Author: Raven Kai

Cupteavity: Loose Leaf Earl Grey Tea

Cupteavity's Loose Leaf Earl Grey Tea

In my quest to increase my knowledge and fuel my passion, I’m always on the lookout to experience new coffees and teas. Recently, while surfing Facebook for coffee and tea groups, I discovered the Cupteavity fan page. Cupteavity hails from New Hope, Pennsylvania, and offers a wide variety of loose leaf teas ranging from traditional black and green teas to more exotic herbal tisanes and natural remedies. They were offering to send out free samples so I quickly accepted. A few days later, a package of loose leaf Earl Grey tea arrived.

Earl Grey is one of my all-time favorite teas. I frequently have it strong and sweet as a refreshing iced tea on a hot summer day, or hot and black with oatmeal and toast to start my morning just right. I’ve been disappointed with many of the brands of Earl Grey I’ve picked up, especially recently. True Earl Grey is more of a scented than flavored black tea. Its very strong aroma is the result of it being blended with or exposed to the essence of bergamot, oil from a citrus fruit. Some variations will include more orange or lemony notes, while others blend blossoms such as rose hips with them. While the aroma is potent, the fruit flavor produced by the bergamot tends to be light, and its sweet finish always reminds me of drinking the milk from a bowl of Fruit Loops. Some of the Earl Greys I’ve sampled over the years have ranged in flavor from minty to bland and grassy. While it’s one of the most popular and common traditional black teas, it seems to also be the one that’s hardest to find when it comes to high-quality, fresh teas.

Cupteavity’s Earl Grey has a heady aroma, both potent and cleansing. The strong citrus zest is set off by a hint of floral undertones. I was surprised to see the long dark leaves dotted with a small portion of lavender-colored blossoms that I believe are rose hips. I’ve never had Earl Grey blended with rose before so this was to be a true first for me. With London Fog being all the rage in cafes right now, I decided to experiment with vanilla and milk. While I steeped my tea, I also measured out some real Mexican vanilla extract (the kind you brew and age in barrels like a fine liquor), sugar and milk. I invited my teenage son to try it with me and talked him through the tasting process.

When I first poured the cups, I noted the russet color with a hint of oil swirling on the surface. When cupping my hand over the steam to inhale the aroma I noted that it was pleasant and cleansing with strong citrus, almost lemony notes, a hint of floral and an edge that reminds me slightly of mint. By cleansing I mean that after breathing in the aroma, my sinuses seemed to open up and I breathed deeper, the air seemed fresher and cooler and the aromas stronger and purer.

My first taste is always unsweetened. I slurped the tea and thought about the mouth feel of it. It came away clean with just a hint of tangy left on the back sides of my tongue. The taste was mildly malty with a slight fruit flavor and there was a mild aftertaste of floral that hinted at rose. Overall, it had a very balanced flavor, the bergamot and rose remaining tantalizing but neither dominating the flavor of the tea. Rose hips are not among my favorite flavors but their presence here was not unpleasant, just unexpected. It’s almost a tease of flavor because any time you think you’ve got the taste figured out, it eludes you again.

After trying it black, I experimented with light amounts of milk, sugar and vanilla. The resulting flavor reminded me of fresh-baked, home-made sugar cookies. While it was a bit sweet for my tastes, my son fell in love. We ended up splitting the rest of the pot, with me drinking mine black and he having me doctor up each refill with just the right amount of sugar and vanilla. While I can’t imagine myself drinking this Earl Grey on a daily basis (I tend to use Twinings most frequently), I can see myself getting this tea for special occasions or company since it is a pleasant experience that I hope to repeat. Cupteavity’s Loose Leaf Earl Grey tea is definitely one of the better Earl Greys I have had. I’m looking forward to trying other Cupteavity offerings as they have several teas I’ve not yet had the privilege of trying.

You can learn more about Cupteavity at their website, cupteavity.com, or, if you live in the New Hope area of Pennsylvania, you can look them up at 88 South Main Street.

