Tea Tester 2025

Mostly drinking the tea these days. Other than being fairly convinced that teas may bring a few more things to the table from a health perspective than coffee (I didn’t have like an EFF YOU - COFFEE moment or anything, so I am not sure where the decision came from), I just kinda switched things up and am enjoying it tremendously. I don’t order tea out much, though, or on vacation/when traveling, so I do get myself a little good old fashioned coffee boost every now and then as well. I still can’t stop myself from ordering a ridiculously sweet caramel spice flavor-of-the-season latte once in a blue moon as well. Sprinkle some nutmeg on that shit and I’ll toss it back like nobody’s business.

What I’m drinking now:

Matcha

There’s something about the ritual of making matcha that feels like the right way to start the day. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve really stared to take my start-of-day and end-of-day rituals pretty seriously. Some people go to church or pray to something or do some yoga or whatever, but I make my fucking teas. The temperature of the water (I shoot for around 175F), the movement of the whisk, the sipping of the finished product… When I’m home, I start every morning with a little matcha. I don’t have a go-to brand, but I don’t do anything sweetened and I do like “ceremonial” matchas. This one pictured is from HEB but I also like this one.

Greek Mountain Tea

At some point a few years ago I read a piece about all these really, really old people in Greece, and how in addition to their base Mediterranean diet, they all became really, really old people by drinking Greek mountain tea every day. I can’t find the exact article, but you probably know how to Google so maybe you can find it. That was during a little stretch when I was Googling things like “longevity secrets” and “really, really old people” and while I am not doing that so much now, I am still drinking Greek mountain tea. I boil up some Greek moutain tea every couple of days and then put it in the fridge and drink it as ice tea throughout the day.

I like this brand and company. I tried a Rishi variety, because it was less expensive, but it was also a blend with a bunch of other mints and flowers and crap so I’m back to Klio. Might as well skip all the fluff and mainstream the shit if you’re like me and just want to get really, really old really, really fast. Or something like that.

Oolong

I like the Oolongs a lot - there’s something nostalgic for me because they kinda taste like and remind me of when you get a little white teapot of tea at a Chinese restaurant. It’s like not green tea and not english breakfast tea and feels really mellow and soothing. Probably has antioxidants and some polyphenols and shit, too.

This one I just tried because WTF are they even talking about? What’s 80 years old? The leaf? The duckshit? they guy who picked it? Is it real duckshit? And if so, does it grow in the duckshit or just have the duckshit mixed in? Either option sounds like a really bad idea, but what the hell do I know.

Pu-erh

The very first pu-erh tea I tried a few years ago was like a shot of adrenaline to all my organs at once, so I stayed away for a while. Looking back, I may have steeped it too long, or got a hold of some bad shit, or drank too much or just been at a bad, stressed-out place in my life (most likely the latter). But now I’m back into it and have run across some really good varieties. If I have to ONLY have two teas a day, it’ll be the matcha and a pu-erh. This Nat Geo article turned me on to JingMai mountain pu-erh, which is really rich and full-bodied and delicious.

Given all this tea-talk, will probably write a little something something about teeth-whitening next.

RIP DAD

ROBERT DOYLE PORTER

April 11, 1932 - July 2, 2022

Called Bob by family and friends, Robert Doyle Porter, 90, died peacefully at home on July 2, 2022. Bob was born to parents Zelda Doyle and William Porter in Boulder, CO, on April 11, 1932, and graduated from San Bernardino High School in 1950. While taking classes at San Bernardino Community College, he worked at an engraving company and then in the production department of the San Bernardino Sun. In 1952, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Korea where he was stationed for nine months, assigned to the 2nd Engineer Battalion.

After his discharge from the Army in 1954, Bob worked his way through college with the help of the GI Bill. After earning his degree from San Diego State, he set a goal for himself to bicycle through Europe. He worked in a warehouse to save money for the trip and finally sailed off to Europe on the Vulcania in 1961. He cycled, hitchhiked and traveled by boat and train through 16 countries in one year.

It was in Sweden where he met the woman he would later be married to for 59 years – Birgitta Sundberg. After lingering in Sweden a little longer than he had planned, Bob sailed back to the States. He and Birgitta exchanged letters until she graduated in May of 1962, after which she sailed on the Kungsholm to the U.S. They were married in San Bernardino on April 10, 1963.

Bob then dedicated 34 years of his life as a teacher with San Bernardino County Schools, specializing in alternative education for children and adolescents. After retiring in 1998, he and Birgitta traveled around California and the United States, and to Sweden several times. When he was home, his focus was on caring for his fruit and avocado trees, pruning his beautiful rose gardens and grape vines, trouble- shooting his various irrigation systems, and enjoying his stunning backyard mountain view with his wife, children and grandchildren.

Bob is survived by his wife Birgitta Sundberg Porter; daughter Shannon Porter Fitzsimmons, her husband Jeff and their son Ethan; son Anders Porter, his wife Tyler and their children Frankie, Graham and Louisa; his sister and brother-in-law Joan and Dick Sweeney; his brother-in-law Tony Palatini; and his nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his mother, father, and sister Loma Nykkanen.

A memorial service will be held at 10:30am on August 11th at Riverside National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his name to the San Bernardino City Library Foundation.

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Will call

18 years is a long time to have not visited the Playa. For a number of my own reasons and logistics and situations I last made the slow 5 MPH crawl off the pavement and onto the hard-packed dusty playa in 2001, or what I think was 2001. This year, for a number of my own reasons and logistics and situations, I decided that I really really REALLY needed to go back. And so I did. And for a whopping 45 hours I was home again.

I can safely say after having almost a week (that’s like three months in Playa time) to fully comprehend my - albeit too short - return visit, I won't make my 18 year hiatus a recurring one.

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Playa bikes. Mine’s the little one.

A lot can happen in 18 years but it THRILLED ME AND PLEASED ME TO NO FUCKING END that what HASN'T CHANGED is that the core base of love, humor, friendship and community that sucked me in all those years ago hasn't changed A BIT. All of it, in fact, has grown stronger, is better, IS FUNNIER, and feels tighter than ever. To be able to participate in and witness and experience everything as if I had never left was a much needed hug, one not weakened by the time warp I’d leapfrogged in order to get there.

Early morning symphony @ the Temple

What I had been told to prepare myself for but really had no way to was the change in sheer size / volume / scale of the whole thing. What used to be an open playa dotted with mysteries and artistic stumblings throughout is now a massive, well-occupied stretch of canvas with choreographed LED displays, massive fire-breathing mountains of steel and roaming vehicular art displays as far as the eye can see. It was numbing to stand out in the middle of “nowhere” and make a 360 degree pivot to see virtually the same amount of flashy and blinky and fire-y in every direction.

The Temple

Good on you, citizens of Black Rock City, good on you. SO good to have gone home.

Root Society

This is where

- in my spare time -

- now and then - 

 - mostly then -

I will jot down a thing or two.