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If you happen to be wandering around the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul and find yourself in need of some tea, I can direct you to The Tea Garden/The Steepery Tea Bar. This tea bar, or tea café, has 3 locations within the Twin Cities and 2 more in the greater metro. I patronised the one in Uptown—a vibrant neighbourhood with a lot of young people, alternative scenes, and delicious restaurants—where tea café format of The Tea Garden’s fits in well. It has a casual vibe and can be a place to a friend, get some work done, or just watch the world go by.
Ti Kuan Yin Slimming Oolong
Being a tea café rather than a traditional tea house, it offers a lot of tea lattes and bubble teas in addition to a good selection of loose leaf tea. Being a loose leaf tea person, I am sometimes hesitant about going to places that serve “tea drinks,” for fear that their loose tea will disappoint. Not so with The Tea Garden.
As far as the teas go, their selection of greens and blacks (both pure and flavoured) is the most extensive. They also offer several white teas, but only one oolong and one puerh. While this might be a disappointment for some, if they are going to have only one oolong, they picked a good one: Ti Kuan Yin, or Iron Goddess of Mercy, one of the most famous Chinese oolongs. They list Chais separately on their menu, so if you go in looking for a spiced tea, don’t despair when you don’t find it listed under the various types of tea. And if chai is what you like, they also offer a few tea drinks with a chai base (namely an Iced Chai and a Chai Shake).
The Tea Garden also offers tisanes on their loose tea menu (which, unlike so many other places, they actually refer to as tisanes!). An interesting category that is also on their menu, which I would perhaps class with tisanes, is guayusa. This Amazonian tree leaf, brewed similarly to the tea leaf, acts as a stimulant as well as being rich in vitamins and minerals (for a little more information on guayusa, see this article). If you are a Yerba Mate drinker, this might be worth a try.
At The Tea Garden, you can order loose leaf tea in a cup or pot, although a warning regarding this terminology is in order. Ordering a “cup” actually gets you a cup-to-go, so select this option if you need to grab a tea for being out and about but not if you want to sit down and savour your tea. Another confusing detail is that they specify that the pot or cup does not include refills, but this refers to refills of tea leaves; they do, in fact, refill hot water upon request (phew!).
I am quite partial to oolongs, and tend to order them at tea houses. This excursion proved no exception. I ordered my Ti Kuan Yin in a pot, and happily let it steep away. It is a tea I am fairly familiar with, so I knew what to expect, and I was not disappointed. After establishing that I could, in fact, get hot water refills, I settled back and proceeded to enjoy several steepings of this smooth, nutty oolong.
Although The Tea Garden might not be traditional enough for some tea drinkers out there, they manage to walk the line of trendy tea café and high quality tea house quite well. They offer a tea experience that reflects a new trend of tea drinking—one that blends the worlds of contemporary café culture with traditional tea appreciation.
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
In late breaking news from China, here comes a report that claims that some of the more rare varieties of spring harvested tea are apparently fetching prices that literally make them worth their weight in gold – or even more. Among those varieties, a Longjing (Dragonwell) green tea from Zhejiang province, which is selling at just over $1,600 per ounce. Which, if my math is correct, works out to about $128 per cup.
Speaking of pricey, here’s a report on some really expensive teabags that were confiscated by police in Orlando, Florida, not so long ago. The catch: they were filled with a leafy substance of another sort entirely and one that will presumably land their owner in a different type of hot water than the kind used to steep tea.
For high tea of a decidedly more genteel and traditional sort, check out this report on Virgin Atlantic’s efforts to bring afternoon tea to the skies for their well-heeled Upper Class passengers. As the report notes, “passengers can now choose between a full tea service featuring ‘English’ Breakfast or Earl Grey tea plus finger sandwiches, scones and cakes served in their own purpose-made dainty cake stand.” Pinkies up!
If you just can’t quite seem to get enough of tea, you always have the option of wearing it. Or at least, as the case is with clothing from a British designer, you can wear clothing made from tea bags that have been used and thoroughly dried to make a kind of cloth. Among the items Grace Robinson creates in this unusual manner are dresses, shoes and accessories.
For those who find themselves dreaming of tea, a mattress from Keetsa might be a great investment. The company’s Tea Leaf Dream, Tea Leaf Classic, and Tea Leaf Supreme models all include a product called EverGreen, which is “made from all-natural green tea” and which “is embedded into the memory foam for long-lasting natural odor control.”
