Open call for open mic and new teas

shop stuff

carnival-998092_640We’re looking for poets, writers, musicians, jugglers, whatever, for our open mic nights. Okay, maybe not whatever. The shop is small, so fire breathers and lion tamers will need to take that elsewhere.  First and third Thursdays of the month. Come by the shop and see me, Jo, if you’d like to sign up for a slot. We don’t provide a PA system, so if you want to blow the remaining paint off the walls, you’ll have to bring your own kit.

 

dim-sum-163813_640On a completely different note, we have a line of new green teas at the shop. Lots of people requested them and I even ordered some Japanese cast-iron cups to serve them in. My favorite so far is a sencha with toasted rice. We’re running some dim sum specials with the full “afternoon” tea served before 8 p.m (or until we run out).

 

Macarons Are Hard

food stuff

Someday I will stop saying y’all when I’m angry and I will perfect macarons. Meanwhile, I will continue to get my fix at Lolita across the river from our shop.

IMG_0326I did find a great resource from David Lebovitz. I really appreciate someone else doing all that research so I don’t have to. Should I tackle the white chocolate chai or raspberry matcha ones I’ve been dreaming about first?

If you haven’t been by the shop lately, our new baker, Maja, has been killing it on the brownie front. Tomorrow we’re doing dark chocolate with a peanut butter swirl. Yes, they are very American but they’ll pair nicely with the Ramones cover band. They’ll take the corner stage at 21:00.

 

Green Tea: It Shouldn’t Taste Like You Brewed Your Lawn

tea stuff

Sometimes when I recommend a green tea, customers make this face that generally looks like I offered to serve them a cup of lukewarm Ljubljanica swamp water straight up.

Love the stock photo but what’s with the tea bag?

When I see that face, I’m pretty sure they’ve have stewed green tea.

Green tea should be steeped at a lower temp than black tea and for just a minute or two. Here’s a quick guide to get you started at home. Or, come by Renegade Tea for a loose-leaf, hand-brewed cup and a bite of something tasty. If you’re lucky Fred will be in a mood to make his fantastic green tea latté. If not, you’ll have to come back and try again.

New year, new stuff

shop stuff

Hello Renegades! This is Vesna taking on some social media and blogging duties for Jo.

If you haven’t been in for a while you should come by and check out our new mural done by local graffiti artist Igor. It’s inspired by the Boston Tea Party and the Great Wave of Kanagawa.

To celebrate a new year and the changes here at Renegade Tea, each week in January we’ll have a green tea and bento special happy hour from 4 – 6 pm. Frédéric is outdoing himself, so don’t miss out.

Local punk band Liar’s Knot will be in house every Friday evening in January to promote their latest Tempest, available for sale at the counter. We’ll bring back some open mic nights in February and March and we are always looking for musicians and writers to fill out our performance schedule.