So it's come to this. I recently ran across an article at the eHow site which purports to reveal The Benefits of Green Tea for Dogs. Now far be it from me to say that your darling little pup will not realize any benefits from tossing back a cup of sencha or jasmine pearls every now and then, because who really knows?
Among the claims put forth in the article, that green tea may help boost your dog's immune system and even protect the little bowser from cancer. Once again, who's to say? On the flip side, as the article notes, "it is also possible for your dog to die of an overdose of green tea." Not that I'm itching to test this one, but really?
Speaking of dogs and tea, while you're at it why not check out How to Cure Diarrhea in Dogs With Black Tea. Or watch this video of a group of dogs fortifying themselves with tea. It's a ruff life.
Tea Guy Speaks Amazon Store
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
The Ultimate Tea Crime
Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.
The Ultimate Tea Crime
By William I. Lengeman III
When it comes to tea, I have tried (for the most part) to practice tolerance. I won’t say I’ve always succeeded, but over the years I’ve come to realize that the world of tea is vast and there are many types of tea drinkers contained therein, each with their own way of doing things.
So, while I might cringe a bit at the notion of spoiling a good black tea with cream, milk, sugar, lemon, or whatever else it is that people want to dump in there, to be perfectly fair and evenhanded about things, people who drink their tea like this might rightly be horrified by the notion of drinking black tea with absolutely nothing in it.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
Tealand - British Tea Documentary
I haven't had a chance to screen this one yet but here's the description - "Tealand is a documentary on tea houses in Britain. From quaint tea houses in Dorset to Mr Scruffs Tea Bar in Manchester, including an interview and music from the man himself."
Sunday, February 24, 2013
A Brief History of the Tea Chest
A Brief History of the Tea Chest
By William I. Lengeman III
What do you get for the person who has everything? According to one theory you could always get them something to put it in. Although if they truly have everything, that would presumably include a sufficient amount of storage containers – but I digress.
All of which is a somewhat roundabout way to emphasize the importance of packaging and to work our way around to the subject of the tea chest. It’s a topic that...
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Tetley Tea Moving Image Competition Winner
A golden oldie here, this one dates all the way back to 2006.
Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper
Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper
What is High Mountain Oolong?
Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.
What is High Mountain Oolong?
By William I. Lengeman III
For many years now I’ve seen the term “high mountain oolong” being bandied about, but I never really gave it much thought. Until recently, when I started to wonder exactly what that meant.
Obviously, since I’m not completely dense (that’s my story and I’m sticking with it), I can pretty much deduce, based on the name, that this is a type of oolong tea that grows high in the mountains. No, duh. But wanting to verify this and to see if there was anything more to it, I decided that a little bit of research was called for...
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
NASA Tea In Space Video
We trot this old favorite out once in a while and given that NASA's Mars rover Curiosity recently landed it seemed like a good time to highlight it again. It's a 2003 video in which NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit drinks from a bag of tea using chopsticks.
The Breville One-Touch Tea Maker
The Breville One-Touch Tea Maker
Sunday, February 17, 2013
British Airways Introduces Tea Designed for Altitude
British Airways Introduces Tea Designed for Altitude
(from a press release)
British Airways and Twinings are promising to transform tea in the air with an innovative new blend of the drink, specifically designed to work at altitude. The British Airways signature blend tea will take to the skies from February 1, 2013 for customers in all cabins.
With research to prove that taste can be reduced by up to 30 percent at 35,000 feet, the airline commissioned Twinings to come up with a teabag that would taste as good in the sky as it does on the ground.
The new tea is a blend of Assam, Kenyan and high grown Ceylon tea: a classic combination giving body, strength, flavor and color. A bias towards the Assam produces a well-rounded, full-bodied blend, while the Kenyan gives it strength and lift and the Ceylon adds flavor.
The tea has been specially created for British Airways in three-pint bags to enable cabin crew to serve the new blend straight from the pot.
