I have a GUI

So following my post earlier today I now have a working xorg.conf and KDE 4.8.3 is running smoothly. Turns out there is an easy to use utility called nvidia-xconfig which I had overlooked and did the job perfectly. Also importantly I now have Chromium (Chrome for Linux if you didn't know) installed :) Time to start tinkering!

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KDE 4.8.3 – looking good

I've provided my xorg.conf here in-case it is useful to anyone. This works with a Nvidia GTS 450 linked by HDMI to a Panasonic 42" TX-P42U30B Plasma TV:

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: version 295.71 (buildmeister@swio-display-x86-rhel47-04.nvidia.com) Thu Aug 2 20:28:32 PDT 2012

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout0"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice" 
# generated from data in "/etc/conf.d/gpm"
Identifier "Mouse0" Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" 
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Modes"
Identifier "Modes0"
ModeLine "1920x1080@60" 182.28 1920 1952 2640 2672 1080 1102 1113 1135
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unkown"
ModelName "Unknown"
UseModes "Modes0"
HorizSync 28.0 - 33.0
VertRefresh 43.0 - 72.0
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "GTS450"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "GTS450"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "DEP-0"
Option "DPMS" "false"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Tom out!

Gentoo 64-bit

So guess what I was up to last night - yes that's right, installing Gentoo.

This was my first time installing Gentoo on 64-bit architecture - the important specs are below:

• Intel Core i7 2600k Processor (Sandy Bridge - important later)

• 8 GB DDR3 RAM

• Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 Motherboard

• 250 GB HDD (well 250 GB partition out of the 4 TB in my machine)

• Nvidia GeForce GTS 450 GPU

• Blu-Ray recorder drive

Also worth noting that this is a dual boot with Windows 7.

[WARNING - If you're not interested in Linux or computer geekery I expect you will find the rest of this post boring]

I followed the Gentoo documentation found here: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/ I will be noting any differences between that guide and my install here.

Choosing the Right Installation Medium

I downloaded the LiveCD and used that as my initial Linux environment for installing from.

Configuring your Network

All done through DHCP.

Preparing the Disks

I used the standard layout of boot, swap and root partitions but on /dev/sdb2 to /dev/sdb4 because of my dual booting. I set my swap partition to 20 GB following advice I found online. Then annoyingly the LiveCD made me reboot in order to write the changes. The I used the standard filesystems.

Installing the Gentoo Installation Files

The -march option in CFLAGS needs to be native or corei7-avx because of the Sandy Bridge architecture. I used MAKEOPTS="-j5" as it's a quad core processor.

Installing the Gentoo Base System

I selected the default amd64 profile. I set up my USE flags with KDE in mind so -gnome and -gtk were used. I also added the bluray flag.

Configuring the Kernel

I mostly followed the guide but later I had to come back and recompile without some Nvidia options: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/nvidia-guide.xml#doc_chap3

Configuring your System

I always set my hostname to be the name of a famous fictional computer - this time I went for Ozymandias (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_computers#1990s)

I set my locale to be en_GB.UTF-8.

Installing Necessary System Tools

I chose to get syslog-ng, vixie-cron, mlocate, dhcpcd and ppp.

Configuring the Bootloader

I used GRUB and followed the standard set-up except for a timeout of 10 seconds and replacing Windows XP with Windows 7. I also had to ensure to make the boot device hd1,1 and root=/dev/sdb4.

Finalizing your Gentoo Installation

I made my user with nearly all the groups (N.B. games doesn't work - is it depreciated?)

Where to go from here?

By the time I left for work this morning I had also emerged X-org and KDE 4.8.3 and had managed to get startx to not crash while going to a black screen. I'm going to have to work on my xorg.conf this evening and hopefully I'll get a working one running. This will be useful as Googling doesn't currently give a working one for my 42" TV and graphics card via HDMI. I hope people might find that useful :)

Tom out!

P.S. http://www.gentoo.org/

Decadent Chocolate Ginger Torte!

Happy Weekend! Here's a cake recipe!

This is my adaptation of a chocolate torte recipe to make it even yummier (just add ginger).*

Ingredients:

• 250 g Dark chocolate

• 2 tbsp golden syrup

• 568 ml (pint) double cream

• a handful of glacé ginger

• as much ground cinnamon as you can handle :p

• coca powder (for dusting)

How-to:

1. Break the chocolate into a bain-marie along with the golden syrup and about a third of the cream.

2. Heat over a low heat until melted (~15 mins).

3. Wait for the chocolate to cool to 'just warm' (I forgot to do this so it didn't work out as well as hoped).

4. While the chocolate cools put the remaining cream, the cinnamon and ginger in a bowl and whisk until the cream takes a few seconds to lose its shape.