Lumina, Episode 3: Enter The Mirror Spy

Lumina, Episode 3: Enter The Mirror Spy premieres today. The intrigue deepens as Lumina tries to balance her work life and her new life with Ryder. As a coworker is trying to sabotage her relationship with her boss at work, someone else approaches her about her relationship with Ryder. The song “J.D.R.” by La’Dies closes out the episode, kicking up the mood to a dangerous and frantic foreboding.

Ghost Writer — Carmen Argenziano Talks with BlogTalkRadio About His New Series

Ghost Writer

Her editor thinks she’s writing travel articles, but she’s rewriting history.

While Carmen Agenziano has had a career spanning nearly four decades, he’s probably now most recognizable as Jacob Carter on Stargate SG-1. He’s kept himself busy since leaving Stargate SG-1 with shows like CSI: NY and House, and films like Angels & Demons. He’s currently out promoting his new series, Ghost Writer. Ghost Writer stars Eileen Grubba (The Young and the Restless, Monk, Citizen Jane) as Angela, a travel writer who has some unwanted visitors.

A rookie travel writer is trying to make sense of her own life. She is pestered by ghosts at every historic location she visits for her work. They won’t let her leave until she sets the record straight on their true life stories, allowing them to move on, and allowing her to move forward.

Also featuring Barbara Bain, Kathryn Taylor, Brian Foyster, Scott C. Roe, and Jim Van Over, Ghost Writer is currently in production with a 2010 release date. To learn more about Ghost Writer, listen to Carmen’s interview on Star Trek on BlogTalkRadio on Monday, September 14, and check out these other great links:

Ghost Writer Website
Ghost Writer on Facebook
Ghost Writer on Twitter
Eileen Grubba’s Website
Eileen Grubba on IMDb
Carmen Argenziano on IMDb

Lumina Premieres

LUMINA Front Page

After many months of anticipation, Jennifer Thym‘s Lumina premiered with back-to-back episodes! Was it worth the wait? I have to say a resounding YES!

The story is intriguing, the music is compelling, and the imagery is beautiful. I kept finding myself staring at all the reflective surfaces and at the color and the texture of beautiful Hong Kong. I’ve re-watched a few times now, and each time I noticed something new. Obviously, an incredible amount of thought went into the cinematography, and the RED camera has proved once again just how amazing it is.

LUMINA Webisode 1: Single Women introduces us to Lumina, a woman who lives alone, has an antagonistic relationship with her mother, and works late rather than go home to her empty apartment. Her life is suddenly changed one night when she meets a stranger in her mirror. Ryder lives on the other side of the glass and can see her through any reflective surface. As she gets to know Ryder, she is drawn from her usual monotony into exploring the reflective surfaces of the city around her.

The song “Make Me Real” by Sense of Akasha closes out the first episode and leaves you with a sense of hope and foreboding.

In LUMINA Webisode 2: Wake Up Call we see that Lumina has favor with her boss, but not some of her coworkers. While trouble brews at work, and another mysterious stranger becomes entangled in her life, her deepening relationship with Ryder starts her down an uncertain path.

“Grey” by LGF closes out the second episode with high-octane intensity and a sense of danger.

New episodes of Lumina will premiere every Tuesday, and Jennifer Thym promises lots of fun stuff in between!

Never heard of Lumina? Check out our past articles on Lumina, including our interview with series creator and director Jennifer Thym.

Other Lumina links:
Lumina’s YouTube Channel
Lumina’s Facebook Group
Lumina News RSS
RockGinger

Steampunk and the Web Collide in Riese: The Series

Riese Logo

A reluctant heroine travels with her wolf through a
collapsing world, outrunning a dangerous religious cult
and piecing together her past.

Steampunk and sci-fi fans are going to love the new series Riese from filmmakers Ryan Copple and Kaleena Kiff. Picking up where Sanctuary failed to follow through, due to its jump to television, the series intends to not only produce fresh, high-quality content for the web but to be interactive with the fanbase through its website, forums, and an alternate reality game that will premiere along with the series. Other applications are being developed that will further integrate Riese into your daily web life.

