Billy Corgan is proving to be a man of many talents these days, with the latest news that the Smashing Pumpkins frontman is planning a tea house in Highland Park, Chicago. Corgan lives in the area and told the Web site that he decided to pursue the venture because there’s a “lack of culture for someone in their 30s or 40s.”

A lease has already been signed and the opening is planned for March or April. The tea house will offer lectures, cultural programs, rotating exhibits and teas from around the world. In other words, it’ll be the anti-Starbucks, which Corgan called “cookie-cutter culture.”

“I don’t want to hang out with those people,” Corgan told Eater. Corgan says he won’t be running the day-to-day operations of the business.

CNN Go, By Eddy Chin, Jan 2012

Go to Hangzhou’s Longjing Village in spring or summer to pick dragon well tea alongside local villagers

If Marco Polo had traipsed through Hangzhou in a single day, he probably would’ve left the city remembering three things – West Lake, beautiful women, and dragon well tea (龙井茶). Fast forward about 800 odd years and that still holds true.

One of the most prized and expensive teas in China, dragon well green tea has a light yet unmistakable fragrance and calming taste.

Known locally as Longjing, the best harvests are traditionally reserved for government officials and the wealthy elite. And the best way to laugh in their faces and cop free samples of the stuff is to skip the storefronts and teahouses and head straight to the source — Hangzhou’s Longjing Village (龙井村).

Drink Longjing tea in the garden that was favored by Emperor Qianlong.

Longjing Imperial Tea Garden (老龙井御茶园)

The most famous tea garden in the village is Longjing Imperial.

Located at the rear of the village, the tea garden is surrounded by incredibly idyllic terraces roamed by straw-hatted harvesters who pick each leaf by hand.

The grandiosely named garden is something of an out-of-the-way tourist spot, but that in no way diminishes the sheer beauty and tranquility of the place.

The compound covers a tranquil Jiangnan-style (south of Yangtze River) garden, a restaurant serving dishes cooked with Longjing  tea leaves, indoor and outdoor teahouses, and a namesake well.

More on CNNGo: The 5-minute Hangzhou guide

Legend has it that the land occupied by Longjing Imperial was one of Qianlong’s favorite stops on his several trips to Jiangnan, and the Qing Emperor even planted 18 tea trees on the hill by himself.

Great tea, even better garden

Upon entering the garden, you’ll find yourself at the foot of the hill into which the entire garden has been landscaped.

The outdoor space is flanked by a giant teapot and a pair of traditional-style buildings looming overhead, stone stairways crisscrossing upwards and beckoning the visitor to ascend further.

Once inside, you’ll find the grounds very thoughtfully laid-out, with narrow stone paths twisting alongside creeks and under traditional wooden walkways. All of these are amidst heavily forested environs that make visitors feel as if they’re wandering through somebody’s private hideaway.

The origin of Longjing tea‘s name, the dragon well, is near the entrance. Although this is not the exact well the green tea was named after — the tea took the name of the whole village — the resort uses the spring water from the well to irrigate its renowned tea leaves.

More on CNNGo: Longjing Manor: Hangzhou’s most famous restaurant

Grassy terraces set with tea tables made of lacquered tree trunks sit adjacent to small teahouses and the garden’s tiny museum, which displays photos showing the company receiving high-ranking officials.

Follow the paths back as they wind up steps and into bucolic tea plantations that just simply scream to get lost in.

My first visit to the garden was actually in the late evening, with the trees, narrow stairways, and secluded tombs and pavilions subtly illuminated by carefully placed nighttime lighting.

It left such a deep impression on me that I ended up returning six years later to celebrate my wedding there. A lazy afternoon’s visit certainly won’t disappoint.

A walk throughout the garden takes about 30 minutes.

Make yourself a cup of tea from scratch in Longjing Village.

Picking tea leaves at Longjing Village

To head home with some fine green leaves, you can buy Longjing tea directly from any of the villagers, who will try their best to lure you into their homes.

Prime tea harvest season is generally from late March to end of summer, with the March/April harvest fetching upwards of RMB 6,000 per kilo.

The other option is simply plucking the tea leaves yourself.

There are two ways to do this: either join a tour of Longjing with tea-picking included (the cost for an English-speaking private tour guide is around RMB 800 per day) or simply climb up into one of the surrounding plantations and politely ask one of the tea farmers if you can pick alongside them.

More on CNNGo: 12 secrets from a kung fu tea master

If you’re lucky enough, you may even be invited back to the plantation owner’s home to watch how the tea leaves are prepared by hand, a practice that takes years to perfect.