5. Fold the chocolate mixture into the cream.

6. Pour the mixture into a cake tin and allow to set in the fridge (I had to use the freezer because I messed up the earlier step).

7. Dust with cocoa.

8. Serve :)

Tom out!

*Apologies to people who don't like ginger - you won't find this tasty.

P.S. The original recipe: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1357/decadent-chocolate-truffle-torte

Project Thor: Exercise Plan

So what's the plan regarding the weight loss for Project Thor? I hear you all cry.

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The 4-hour Body

Well it's a two part exercise plan and a diet plan (in a future post).

So the plan is:

1. HIIT

2. 4-hour Workout Plan

Part the First: HIIT

HIIT stands for High-Intensity Interval Training (more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training). I'm going to fulfill this part of my exercise plan via running. Unlike the marathon however these sessions are short (~20 mins) with a warm-up followed by 20 second bursts of sprinting interspersed with 10 second jogging sections. Feel free to laugh at my first attempt here: http://runkeeper.com/user/tomw2005/activity/107815470?&mobile=false

Part the Second: 4-Hour Body

There is a book I used last year to lose 2 stone. It is called the 4-hour body and is written by Tim Ferris. Previously I used the diet part of the book (discussed in the next post). This time I plan to use the 4-hour workout plan (so called because you have 8 half-hour sessions per month) as well. However I'm pretty sure there must be some law preventing me from posting all the ideas from the book here so I'll just leave the Amazon link and his blog link here: Book & Blog

Tom out!

Airsoft Stag-Do

So my friend Neil is getting married in less than three weeks and in aid of this a group of Warwick Airsoc members went on a private weekend shoot at The Grange and RAF Honiley. So what better chance to review these sites and to mention some of the cool stuff I got up to on my weekend?The Grange

For many members (and ex-members such as myself) of Warwick Airsoc this is our home site and has a fondness in our hearts as one of the first sites we airsofted at. In brief this is an excellent, small, woodland site that is easily accessible to anyone in the Midlands.

So how about a fuller tour? The site features two large fields separated by a trench and extensive bushes (perfect for sneaking around in but quite muddy). There are several crossing points including The Compound in the middle of the site which usually ends up being the location for some heated fire-fights. On the far side of the site there is Little Chuffington a village that is invariably used for a pistol-only game to end the day. Nearer to the safe-zone is the difficult to assault location of Bunker Hill which is a perfect location to set-up your sniper rifle or M249.

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The Grange - from the top

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Hunkering down at the Grange

The site also features a safe-zone with toilets and showers (yes, you can camp here for a weekend of airsoft!) and a nice shooting range with targets where you will find yourself chrono-ing before a day of shooting.

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The Shooting Range

There is also a well stocked shop which features Gunmunki's custom guns which are truly awesome.

RAF Honiley

I was new to Honiley and it lived up to the hype. In brief this is a small, CQB/woodland site which is a whole lot of fun.

The site has a central complex with smaller buildings surrounding it and ample locations to devise a good ambush. The main building features a large 'Stargate' room and several control rooms and corridors which can become bottlenecks when the other team gets dug-in (memo to self: buy grenades!).

Inside Honiley

The Weekend's Games

This weekend featured a variety of great games including Compound Football, Zombies!, Bag Tag (c.f. TimeSplitters 2), Army of Two and Towers (an old favourite).

Zombies and Bag Tag were amazing fun and helped change the dynamic of the day ensuring we kept on having fun. The marshalling was great as usual too.

Conclusion

The site is awesome - go visit!

Tom Out!

P.S. This was meant to be posted aaages ago. Go visit the site!

P.P.S. The majority of the photos in this post were taken by the site marshals - thanks to them for the photos and obviously the photographs are copyright them :)

Project Thor

Thor

So this is my major Tinker (& fitness) project for the time being - Project Thor!

Basically I need ridiculous goals to achieve anything resembling fitness (c.f. running the marathon) and I have not done anything yet for the Tailor part of my blog so I conceived a cunning scheme - to go as convincingly as possible as the guy to the left [<-], The Mighty Thor!