In a hauntingly familiar dystopian world, Riese, a seemingly random wanderer, flees across the dying lands. Hunted by a terrifying religious group, The Sect, Riese must evade the assassins that have been sent to kill her and discover their true objective.

Her past is shrouded in mystery as even Riese can’t recall the events of the tragic night when her entire family was slaughtered and she was forced to flee. On her journey, she’ll piece together her past and her destiny, in a struggle that will hold the fate of the world in the balance — and the once peaceful kingdom of Eleysia will be the battlefield. Despite the impending doom, Riese emerges as the sole beacon of hope.

The Riese team has put together a lot of behind-the-scenes photos and videos to help submerge you in the world of Eleysia before the series premieres and, at first glance, I was hooked. The wardrobe has that high-quality look you got used to with shows like Firefly and Merlin. There are photos in the online gallery of the cast in costume and they look great. I was wondering how they’d pull off a steampunk feel, something typically reserved for graphic novels and anime, but it looks like they’ve done it. There aren’t any CGI shots to view yet but the concept art reminds me a bit of the mutants in Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards. The series appears to utilize both traditional settings and greenscreen to create the world of Eleysia, and I look forward to seeing the familiar woods outside of Vancouver that we geeks have fallen in love with over the years, largely due to Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis.

Speaking of Sanctuary and Stargate, fans may recognize a few familiar faces in the Riese cast. Christine Chatelain (Riese) was introduced in Season 1 of Sanctuary as the invisible girl, Clara Griffin. Sharon Taylor (Amara) not only played Amelia Banks on Stargate Atlantis but appeared in Smallville and Eureka, as well. Ben Cotton (Herrick), who played Dr. Kavanagh on Stargate Atlantis, also appeared in Harper’s Island, jPod, and a handful of other sci-fi favorites. Patrick Gilmore (Trennan) appears in all of the Stargate series (including the upcoming Stargate Universe), as well as Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, and Eureka. I’m sure we’ll see many more familiar faces on Riese as the series progresses.

THE STORY

Imagine a crumbling world, a parallel universe. A world of anachronisms, full of archaic characters and conventions. This world once enjoyed a lasting prosperity, due largely to the influence of the monarchy of Eleysia.

Eleysia — the kingdom of the wolf, governed by Kara and Ulric, was a peaceful nation. This all changed when a mysterious and unexpected coup d’etat, orchestrated from the shadows by a religious cult, brought about a regime change.

Taking the throne was Amara, Kara’s cousin. A power-hungry tyrant, Amara immediately utilized Eleysia’s resources to begin colonizing this world, toppling nation after nation in order to unite the people under one banner.

Even as Amara assaulted the world, an ominous, enigmatic group clearly wielded power over her. Called The Sect, they purported themselves to be the official religion of Eleysia, and began to spread alongside Eleysia’s borders. Horrifying tales of their practices began to circulate, casting an even darker shadow across this war-torn environment.

Since then, this world has begun to change.

The land is dying, resources are dwindling, and compassion is fading. Distrust and anxiety have clouded the people’s minds, causing a regression to primitive ways of thinking. People have grown restless, almost feral. Rituals and mythology have resurged, and the darker side of mankind has begun to reveal itself. Some say the end is coming. Shadows have begun lurking in the hearts of men.

The true horror of the world is not in how it ends, but what will become of mankind as it fractures.

And yet, despite the impending doom, a single beacon of light shines in Riese, a mysterious wanderer. Traveling with her wolf, Fenrir, she journeys across this barren world. Within her lies the strength and resolve to stop the nefarious plans of Empress Amara and the Sect and restore the kingdom of Eleysia to its former prosperity.

This is the world of Riese.

Principal filming for the first batch of episodes just wrapped with more slated to begin in December. We’ll keep you updated as new info is released. In the meantime, be sure to check out these links:

Official Riese Website
“The Sect is Here” Website
Riese on YouTube
Riese on Twitter
Riese on Facebook

the Familiar — A New Dark Comedy Film from Kody Zimmermann

I am a huge jPod fan and, as such, I have made an effort to stay on top of the careers of the brilliant actors who starred in the short-lived, sorely missed television series. Whenever possible, I do what I can to help spread the good word for these talented young folks. Through their exploits, I’ve stumbled upon many wonderful shows that I may not have otherwise had a chance to see. Recently, I discovered that Torrance Coombs (John Doe on jPod) was starring in a new short film. The trailer (which isn’t available to embed yet so you’ll just have to follow the link to see it) tweaked my interest.

