Tea O'Mania

Life through a Rose-tinted Tea-pot

admin — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:33:07 +0000

Naturally, writing for this particular blog, I love tea. And as I have several friends who also love tea, teatime at my house happens several times a week. We enjoy a gentle ritual using loose tea and a pretty tea pot, and the brew is served in fine china mugs or cups (which for some reason makes all tea taste better) Biscuits, especially home made biscuits, are always welcome. We don’t, in the rest of our daily lives, scorn the humble teabag. Teabags have their place… and that place is generally at the breakfast table or at work when time is short. When work is finished, the house is tidy, the radio is on and friends are round, time (and loose leaf tea) is on your side. Leave the ironing, that awkward customer, that unpaid phone bill, your problems with that human resource software or any other everyday worries outside the house and enjoy a relaxing pot of tea and a chat.

Recently I was lucky enough to be given a beautiful box of loose teas from a friend after they returned from China. Some of the tea flavours were ones I’d never tried (or even heard of!) before, which for a tea fanatic such as myself is pretty unusual. Although they’ve recently started appearing in UK supermarkets, black teas with dried fruit or flower petals still aren’t widely available outside special tea shops. More traditional tea blends (assam, ceylon, english breakfast) or herbal teas with fruit are the only range usually available. My box contained teas including black tea with rose petals, black tea with dried lychee, marigold tea and white tea with rosehips.

Now, if your tea tastes run to earl grey or lady grey blends (as mine do) then these deliciously fruity or floral flavours with black china tea are something you should look into. Even if you are generally more into builders tea with two sugars, I would recommend trying one of these (particuarly the rose blend which is gently flavoured and very accessible) for a change. They are delicate, light teas perfect for a relaxing afternoon with friends.

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Tea Leaves - Drink for Relaxation, Drink for Your Health

admin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:33:38 +0000

While browsing the web for shopping, reading or surfing www.crownoiluk.com for your oil needs, why not pour yourself a hot cup of tea. Although drinking tea can be relaxing while you are surfing the web, it can also be healthy.

A great deal of modern scientific studies verified that tea leaves consist of several biochemical components that are strongly related with human wellness. Tea leaves possess a wide range of medicinal effects on the human body, for example rejuvenating mental performance, helping in weight loss, promoting digestion, relieving restlessness, reducing phlegm and increasing the secretion of saliva. These medicinal effects of tea leaves primarily originate from tea polyphenol, lipopolysaccharide, caffeine and so on.

Tea can assist in slowing down aging. Tea polyphenol carries a strong oxidative stability as well as biological activity. It’s a scavenger to clean up the free radicals in the body. Based on an appropriate study, tea polyphenol may block this peroxidation of lipid, plus eliminate active enzymes in the human body, producing an an anti-aging result. Response of experiments demonstrates that this anti-aging result of tea polyphenol is actually 18 times greater than the essential Vitamin E.

Tea may help manage cardiovascular diseases. Tea polyphenol has an impact on the metabolic process of fat in the human body. When there is an excessive amount of triglyceride and cholesterol accumulating in the body, it can trigger a fat deposit on blood vessel walls, therefore resulting in atheroma along with other cardiovascular diseases. Studies show that tea polyphenol may hinder this hyperplasia of maculosus, reducing the fibrinogen which can boost the viscosity of blood clots, in order to prevent cardiovascular diseases.

Tea may help prevent plus combat cancer. Tea polyphenol may obstruct this synthesis of numerous forms of carcinogenic compounds in the body, like ammonium nitrate. In addition, it also provides the result to specifically destroy these cancer cells plus improve immunity of the human body.

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The Corporate Cuppa

admin — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 09:33:05 +0000

It is interesting to consider the advent of modern office technology and its effect on British Culture. A tea break is vital to a happy working environment. It gives that needed lift, as well as a time to socialize informally with your office mates. This inter office networking is actually quantifiable in its usefulness. My office, however, recently acquired time tracking software, and the managers are asking the staff to speed up our regular tea breaks in order to become more efficient. As horrifying as this may seem, there are actually some brilliant ways, both old and new, that can help the tea break go a little bit quicker.

As I work in quite a progressive office, the management was open to suggestions. The first one was to get an instant boiling water tap. This saves the time it takes to boil the kettle, and generally improves the nature of the tea break, as you won’t have to cut down on drinking time rather on preparation time. The next suggestion was to take turns with a tea trolley service. The idea was that on a rota, one person would make tea for everybody in the office. This was a great idea, yet, it would definitely eliminate socializing time from the tea ritual. As an office we decided to use our human resources software to figure out during the course of one week, when we drank tea, how much time we spent drinking it, and the activities we engaged in while drinking it. We used the results to work out a multi pronged approach to cutting down on wasted time, yet ensuring that we didn’t disrupt certain functions of the office. Do you know what the big solution in the end was? Reintroduce the tea pot.