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Jonas Hanway's complete book where the essay on tea appears
It’s probably not surprising that so many English commentators of yesteryear felt compelled to pick up a pen and share their thoughts about tea. After all, tea was a relative newcomer to their island nation, only turning up in the middle portion of the seventeenth century and not really hitting it big for at least another half century after that.
Opinions among these commentators tended to be rather mixed, if the truth be told. While some of them did everything short of running through the streets (tea) drunkenly singing the praises of tea, there were probably just as many who felt that it was a vile substance that, if left unchecked, would contribute to the breakdown of law and order and the end of humanity as we know it.
We could safely put Jonas Hanway (1712 – 1786) in this latter category, at least based on the thoughts he expressed in his 1757 An Essay on Tea. The piece is actually part of a larger work, a two-volume book that he published in that same year, called A Journal of Eight Days Journey from Portsmouth to Kingston Upon Thames.
Hanway, if we’re to believe Wikipedia, was an “English traveller and philanthropist” and was apparently the “first Londoner, it is said, to carry an umbrella.” The unwieldy title of his diatribe on tea, excerpted from the even more unwieldy full title of the book, gives a pretty good indication of his not so complimentary opinions about tea, An Essay On Tea, Considered As Pernicious To Health, Obstructing Industry, And Impoverishing The Nation: With An Account Of Its Growth And Great Consumption In These Kingdoms.
The author devotes no small amount of his work to detailing the assorted and sundry evils that tea had already wrought in England. Among the various maladies he blames on its consumption are distempers, scurvy and weak nerves, just to name a few.
Today, tea is more popular than ever!
Though Hanway’s dry writing style doesn’t exactly make this a book that you’ll want to take to the beach, at least one of his contemporaries read enough of it to get his back up and write a lively rebuttal. That would be the infamous Samuel Johnson, who was proud to be a self-proclaimed “hardened and shameless tea-drinker.” More on his throwdown with Hanway in this article, which includes a link to the review he wrote of Hanway’s book.
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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I’ve written a number of articles at this site and my own about the many and varied things you can do with tea and alcohol. This is no time to rehash the topic, which you can read more about here, for starters. Suffice to say that tea and alcohol come in two main forms – tea mixed with other ingredients to make a cocktail of some sort or one of a variety of alcoholic beverages actually produced with tea as a flavoring agent.
On the flip side of the coin is the relationship between tea and teetotalism. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines teetotalism as “the principle or practice of complete abstinence from alcoholic drinks” and a person who engages in this practice is known as a teetotaler. Both words are thought to date from about 1834, but despite the resemblance to the word tea and popularity of tea with some teetotalers, one apparently has nothing to do with the other. Look for more on the origins of these words here.
An article of this scope is not sufficient to adequately examine the relationship between tea and teetotalism, but a few examples will help to demonstrate that relationship. As one author noted, in an essay on the history of drinking practices in Great Britain, “the availability of safe and nonintoxicating beverages, a large per capita increase in tea consumption after 1840, and the establishment of eating and drinking places besides the public house all contributed to reducing the significance of alcohol as beverage and nutrient.”
In his fascinating book, A History of the World in Six Glasses, author Tom Standage not only credits tea with improving the health of the British public as far back as several centuries ago (due to its antibacterial properties and the fact that the often unsafe water had to be boiled) but also notes that with the rise of industrialization tea was favored over the beer often given to agricultural workers due to the fact that it increased alertness and had no intoxicating qualities.
Finally, as one student noted in her thesis on tea, “A new emphasis on morality included a popular temperance movement in the middle of the nineteenth century, and the working classes needed to find a cheap substitute for alcohol. Inexpensive tea arrived at exactly the right moment in history to take this place…The temperance movement had become a powerful movement among the working class in the 1840′s when per capita tea consumption rise sharply.”
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Tea cozies are handy things, keeping teapots warm for those of us who take our time in consuming the tea within. They come in Dome style, Snuggie style, Knit-hat style, and something called The HOB, to mention a few. But these cozies have other uses besides “thermal conservation,” some not well known and others made famous by standup comedians. In fact, let’s start with that one.