Sam has always been obsessed with vampires — from the time he was a child watching them on children’s programs, to when he was a college student reading horror novels on the side. On Sam’s 21st birthday, a mysterious gentleman offers him a peculiar career choice: become an assistant to a real-life Vampire. Intrigued and enthusiastic, Sam takes the job and meets Simon Bolivar, a 400-year old Vampire. Everything about the Vampire does hold some truth to it; a truth followed by a dose of hard-reality. Sam soon realizes that it is not so pleasant to serve his corrupt and neurotic behavior. Told from Sam’s point of view, the Familiar is for anyone who has ever pursued a dream only to watch it slowly twist into an unrecognizable nightmare. Be careful what you wish for… it may come back to bite you in the end!

I commented on the video and the Familiar creator Kody Zimmermann and I started chatting. After he shared some background info on the show, I was downright intrigued.

I’ve worked in Vancouver’s film industry for 13 years now with a long string of job titles, most containing the word “assistant” in them. Once, I was an assistant to a Hollywood actor. Someone whose work I admired, an artist who took his craft serious. But what unfolded was three months of sleepless nights, insane requests and an endless glimpse into the more shallow recesses of humanity. I started empathizing with the Renfield character in Bram Stoker’s Dracula; just another dutiful lunatic serving the will of a bigger evil.

Familiars — like Renfield — are spoken of in vampire myths. But like real-life assistants, not many people pay them any attention. But still, they compelled me. What kind of person would actually serve a life-sucking fiend? I guess anyone who complains about Mondays or is guilted into working the weekend kind of knows that answer already.

My story was found.

Aiding me on this journey was my good friend/collaborator Riley Walsh. Our mantra was to do it as cheap as possible while maintaining some form of professional integrity. We were both unemployed guys with mortgages hoping we could get a helping hand from friends and contacts. What we received was humbling; a true testament to how generous and gracious this industry can treat its own.

We conscripted Jennifer Nick as our co-producer; she got us audition space at the Men in Trees production office, spear-headed our festival circuit campaign and started researching funding grants. Riley approached Mark Freeborn (production designer of Final Destination III and X-Files II) to advise us on our design strategy. Mark and his team went beyond our expectations, introducing us to production designer Alistair Bell, giving us a literal ton of construction flats and then building our sets with them.

Riley procured a very generous Grip and Lighting package from William F Whites, a Sony F-900 camera package from Sim Video, a sound stage at North Shore Studios as well as enlisting the help of Sharpe Sound Studios for a professional sound mix pro bono. A crew of industry vets heeded our call for help: people who usually get paid $600-700 a day were coming out for us for free to do a five day gig.

What’s more, our cast was amazing. Torrance Coombs of The Tudors and jPod became our main character, Sam. The vampire was Paul Hubbard, more known as Ford’s “Random Celebrity Guy.” We had a great ensemble with Rachel Sehl, Luisa Jojic, Brock Shoveller and Art Kitching who did double-duty as our Nosferatu and a victimized Jogger.

We shot our first two days in Stage 8 at North Shore Studios, a place I went to for 4 years as an office assistant. It was exhilarating to go there in a director’s capacity. The Taylor Manor, a local film friendly and empty old hospital, acted as our vampire den for the next two days. Our last day was spent in a couple of shops in North Vancouver, ending along a picturesque boardwalk with the Vancouver cityscape as our backdrop. I was grinning ear-to-ear watching our vampire sucking blood and stealing some dead guy’s pants. It’s a rush to see something you wrote down on a computer happening right there in real life.

Riley and I set out to take this a step beyond the usual limitations we’re accustomed to. We wanted to make a feature film within the short format. I guess when no one is handing you that chance, you go out and make your own luck.