Making tea by the pot turned out to be the perfect solution to enjoying a cuppa, socializing and cutting down on wasted time. Tea made in a pot allows for the perfect amount of time spent steeping, as well as the ideal temperature for drinking. It also enables the pouring of the milk first, which results in a superior cup of tea, as well as endless hours of debate as to whether it is better to put tea or milk in first. These days, our office has a thrice a week trolley service with three different pots of tea: bog standard, fruity, and red bush. In addition, the other days we set pots out at our meetings and we have an official tea pourer, as well as a minute taker.

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How very British

admin — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 11:03:22 +0000

There is no denying that there is not a nation in the world that loves tea the same way that the British do. There is nothing quite like an afternoon tea of cucumber and cram cheeses fingers sandwiches, egg mayonnaise triangles and smoked salmon open tops were fresh, warm scones, clotted cream, strawberry jam and a huge jog of top grade afternoon tea.

As a Brit, I think we should wholly embrace the tradition of afternoon tea. For too long, the British have been accused of being culture-less, of having no cuisine of their own and basically, or being completely retarded when it comes to all things foody. The critics have obviously never visited the Ritz for an afternoon tea break, For some reason, the rest of the world will just not let us have any glory when it comes to food and drink.

Italy has hundreds of pasta recipes, the Spanish have wonderful tapas, Greece has kebabs, India has curries. Every other country in the world is allowed some kind of food tradition to claim as their own and now, as a tea loving Brit, I am claiming afternoon tea to be out very own culinary experience that is not to be sniffed at.

Help me out with this guys. get a groups of friends around, a fantastic tea pot, some fine china cups, and of course a tea cosy. Have a scope around your nearest supermarket for all the makings of a perfect afternoon tea experience and embrace it. Afternoon tea is about as British as Wimbledon, even the queen enjoys it.

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Rooibos tea

admin — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 19:33:04 +0000

I know that most of you prefer classic English teas like Earl Gray and English Breakfast, but besides being very tasty tea can also be very, very good for your health. There are lots of herbal teas which have a positive effect on your body. Mint for example is one of those pure elixirs which calm your nervous system, cures stomach aches and indigestion. Recently, our team stumbled upon a very interesting tea called Rooibos tea. The tea plant grows only in a small province in South Africa were no gas companies pollute the air. This exceptional plant with needle-shaped leaves has unique properties. After it is chopped into small pieces it passes a complex process of fermentation. However, this is not so important. What is important is its health benefits. First of all it is caffeine free, so those of you who cannot handle this stimulant would appreciate Rooibos very much. Second of all the tea is extremely rich in antioxidants. It keeps the skin healthy and neutralizes the free radicals that cause aging. It strengthens the immune system and also eases stomach discomfort. The tea works as a mild laxative for some people. Rooibos tea also calms the nervous system and it is actually one of the best anti-depressants out there. It is called by some the tea of the modern businessmen as it keeps them calm and cool headed. The tea can be consumed both hot and cold. Most people flavor it with lemon juice and honey. You can have as many cups of this tea as you like.

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Proper Chai

admin — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:33:21 +0000

So many basic and brilliant things are ruined once mass marketers get a hold of them. Water springs to mind! Remember when drinking water just involved turning on the tap? Instead of selecting still or sparkling from a multitude of bottles. Chai, a South Asian spiced tea is another example. It arrived in Britain with the waves of immigration from the sub continent. It did not meet popular tea culture, however, until the hippies and travellers got a hold of it. Now, you can find pre-spiced bags along with brewed and bottled teas in every major supermarket. If you are desperate for a home-made authentic chai, you need to become clever in the way that you search for online recipes. The middle classes on the sub continent are very active on the internet, and you can find sites where housewives and mums trade recipes. I had instant and enormous success asking google for Mumbai Chai Recipe! Bingo, I got to Madhu’s Zone and a list of various authentic recipes. Every region has a different spice blend, but all use a basic method:

Bring a sauce pan of water to a boil.
Add a pinch of spice blend for each cup.
Return to boil and add milk
Boil again for a minute.
Allow to steep or strain immediately into tea cups.

Chai is traditionally sweetened by the person who is brewing it and is drunk very very sweet. The spice blend includes some of the following and varies according to region and taste:

black pepper
fresh ginger
green cardamom
cinnamon
fennel seeds
nutmeg
coriander seeds

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Tea or not to Tea

admin — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:03:07 +0000

Can Protein shakes replace a cup of Rosy Lee? Will it satisfy the warm craving that a cuppa does time and time again, there are as many ways of having a brew as there are people who drink a cup of the good stuff. The Chinese got it right with oolong tea, the name says it all you could be one of those folk that hates the black stuff and you want it green, white or even yellow, yes yellow tea strange yet true.