In First class, customers are also being treated to a selection of unique specialty teas from the Twinings Whole Leaf Silky Pyramids range which includes: English Breakfast; Earl Grey; Mint Humbug; Jasmine Pearls; Red Berry Fool and Honeycomb Camomile. In Club World, customers have a choice of Cranberry & Elderflower, Camomile and Peppermint infusions as well as Earl Grey, English Breakfast and Green Tea
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Video - Indian Tea Production 90 Years Ago
Here's an interesting historical look at the production of tea in India in the Twenties.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Tea Business Spotlight 15 - Whittard of Chelsea
Whittard of Chelsea
Witney, England
How long have you been in business?
Whittard of Chelsea was started over 125 years ago in 1886 in London.
What is the size/scope of your business?
We have over 60 stores in the UK and online shops in the UK, US, France, Italy and Germany and will be adding Japan. In addition, we wholesale in various countries too.
Why tea?
Our founder Walter H Whittard was passionate about tea.
How did you get the ball rolling on your venture?
Walter H Whittard was born in 1861 into a family of wealthy leather merchants. Not keen on joining the family business, Walter pursued his passion for tea spending five years as an apprentice, before founding his own company at the age of 25. He opened his first shop on busy Fleet Street in 1886. A talented businessman, Walter soon spotted that there were opportunities beyond tea and added coffee and cocoa to his range, creating exclusive blends from the finest ingredients. His store was full of gleaming tea caddies and brass weighing scales and he established a reputation for combining expert service with specialist teas, freshly roasted coffee and fine quality cocoa. Ahead of his time, Walter understood the need to tailor products to his customers – he watched the wigged occupants of the Inns of Court come and go and created a blend called ‘Barristers Refresher’ to tempt them in. Walter’s philosophy was always to ‘buy the best’ and this has been a guiding principle for Whittard of Chelsea ever since.
What do you feel is the biggest strength of your business?
We are passionate about tea and coffee, passionate about helping our customers explore and discover new and innovative blends and passionate about sharing our knowledge. We believe fine tea and coffee deserves to be valued, appreciated and enjoyed.
What were/are the biggest challenges of getting into/being in the tea business?
There are always new competitors and new products, so the challenge is to maintain quality but also continue to develop new and exciting products.
What would you do differently, if anything?
That’s a question for Walter and unfortunately he’s no longer around to answer …
How's business?
Business is good. We are constantly evolving our offering, while remaining faithful to our customers’ favourite products and always finding new ways to reach and interact with our customers. E-commerce and social media are playing a bigger role. Plus because we have lots of customers who loved our stores and products whilst visiting England, it’s great to be launching more international websites, so more and more people can buy our unique teas and coffees when they return home.
What advice would you give to someone who aspires to be in the tea business?
Be passionate about what you do and ensure you have a great quality product.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
The Legend of Earl Grey
From the teadog.com people, more on that distinguished chap who lent his name to a popular variety of tea.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
A Town Named Tea
Oh, to live in a town named Tea.
Tea, South Dakota, is a small town about ten miles south of Sioux Falls. It claims to be the fastest growing city in the state. According to census figures, it has surged from a population of 786 in 1990 to 4,100 today.
Tea will hold Teapot Days in June again this year. The annual fest features a teapot display and the crowning of Ma and Pa Teapot.
The interesting thing about Tea is that the name of the town has no real connection to tea - the plant or the beverage. According to a local historian, the community began life as the village of Byron. Around the turn of the century, the citizenry realized that there were too many towns named Byron (don't you hate when that happens?) and held a public meeting to come up with ten alternate names. By the time they got up to nine they were running out of ideas and everyone was ready to adjourn for a tea break and so some wit suggested that they add Tea to the list.
The rest, as the saying goes, was history.
Image: Tea Area Historical Society
Adagio Teas - Best Tea Online
The Past and Present State of the Tea Trade of England
The Past and Present State
of the Tea Trade of England
By William I. Lengeman III
When setting out to pen a book on tea, writers of previous centuries didn’t really concern themselves much with coming up with a snappy title. I’ve written about a number of such tomes in the past here and the subject of this article is hardly no exception. Then again, perhaps a title like The Past and Present State of The Tea Trade of England, and of the Continents of Europe and America: and a Comparison Between the Consumption, Price of, and Revenue Derived From, Tea, Coffee, Sugar, Wine, Tobacco, Spirits was considered to be rather snappy back in the day.
