Curated Routes: from Los Feliz to Miracle Mile
From Los Feliz to Miracle Mile: A full-day guide to LA’s most beautifully made things across architecture, tea, art, design boutiques and a wood-fired dinner.
The Tea Squirrel
Latest posts
Curated Routes: Beverly Hills — Contemporary Art, Historic Gardens, and an Unexpected Tea Hunt
Join me for a curated afternoon in Beverly Hills. We are stepping away from the typical high-gloss glamour to explore a quieter, intentional side of the neighborhood—featuring striking art, historic gardens, functional West Coast fashion, and a tea sommelier’s treasure hunt hidden in plain sight.
Curated Routes: West Hollywood — Functional Design, Ethereal Tea, and Afternoon Light
In this installment of Curated Routes, we explore the hidden rhythms of West Hollywood. Join me for a beautifully paced afternoon weaving together ethereal tea-infused shaved ice at Mewame, the early modern architecture of the Schindler House, Japanese functional design at Toiro, and a meticulously crafted culinary finale at Sei Pizza Bar.
Curated Routes: Santa Monica & Pacific Palisades — Coastal Modernism and Sensory Rituals
In this route through Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades, we let tea serve as the narrative thread, grounding a beautifully paced day of mid-century architecture, intentional art spaces, and exceptionally sourced, vibrant food.
Curated Routes: Paris — Using Tea as a Compass
Tea is no longer just the destination; it's the compass we’ll use to dig deeper, uncovering the intentional spaces, curated objects, and sensory experiences that make a place worth finding. For our first route, let me guide you through the streets of Paris—specifically Saint-Germain-des-Prés on the Left Bank. Here is a curated itinerary mapped out not just by geography, but by the senses: where to…
A Tea Sommelier’s Guide to Taipei: The Three Tiers of Taiwan’s Capital
When you land in Taipei, the presence of tea is immediate. But to truly understand the tea culture here, you have to realize it is not a monolith—it is a spectrum. Join me as we navigate the three distinct tiers of Taipei’s world-class tea scene, from deeply meditative tea houses and purposeful sourcing rooms to the vibrant energy of elevated boba.
A side-by-side tea tasting in wine glasses
My tea journey is about the journey itself, not the destination. I don’t know where I’m going exactly but I know that every cup of tea, whether shared with someone or enjoyed alone, every encounter and conversation over tea, each and every tasting note and photograph I take are worth my undivided attention. So here I am, amplifying my sensory experience of tea by drinking tea, two teas, side by…
Tea-infused chocolate bars you have to try
If you’ve seen my previous posts about tea chocolate, you know that I am obsessed with bean-to-bar chocolate maker Fossa from Singapore and their single-origin tea chocolate bars made in collaboration with tea curator Pekoe & Imp. I was able to find two bars I had not tried yet, Duck Shit Dancong tea chocolate and Himalayan Royale Tips Hongcha tea chocolate.
Tasting a tea-infused chocolate bar
I came across a tea-infused chocolate bar by bean-to-bar chocolate maker Fossa from Singapore. It is infused with Honey Orchid Dancong Oolong from China. Read my thoughts and tasting notes.
Experimenting with non alcoholic cocktails. A recipe with matcha green tea
What is the Tea Squirrel up to? Testing out tea-based mocktail recipes to see if they meet my tea-centric expectations, obviously. If there’s tea in it, I want to taste it. Don’t you? Is the author of the recipe a tea drinker? Are they using tea because they believe in the potential of tea as an ingredient or because they need to use just another buzzword? So many questions, only one way to find…
Experimenting with tea mocktails. A recipe with black tea
I came across the recipe for a mocktail called A little bit Russian by Julia Bainbridge. I had heard of Julia Bainbridge before, she’s a writer and the author of Good Drinks, a recipe book on non alcoholic drinks. A black tea concentrate is shaken with coconut milk, simple syrup, bitters and ice, then strained and garnished with orange peel. I tested out this recipe to see if it would meet my…
What’s next for The Tea Squirrel?
Dear tea friends, I hope your 2022 is off to a great start! This blog post is a little different from all my other posts but I think it’s necessary. I haven’t been very active here on the blog or on social media lately and I wanted to reach out to you to update you on what’s next for The Tea Squirrel. Since the beginning of January, I have been on a social media fast, specifically I’ve deleted the…
How to evaluate matcha green tea
Today I’m revisiting a method to evaluate matcha I had described a few years ago in my blog post “Comparing 2 single-cultivar matcha” . I did not invent this method, but I had borrowed it from the Kettl tea blog. Unfortunately, their original post is no longer available for reference, but I remember following their method exactly. I selected 3 different matcha green teas from my collection, which…
Tasting tea infused chocolate bars
The other day I was at a specialty wine store and stumbled upon a few interesting artisanal chocolate bars, including two tea-infused ones. On a whim, I decided that I needed to try them and purchased them. I was already familiar with both brands but had not tried either of them yet. Were they any good? Read on to find out!
Why you should try brewing your tea with a gaiwan
Can the gaiwan be the gateway to a deeper enjoyment and understanding of tea? It's a sunny afternoon in late March, maybe early April in Portland, Oregon. It’s 2016. I’m sitting indoors at a table facing two French patio doors half open onto a pond. There’s a weeping willow tree to the left, its branches caressing the water. To the right, a small pavilion with a steep sloping roof, its corners…
Gli abbinamenti con il tè e l’uso del tè in cucina secondo lo chef Christian Nicita
Quando pensiamo agli abbinamenti che si possono fare con il tè o all’uso del tè come ingrediente in cucina, non è automatico associarlo a piatti salati e tanto meno alla cucina italiana. La maggior parte di noi accompagna il tè ad un dolce o dei biscotti ma non si sognerebbe mai di usare il tè per preparare un piatto a base di pesce. Ed è proprio per questo che quando mi sono imbattuta in…
Tea and food pairings and tea-infused dishes from a fine dining chef's perspective
When I think of tea and food pairings or using tea as an ingredient in a dish, Italian food does not come to mind as the first, most obvious choice. And I was born and raised in Italy. That’s the reason why, when I came across chef and tea lover Christian Nicita and his tea room/restaurant Acquamadre on Instagram, I was immediately captivated. Imagine my reaction when I found out that he was…
Do you really need to take tea tasting notes?
After 5 years of tea blogging and countless other tea-related topics to research and write about, I had felt a bit of fatigue and lack of inspiration when taking tasting notes of tea. Luckily, I was determined to dig deeper into the process and found a better way, as well as a much needed creative spark. Read on to discover: The benefits of tea tasting notes. Taking my tea tasting notes to the…
Ice brewing different types of tea
You might be familiar with cold brewing tea but have you tried ice brewing it? I’ve only ever seen ice brewing applied to Japanese green teas and I was curious to experiment with it, which is why I decided to test this method for different tea types from different origins.
Do you wash your teaware?
A few days ago, I asked my Instagram community the following two questions. Do you wash your teaware? Do you wash your teaware with dish soap? I thought you’d be interested to hear what works for me.