Tea

Does anyone remember that blog “Stuff White People Like”? It always made us laugh, self-stereotyping through gentle jabs. During a recent meeting, Marketing Coordinator Christy Garfield and I were brainstorming so hard that our ears were emitting smoke and we decided we needed a blog post that was our own variety of stereotyping our beloved tea lovers. In fact, “tea” was No. 13 on that list of Stuff White People Like, which was discontinued in 2010. The description included this gem, “If you find yourself in a situation with a white person, acceptable things to say include, ‘I’m really into tea right now,’ or ‘my favorite thing is to get a nice cup of tea and curl up in a chair with a good book.’ But do not remind them about the role of colonialism in tea, it will make … Continue reading →

Creating Something Special Customers thank us every day for the peace that Samovar Tea Lounge brings them. We are so grateful to be doing what we do. But when I step back to survey the magic that happens at Samovar, … Continue reading →

I am making preparations three tables of guests for tea tomorrow.   Details coming soon!

Tea Information: Leaf Type:  Green Where to Buy:  52Teas Tea Description: The traditional Mai tai is made with rum, Curaçao liqueur, and lime juice. Curaçao is a liqueur made from the peel of the laraha citrus fruit, which was developed from the Valencia orange. The liqueur is naturally colorless but is often given artificial color, commonly blue. Our Mai Tai is a blend of Yun Wu, Chun Mee and Young Hyson green teas, orange peel and organic flavors. It’s sure to put you in mind of tropical breezes. See if you can drink it without wanting to put a little umbrella in it. Learn more about this tea here. Taster’s Review: From the moment I opened the pouch of this Mai Tai Flavored Green Tea from 52Teas, my olfactory nerves have been overcome by the strong fragrance of the dry leaf of this tea.  It smells like a very STRONG Mai Tai!  I can smell the notes of rum and the powerful citrus notes.  In fact, it smells so powerful, one might become intoxicated just by taking in the aroma! OK, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit.  But it does smell very much like what the name suggests.  It smells like a Mai Tai cocktail.  Once brewed, the bouquet is a little more subdued, but it still smells very much like a concoction of rum and citrus fruit … with a distinct tropical flair to it. And it is really tasty.  I like that even though the flavors are strong, the green tea is not overpowered by the flavors of rum, liqueur, and citrus fruit.  I can taste the smooth, fresh notes of the green tea.  There is a buttery note to the tea that melds quite nicely with the rum flavors.  The citrus notes lend a nice, tangy quality to the tea.  It is sweet and a little tart.  It tastes as though the bartender accidentally poured green tea into my Mai Tai! It is very refreshing.  I enjoyed this hot … but I liked it even better as it cooled. I refrigerated the remaining tea and let it chill a while, and that’s really the best way to enjoy this tea – iced!  It’s oh-so-yummy! The post Mai Tai Flavored Green Tea from 52Teas appeared first on SororiTea Sisters.

Even though I have written about pesticides and tea before, I wanted to address the subject again because once again the issue is in the news with Celestial Seasonings getting busted by the same group that busted Teavana last year. The Glaucas Research Group seems to be making money by exposing publicly traded companies and selling things short. It is true that they have a not-so-hidden agenda in exposing these companies, but without having proof, they could not make much. If you read the reports, you can see that an independent testing agency in Europe did a very thorough job removing whatever doubt there might be about the motives of the Glaucas Research Group. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that there are pesticides used in commercial tea production, and that third-world countries are using some illegal ones, which are probably cheaper. The boney finger always gets pointed at China, the great polluter, with pollution in Beijing as bad as when I was a kid in Los Angeles. They give us a good run for our money when it comes to polluting the air, but let’s not forget that Africa and South America are where most exported tea is produced, not India and China, where they predominantly drink their own tea. It can all be explained in three words: cheap prices, commodity, and quantity. For the most part, bugs come in the summer. In the tropics, however, bugs are omnipresent. It’s always summer. It provides for a long growing season and an abundant yield. It is a broader truth that if you want cheap tea and cheap food, pesticides come along with the price. How does that relate to the way we buy tea? Well, first of all, we don’t buy summer tea. I know that is an obvious one. In addition, we buy tea that is grown at a high altitude, where there are not as many bugs, we don’t buy from commercial growers, and, with a few exceptions, we buy certified organic. The truth is that the mountainous areas where we buy our tea don’t lend themselves to commercial agriculture at all. Terroir is everything in tea as well as in wine, and don’t let anyone tell you any different. The other magical thing about the tea plant in relation to terroir is that over time the plant itself develops defenses to predators as it becomes part of the local biodiversity. That is one of the functions of both caffeine and tea polyphenols. In June, I am going to London for a meeting of the Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) to discuss tea, pesticides, and the sustainable future. I have done some informal consulting with them about the Chinese tea industry. They have a program that teaches farm workers in China how to work safely with pesticides. I recognize the irony, but remember that the ETP is NGO funded by the major tea producers. While I think it is a great thing that they are keeping farm workers from poisoning themselves, they have ignored the possibility of reaching sustainability without chemical pesticides, something China has had in tea for 2000 years by focusing on quality, not quantity. In recent years, the Chinese have had some shining examples of quality over quantity with their Anji Bai Cha. It is a major money-making crop that only has a spring season and pesticides are banned in its production throughout the country. Compare this to 1980 when there were only two Anji Bai Cha plants in existence. It is a good example of the dynamic nature of the Chinese tea industry. Another good example, maybe more familiar to Americans, is the case of white tea. There may not be higher standards, as in the Anji example, but Anji Bai Cha was a crop that barely existed twenty years ago and is now a very common tea. The crop was completely driven by the export market and has always fetched good prices. Changing the agricultural model outside of China and supporting a return to it inside of China seems like a logical and tested way to sustainability in the tea industry, as is true in food production as well. It doesn’t m

