The Future of STeaP

[Brandice]

After watching our 52nd episode, what do you think? Please feel free to contribute to the discussion here. :)

[amy]

Hum. I just joined/found STeaP this past wk (memb #51 wk #51), I spent my first few days watching hours of back episodes-seriously you two crack me up . So I haven't been the casual, wait for the next installment kind-a-gal, more of a tear-into-it all at once chickie. For me, the jury is still out. That said, I am however all about keeping an open mind, change can be good. It is definately inevitable. My thought is you need backup, b/c change is never easy so...GO BRANDICE! run w/it girl.

[Nikhil]

Brandice & Joe - The show is awesome in its current format, but change is always good, right? I love the idea of mixing it up with visits to local tea rooms, sharing what you're drinking, etc. The fact that you guys have pulled of 52 shows is absolutely incredible, in my book.

[chistevemac]

I love the show, and I do think it is a shame that the current format can't continue, but on to new things! I don't think that I would ever suggest things for a show because you have your format, but since it's changing, here are some things that I would love to see (whether they be STeaP or some other...)

- I'd love to see a show (or ongoing) about how different brewing methods and time/temp affect the taste and break away from the brand specifications. Example: brewing the tea sample a couple of different ways and trying a little of each.

- I'm glad you'll be having guest co-hosts, it would be great if those people could bring some of their tea background to the show for that episode... a little intro/interview perhaps asking about how long they've been a tea drinker, when/how they made their break into tea appreciation, their favorites, etc...

- It would be great to get an idea of tea culture around the US (and abroad), and perhaps you could have viewers do things like show their favorite local tea shops, or possibly even do quick 2-minute interviews with shop owners (how long have they been there, what makes their shop great, etc...) It would help us to find places we might like to try and may not know about. I don't know how feasible this is.

[Mike]

Hey Brandice! I agree with chistevemac - trying different brewing times on the tea is a great idea! Tea is such a personal experience, it is tough for vendors to recommend the perfect brewing time/amount for any given tea. We can (and do!) provide guidelines, but your tastes differ from Joes, and mine, and, and, and ;)

A great idea is to try the "camera" method of brewing the tea - maybe start with the vendor recommendation, try a minute under, a minute over for steeping, maybe try a bit more leaf, a bit less and so on. I realize that you have limited time for the vid, but perhaps focus on one tea per episode and bracket the "exposure" of the tea to your tastebuds, I am CERTAIN that you can find, for most teas, a midpoint where it is not as "bad" as you may originally thought (for the teas that you don't like of course, for the ones that you do, you may find an even BETTER flavour profile at a different steep time! :))

I for one would love to see some examples of different brewing methods - such as Gongfu, the Matcha episode was great for introducing a different brewing method, but there are lots of others out there that you could cover as well.

The good news is that there is a never ending source of episode materials.... ;) the bad news is that you will never ever be able to cover everything about tea! :)

Keep at it! Great job so far by both you AND Joe!

[Brandice]

I want to thank everyone for a lot of great input and suggestions.

Also wondering what everyone thinks of the first STeaP without Joe... everyone enjoy Dianah's guest spot? :)

[rheimbro]

I agree with pretty much everything already mentioned. I think one of the best things about this show is simply that you guys don't claim to be supreme judges, but rather recognize your own tastes may differ from each other and those watching. As far as content, it might be interesting to do more than simply taste and react to various types of teas, but to also explore what makes a Ceylon different from a Darjeeling etc... perhaps some more background on the varieties would be cool. But of course in your normal entertaining take on things, not a boring lecture lol.

Finally on the recent episode, I enjoyed it, but the one thing I noticed is that you and Joe work really well because you balance each other out in temperament and personality. At times the new episode was kind of overbearing simply because you and Dianah are both quite boisterous personalities. Again, I will reiterate that I still enjoyed the show. This was just an observation I made about some of the differences. You guys have my attention regardless of what you do!

[Brandice]

Thanks for the input. :) It's very much appreciated, and it's good to know what's working and what you're noticing about the recent guest co-host dynamic. Thanks for the feedback!