Getting there from downtown Hangzhou:

By bus: from the bus stop on Tiyuchang Lu (体育场路) in front of the post office just east of Wulin Square (武林广场), take No. 28 bus to Qu Yuan Feng He stop(曲院风荷站); walk south a few meters to the Yu Quan stop (玉泉站); transfer to No. 27 bus and ride to Longjing Cha Shi stop(龙井茶室站); walk west to the last fork in road, turn right and go to the end to find the tea garden.

By taxi: fares from downtown should be about RMB 35-45.

Spring and autumn are the most pleasant times to visit.

From Shanghai: catch the high-speed train to Hangzhou from Hongqiao Railway Station, take taxi or B2(区间) bus to Wulin Square, then follow previous directions.

Longjing Imperial Tea Garden (老龙井御茶园)
148 Longjing Lu
龙井路148号
+86 571 8798 0905, +86 571 8796 0843
8:30 a.m.- later
Latest reservation for dinner is 7 p.m.
Admission: RMB 10

Prefer to pair your food with refreshing tea rather than heady wine? Enter the Golden Dragon in Chennai, India.

Pairing wine with European and even Indian food is fairly common at many restaurants today, but Golden Dragon, the Chinese fine-dining restaurant at the Taj Coromandel, Chennai, likes to do things a little differently. Besides a glass of red or white, it also specialises in pairing food with tea, seen by many as a healthier option. Its tea bar has long been the focus of the restaurant, but until now the brew has never really been paired with the food. Now, with 14 different teas on offer, diners can look forward to more than just the popular Jasmine in Chinese tea.

A range of tea variants is got by infusing natural flavours of fruits and flowers through the process of steeping.

FRAGRANT COMPANY

A minute or two after the green and white tea with flavours of peach and chamomile was placed on the table, its sweet fruity fragrance filled the air. It made the earthy spinach dimsum feel light and complemented it perfectly.

The Chun tea with citrus and Ginseng tasted less sweet but was just as fragrant. This well suited the delightfully light Crackling Spinach with Candied Walnuts that was served next. A never-ending stream of starters appeared on our table — water chestnuts and Chinese bread tossed in Kung Pao sauce; stir-fried mushrooms; and the beautifully presented Song of the Dragon, a dish of chicken or baby potatoes fried with potent, dried red chillies and served in a white ceramic pot said to contain the dragon song. Thankfully, there was the smooth, slightly sweet and wonderfully aromatic green tea with Madagascar vanilla flower to punctuate the spicy sauces and chilli in these dishes.

MAIN COURSE MUST-HAVES

The main course was fairly simple with rice steamed in woven bamboo containers, crunchy French beans with pickled Chinese vegetables, tender chicken in hot garlic sauce and perfectly cooked duck in sweet bean sauce. The accompanying floral oolong tea did not have any distinct aromatic notes but the smoky, full-bodied Monkey Pick tea complemented the woodiness of the bamboo rice. The silver needle tea or Dancing Tea, so named because the leaves “dance” from the top to the bottom of the pot, was too light to make any impression.

As was the Fortune Ball with Lotus, an elegant tea served at celebrations, as the opening of the dried flower is said to bring good luck to all who witness it. The flower opened prettily when dropped in the pot of water but did not add more than a hint of floral aroma. The aromatic white tea, on the other hand, was medium-bodied and a lovely pink in colour with notes of peaches and tangy raspberry.

PU-ERH DELIGHT

A pot of Pu-erh then arrived and, while I pondered how to pronounce it right, dessert was brought in.

A smooth, chocolate-filled dimsum garnished with slivered almonds made me forget about pretty much everything else, but the earthy yet slightly sea-like aroma of the Pu-erh forced its way into my chocolate coma. The Pu-erh is celebrated as a dieter’s dream with mysterious slimming properties. Grown on hills near the Yunnan coast, it is infused with a slightly fishy depth.

It is full-bodied with a rounded taste, making it a great accompaniment to the Malai Gao, a roulade made with sponge cake and red bean paste.

The tea tasting menu was well prepared and researched, making for a satisfying and educational experience.

Tea, and especially Darjeeling tea, spells magic for me. It’s the world’s most expensive tea, one with an intensely exotic flavour; Darjeeling is to tea, what Champagne is to wine. Many a summer vacation has been spent in the tea gardens, sipping this “champagne of teas”.

And although I personally prefer my tea unadulterated, there is enough to suggest it is a heady concoction when mixed with a few strains of alcohol.

Interestingly though, one can actually combine tea with alcohol. Not many are aware that tea mixed with alcohol proves to be a potent stimulant. A splash of your favourite alcoholic beverage in tea can be a great combination. The aroma is so strong that a whiff is enough to intoxicate the senses. Depending upon the blend of tea one is using, a variety of liquors including vodka, rum and whisky can be paired with it.