I think we got it.

With all the “romantic” rewriting of vampires in books, films and television these days, it’s nice to see someone showing the bloodsuckers as the bad guys they are supposed to be. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of the sultry vampire (Frank Langella was smolderingly sexy even to my 8-year-old self when I watched him in Dracula for the first time) but today’s vampires are shallow and pose no true threat or danger. Getting bit by today’s vampires is like getting a hickey — it’s unsightly, but no real harm done, and there’s no stigma attached to it.

The modern creatures are empty and untormented the way the traditional vampire used to be. There were, after all, two kinds: the monster and the victim. When I think of vampires, I always remember the lines from Sting’s “Moon over Bourbon Street”: “It was many years ago that I became what I am. I was trapped in this life like an innocent lamb…” and “I have stood many times outside her window at night to struggle with my instinct in the pale moon light. How could I be this way and I pray to God above. I must love what I destroy and destroy the thing I love…”

So, here’s the Familiar, a regular guy who buys into the whole modern concept of how cool vampires are and learns his lesson the hard way that giving up being human could also mean giving up your humanity. I can’t wait to see this show, and you can be sure I’ll be posting the trailer as soon as it’s available.

the Familiar
theFAMILIARmovie.com
22 minutes / 2009
HD Video / 16:9 (1.78:1)
Ghostwood Films

CAST:
Torrance Coombs as Sam
Paul Hubbard as The Vampire
Rachel Sehl as Alice
Brock Shoveller as The Old Gentleman
Jason Harder as Holland
Luisa Jojic as Penny
Josh Blacker as Virgil
Art Kitching as The Jogger & The Nosferatu
Suzka Mares as Vampire’s Escort
Rosette Sharma as Call Girl

CREDITS:
Written, Directed & Edited by Kody Zimmermann
Produced by Riley Walsh
Producer — Kody Zimmermann
Co-Producer — Jennifer Nick
Director of Photography — George Campbell
Production Designer — Alistair Bell
Costume Designer — Ivan Lehner
First Assistant Director — Riley Walsh
Music by Richard L. King
Special Effects Make Up — John Healy/Healy FX
Audio Post Production by Sharpe Sound Studios Inc.
Visual Effects Supervisor — Chris Buffett

Looney Labs Presents the Aquarius 10th Anniversary Edition

Aquarius 10th Anniversary Edition

Is there anything Andrew Looney can’t do? Former NASA engineers Andrew and Kristin Looney started their game company Looney Labs back in 1997 with the goal to create easy-to-learn, easy-to-play games. Since that time, they have continued to create inventive, educational, challenging and fun games, and have taken home many awards and kudos. On top of being fun, their games tend to be beautiful in design and ingeniously simple to play yet strategically complex. The Aquarius 10th Anniversary Edition (or A v2.0 as it’s referred to on the box) is yet another brilliant addition to that legacy.

Aquarius is a card game for 2 to 5 players. Game play is a little like dominoes with an UNO twist. There are 5 elemental goal cards: Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Space. Once each player is dealt a goal card, they must attempt to be the first player to create a chain of seven connected elements by matching the elements cards. Each player begins with 3 elements cards and 1 goal card. At the beginning of each turn, the player draws an elements card and then plays a card by matching one or more elements on the played card to one of the cards already placed. The elements card may have 1, 2 or 4 different elements featured on it. To create a chain, the player must place an unbroken line of 7 touching matched elements cards. Sounds simple, right?

Next you add the Action Cards. This is where the dominoes playing style takes on an UNO twist. With cards like Trade Hands, Trade Goals, Move a Card, Rotate Goals, Zap a Card and Shuffle Hands, even the player with the best strategy and a winning hand can quickly turn into the loser. Because your opponent’s agenda is hidden, you have to speculate which element they have as their goal. You may be thinking, “Well, which one are they trying to match?” Because you have to lay a card down with each turn (or forfeit the turn) and you don’t necessarily want to give your goal away by aggressively pursuing it, you may choose to, or have to, lay down a chain of elements cards simply because you need to get them out of your hand in hopes of drawing more of your goal element in the next hand.