This requires the following things:

• Getting my weight down to 79 kilos (12.5 stone)

• Putting on some muscle

• Crafting Mjolnir

• Making the upper body armour

• Obtain some crazy black trousers (I mean just look at them [<-])

• Obtaining some boots

• Growing and dyeing my hair blonde

• The challenge ends on October 31st 2012

Obviously there are a few caveats to the "convincingly" I wrote above. Clearly I am not an actor paid lots of money just to work out for a role so I will do my best to achieve a reasonable physique for the costume.

An update will follow later with 'Before' photos.

Tom out!

P.S. Apparently I already have a cape! :)

P.P.S Follow my weight-loss at Runkeeper: http://runkeeper.com/user/tomw2005/profile

Polymorphing

So this is the first post of my new combined blogs *maniacal laughter*

One of the things I plan to post about a bit more regularly is my PhD. Not the general day-to-day stuff but the cool and wacky things that you wouldn't expect to do - of which there are many.

So I am in the process of prototyping various bits of MR safe equipment for use in my project and having been playing around with Polymorph. It is a re-mouldable plastic which you can melt in boiling water and then make into any old shape. For bonus cool science points it turns clear when mouldable and  white when it sets :)

Today I've been moulding it around an old tonic bottle and some test tubes - proof that my research will never cease to surprise me!

[You can buy Polymorph from Maplin]

Tom out!

P.S. This is my first Tinker post!

P.P.S. My blog has polymorphed!

Times-are-a-changing 2.0

Hello everyone!I have now shut down by old blog (still there for posterity but everything has been moved over here).

Onwards!

Tom

Marvel Monday: The Definitive Thor

"Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of ... THOR"

The Marvel Platinum series is designed to give new readers (such as myself) an overview of a character's origin and important stories in their lifetime.

[A note on SPOILERS: There won't be any as long as you don't consider mentioning the names of Thor, The Avengers or other Asgardians]

The Cast

Thor is the main character throughout but anyone who has watched the Marvel films will also recognise Odin, Loki, Volstagg (the Vast), The Lady Sif, Hogun and Fandral. There are also appearances by The Avengers and other Asgardians (above).

The Art

The artwork in this book spans the whole history of Thor and so the earlier comics are not as high quality as you'd expect today or in a good graphic novel. The depictions of Thor and his allies/foes definitely improve throughout the book but by the time you reach the more recent comics the quality is top notch :)

The Writing It's nice to see such a cross-section of comic history. You can see how the writing style changes (the early Thor comics do seem a little childish). One noticeable change in the writing style comes when Thor's speech is made more accessible (if you thought he talked strangely in the films wait 'til you read the earlier comics!).

The later stories are superbly written and the characters seem vivid and exciting. There's a brilliant bit where Thor is given a stern talking down for his actions.

The Stories

The first two stories cover Thor's origins (one from the first comic and another one with more detail from later on). From then on we see the God of Thunder dealing with many different foes including some you'll recognise from the films (with the aid of The Avengers). It's hard to discuss any of this further without spoilers but some of the story arcs in this collection are excellent and a must read for fans of the films.

The Conclusion

This is a great overview of a character I didn't know much about until the films came out. I've learnt lots and enjoyed the ride :)

Next time on Marvel Monday - Uncanny X-men 1!

Tom out! :)

The Linkhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/Marvel-Platinum-The-Definitive-Thor/dp/184653481X

Marvel Monday: Astonishing X-Men

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I was going to start off my new blog incarnation by reviewing the Avengers. However, I figured that has a) been done to death and b) any geek worth their salt should have seen it by now. In short - it is excellent, go and see it. The 3D doesn't detract from but also doesn't improve the film really. Anyway onto this review...

"They're Gifted. They're Dangerous. They're Torn. They're Unstoppable" ... and they definitely astonish!

Astonishing X-Men is a hardcover omnibus which covers Joss Whedon's full run behind the wheel of the comic. There's 672 full colour pages of awesomeness contained within.

[A note on SPOILERS: There won't be any as long as you don't consider mentioning the names of X-men a spoiler (they are on the cover after all) or vague allusions to awesomeness]

The Cast

The main cast features Wolverine, Cyclops, Emma Frost, Beast, Kitty Pryde & Colossus (see cover & pic above). There's also your usual Marvel background organisations around (S.H.I.E.L.D. etc.) and a new main villain introduced early in the story :)

Personally my favourites have to be Wolverine, Kitty and Emma. They have the best humourous lines and scenes in the comic. Emma Frost is still the catty queen of put-downs and well Kitty can phase through walls with sometimes hilarious consequences.