Rum might be a safer choice to begin with, though I know for a fact some have even tried vodka and tea. Not many know that the content of monoterpene alcohol — present in the essential oils of plants — in Darjeeling tea is five times higher than other Indian teas. So it’s already quite potent!

But if you are planning to marry the two beverages, then be a little more creative. Pour your drinks in elegant, funky glasses, add bright stirrers and serve them with colourful garnishes. Basically, the cocktail is likely to be termed rather eccentric and many purists might turn their noses at it, so at least have fun as you serve it. They too may give in.

Preparing the perfect cup of Darjeeling tea is important. It is an elaborate ritual and you cannot afford to go wrong. Your palate is the best guide when having a cupful. But make sure you go about preparing it the right way. Ensure you use fresh water each time while you boil. Never add tea leaves to the boiling water. Pour the tea into a teapot, one teaspoon of tea leaves per cup, add it to the boiled water in the pot. Steep it for about five minutes or so.

Strain the brew into your cup and the tea is ready. Generally, tea is consumed black, but milk or sugar may be added as per choice. A useful tip: Never boil Darjeeling Tea directly, as it will cook the leaves and make the tea bitter. If you are adventurous, add any type of alcohol.

The author is a food writer.

Taipei: The final of an inaugural cross-strait tea competition took place Sunday in Chiayi City, where some of the country’s best tea is grown, with teas from both Taiwan and China each showing specific strengths.

Based on the evaluation of five judges — two teas from China and three teas from Taiwan - Taiwan had the most varieties enter the final of the high-mountain tea category, for teas grown in areas with altitudes over 1,000 meters. But Chinese varieties dominated the tieguanyin category. Tieguanyin is a type of oolong tea.

Co-organized by two tea associations from Alishan in Taiwan and Xiamen in China, the winter tea final came after two preliminary rounds were held in the two countries on Dec. 1. It also marked the first time that China-grown tea leaves had competed in Taiwan.

The competition was part of Chiayi County’s efforts to further promote Alishan tea in China, where it is already one of the favorite Taiwanese souvenirs, said Wu Jung-hui, secretary-general of the Chiayi County government.

(By Chiang Chun-liang and Kendra Lin)

Taiwanese bubble tea is the world’s 25th most delicious drink, according to a ranking of the world’s top 50 drinks posted on the CNN travel website. The list, unveiled Saturday, was topped by plain water, Coca-Cola, and Ethiopian coffee. Taiwan’s bubble tea drew attention for its variety and the popular chewy “pearls” made of tapioca.

“More bubble than tea, this is a tea-slash-milk-slash-fruit drink and its most famous variety includes chewy ‘pearls,’ resembling oversized frogspawn, at the bottom that you suck up with an oversized straw,” CNN said of the drink. “It sounds weird, but it has become a favorite drink snack among Asia’s millions of young shoppers,” CNN added.

Water was chosen as the most delicious drink because “as the base of every other drink on this list, of every food in the world and indeed of all life, nothing beats a glass of pure, unsullied water for its thirst-quenching, revitalizing, life-giving properties.”

Filling out the top 10 on the list was beer (global), tea (global), air mata kucing (or longan drink) from Malaysia, American orange juice, red wine (global), gin and tonic (England) and hot chocolate with marshmallows (U.S.).

Japanese sake was ranked 15th and white wine (global) finished 18th.

(By Hsiao Chien-yun and Sofia Wu)

Guwahati: Tea Research Association, the oldest and largest of its kind in the country, at Tocklai in Assam has played a pioneering role in tea research leading to pathbreaking initiatives subsequently adopted by the industry.

The research organisation, which began its existence as the Tocklai Experimental Station in 1911, concluded its year-long centenary celebrations on November 22 by holding a World Tea Science Congress inaugurated by former President APJ Abdul Kalam.

TRA Director Mridul Hazarika said the research station had launched a decade-long scientific effort to give something unique to the tea industry and undertaken research in several non-conventional areas along with conventional research.

The research institute has emerged as one of the major biotechnology research institutes of tea in the world.
A major centenary highlight of the TRA was launching of a tea based non-carbonated soft drink promoted as a health drink along with Plant Growth Promoting Microbes to be made commercially available to the tea industry.

Hazarika pointed out that the significant results of tea research by the organisation had led to release of 30 Tocklai Vegetative (TV) clones, 14 biclonal seed stocks and 151 region-specific garden series clones to the tea industry.

Hazarika claimed it was due to the efforts of the TRA that the industry introduced extended pruning cycle in lieu of annual prune for higher productivity and better distribution of crop.

Optimisation of plant population, new techniques of bringing up young tea, reducing the gestation period from planting to full bearing, land planning, drainage and balance manuring for higher productivity and soil Amendment techniques have been some of the highlights of tea research initiated by the TRA.