Also, if you can match 2 or more elements when laying down a card, or you play a Zap Card (which allows you to take any one card from the placed cards and add it to your hand for later use), you get additional cards in your hand. Having 4 or more cards in your hand at the beginning of each turn gives you an advantage over the other players. Making chains other than those in your goal can be a valuable tool. It helps throw your opponents off your trail. It can, however, be risky if you don’t know what the other players’ goals are. If you are playing with more than two people, odds are that you are helping your enemy out and may even be handing them a win. Still sound simple?

Now imagine you have it figured out; you know exactly who has what goals and you are one or two connections away from a win. Suddenly an opponent plays a Trade Goals card on you and they are now in control of your winning combination while you now have their less than desirable goal (or they wouldn’t have traded it, right?). What do you do now? Well, you can throw a Trade Goals or Rotate Goals card on them if you have one, or you can Zap a pivotal card in their chain. There are lots of twists and turns in gameplay and your goals and strategies are constantly shifting and having to be rethought.

While the regular gameplay can get highly complex, the basic concept of the game is matching items. Because of this, variants of the game can be taught to children as young as 3 or 4 years old by just using the elements cards for a matching game. As they get older and can learn more complex gameplay, you can introduce the goal cards into play and, later still, begin introducing one or more action cards into the mix. This aspect of the gameplay makes Aquarius a fabulous family game for all ages. My teenage son and I have been playing it obsessively for a couple of weeks now. We even came up with a solitaire version which is basically a two-player game with one person laying both hands (think Chess), but a coin toss after the game is over determines which hand was yours.

The artwork by Andrew Looney is beautiful and harkens back to the 60s and 70s with its colorful, simple designs featuring rainbows, fires, flowers, fish and stars. Printed on recycled paper right here in the USA, Aquarius is eco-friendly, too. The cards have handled some abuse well as we have been playing not only repeatedly, but in less then ideal places such as dirty school hallway floors and sticky tabletops. It fits so easily in a pocket that we took it along to the annual School Open House so my son could show it to, and play it with, his friends. We were surprised to learn that one of them grew up with the original release of Aquarius in her household, and she added that “It was fun!”

I love this game and can’t wait to introduce more of my friends to it. I’ve found myself blowing off other things I could or should be doing to play it. I’ve even been bringing it to work with me, and have it out so often that some of my co-workers comment if I don’t have a hand dealt at some point during the day. I just can’t help myself — it’s so much fun!

Aquarius 10th Anniversary Edition will be available in stores and online August 28th. You can order it from Looney Labs and Amazon.com, or check for a retailer near you with the Looney Labs Store Locator.

Tempting Tastes, Perfect Pairings and Other Culinary Compulsions (or Why We’ve Started Talking About Food)

On thing I set out to do at the beginning of ÜSFG was to encourage geeks like me to celebrate the things that make us unique, to celebrate our differences and celebrate our lives. Reading books, watching movies or TV shows and playing with games and gadgets is something we geeks obviously share and discuss at ÜSFG but one thing we haven’t touched much upon is food and beverages. I’d like to change that. I love to talk about my passions, share my ideas and knowledge with others and learn how others think and feel about things. That especially applies to me for coffee and tea.

You’re probably asking, “What does coffee and tea have to do with being a sci-fi geek?” Well, I have a few different responses that I could offer to that, the first of which is that coffee and tea are the lubricants that keep our geeky minds oiled and running smoothly. I could offer a dozen more equally compelling responses, but rather then preach my Doctrine of Coffee and Tea, I shall just say this: Captain Picard had his Tea, Earl Grey, Hot; Captain Janeway had her black coffee; Harry Potter had his Butterbeer; and Ford Prefect had his Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. From Star Trek to ElfQuest and everything in between, food and beverages have played an important role in sci-fi and fantasy, so why not talk about it in the context of being part of geek culture?