In any event, the book was written in 1832, by one Robert Montgomery Martin, who apparently wrote a number of other books on commerce, history and whatnot. If you guessed that this one is not a real...
Monday, February 11, 2013
Book Review - The Empire of Tea
The Empire of Tea: The Remarkable History of the Plant That Took Over the World
by Alan MacFarlane & Iris MacFarlane
You know you've read too many books on tea history when you find yourself getting weary of that quaint little myth about tea's origin. You know the one - the Chinese emperor who just happened to be boiling water...outside. A few tea leaves just happen to blow off of a conveniently located tree and land in the water. The emperor drinks it and voila, thousands of years later everyone's got their drawers in a pinch about how good this stuff is for you.
For a work of tea history that treads relatively little of this oh so familiar ground you might want to turn to Iris and Alan MacFarlane's, The Empire of Tea.
Iris MacFarlane opens the book with Memoirs of a Mesahib, a chapter in which she relates her time spent on a British tea plantation in the Assam region of India, one of the world's most productive tea growing areas. MacFarlane offers up a fascinating reminiscence from someone who gradually woke up to the sobering truth of what British colonial policies had wrought, in this case, specifically with regard to tea production.
Son Alan MacFarlane, a Cambridge professor, takes over for the rest of the book, presenting an unvarnished and often highly critical look at how the British essentially took over the tea industry from the Chinese by cultivating the plant on an enormous scale in Assam, as well as other regions of India and a few select other countries.
Highly recommended.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Smoking a Tea Joint With Doctor Oolong
Can you smoke tea? Apparently so, though we'd definitely suggest proceeding with a certain degree of caution. More on the topic in my archived article at The English Tea Store Blog.
How To Read Tea Leaves: Nine Books About Tasseography
Who knew there were so many books about tasseography (tea leaf reading)? Here are nine of them, spanning nearly a century. Note that the first two are available in free electronic editions.
Tea-Cup Reading and Fortune-Telling by Tea Leaves
by a Highland Seer (1921) link
Telling Fortunes By Tea-Leaves
by Cicely Kent (1922) link
Tea Leaf Reading
by William W. Hewitt (1992)
link
Tea Cup Reading: A Quick and Easy Guide to Tasseography
by Sasha Fenton (2002) link
The World in Your Cup: A Handbook in the Ancient Art of Tea Leaf Reading
by Joseph F. Conroy (2006) link
The Art of Tea-leaf Reading
by Jane Struthers (2006) link
Simply Tea Leaf Reading
by Jacqueline Towers (2008) link
The Cup of Destiny
by Jane Lyle (2008) link
Tea Leaf Reading For Beginners: Your Fortune in a Tea Cup
by Caroline Dow (2011) link
Get books about tea leaf reading at Amazon
Saturday, February 09, 2013
Making Wine from Tea?
Making Wine from Tea?
By William I. Lengeman III
This is not the first time I’ve written about tea and alcohol and, more specifically, about those alcoholic beverages made or flavored with tea. Here’s a link to one of my most recent such articles, which has to do with beer and related beverages made with tea. Here’s a general look at various tea-related spirits and whatnot. On the flip side, an article on the connection between tea and temperance.
To the best of my recall, however, I haven’t run across much information on wines made with tea – until recently, that is...
read the full article here
Free Classic Tea eBooks II
Here's part two of the list of old tea books that I've reviewed at The English Tea Blog. Most of them are available in free online or ebook editions. Check out part one of the list here.
Tea-Blending as a Fine Art
by Joseph M. Walsh link
An Essay on Tea
By Jonas Hanway link
Tea; Its Effects, Medicinal and Moral
by George Gabriel Sigmond link
Letter to a Friend, Concerning Tea
by John Wesley link
A Popular Treatise on Tea
by John Sumner link
The Book of Tea
by Kakuzo Okakura link
Tea and Tea Drinking
By Arthur Reade link
The Breville One-Touch Tea Maker
Friday, February 08, 2013
Free Classic Tea eBooks I
In addition to writing about tea at this site, I contribute frequently to The English Tea Store Blog. One of my favorite topics there is old books about tea. Now that every bit of text in the known universe is being (or soon will be) digitized, it means that quite a few of these dusty old tomes are readily available in free electronic editions. Here are links to some of the reviews I've written about them and here's part two of the list.