Research by the TRA also established the necessity for a light canopy of shade for tea plantations in the plains of Northeast, Hazarika pointed out.

The TRA has also successfully invented several tea machinery adopted by tea gardens, like the MacTear Rotorvane, Borbora Continuous Leaf Conditioner, Continuous Tray Drier, Continuous Fermenting Machine, Borua Continuous Roller, Tea Breaker-cum-Stalk Separator, Green Leaf Storage Device, Continuous Withering Machine Electronic Monitoring and Control System for Withering.

Another major contribution of the organisation has been in the field of safer pesticides for effective pest and weed control, with emphasis on integrated pest management and generation of data on pesticide residues in tea from multi-locational supervised field trials.

The TRA has also successfully introduced bioagents – Trichoderma and Bacillus for control of certain tea diseases and their formulation for commercial application.

Thais enjoy little more than a strong coffee made the traditional way and are happy to sip their java juice at coffee shops, at home and in the office. Today though, many in Thai society are turning to English tea as their preferred tipple.

Tea is nothing new in this country, but lounging around a tea garden for a balmy afternoon tea over Earl Grey and cucumber sandwiches has never been a much-cultivated practice in Thailand unless you come from an aristocratic clan with a proper English education.

But Twinings of London, with its 300 years of expertise, believes the concept of English afternoon tea along the lines of its creator Anna Russell, Duchess of Bedford, will go down well with Thais. So last week the leading English tea brand launched its first Twinings Tea Garden at The Nine Centre, Bangkok’s newest semi-outdoor lifestyle mall.

The tea garden is quintessentially British – with vintage decor, a white octagonal garden pavilion, classic furniture, top-quality tea and table accessories, plus such British icons as a classic red telephone box and big teddy bears dressed in the Great British Guardsman costumes.

Tea lovers have plenty of English tea blends from which to choose. There’s the 1706 blend in the original flavour and aroma created 300 years ago. Then, there’s Mulled Spice tea, which is blended especially for this year’s Winter Edition by scenting black tea with special aromas of cinnamon and cloves. Then, of course, there’s Earl Grey, which is light, fragrant and with a distinctive bergamot flavour. Tea lovers should also not miss the English Breakfast tea, which is full-bodied and full of flavour due to the robust blend of the finest Assam and Kenyan leaves.

Twinings will serve baked delicacies by chefs from Le Cordon Bleu, including soft scones with mango jam and macaroons, almond cookies with a touch of Britain.

The tea garden is the brainchild of Piyapong Chitchumnong, Twinings’ business unit manager at the AB Food & Beverages (Thailand).

“The widespread popularity of Twinings teas across England dates to 1666. To commemorate Twinings as part of English tea heritage, we have created the “1706 blend” of finest teas from various sources.

“In Thailand, tea drinking is regarded as a very interesting social culture. Twinings has therefore created this tea garden to give tea lovers a lovely place where they can take full pleasure in a cup of fine tea in a London ambience. Besides, profits from the Tea Garden will go to the Chaipattana Foundation to celebrate HM the King’s 84th birthday.

A glance at Twining tea heritage.

1662

Tea was officially introduced to England by the young Portuguese wife of Charles II, Catherine of Braganza. She served it to her aristocratic friends at the Royal Court and soon tea became the fashionable drink of the day.

1701

Thomas Twining takes a job working for a wealthy merchant handling the first shipments of tea to English shores from around the world.

1706

Thomas Twining opens the first Twinings shop on London’s Strand.

1784

By the time of his death, Thomas Twining was serving customers with royal connections. Hs son, Daniel, was the first Twining to export tea.

1837

Queen Victoria granted Twinings its first Royal Warrant for tea – she appointed Twinings as supplier of teas to her household.

1901

Twinings develops the recipe for its English breakfast blend.

1904

Twinings opens its first Paris shop

The American Tea Masters Association proudly announces its special upcoming Certified Tea Sommelier Course – conducted entirely in Spanish.  This course will be conducted January 21 - January 24, 2012 (inclusive), in San Diego, California.  Diego Morlachetti, Certified Tea Master and Executive Director of the Escuela de Te inArgentina, will teach this course.

Chas Kroll, Executive Director of American Tea Masters Association and Certified Tea Master announced, “This course is a great opportunity for Spanish-speaking people in the USA who wish to take their passion for tea and its health benefits to a professional level.  There has been so much interest in the US, that for the first time, ATMA is offering the course in Spanish.”

The Certified Tea Sommelier Course is suited to restaurant and tea court owners and managers, wine sommeliers, tea aficionados, industry suppliers, and others who wish to incorporate tea mastery skills into their personal or professional lives.

Margo Seymour, owner of the Denver Tea Room in Colorado, became a Certified Tea Master in 2010 and opened her shop.