My professional career has always been in the gourmet coffee and tea industry (I don’t refer to myself as Artist, Coffee Master, Geek for nothing). Over the years I’ve tried many brands and varieties of coffees and teas, and I’m always eager to learn about and experience more. My philosophy on food and beverages is that while some things are highly complimentary when paired to enhance natural flavors, most people just automatically cover things up with sauces and seasonings without giving thought to true flavor. They add sugar and cream to coffee and tea without sipping it first. They put catsup and mustard on their burgers and smother their salads with dressing. If you automatically have to cover up the flavor of something you are eating without thinking about it or even trying it first, you don’t really like the food you are eating — you’re just eating. Doing a coffee or tea tasting is an effort to consciously think about what you are consuming. It’s a meditation on food and the pleasure it can bring. The first sip is almost a Zen moment for me.

Drinking coffee and tea is a sensual experience. From the moment you hold the cup in your hands, you feel the warmth of it and begin to anticipate the sensation of it warming you from within. Then you drink it in with your eyes, the colors spanning the calming, earthy rainbow of yellow, ocher, and red, on through to deep dark brown and rich silky black. When you breathe in the aroma, you begin salivating and your other senses peak in anticipation of the first taste. When that first sip reaches your lips, the complex flavors dance across your taste buds, evoking thought and memory, completing the whole body sensory experience and often resulting in an involuntary vocal response such as an “ah” or “mm”. Your body responds this way whether you contemplate the physical reaction and appreciate it, or you just down your daily cup o’ joe.

When I do a coffee or tea tasting, my first drink is always black and unsweetened. Depending on how much time I have to enjoy it, I may prepare a food item or have other ingredients available in order to play with complementary and clashing flavors. I prefer to use a French Press with fresh ground coffee and a glass pot for loose leaf tea. I use water from a kettle heated just off boiling. When I pour the first cup, I look at the color of it. I examine the oils on the surface and then cover the cup with my hand and breathe in the aroma. This is a thought-provoking step. I like to savor it and think of the things it reminds me of. For example, the earthy aroma of fresh-brewed Sumatra coffees typically remind me of walking through a forest in the fall, the smell of wet earth and fallen leaves mingling in the air with the smoke from someone’s leaf burning.

After meditating on the aroma, I slurp the coffee or tea, drawing in lots of air with it to continue to involve my sense of smell with defining the flavor. As I swallow that first taste, I think not on the flavor but where I perceive it on my tongue and how it feels in my mouth. While teas tend to have minimal variations in mouth feel, coffees can vary wildly from thin to syrupy. Lastly, I sip the coffee and let it linger in my mouth a moment before swallowing. Only then do I let myself think about the flavor of it. What does it taste like? What does it remind me of? What would go well with it?

I can’t tell you how many times at this point I’ve watched someone make a face because they just aren’t used to sipping unsweetened or unflavored fresh-brewed coffee or tea. They automatically want to reach for the sugar because that is the dominant flavor they are expecting to taste. Taking the time to think about the flavor profile changes the entire experience. Your first sip of a pressed black coffee or steeped loose leaf tea is like a slap in the face for those who are used to drip coffee makers and boxed tea bags. At your second sip, everything changes. You begin to notice things you never noticed before. Revealed to you are subtle nuances of flavor that are masked by sugar and cream such as nutty, caramely, earthy, or tart. Once you recognize those flavors are there, you can truly begin to appreciate them and decide what will best complement those natural flavors. For example, sun-dried and naturally processed African coffees tend to have a sharp, exotic, wine flavor ranging from berry to citrus that dark chocolate and dried fruits go extremely well with. Something like Kenya AA is downright juicy when paired with a slice of iced lemon pound cake.

Just as some foods enhance the natural flavor of a coffee or tea, others completely ruin them. I’m not a huge fan of Latin American coffees in general (though there are a few exceptions I truly enjoy) but nothing tastes worse to me then pairing that same luscious iced lemon pound cake I mentioned before with Colombian coffee. The sharp chemical flavor that is produced is like licking lemon-scented furniture polish. Take that same cup of Colombian coffee and pair it with a fresh slice of banana nut bread, though, and it produces an incredibly sweet, almost cool sensation in the mouth.

