on your blog is a royal pain. I have to sign up with
Wordpress, but Wordpress doesn't want to take any hotmail address to
sign up. It says:

"You cannot use that email address to signup. We are having problems
with them blocking some of our email. Please use another email
provider."

So I can't leave a comment (not saying that you need my comment or
anything Perhaps you can set it up so that people don't need to
sign up for an account with Wordpress to leave a comment, much like
Tess' Teadonism and Nikhil's The Simple Leaf blogs? My 2 cents.

Anyway, I'll be following your musings here and there!

Phyll

I mentioned the Karate Kid sequel and the Tea Ceremony here in 98 if
that means anything. I still think it worth viewing. You can find it
with Google.

Jim

Dominic T. wrote:
I really just thought maybe one or two people would be
interested to find out that my journey started not with some great
revelation but with an average 1984 flick The Karate Kid on the "About
Me" page. I find the background and history to how people find their
way into tea to this level is generally very interesting. I just wanted
to share my tale. If it isn't for you, no problem.

- Dominic

Phyll wrote:
Hey Dominic,

Good to hear! Your teasphere is already on my favorites. However,
leaving comments on your blog is a royal pain. I have to sign up with
Wordpress, but Wordpress doesn't want to take any hotmail address to
sign up. It says:

Done and done, I've changed it to allow anonymous comments. (I only
left it the other way to minimize spam, but had no idea it was such a
PITA) I'm less than enthused at Wordpress actually in the entire
execution and as someone who designs CMS's (Content Management Systems)
for websites I have a feeling I will be creating something custom
tailored to my needs and moving it at some point to one of my own
servers... but for now that issue should be fixed. Thanks for the
input.

- Dominic

I wish I knew how to custom-make a blog nicely on my own. So for now,
blogspot serves my tea and wine musings well. Hey, thanks, Dominic for
removing that PITA. If you don't mind, I'm going to add a link of your
blog on mine. It'll be my "required tea reading".

Cheers,

Phyll


Dominic T. wrote:
Phyll wrote:
Hey Dominic,

Good to hear! Your teasphere is already on my favorites. However,
leaving comments on your blog is a royal pain. I have to sign up with
Wordpress, but Wordpress doesn't want to take any hotmail address to
sign up. It says:

Done and done, I've changed it to allow anonymous comments. (I only
left it the other way to minimize spam, but had no idea it was such a
PITA) I'm less than enthused at Wordpress actually in the entire
execution and as someone who designs CMS's (Content Management Systems)
for websites I have a feeling I will be creating something custom
tailored to my needs and moving it at some point to one of my own
servers... but for now that issue should be fixed. Thanks for the
input.

- Dominic

Phyll wrote:
I wish I knew how to custom-make a blog nicely on my own. So for now,
blogspot serves my tea and wine musings well. Hey, thanks, Dominic for
removing that PITA. If you don't mind, I'm going to add a link of your
blog on mine. It'll be my "required tea reading".

Cheers,

Phyll

I'm not sure why I get asked if it is OK to link to my blog, because
this is the third or fourth time already... I'm not much of a blogger,
but I'd think that was the point of a blog Sure! Of course it's OK
to link to it, if anything it is an honor that you even care to! I
appreciate it and also will have to find yours to link back to and
read.

As for creating custom CMS systems, it is actually very simple only
basic SQL/database skills and a smidge of PHP is needed to make it
work. The tricky part is making it secure and extensible. I'm a big fan
of open source software and if you google "LAMP Server" "PHPNuke"
"PostNuke" "Drupal" or "open source CMS" you will find that you can use
freely available software to run your own server with barely no
knowledge at all. Or find a free/cheap web host that supports MYSQL and
PHP and run one of those CMS systems on it. It gives you many more
options than a blog, but might run you $3-4/month for the hosting if
you don't run your own server. (OK, enough of the geek stuff... and if
you are not a computer person you are probably now puzzled and thinking
about kitty cats, monkeys, or pants.)

Thanks!
- Me.

Space Cowboy wrote:
I mentioned the Karate Kid sequel and the Tea Ceremony here in 98 if
that means anything. I still think it worth viewing. You can find it
with Google.

Jim

So you have... I see you are a man who knows fine cinema as well I
hope I didn't sound too harsh above, I have no doubts we would probably
see eye-to-eye in person and be pretty compatible, I just think you
have a latent tendency to be "that guy" that I mentioned. I much prefer
the insight and humor, and often it is hard to convey meaning in text
so I may read things wrong at times too. No harm, no foul, I appologize
if I seemed an ass.

- Dominic

Actually, a giant mushroom cloud and a searing flash of light entered
my mind. I'm for nuke proliferation. And I wasn't asking for
permission, per se. :-D


Dominic T. wrote:
Phyll wrote:
I wish I knew how to custom-make a blog nicely on my own. So for now,
blogspot serves my tea and wine musings well. Hey, thanks, Dominic for
removing that PITA. If you don't mind, I'm going to add a link of your
blog on mine. It'll be my "required tea reading".

Cheers,

Phyll

I'm not sure why I get asked if it is OK to link to my blog, because
this is the third or fourth time already... I'm not much of a blogger,
but I'd think that was the point of a blog Sure! Of course it's OK
to link to it, if anything it is an honor that you even care to! I
appreciate it and also will have to find yours to link back to and
read.

As for creating custom CMS systems, it is actually very simple only
basic SQL/database skills and a smidge of PHP is needed to make it
work. The tricky part is making it secure and extensible. I'm a big fan
of open source software and if you google "LAMP Server" "PHPNuke"
"PostNuke" "Drupal" or "open source CMS" you will find that you can use
freely available software to run your own server with barely no
knowledge at all. Or find a free/cheap web host that supports MYSQL and
PHP and run one of those CMS systems on it. It gives you many more
options than a blog, but might run you $3-4/month for the hosting if
you don't run your own server. (OK, enough of the geek stuff... and if
you are not a computer person you are probably now puzzled and thinking
about kitty cats, monkeys, or pants.)

Thanks!
- Me.