Use #5 – Silly Hat
Standup comedian and sometime actor Billy Connolly says “Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cozy, doesn’t try it on.” House elf Dobby (in the Harry Potter series) wears a tea cozy hat. Annelise Pitt, maker of Thistledown Cozies, and George Jage of World Tea News demonstrated the hat potential of tea cozies, something rarely caught on camera, at the 2010 World Tea Expo. (The photographer even caught Pitt modeling The HOB as ― um ― well ― er ― an item of, shall we say “alternate apparel”?) There are even knit patterns for tea cozy hats.
In this photo: Annelise Pitt (left) and George Jage
Use #4 – Cozy Purse
You might have to modify the cozy a bit (if you use the snuggie style), sewing up the sides so that when you’re carrying it around you don’t leave a trail of “purse items” ― keys, lipstick, coins, hair comb, compact, mascara, notepad, pen, a can or two of pepper spray, a large economy size bottle of aspirin, a pair of comfortable shoes, a folding umbrella… It’s a LARGE cozy purse! This cozy purse isn’t quite that capacious.
Use #3 – Sculpture Cover
Those sculptures can get chilly in the evening. A cozy can keep them warm. Or they can make a political statement, like 20 knitters in Oakland, California, made a little over a year ago. They knitted a big cozy to cover the “T” in a metal sculpture that consisted of the “T,” “H,” “E,” “R,” and “E” (“There”) facing “H,” “E,” “R,” and “E” (“Here”). The idea was to have the sculpture now read “Here” and “Here.” (Cozies are also good around your house for covering those hideous figurines and knickknacks you got as wedding/birthday/whatever presents from well-meaning loved ones and friends. Just remove the cozy quickly before the giver stops by for a visit.)
Use #2 – Turkey Warmer
A super big Dome style cozy for your super big bird will keep it warm from kitchen to dining table and between carvings. You might want to line the cozy with something such as aluminum foil that you can toss when done with it. (Unlike the others which are real, I just made this one up.)
Use #1 – Smart Car Cover
A group of 20 grandmothers in Switzerland turned 70 pounds of wool into a giant cozy resembling a tennis shoe (or a roller skate) for the Smart Car. The goal was to combine crafts with high-tech design, or is there tea steeping inside that car (it does sort of look like a teapot)? In any event, I hope the driver removes the cozy before hitting the road (and other drivers)!
Now you see it, now you don’t
Who knew those humble and lovable tea cozies were so versatile? Something to think about the next time you call your tea cozy into service keeping your potful of tea warm. Enjoy!
See also:
Keep Your Tea Cozy
Tea Cozy Tea Party
HOB — The Uncozy
Tea Cosys (Cozies)
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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Buckingham Palace Garden Party
The quality of Ceylon teas has been on a steady rise since tea plantations revived Sri Lanka’s agricultural industry when their coffee crops fell victim to disease. You can have a pure Ceylon tea from a particular estate or enjoy one of these delicious teas in a blend where their flavors harmonize with the qualities of other teas.
Ceylon blends can consist of various Ceylon teas grown in the different tea regions or a Ceylon tea blended with other teas, florals, herbals, etc. This can balance out qualities of the tea liquid, blending teas that tend to be stronger in flavor with those that are more delicate. For example, take a tea from the Diayella estate at a high elevation (high grown) in the Dimbulla District that has a mellow flavor and mix it with tea from the Lumbini estate at a low elevation (low grown) in the Matara District, a black tea with an exceptional deep rich aroma, a copper/red hue, and a spicy sweet flavor. You get a blend that combines both flavor characteristics.
For a successful tea blend, blenders must bring the tastes, textures, and colors of different teas together. Once a blend is perfected and is successful on the tea market, the blenders have to be able to produce it consistently. Since Ceylon teas are often used as the base for tea blends, and since the flavor of these teas varies by region, season, and elevation, blenders often start by blending various Ceylon teas. It’s sort of like working out a brand new recipe but making sure you note the steps you took so you can document it and repeat it later. Once the blenders have this “recipe” worked out, they can blend everything in big machines, assuring consistency.