The Art The artwork is second to none when it comes to quality and equally has a sense of humour with some of the best humourous facial expressions I've seen (see this individual comic cover which cracked me up ->).

Also the characters are all reasonably presented - no impossible curves or muscles. I think I prefer the characters like this but that's a personal choice. Although Beast does look more like a cat than usual which is a little odd.

The Writing If you've seen anything by Joss Whedon you should be expecting excellent writing and he doesn't disappoint! There is humour, darkness and some surprises in store. I laughed out loud several times while reading this series and couldn't put it down :)

The Awesomeness Pretty much every page - some of the double page artwork blew me away. As did most of the dialog!

The Conclusion If you do read comics - this is definitely a read you will enjoy.

If you don't read comics - I would definitely suggest this as a way to get into them - it's excellent!

Next week on Marvel Monday - The Definitive Thor!

Tom out! :)

The Link http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0785138013/

The Times They Are A-Changing!

So I haven't posted a Tea blog in aaaages. This is for three reasons: 1) Being busy 2) Not having enough new tea to try due to all the tea I have to drink still. 3) I feel the blogs are quite similar and should have more variety from week-to-week

Due to this I'm planning to change the blog to a general review blog. With a focus on Tea, Geekery, Student things in Manchester (and wider afield if they're good enough). I'll start editing the look and feel of the blog tonight and post my first review :)

Tom - out!

The Ultimate Work Tea

I've decided to post about new teas as and when now and might try a different style.

A chance sighting in Sainsbury's has allowed me to track down a tea I had previously sought but found impossible to find in the North.

Brewing

"Brew one teabag per person & pour on boiling water. Leave for three to four minutes, or until you think it's ready. Then drink it as it is, this one is made for drinking without milk.

"

Easy to brew and best of all needs no milk! (See previous work tea comments)

Colour

Light brown - one could fancifully say it has a golden hue too :).

Aroma

As with Earl Grey you can smell the bergamot and there is also a hint of lemon.

Taste

Do you like Earl Grey with lemon? Then this is similar. Obviously you can't control the strength of the lemon as you can when you add your own. However as a work tea it allows me to enjoy Earl Grey without the need for the fridge (I do like Earl Grey with milk and without - there is nothing wrong with this).

"Whistle While You Work"

This tea is definitely the cornerstone of my work teas now where I sometimes whistle. This allows me to make the above tenuous song title usable. Although I have recently learnt how to whistle more than one note which I previously found impossible so maybe I can finally whistle properly while working :)

Conclusion

An excellent workplace tea which once again fills my requirement of no milk due to lack of fridge. Though I must concede if you have a ready suppply of lemons your normal Earl Grey will do just fine.

Web-link

http://www.twinings.co.uk/speciality-black-tea-bags/sunshine-grey

See you all next time!

Harrods English Breakfast

Sorry for the delay everyone I have been busy with work and generally not drinking enough new tea :S

Brewing

As with most of the loose leaf teas I have reviewed a 3-5 minute brewing time as a matter of personal taste is required.

Colour

Tea coloured. This is quintessential tea!

Aroma

It smells like tea. I feel I may have to start reviewing more exotic teas to stop making this section a little boring :S

Taste

I think I prefer this to the Twinings English Breakfast. It seems to have a fuller flavour and is very good for kick starting your day :)

Londinium

Funnily enough I bought this tea in Harrods and have since enjoyed it on many occasions. Despite what you may have heard about Harrods this won't set you back any more than other leaf teas on the market. If you are a tea (or coffee) lover I can really recommend the Tea & Coffee section of Harrods. The staff there are very knowledgeable and helpful. There is also a ridiculous range of more expensive blends to try if you like :)

Conclusion

A very good cup of tea. Also not as expensive as you would expect!

Web-link

Harrods English Breakfast Tea

See you all next week!

Instant Christmas!

Another visit to Whittard's returns another intriguing tea that I just had to try! :)

I also wasn't aware that such a thing as instant tea existed :o

Brewing

"Spoon three heaped teaspoons (20g) to 200ml water, or according to taste. Serve over ice for a long summer punch, or add hot water, curl up and enjoy as a soothing winter warmer."

Ridonculously easy to brew. It is instant tea! I went for the hot version since it is October (the previous few weeks crazy weather notwithstanding).

Colour

Dark reddish brown.

Aroma

Smells like hot Ribena with a hint of spice. It is a very warming smell - perfect for winter.