Now she confidently knows her teas as well as how to best market her tea room.  Seymour expects that her business in 2012 will double that of 2011.

“I bring out trays of 30 teas and sniffing boxes.  Scent will lead them to a tea they like,” says Seymour.

As the profession expands there is growing demand for Certified Tea Sommeliers.  Respected hotels, traditional and modern tea rooms, high-end restaurants, and teashops, create an important base for a professional tea sommelier.

The Certified Tea Sommelier Course provides a thorough foundation for those interested in managing the tea service, including:  vendor selection, creating tea menus, seasonal tea rotation, managing guest preferences, and providing accurate background information on myriad teas.

The course starts with a 4-day intensive training at the Liberty Station Courtyard by Marriott.  This is followed by home study utilizing online tutorials led by Morlachetti between February and September 2012.

About American Tea Masters Association:

Founded in 2007, the American Tea Masters Association promotes education among individuals aspiring to achieve excellence in the world of premium-grade specialty teas.

The association’s prestigious Certified Tea Master™ designation is awarded following completion of the Tea Mastery Certification Course™, to deserving Tea Masters and Tea Sommeliers dedicated to promoting the experience of quality, loose-leaf specialty teas grown around the world.

Further information is available at www.TeaMasters.org

About Escuela Argentina de Te:

Headquartered in Rosario, Argentina, the school is licensed and accredited by American Tea Masters Association.  Launched in June 2010 by Diego Morlachetti, a Certified Tea Master of American Tea Masters Association.  The school is responsible for training and certifying Spanish speaking registrants residing in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Mexico, and Spain.  Additional information is available at www.EscuelaDeTe.org.

Media Contact:
Catherine Milsom
(954) 600 5250 Central Time
Milsom@att.net
Se habla espanol.

SOURCE American Tea Masters Association

The latest in bizarre dresses has arrived. After paper napkins, newspapers, and even condoms, we now have a dress made of tea bags. This one was made by a 16-year-old from Kuala Lumpur, and she used a whopping 4,000 tea bags to create her masterpiece. She won the top prize at the Green Awards 2011 held in Kuala Lumpur in October.

Suraya Mohd Zairin is a science student from SMK Bukit Jelutong, Shah Alam. She says that she chose to make a dress out of tea bags because they were easily available to her. With the help of her friends, she was able to collect the 4,000 bags and then it took her three months to complete the dress. The theme followed by the budding designer was ‘flowers’, because their shapes have always mesmerized her.

Suraya says that people tend to take flowers for granted, and through her dress she wanted to highlight the significance of nature, especially that of flowers. She was the youngest contestant in the category, and never expected to win. Needless to say, she was quite shocked when her name was announced as the winner. The two categories of the award where wildly creative and totally active.

She received RM4000, which is approximately $1,700, along with a trophy, for her efforts.

Tea got a new ambassador, when former President of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam said that the brew can be the official drink of India on Tuesday.

Even as the chief minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi declared tea as the State Drink, Kalam said that on the basis of the size of its consumers tea can be declared the national drink of India. Kalam was inaugurating the three-day World Tea Science Congress at Tocklai Experimental Station (TES), Jorhat, Assam.

Over 51% of India’s tea and 13% of global production comes from Assam. The tea industry in the state is a source of about five lakh permanent employment and five lakh seasonal workers. Another 10 lakh are dependent on it for employment and services.

Gogoi said that declaring tea as the state drink would help increase its value and promote Assam tea as a brand. “Moreover, my government will persist with its effort to secure the recognition of tea as our National Drink,” said Gogoi.

On the occasion Dr Kalam released a number of souvenirs, a documentary titled ‘Young at 100′ directed by Charukamal Hazarika, a tea table book titled, “Tocklai and Tea” and a tea soft drink at the function.

Giving his inaugural address and presenting a blueprint for the tea industry, Kalam proposed formation of tea cooperatives so as to address the problems of the small tea planters and their workers.

In order to boost the industry and give it a global edge the former President also stressed on diversification and development of value-added products such as medicinal tea, organic tea and flavoured tea.

Envisaging a leading role for TES in tea research and helping the tea industry develop a futuristic vision, Kalam suggested it to be named ‘Tocklai Research Centre.’

Kalam further advocated for genetically modified varieties of tea to protect the crops from pests, instead of use of chemical pesticides. He also said that a multi-dimensional research will help tea occupy the world market with its exotic products.

Promising state government’s support to the tea industry, Gogoi thanked Kalam for supporting the call to grant national drink status to the beverage. While urging the industry to follow the roadmap presented by Kalam, the chief minister said the industry need to diversify, prepare for the changing business environment worldwide, upgrade the skills of the workforce and carry out research on the impact of climatic changes on the tea industry.