Oh the horror of lip marks on your teacups. But let’s face it, folks, life is messy. When your teacup gets those nasty lip marks on it that never seem to wash off and just keep building up, your life can seem even messier, bordering on total disaster. Lipstick is, of course, a culprit here, as are lip balms. But even when your lips are bare, they can…Read the rest of the article on The English Tea Store Blog.© 2013 A.C. Cargill photos and text

Oh the horror of lip marks on your teacups. But let’s face it, folks, life is messy. When your teacup gets those nasty lip marks on it that never seem to wash off and just keep building up, your life can seem even messier, bordering on total disaster. Lipstick is, of course, a culprit here, […]

We know Bigelow Tea fans are extremely resourceful, especially when it comes to finding imaginative uses for tea! Still, we were bowled over by the enthusiastic response to a question we posed recently on Facebook: “Do you use Bigelow Tea bags for anything other than brewing tea … like composting or cleaning furniture?” So many of you chimed in with awesome tea-inspired ideas that we had to share a few of our favorites here! Bethany summed up tea’s remarkable versatility with her comment: “All my tea bags get composted when I’m through with them. I’ve also used them for burns or to soothe skin irritation. Tea is a wonderful thing!” We agree, Bethany! Yes, from the garden, to the kitchen, to your craft center or beauty cabinet, tea has myriad applications. Here’s a sampling from our Facebook chat: “I put the Earl Grey in shortbread. It’s sooo good.” – Terry “Plantation Mint Tea (after making tea) run under cool water then use as eye compress to relieve morning puffiness.” – Lee “[I] Use them for staining paper for artwork!” – Caren “… I used tea also to dye a pillow slip to make it look aged—my son was going as a robber for Halloween and I made the slip into an old style money bag …”  – Becky “Sunburns and for a quick glow, take a tea bath.” – Alyssa “Cooled off green tea bags are great to help the cracked skin around your fingernails from dryness … and also as a compress on your eyes … and also for itchy rashes! I have tried all and it works!! Love my Green Tea!” – Bernice Thanks to all who shared … and we must offer one more from Stephen, who recommends composting your tea bag “but only after steeping the tasty goodness into water!” Absolutely!

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Living somewhere where mango grows in abundance, I have developed an intense love of this fruit. So of course I was happy to sample Mango Amazon black tea from The Tea Can Company. The tea is listed as containing black tea, mango pieces, marigold flowers, and mango and passion fruit flavors. It is not clear to me if these fruit flavors are naturally or artificially derived. I poured boiling water over my tea sachet and let it steep for three minutes. I instantly noticed a strong flowery scent coming off the tea, and as I took my first sip, it was the flowery element instead of the fruity element which caught my attention. Floral notes can be, in my opinion, hit or miss, and in this case, as I was hoping for a strong mango flavor and instead got a pretty intense floral flavor, this was a miss. I would have preferred to see the floral contribution subdued a bit. After getting past the floral notes, I focused on the fruity flavors, and I found that the mango was really hard to discern, and was masked by the pungency of the passionfruit flavor. There was a hard-to-describe sharpness to the flavor which I found could only be controlled with the addition of some rock sugar. I noted that this tea was decent as a hot tea, but better suited to be taken as an iced tea. Overall, this isn’t necessarily a low-quality tea, but just one whose flavor profile doesn’t meld with my taste buds. If you are expecting a strong hit of mango, you will likely be disappointed, but if you like flowery flavors, this one may serve you well. This is one of several Tea Can Company teas I have reviewed, and while it is certainly not a bad tea, it is my least favorite of all that I have sampled.