Sunday, March 31, 2013
Ketepa Tea Commercials (Kenya)
Saturday, March 30, 2013
In Search of the First Tea Bag Patent
Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.
In Search of the First Tea Bag Patent
By William I. Lengeman III
There is a commonly accepted tale for the origin of the tea bag, one that I’ve written about at this site and elsewhere. I’ve also seen it mentioned countless other times in many other places. I’ll kick off this article by giving a very brief version of the story. Sometime around 1904 or 1907 or perhaps even 1908, depending on who’s telling the tale, a tea merchant named Thomas Sullivan got the idea to give out samples of his wares in silk bags. Some of his customers got the notion to dip these bags in hot water and thus the humble tea bag was born – for better or worse.
The more I thought about it and dug around a bit, trying to find out more about Sullivan and his “invention,” the more it occurred to me that this seemed like...
Friday, March 29, 2013
Riston Tea Sherlock Holmes Commercial (Russia)
Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Alokozay Tea Commercial (Dubai)
Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper
Monday, March 25, 2013
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Might as Well Face It, You’re Addicted to Tea
Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.
Might as Well Face It,
You’re Addicted to Tea
By William I. Lengeman III
Are you addicted to tea? Oh, phooey.
I have to admit that I find it a bit tiresome the way people toss around the word “addiction” so casually these days, often in situations where it simply doesn’t fit. Yeah, you might like chocolate or baseball or anime a whole lot, but it’s highly unlikely that you’re addicted to any of them, at least not given my understanding of what addiction is, as presented way back when, during my school days.
My notion of an addiction to something is whether said thing causes a dependency that results in withdrawal symptoms when you no longer have access to it. But not wanting to trust my recall of a concept first presented to me decades ago, I sought out a proper definition...
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Tea-Powered Super Heroes Save the Day
The Breville One-Touch Tea Maker
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Sunday, March 17, 2013
In Search of the World’s Oldest Tea Tree
Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.
In Search of the World’s Oldest Tea Tree
By William I. Lengeman III
Where does your tea come from? Well, to start with it comes from a plant called Camellia sinensis. Statistically speaking, based on production figures, that plant is most likely to reside somewhere in China, India, or Africa. The actual plant the tea was harvested from probably took the form of a small, rather neatly manicured bush. But tea, like so many plants, can grow in the wild as well as in a tea garden or estate, and some of the older tea trees and bushes worldwide tend to have taken on something of a mystique over the years.
Trying to track down the world’s oldest tea tree is doomed to be an exercise in failure, since there may be some incredibly ancient specimen tucked away in a corner of a...
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Typhoo Tea Gnu Commercial (1978)
Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper
Monday, March 11, 2013
Typhoo Singing Donkeys Tea Commercial
Sunday, March 10, 2013
The Fine Art of Tea Dueling
Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.
The Fine Art of Tea Dueling
By William I. Lengeman III
Even though I don’t have all the facts, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that there’s probably not much going on in the way of dueling nowadays. Which is a good thing. If you’re like me, what little you know about dueling comes mostly from American history class (Hamilton v. Burr) or that variety that takes place in Western movies and TV shows at about the time the clock strikes high noon.
But there is actually one type of dueling going on nowadays and, as the title of this article strongly indicates, it has something to do...
Saturday, March 09, 2013
Arty Twinings Infusions Tea Commercial
Tea Guy Speaks Amazon Store
Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper
Friday, March 08, 2013
On Gloom, Doom, and the End of Tea as We Know It (Or Not)
Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.
On Gloom, Doom, and the End of Tea
as We Know It (Or Not)
By William I. Lengeman III
I’m going to go out on a limb here. I don’t have any special insight into the future, but I’m going to hazard a guess even so. Tea has been with us for many thousands of years and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Although you wouldn’t know it from the “tea is under assault” type articles that seem to turn up in the media with mind-numbing regularity.
I wouldn’t want to disparage the good people who write these articles by saying that they fall into a rather predictable pattern – but they kind of do. It’s goes something like this: A certain huge company that’s best known...
Thursday, March 07, 2013
Red Rose Tea Commercial With Chimps
life's short/drink good tea - Tea Guy Speaks T-Shirts
Wednesday, March 06, 2013
Another Slow Motion Tea Video
Making a Brew - a cup of tea in slow motion from Paul Terry on Vimeo.
Tuesday, March 05, 2013
Sunday, March 03, 2013
$130 Tea Deconstructed
Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.
$130 Tea Deconstructed
By William I. Lengeman III
Stop the presses! The word seems to have gotten out not so long ago that a certain well-known French tea retailer was opening a store in New York City and was said to be selling tea for $130 a bag (as one newspaper put it). Gasp!
This tidbit made its way to various media outlets, leading one to believe that said retailer had a hard-working publicist with great connections. But while it might have made for a catchy headline amongst the wider array of sensational headlines we’re barraged with every day, it’s one that bears a bit of examination.
Saturday, March 02, 2013
Slow Motion Tea Time With Alan Rickman
5 Things I Wish I’d Known About Tea
Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.
5 Things I Wish I’d Known About Tea
By William I. Lengeman III
One does not spring fully formed into this world knowing everything there is to know about tea. It would be nice, but it doesn’t work that way. In my own case I was more than four decades along before I even started drinking the stuff. Then it was quite a few years before I started to pick up on many of these choice little tidbits that follow.
So, here they are, in no particular order of importance. They’re all pretty important, if you ask me...
Friday, March 01, 2013
Drinking Tea in Strange Places