Tea Research Association chairman D P Maheshwari said the organisation had acquired world class infrastructure for the station and formed a corpus fund of Rs 6 crore for setting up centenary chairs from the Rs 20-crore grant given by the centre to the organisation on Tocklai’s centenary.

Two European travelers examining green tea products at a tea shop in Beijing

The Chinese are gradually losing the traditional tea-drinking habit in favor of coffee, largely because of the length of time it takes to brew a decent cup, experts say.

“I prefer coffee to tea,” said Wang Yan, a 25-year-old downtown girl in Beijing. “Drinking coffee refreshes me and makes me feel chic.”

The history of Chinese tea is a long and gradual story of refinement. The original idea is credited to the legendary Emperor Shennong, who is said to have lived about 5,000 years ago. One summer day in 2737 BC, while visiting a distant part of his realm, he and the court stopped to rest. During the break, his servants began to boil water for the court to drink. Dried leaves from a nearby bush fell into the boiling water, and became infused. Being of a scientific nature, the emperor was interested in the new liquid, drank some, and found it tasty.

Thereafter, tea and China developed an extremely close relationship, with a culture springing up alongside its consumption based on a combination of Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist traditions.

After thousands of years of the development of the tea industry, China has become the No 1 tea maker, producing 1.47 million tons in 2010, up from 1.36 million tons in 2009, according to the China Tea Association. Per capita consumption was 0.7 million tons. It exports tea to more than 120 countries and regions and imports tea from more than 50 countries and regions.

“Drinking tea is a kind of pastime leisure, but daily work and life is getting faster and more stressful in China, which makes the two activities contradictory,” said Liu Zhonghua, deputy director at the China Tea Association, speaking at the 2011 International Tea Convention and Trade Fair in Hangzhou.

Mao Limin, a tea expert, said: “Tea is a very healthy but more and more younger Chinese are cutting back their consumption.”

Paul Higgins, a tea specialist with the Canadian Mother Parkers Tea and Coffee Inc, said: “While Chinese tea consumption is dropping, interestingly, Western countries are drinking more tea for its health benefits.”

According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, the British drink 1.89 kilos each a year, more than twice the 0.82 kilos consumed per capita in China.

Marco Berton, the president of the Italian Tea Council said at the tea convention: “Although Italy is a ‘coffee country’ more people are turning to tea, especially green tea and Oolong tea from China.”

Liu added: “One way to increase tea consumption in China is to improve tea bag production instead of using traditional tea leaves in order to cope with the fast pace of life.” He also said another approach is to develop crossovers in the industry, such as introducing new tea products which have low caffeine levels or can be used in the beauty and pharmaceutical sectors. There is already a tea-flavored toothpaste.

“We have introduced specialty teas to Canadians. They love them and are enjoying more and more green tea because of the health benefits,” said Louise Roberge, president of the Canadian Tea Council.

“I don’t like focusing too much on introducing new technologies or products into traditional Chinese teas,” said Yang Ruiling, managing vice-president of the Hecheng Investment and Development Group Co Ltd in Southwest China’s Yunnan province. “How relaxing it will be if one just slows down, enjoys a cup of tea, tries to reach a balance or an inner peace after a hard and busy day.”

Among a select subset of potters, the Japanese tea bowl is an object of some mystique. As Belgian artist Lou Smedts once wrote, the tea bowl embodies the Zen concept that the value of art should lie not in its monetary value but in its function. “Usefulness holds the true value of both objects and human beings,’’ wrote Smedts. “Who and what is used is what has value. Think of that when you see a tea bowl.’’

With this notion, Smedts curated an exhibition of tea bowls shown in numerous venues throughout Europe, but among the 70 artists invited to contribute work only one was an American: Newton potter and instructor Steven Branfman, author of several books on the Japanese ceramic technique known as raku. And Branfman was further honored when Smedts invited him to curate the first American version of the show, now on exhibit at Branfman’s Needham gallery.

“With each new country it reaches, the collection changes somewhat, but the theme and focus remain constant: It’s an exhibit of tea bowl inspired by the Japanese aesthetic and by the Japanese tradition of the tea ceremony,’’ said Branfman.

“The tea bowl is one of the few pottery vessels that has a specific origin, history, and culture,’’ Branfman said. “It can be a very personal object. Someone who is making Japanese-inspired tea bowls understands that the tea ceremony is as much about an appreciation of the objects that are involved and their significance within the ceremony as about the tea itself. You have water bowls, flower vases, plates for snacks and sweets. When you’re making something whose origins are so tied to a culture, you can’t help but get involved emotionally in that milieu.’’

Branfman’s history with this particular form is complex and highly personal. A lifelong potter, he has always been interested in vessels, as opposed to free-form sculpture or some other manifestation of clay. His son Jared inherited his passions and became an acclaimed artist in his own right.