Taste

So what does mulled wine taste like without the alcohol? I now have a very good idea - similar to hot Ribena with added spices. There is also a tea after-taste. All-in-all it does taste like mulled wine but it doesn't warm you up in quite the same way as the alcoholic version. 

Baking

I tried this tea while baking some cupcakes and making gingerbread :) Pictures will follow on my other blog (which I really need to post more on...).

Conclusion

Warming, lovely. I could drink it all winter long!

Web-link

http://www.whittard.co.uk/instant_tea/instant_tea_flavours/rb_mulled_wine_inst_tea.htm

See you all next week!

National Trust Blend

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This weekend I had the chance to visit Lyme Park just south of Manchester (famous for being where they filmed Mr. Darcy's lake scene [below])

As far as I know you can only try this tea at National Trust sites. You might be able to purchase it in one of their shops but you cannot order it from their website :(

Brewing

Comes in a metal teapot for one. Brew it as you like but I let it steep for a few minutes.

Colour

As tea coloured as you could expect tea to be. This is their standard tea offering after-all.

Aroma

While Freshers' Flu has taken hold and I couldn't really smell my tea I would expect it smells like your standard tea (assuming your standard tea isn't Earl Grey).

Taste

This is a pleasant blend which complemented by Bakewell Tart superbly. While being a general tea blend it was distinct from the Yorkshire Tea we had been drinking on camp (a comparison of day-to-day teas is to come :) ). It is a standard tea though - without a direct comparison to another it just tastes like a nice cup of tea.

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Pictured: A lovely cuppa and a delightful tart

Adventure is out there!

This tea was enjoyed post-adventure playgrounding (I think I just invented a word) and was well deserved by all :) I think there may have been discussion of Oil for some reason (blame to Matt and Dale).

[Prizes for recognising the quote in this section title]

Conclusion

An enjoyable, very normal cup of tea. The perfect representation of British tea to have at the National Trust.

Web-link

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-lymepark/

See you all next week!

Early Thoughts of Christmas

After my visit to the Whittard's outlet store I have a plethora of tea to review :) Here's the second one - Spice Imperial.

If anyone has suggestions for companies other than Twinings and Whittard's for me to try please add them to the comments. I don't want to only review these two companies. Also I will keep you posted on

Brewing

"Brew one teabag in a mug and remove when the tea is the strength you require.

Warming in the winter and also makes wonderful iced tea. Best brewed light and drunk without milk, but can also be brewed stronger and drunk with milk"

Simple enough to brew. I have tried it with and without milk but haven't yet had the chance to make iced tea from it :S

Colour

Dark brown as any standard black tea.

Aroma

Smells like Christmas! A very similar smell to Chai but with hints of orange and no ginger.

Taste

Once again this is nice brewed either way and I tend to make it without milk when I have it at work. You can definitely taste the cinnamon first and foremost with hints of orange and vanilla. If you aren't a fan of ginger you could use this as replacement Chai though I think I still prefer Chai myself.

Compiling Fail

While I did try this tea at the Tea Party previously mentioned I am currently using it to calm me down as a particularly pesky configure script is not playing ball at the moment as it can't find GCC :(

Conclusion

Tastes like Christmas! But in a subtly different way to Chai. Delightful!

Web-link

http://www.whittard.co.uk/tea/flavoured_black_tea/spiced_imperial/spice_imperial_50_teabags.htm

See you all next week!

P.S. Tea Party Cakes

Here pictures of the Tea Party cakes as promised :)

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Tea-themed cupcakes :D

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The variety of cakes on offer

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The Volcano Cake!

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The Late Tea

I apologise for the lack of posts this last week-and-a-half but I have had a major deadline to work towards.

After my visit to the Whittard's outlet store I have a plethora of tea to review :) Here's the first one - Vanilla flavoured tea.

Brewing

"Brew one teabag in a mug and remove when the tea is the strength you require.

Best brewed light and drunk without milk, but can also be brewed stronger and drunk with milk"

Simple enough to brew. It is definitely worth trying both methods to see which you prefer, I know that I did.

Colour

Dark brown as any standard black tea.

Aroma

The vanilla smell is fairly strong and overpowers the smell of tea.

Taste

This really depends on how you make the tea. At work I brew it lightly without milk and while it smells of vanilla this mostly brings out the tea flavour. On the other hand brewing it strongly with milk brings out more of the vanilla flavouring which is complemented by the milk (use more milk than normal). Either way this is a very nice tea.

Tea Party

I first tried this at a tea party I held which featured some amazing cakes (pictures will follow) and a competitive game of Trivial Pursuit.