Blends with Ceylon teas as a base:
- English Breakfast Blend No. 1 (a personal favorite) — Ceylon, Assam, and Kenyan teas produce a full malty flavor and dark color to start your day. Fabulous hot with milk and sweetener or with lemon only. Another great feature of this tea is that you can fix a potful in the morning, drink some, let the pot sit (warm in its tea cozy) for awhile, pour another cupful and reheat it a bit in the microwave, and it will taste about as delicious as when fresh brewed.
- Indian Spiced Chai (a fine versionof a classic) — high grown Ceylon black tea with cardamom, cloves, coriander, cumin seed, sweet cumin seeds, curry leaves, lemon grass, and rampe leaves. Goes best with milk and sweetener to taste.
- Buckingham Palace Garden Party (a real treat) — high grown pure Ceylon Earl Grey with soft jasmine from Fujian Province, plus Borengajuli Estate malty Assam and Dimbula Ceylon (from Hatton), East of Rift Kenyan (from Kambaa and Kagwe). You’ll taste the Earl Grey, then the jasmine, and finally the blend of Assam, Ceylon, and Kenyan teas.
Some Ceylon tea blends with fruit flavors:
- Monks Blend (another favorite) — high grown Ceylon tea from estates at more than 5500 feet above sea level with vanilla and grenadine flavors added.
- Island Coconut— high grown Ceylon black tea from estates at more than 5500 feet above sea level with a tropical taste of real coconut full of memories of white sand beaches and swaying palm trees and no chemical aftertaste.
- Mango Mist— high grown Ceylon black tea from estates at more than 5500 feet above sea level and natural flavors.
- Orange Spice — high grown Ceylon black tea from estates at more than 5500 feet above sea level blended with tangy Florida orange taste and fresh cinnamon.
Ceylon teas are used in a variety of brands, including Golden Moon, Harney and Sons, Taylors of Harrogate, Revolution, and The Republic of Tea.
As you can see, you have lots of choices. Pick a blend, any blend, and have a nice, flavorful cupful. Also these make a great gift for someone you want to introduce to teas since these are a cut above the bagged dust available in stores.
Don’t miss A.C.’s blog, Tea Time with A.C. Cargill!
[Editor's note: William Dietz, aka "Sir William of the Leaf", has moved on to other things. We wish him all the best.]
As a first post, I would like to start out with an introduction. My name is William Dietz, alias “Sir William of the Leaf.” I am eighteen years old and currently live in a cozy dorm room in Indiana. I am originally from the great state of New Mexico, but education called my name elsewhere. Marketing will be my intended major, with a minor in video production. I enjoy a mix of business and the arts.
As far as all things tea related in my life, I am certified through the STI through level three, a Certified Tea Specialist (by their standards). I have experience in writing and tasting through my personal tea blog, which covers topics ranging from reviews of all types of tea, cultural information, production methods and a bit of history and information about the different growing regions. I have been infused with tea love for three years and hope to share that love with all the readers of this fine blog.
Nilgiri
The topics that I will probably be posting about will be centered around Chinese, Taiwanese, and Nilgiri teas. As a hobbyist, those are the areas which I study most. I do enjoy all tea, though, so there shall be a healthy mix of topics.
Tea can be consumed in many different ways, and I am usually open to most of them. The favorite of mine is making it loose leaf, usually in the traditional manner. I lean heavily on the pure side of teas, i.e., unflavored, but I do venture out of my comfort zone if I am so inclined. I can handle a tea bag every now and again if there is nothing better on stock. Ready To Drink (RTD) teas are a bit trickier. There are only two brands which I ever buy. Powdered or concentrated teas are abominations (my personal opinion) of which I do not partake. This is all up to personal opinion, of course, but I do have to introduce my personal feelings about these subjects right up front. I try to make reviews and knowledge as unbiased as possible, but it will slip up occasionally.
I do hope you got to know a bit about me (the new guy) and I hope you enjoy my posting and subject matters. If not, I do accept hate mail on my email address: sirwill@gmx.com
If there is anything else one might want to know, shoot me an email as well. I appreciate the conversation thoroughly!
[Editor's note: Our blog is chock full of great articles on this topic. Use our search feature to find them!]
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
This Wednesday is St. Patrick’s Day, that green-tinted day upon which all Americans have a bit of Irish blood in them no matter which continent their ancestors hailed from. Green beer will be poured out in copious quantities between now and then, but I propose a more civilized way to celebrate the occasion.