At Alfred University, where Jared studied in the early 2000s, he was known for his exquisite crafting of bowls, according to Steven Branfman. And although the father had always produced bowls for pasta, salads, mixing and baking, he had never paid much attention to tea bowls until his son began working in the form.

However, Jared died of cancer at the age of 23. In a statement posted alongside Steven Branfman’s work in the gallery, the still-bereaved father describes how the loss affected his own art.

City Channel of CRI Online, Nov 18 2011

Commonly called Chai tea by westerners, a name which is kind of like saying ATM Machine, Masala Chai or Chai is a distinctive style of milk-based tea consumed through-out the Indian sub-continent and into southeast Asia. Chai has a warm spice note in combination with the heat and soothing properties from the warmed milk that make it very relaxing to consume. In India, chai is consumed at any time and weather. It is not only consumed with meals but is also commonly served to customer in shops (such as jewelry stores) or purchased from roadside vendors called chai wallahs.

» Recommended Chai: Yogic Chai

This drink is incredibly simple to make and is the perfect drink for a cold winter day. The recipe I am following was taught to me by my wife (who is from India), who learned it from her mother (who still lives in India). It is a more simple, everyday, home version of the chai encountered in Indian restaurants.

For those who are looking for a fun and easy alternative to the traditional holiday drinks. Try adding cinnamon and nutmeg to the ginger and cardamom for a festive, rich and warming holiday drink.

» Buy Loose Leaf Masala Chai, Chai Teabags or Masala Chai Mix at Chai Buyer

Step 1: Items Needed

-A small pot

-A tea strainer (or some other wire mesh strainer)

-Chai Tea Leaves – these are a special type of strong tea leaf where the tea leaves are cured in a way whichs causes them to curl up into a ball. These can easily be found at your local Indo/Pak grocery store for around $3-6/box (enough to last more than a year of daily tea making). They look a lot like peppercorns in the image I posted. Some common brands are Taj Mahal and Red Label.

-Milk – whole milk tastes better but skim is acceptable

-Sweetener – take your pick. You can use pretty much anything which can provide sweetness and withstand the heat. You can use sugar, brown sugar, molasses, Splenda, jaggery (a type of unprocessed brown sugar block commonly used in rural India) or any other sweeter of your choice.

-Spices – The spices used in chai vary greatly depending on the region and how complex or simple you want to make it. The spices used vary from rose to salt to fennel seeds and more. For a simple route to a more complex chai; you can purchase a Masala Chai Spice Mix at most Indo/Pak. In this instructable we will be making a more simple homemade version so we will be using either ginger root or cardamom (green or black is acceptable). The cardamom (like most other spices) can be purchased pretty inexpensively once again from your local Indo/Pak grocery store, especially in comparison to the cost of spices at American grocery stores. Do not substitute cadamom powder, it doesn’t have near the flavor and it won’t strain out as nicely.

Step 2: The Boil

Place your small pot on the stove and add one coffee cup (plus a bit extra to account for evaporation) of milk per person.

Prep your spices, depending on which of the spices you plan on using prepare as follows:

- Ginger: Cut the ginger into small pieces (around 1/4in or so) and crush them. You can also heat them a bit in the microwave to help release more of the juices. Then add to the milk.
- Cardamom pods: Crack open the cardamom pods using your method of choice. You only need to crack the pod open to expose the inside of the pod, you don’t need to extract the little seeds from it. These little seeds and the inside of the pod are where most of the flavor is. The black cardamom pods can be kind of difficult, while green cardamom is very easy. You can use a mortar and pestle to crack them, just remember you are not trying to turn it into ground cardamom. In lieu of a mortar and pestle, the easiest method is to turn a knife on it side on top of the pods and crack them with your hand. Kind of like breaking garlic cloves. For green cardamom, you can even crack them with your teeth if it will just be you drinking it. Once you have cracked the cardamom add it to the milk.Slowly heat your milk under low-medium heat until it begins a low boil. This one of those steps where slower is better. If you try to speed things up by using too high of a heat the milk will burn. This is a great tea to fix for your breakfast, I will get up, prep the milk and spices and throw it on the stove before taking a shower. By the time I get out of the shower and back in the kitchen the mixture is boiling properly
Keep in mind you will have some sections where the milk cooks to the bottom of the pan, this is normal. If these sections begin talking on a dark brown or black color, the milk is likely burnt and the taste will show up in the mixture.

Step 3: The Tea Leaves

Now that the milk is boiling, add the tea leaves. We usually use around a tablespoon or so of tea leaves per drink.

The milk will begin taking on a tannish coloration. Many times the boiling milk will form a skin on top and the tea leaves will get caught up in this. Just stir the boiling tea to break up the skin.