Conclusion

Either tea-like with a hint of vanilla or milky-vanilla with a tea aftertaste. Lovely.

Web-link

http://www.whittard.co.uk/tea/flavoured_black_tea/vanilla/vanilla_50_teabags.htm

See you all next week!

The Gift of Tea

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This week I received a lovely gift box of green tea all the way from America! I was told to make an exciting sounding tea lemonade with this but have only had the time to make a normal cup of tea this week. [I also visited the Whittards outlet shop but more on that next week!]

Brewing

"1) Boil water. 2) Place one sachet in cup. 3) Pour 8fl oz hot water over sachet. 4) Steep for 3 minutes."

This is a green tea so milk need not be added. While you are waiting for your tea to brew you can enjoy reading the packaging as I did ("For best karma, please reuse or recycle.")

Colour

Pale brown which has more in common with black tea than green tea.

Aroma

You can smell the mint strongly. It actually reminds me of mint sauce. This might sound odd for a tea but does help bring to mind the memory of delicious roast lamb.

Taste

I am happy to report it doesn't taste of mint sauce :) There is a strong mint flavour with a hint of lemon grass (a pleasant aftertaste). There is also an underlying taste of tea :) I couldn't taste the lemon essence but it probably helps bring out the other flavours.

Fantasia

I took a break from writing my Continuation Report (the reason this entry is so late!) to try this tea. I've been trying to find familiar films/series to watch which are conducive to the writing process and Fantasia has been one of the best yet [I've written 7 pages today :)].

Conclusion

An invigorating green tea which tastes strongly of mint.

Web-link

http://www.tazo.com/tazo.asp

See you all next week!

The State of Tea Drinking in Germany - Part 2

While I have returned to the UK this week I brought back some leaf tea from Germany with me.

Pictured is a delightful tea shop in the Arkaden at Potsdamer Platz. The staff were friendly and happily let me peruse their selection of teas which all have samples in little glass jars for your nose's pleasure.

The tea I chose to purchase smelled amazing - Blueberry Muffin tea :)

Brewing

Despite not being able to read German I have been able to ascertain that this tea should be brewed for between 2 and 4 minutes. I, as usual, preferred to brew it for longer. I decided to try the tea with and without milk as I was unable to determine the suggested course of action because of the language barrier.

Colour

A nice light brown which looks good with or without milk.

Aroma

There is a very strong smell of blueberry muffin which is almost overpowering in the bag. However when brewed the aroma is still present (and still lovely) but weaker. A good compromise I think.

Taste

In a similar vein to the sticky toffee flavoured tea from Whittard's this tea has a normal taste while the aroma provides a pleasant experience :)

I found that adding milk was my preferred choice for drinking this tea.

Cakes!

While I actually enjoyed this tea with a prototype cake (more on that after a tea party I have planned) I did also visit some friends this week (a delightful couple should you ever meet them). Their cake offering was an apricot flan with a good balance of sweetness (not too sweet as is common) and nice shortcrust pastry - lovely :)

Conclusion

German tea is definitely in a more than acceptable state, at least within Berlin.

Web-link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_culture#Germany

 - Good elsewhere too it would seem!

See you all next week!

P.S. The Riots

I strongly support the movement to drink tea in protest of the rioting in England currently. Show your support to our police forces, firemen and volunteers!

The State of Tea Drinking in Germany - Part 1

This week my I am in Berlin on holiday. When else will I get the opportunity to assess the state of tea consumption in this fine country?

At breakfast I chose to try Ronnefeldt's English Breakfast blend.

Brewing

No official timings so I defaulted to a few minutes brewing before adding some alpenmilch. The main point with this brand of tea though was the tea caddy system which is definitely a better solution than Twining's little tea bag strings.

Colour

A nice brown tea colour as expected.

Aroma

Smells like a standard tea - a good sign for tea abroad.

Taste

This is a fairly normal blend of Ceylon tea for a good breakfast cuppa. Definitely a successful tea. Apparently tea drinking is on the rise in Germany which can only be a good thing :)

Breakfast

In order to do this tea justice I did my best to assemble a Full English from the buffet. Very crispy bacon, scrambled eggs, toast, tomato and some würst later and I had the closest approximation I could muster.

Conclusion

Deutschland has definitely succeeded at normal tea! 

Web-link

http://www.ronnefeldttea.ca/business/shop/category.php?id_category=7

See you all next week for more German shenanigans!