A shamrock tea party. The idea was inspired by a miniature tea set my grandmother gave me, hand-painted with shamrocks. While it always has a home in our china cabinet, this is the week that it moves to more prominent display. (Just for complete disclosure, I have not a drop of Irish blood, but my husband is a quarter Irish). And I started thinking that a tea would be an alternative to the pub crawls so popular around here.
Of course for tea, one would have to serve Irish Breakfast, prepared so strong that a mouse could trot on it, with a lot of cream and sugar. I think a combination of sweets and savories would be best. Some good Irish cheddar, perhaps, and Irish Soda Bread served with Kerry Gold butter. Scones of course would have their own place on the table, perhaps dusted with green sugar to add a festive note.
You can’t celebrate leprechauns and green without a bit of Irish music in the background. If Celtic music isn’t usually your thing, try some so-called Celtic Rock, like Gaelic Storm or Carbon Leaf. You also might try out some Great Big Sea. Trust me, it doesn’t mean you have to start kicking your legs like you’re in Riverdance. (Although try it, you might have fun).
However you spend the day, remember that in this country, it’s not much of a saint’s day, just an occasion to celebrate one of our many cultural ingredients in our melting pot.
Check out Stephanie’s blog, The Tea Scoop. It’s the best blog in the world!
[Editor's note: Our blog is chock full of great articles on this topic. Use our search feature to find them!]
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Great news, everybody! English Tea Store has decided to spread the word about its great-tasting tea and nifty tea accessories by giving stuff away! Just convince five of your friends to follow ETS on Twitter and you’ll be entered to win the following: a 2-cup Ceramic Infuser Teapot (you pick the color) and a sampling of each of these teas (choose between loose leaf and teabags):
- Buckingham Palace Garden Party
- English Breakfast Tea Blend No. 1
- Double Bergamot Earl Grey Tea
- Peppermint Tea
- Blackcurrant Herbal Tea (only teabags, sorry)
For every five friends you convince to follow us, you’ll be entered to win! So, if you convince ten friends, you’ll be entered twice! Convince 15 friends, and you’ll be entered three times!
Every time you round up five friends, shoot me an e-mail to: etscontests@gmail.com. Make sure to include the Twitter usernames of each of your friends so that I can verify that they’ve indeed followed us.
The winner’s name will be plucked randomly from a teapot! A congratulatory e-mail will be sent to the winner on January 7, 2010. The lucky guy or gal will have until Monday the 11th to claim the prize. Otherwise, we’ll pick another name! Once the prize has been claimed, I’ll post the winner’s name on Twitter as well.
Thanks for all your support! You’re awesome!
After savoring the aroma and flavor of your cup of tea, did you know that the used tea leaves can continue to benefit you and your garden? Tea is a powerful fertilizer, so powerful in fact that recently Harvard University switched to an organic fertilizer comprised partially of green tea. There are many ways you can use your used tea leaves to fertilize your garden. Some people simply throw their used tea leaves on their garden when they are finished, and while this is a simple and easy way to utilize tea leaves to fertilize your garden, I recommend using a hand rake or other similar utensil to regularly work the tea leaves into at least the top few inches of soil. This not only allows the roots of your plants to get the maximum exposure to the tea, but also prevents mold from accruing on tea leaves that are on top of your topsoil.
You can also pour tea that you’ve made directly onto the plants to fertilize them. In fact it’s a treat that your plants will love if you replace their regular water with a cooled down brewed tea occasionally . You can use teabags as well as loose tea, but again, be sure to work the used teabags into the soil, and tear up the tea inside them so it gets maximum exposure to the plant roots.
Alfalfa tea is said to be especially good as a plant fertilizer however black tea, green tea, and oolong tea also make wonderful fertilizer, as does red rooibos tisanes. Tea from the Camellia Sinensis plant (e.g. Black Tea, Oolong Tea, Green Tea and White Tea will be highly acidic and therefore more beneficial to acid-loving plants such as rosebushes, rhododendrons, azaleas and hollies and many others.
No matter how you share your leftover tea with your plants, they will surely benefit from it, just as you do from your regular intake of tea.
[Editor's note: Our blog is chock full of great articles on this topic. Use our search feature to find them!]
© Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog, 2009-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this article’s author and/or the blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Online Stores, Inc., and The English Tea Store Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