I could go on and on like this, and I will, but not here and now. I just wanted to introduce the idea to you and set the expectation that some of the greatest adventures a geek can go on are culinary. I look forward to sharing a variety of food and beverage impressions with you in the future and hope you enjoy reading about it as much as I like talking about it. If not, however, I completely understand. After all, food and beverage reviews are not everyone’s cup of tea. 😉

Requiem for Delinquency: Hobs End

Requiem for Delinquency

I logged into MySpace today (something I avoid as much as possible) and had a friend request from Requiem for Delinquency. I followed the link for the obligatory “check it out before denying it” glance and was wowed by what I heard. What I had expected to be my usual 5-minute check of my messages before going on to other more important things that demanded my time and attention has now turned into over five hours of listening to streaming music on requiemfordelinquency.com while trying to find things to keep me busy at my computer so I can keep listening.

I’m the kind of person who listens to things on repeat for days, and sometimes weeks or months, on end. I get something under my skin and it just stays there. Unlike many people whose favorite things are constantly changing, once I become passionate about something, it becomes a permanent fixture in my life. My very first CDs were Enya‘s Watermark and Kitaro‘s Kojiki. Twenty years later, I’m still listening to those CDs on a weekly basis. I can see Requiem for Delinquency becoming another permanent fixture in my musical rotation.

Hobs End is the first album from composer Chance Morrison, who self-produced the project rather then trying to get the big labels to back him, and his grassroots approach seems to be working for him. It’s hard to put a genre label on the music as it is primarily electronica but is not as high octane as techno and trance or low octane as new age or chill. Each song has a unique hook to it (sound samples or effects), but the beat remains fairly consistent. While there are some faster tracks on the album it is balanced overall in mood (somewhat somber and sensual), making it the perfect dance selection for when the night is winding down but you aren’t ready to quit moving yet.

Some elements of Hobs End remind me of Bill Leeb projects such as Delerium and Fauxliage, but laced with Morrison’s own vocals rather than the sultry sirens who play guest vocalists in Leeb’s music. Requiem for Delinquency is the kind of electronica music you might find on a Six Degrees or Nettwerk label. (I’ll buy anything they release.) In other words, it may be self-produced but it sounds like a studio-backed production. Some tracks are similar to, but have more synth than, Robert Miles and Enigma compositions, but are not as heavily reliant on synth as Tangerine Dream or Vangelis tend to be.

I’m really searching for a way to describe Morrison’s voice but the only word I can think of is breathy. He almost whispers in a laid-back or mournful way that reminds me of Depeche Mode or Duran Duran. I say mournful because, listening to the lyrics, Morrison seems to be questioning the reality and depth of daily interactions, the life, love and experiences that we share with others. Sound bites from films and television shows call to mind images and ideas and then explore them. For example, in the track “The Work of Science” a sound bite from the classic science fiction film The Brain That Wouldn’t Die declares, “My eyes are deceiving me” and “What you see is real. What’s done is done and what I’ve done is right. It’s the work of science.” Then Morrison sings the refrain, “Will we remember what was real?”

Overall, the album is layered with rich sounds from a variety of instruments, both traditional and electronic. While his selection of instruments may be contemporary, the arrangement and use of them is similar to a classical composition and takes you on a journey of the mind. While Hobs End doesn’t have a signature sound to it that screams “Chance Morrison made me!”, it certainly stands out from the monotonous droning of most new electronica music. If you are a fan of Six Degrees or Nettwerk artists, do yourself a favor and check out Requiem for Delinquency.

You can purchase Hobs End at your local Barnes & Noble and Best Buy. If you prefer to shop online, you can buy the compact disc or download Hobs End at Amazon.com.

Requiem for Delinquency Links:
Official Website
MySpace Page
Facebook Page
YouTube Channel

MGM’s New “Stargate Universe” Trailer

When the show concept for Stargate Universe was first mentioned, I envisioned Lost in Space 90210, but this trailer actually has me excited. It’s more like Battlestar Galactica meets The Poseidon Adventure. I’m hopeful. Very hopeful.

Check it out in high quality at the Official Stargate Website.