With milk, lemon, sugar honey or is it some other enhancer that floats your boat, some call herbal infusions tea, peppermint, lime leaves, camomile to calm, ginger to perk you up. Pour on hot water maybe a spoon of honey cool and drink, refreshing, tasty and healthy but they are not tea.

The growing tips and leaves of the “Camellia sinensis” plant, is strictly speaking the original tea, called the Mother of Tea, originating in Southeast Asia she is now grown on high hill tops the world over, for her intense flavour and ooooonesss a cup that lifts the sprits, warms the cockles, the chirpy cup that picks you up, calms you down, relaxes you after a hard day and sorts you right out first thing in the morning.. Giving us a huge selection of taste and smells from Darjeeling to Sencha, whatever type you like the one thing we all agree is we love tea.

No sorry you coffee drinkers, you glass of milk kind of people, it’s a mega mug for me thanks very much with sugar and so strong your spoon stands right up out the middle of it.

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A record-breaking ‘tea break’

admin — Wed, 18 May 2011 10:28:45 +0000

Soon after the televised event of the royal wedding on April 29, it was estimated that more than a million kettles were switched on as Britons made their teas and coffees. This even exceeded the power surge that followed the ceremony of Prince Charles and Princess Diana in July 1981. However, Britain’s most significant power surge actually took place after England’s World Cup match against West Germany 21 years ago. England ended up leaving the tournament with penalties.

Overall, there was a 2400mw of power in the moments following the carriage procession, the fourth biggest power surge recorded by Britain’s National Grid network. The royal wedding was one of the most televised events in history, attracting 2 billion viewers worldwide and more than 23 million Americans alone. The wedding ’fever’inspired many people from across the world to wave their Union Jacks and to indulge in tea drinking (with grease traps to prevent staining) and ’royal’celebrations. Many people were inspired by the relationship between Prince William and Kate Middleton and have expressed their best wishes to the couple on popular Internet sites such as YouTube and Facebook.

Indeed, in 2011 and 2012 London has been at the forefront of numerous major events, which will also include the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in June 2012 and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in July, August and September 2012. It will also have hosted more Olympic Games than any other city in the world and will surely attract millions if not billions of viewers for the grand opening ceremony event on July 27, 2012.

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Soda vs. Flavored Iced Tea

admin — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 07:33:08 +0000

There is a new fad sweeping the United States of America and it is flavored iced tea. Some say that these are the new soda drinks. Flavored Iced tea is black tea that is made with fruit or herbal flavors and drank cold. The craze in the US has even found its way to the UK.

The past ten years has seen the iced tea market go from a few hundred million in sales to over a couple billion every year. Americans favor iced tea over its hot counterpart unlike many other countries. Even though bread or biscuits don’t go too well with cold tea many are still enjoying this delicious drink. Almost 90% of tea sales in the US are cold or iced tea.

There are many known health benefits of drinking cold tea that help drive people away from soda and extreme sugar laden drinks. One of these is that tea is considered an excellent source of immune system-building antioxidants.

This phenomenon is not unique to the United States, even the UK and in Asian countries iced tea is becoming popular. Many people are often seen drinking bottles of Tea beverages. Although in these countries the beneficial green tea is iced instead of black tea.

Americans and people around the world are becoming more concerned about their health; because of this the market for iced tea can be expected to grow. Maybe in the days to come it might even overtake soda as the most popular type of drink.

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Allottment Brew

admin — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 11:33:03 +0000

There are so many approaches to having a brew when you are at your allotment, away from any easy source of fuel including white diesel ! The modern approach is to bring a flask, but I personally hate the tepid temperature of a brew made with water from a flask that has been waiting a couple of hours. My preferred approach at the moment is to boil up a storm kettle. This are fabulous, highly efficient kettles that you ignite using newspaper and then feed with small sticks and twigs. You get a proper pot of boiling water usually within 10 minutes or less.
Once you have your boiling water your next challenge is what to brew. I am the biggest fan of builder’s tea, but milk and refrigeration are an issue. I don’t like the store bought coffee whitener as they are made up of too many horrible chemicals. You best bet really is get a small tin of powdered milk, uht milk in small juice box size cartons, or small cartons of uht soya milk. These can all be stored down in the shed of the allotment so you will always have something handy.
Your other option of course, is to grow a variety of different mint leaves which can be picked on the day and made into an excellent brew on the spot. In addition to your standard peppermint, you can grow other varieties. Mint grows like a weed so that once it takes you will never have to worry about your cuppa again.

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