Tsiology; A Discourse on Tea
By A Tea Dealer link
Tea, Its Mystery and History
by Samuel Phillips Day link
A Journey to the Tea Countries of China
By Robert Fortune link
Tea and Coffee
By William Andrus Alcott link
Panacea: A Poem Upon Tea in Two Cantos
By Nehum Tate link
The Natural History of the Tea-Tree
By John Coakley Lettsom link
The Tea Cyclopaedia link
Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper
Thursday, February 07, 2013
Tea Leaf Reading Video
Here's a video from Amber McCarroll with some pointers on how to read tea leaves. While we're on the subject don't forget to check out our list of books on the subject, including two free ebook editions. It's right here.
Adagio Teas - Best Tea Online
Adagio Teas - Best Tea Online
Wednesday, February 06, 2013
Does Green Tea Help Burn Fat?
Does Green Tea Help Burn Fat?
By William I. Lengeman III
Buyer beware. Don’t believe everything you read. Okay, they’re not the most original phrases, but when it comes to the marketing of tea and the many health benefits that it’s said to bestow on us, they’re appropriate maxims to keep in mind.
My standard disclaimer here. Yes, I do believe that tea can have some benefits to the health of those who drink it. There’s just too much evidence in favor of this notion to believe otherwise. On the other hand, I certainly don’t believe everything I read when it comes to this sort of thing, and I think there are plenty of people out there who are prone to exaggerate...
Tuesday, February 05, 2013
Star Trek's Captain Picard On Earl Grey Tea
I've never been a fan of the liquid perfume that's better known as Earl Grey tea, but of course we all like what we like. Here's a short clip in which Captain Picard, of Star Trek: The Next Generation, professes his fondness for it. Which leads to the obvious question - what would Kirk drink?
Monday, February 04, 2013
Sunday, February 03, 2013
Tea of the Month Clubs
Here's the latest update to our Tea of the Month Clubs page. A couple of the listings are lifted from Katrina's directories here and here at The Tea Pages, where you'll find more in-depth descriptions of each club. Feel free to add your club to the list.
Last Updated - 10/20/2012
Adagio Teas
Aqua Maestro (Water of the Month)
Art of Tea
Canton Tea Co.
Capital Teas
Culinary Teas
ESP Emporium
52teas.com
Golden Moon Tea
Handmade Tea
igourmet.com
In Pursuit of Tea
Jing Tea
Local Coffee & Tea
Mark T. Wendell Monthly Tea Tour
Matcha Source
Peet's Coffee & Tea
Silver Tips Tea
Tao of Tea
Tavalon
Tea Horse
Tea of the Month Club
The Tea Smith
Teatulia
Teavana
Twinings Tea Tasters
Verdant Tea
Yoko Tea
Zhi Tea
Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper
Tea Council Commercial - Take Tea and See
Here's are examples of the video and print components for a campaign sponsored by the Tea Council some time in the Fifties.
Saturday, February 02, 2013
Aldi Tea Commercial Voted Number One
Here's a commercial we featured some time ago. It was selected as the number one ad for 2011 by the Nielsen group. I'm assuming that's in Britain since this article refers to it as an advert.
Tea Guy Speaks Amazon Store
Tea Guy Speaks Amazon Store
Tea in Strange Places – Hawaii
Tea in Strange Places – Hawaii
By William I. Lengeman III
With all due respect to the good people of our fiftieth state, most of us in the other forty-nine and likely much of the world at large probably think of it as a sun-drenched vacation spot whose main exports are pineapple, macadamia nuts, and a high grade of coffee known as Kona. But in recent years Hawaii has been making a name for itself, albeit in a modest way thus far, for producing another popular beverage. Yes, you know the one. Tea!
As I’ve noted in a number of articles in these very pages, the United States is not exactly what you’d call a hotbed of tea production. The longest standing effort in this arena...
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