Summer Update and Teefilter Review
Wow, the summer has gone by so quickly! :-) After spending May through August in some form of minimester/summer school format of summer school college class, I have FINALLY completed all my nursing school prerequisites. It feels SOOOOOO good. I also managed to get my first post high school degree: an A.A. in Liberal Arts. From an academic standpoint, the degree is not that much of a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it's a nice confidence booster because I honestly thought a couple years back that I would never finish any sort of college degree.
In addition to getting my classes completed, I also got my CPR/Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers certification over at Presbyterian Hospital at Dallas. Oh man... When I stepped into that huge building, I knew I was in a place I could work in for a long time, which makes me look very forward to the spring when (hopefully) I start nursing school. Working with and interacting with the staff was a pleasure and I got to informally interview a nurse practitioner on what her college and workplace career was like which was really cool as well. If you don't know CPR, I would highly recommend getting some sort of certification, especially if you have young children or babies. Performing heimlich on a baby or small child without hurting them is not obviously intuitive and your skills (sadly) will probably not go unused as this group is more prone to choking on things and having accidents than adults.
Well, enough of my summer and on with the tea stuff. The item reviewed today is for the tanninophiles who prefer loose tea. One major drawback to loose tea is that tea balls and most other filters perform excellently when holding tea consisting of large whole leaves. However, connoisseurs of finely leaved teas or teas with high amounts of fannings tend to get left with a bunch of nasty tea mush at the bottom of the cup. Well, the same Teutonic ingenuity that brought us high end luxury cars has come to our rescue to save us from fannings. A German company, Finum, introduced a new product called the Teefilter. The teefilter is a rectangular pouch of unbleached coffee filter material about 5 inches long, 2 inches wide. Loose tea slides neatly into the bottom of the pouch through an opening in the top. After pouring fresh hot water into your cup, put the business end of the teefilter into the cup and let the tea steep normally. When the cup is ready, pull out the filter and dispose of in the trash. Since filter paper retains loose tea of all levels of coarseness effectively, no more "extra dietary fiber" resides at the bottom of the cup. If you like the Bodum Honey or Caramel Rooibos, this is the filter for you.
In addition to getting my classes completed, I also got my CPR/Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers certification over at Presbyterian Hospital at Dallas. Oh man... When I stepped into that huge building, I knew I was in a place I could work in for a long time, which makes me look very forward to the spring when (hopefully) I start nursing school. Working with and interacting with the staff was a pleasure and I got to informally interview a nurse practitioner on what her college and workplace career was like which was really cool as well. If you don't know CPR, I would highly recommend getting some sort of certification, especially if you have young children or babies. Performing heimlich on a baby or small child without hurting them is not obviously intuitive and your skills (sadly) will probably not go unused as this group is more prone to choking on things and having accidents than adults.
Well, enough of my summer and on with the tea stuff. The item reviewed today is for the tanninophiles who prefer loose tea. One major drawback to loose tea is that tea balls and most other filters perform excellently when holding tea consisting of large whole leaves. However, connoisseurs of finely leaved teas or teas with high amounts of fannings tend to get left with a bunch of nasty tea mush at the bottom of the cup. Well, the same Teutonic ingenuity that brought us high end luxury cars has come to our rescue to save us from fannings. A German company, Finum, introduced a new product called the Teefilter. The teefilter is a rectangular pouch of unbleached coffee filter material about 5 inches long, 2 inches wide. Loose tea slides neatly into the bottom of the pouch through an opening in the top. After pouring fresh hot water into your cup, put the business end of the teefilter into the cup and let the tea steep normally. When the cup is ready, pull out the filter and dispose of in the trash. Since filter paper retains loose tea of all levels of coarseness effectively, no more "extra dietary fiber" resides at the bottom of the cup. If you like the Bodum Honey or Caramel Rooibos, this is the filter for you.