The longer you boil the stronger the tea flavor will be. Typically, you will stop at a light-to-medium tan color, somewhere close to light chocolate milk. This usually takes around 2-5 minutes.

Step 4: Strain, Consume, Enjoy!

OK, now the last step before drinking. You need to strain out all of the solids (tea leaves and spices).Place the tea strainer over the coffee cup, tilt the pot over the cup and strainer and pour. Hint: Do it in the sink because it WILL make a mess otherwise.

Discard the tea leaves and spice chunks in the trash or compost.

You will see the chai will have reached a nice rich tan color and a skin will have formed on the surface. Now you can drink it straight or add tea biscuits (aka cookies) or other assorted garnishes.

Enjoy!

Fifteen years ago the Lam family business picked up a consignment of aged tea from a defunct Hong Kong restaurant. Its value has since risen by a factor of 10,000, as the Lams have found themselves part of a boom that is both investment fad and cultural obsession.

“It’s like magic,” managing director Sam Lam told AFP as he prepared tea according to the Chinese ritual, pouring boiling water through rough leaves and then into tiny cups to drink, and spoke of the profits to be made.

The tea is pu erh, a dark tea that is fermented after drying and whose taste mellows with age. Its history is thought to date back between one and two thousand years, with legends of growers in mountainous Yunnan province ferociously guarding their cultivation secrets.

Over the past 20 years prices for aged pu erh have rocketed, while China has encouraged renewed development of a luxury tea culture which parallels that of wine — partly as a source of national pride in a home-grown high-end product.

With over 70,000 tea businesses in mainland China, skilled buyers must taste tea in order to assess its quality, which only increases pu erh’s mystique and sociability.

“You can tell from the aftertaste, the smoothness,” says Lam, pouring out cups with practised hands. The tea is sold in pressed round “cakes”, wrapped in paper printed with bold designs that reflect the vintage of each one.

Lam’s father set up the business, Lam Kie Yuen, after moving to Hong Kong from the war-torn mainland in 1949.

But the pair say it is only since the mid-nineties that the market for luxury pu erh — also, in its less refined forms, a staple of cheap restaurants — has exploded, with middle-class investors joining the wealthy to buy it up.

The Lams are now selling tea from the 1930 to 1950 era for up to HK$200,000 (over $25,000) per 345-gram (12.2 ounce) cake, having bought much of it in cheap truckloads from dim sum restaurants that closed down.

“Growth slowed during the economic downturn, but it’s still ongoing,” said Sam Lam. “As the price is rising, people are buying it less to drink, and more to collect and invest.”

But luxury pu erh is not just bought to lay aside; it is identified with proud, ancient aspects of Chinese culture, in contrast with the cheap “made in China” goods that have spurred the country’s economic rise.

In Hong Kong’s hectic Mong Kok district, fashionably dressed young men gather at a calm tea house for lessons from qualified tea master Eliza Liu.

“It’s like a drug — I’m addicted now,” said student Ngan Kan Shing, 21. “By discovering tea I feel that I’ve learned about China.”

He has been coming to classes for six years, but says: “I still only know the basics.”

The group examines the colour of each cup of tea before sniffing and then slurping it in respectful silence, as Liu talks them through the value of the aged tea.

Grown before artificial pesticides and dried naturally rather than at a high temperature, it has a paler colour and a smoother taste.

“Good tea is produced at higher altitude, and also depends on climate,” says Liu. “In Yunnan, they say a tea tree can experience all four seasons in one day.”

The tea is served from small fine china tea sets, used with a tray that drains off excess water. The first cup of each brew is not drunk, as it is used to clean dust or residue from the leaves. After that, a good tea should taste different with every cup, say experts.

According to China’s state-run Global Times, one batch of top pu erh sold at auction for $250 per gram in 2002, while rare Da Hong Pao oolong can also rival such prices.

But Liu and tea professor Yip Man, who taught her the art, are sceptical of the eye-popping prices paid for some teas, preferring to emphasise tea’s longtime role in Chinese medicine and thought.

“Tea has a philosophy behind it, and it’s about health. Tea has been very commercialised, but a cheaper tea may also be as good (as an expensive one),” said Yip.

“The philosophy is about harmony, bringing people together, peace within the self.”

The price of pu erh is acknowledged to be boosted by a tight supply, and sceptics argue that investors buying aged pu erh may be made to look foolish as China’s newly affluent drinkers move on to fresh fashions like Phoenix Oolong.

However Lam says that although the astonishing growth of the last two decades may not be sustained, pu erh is still a good investment.

He said a buyer of a good, inexpensive pu erh — at, say, HK$100 ($13) a cake — now could expect to make a 10 percent return in a year. “But you have to choose the right tea,” he said.

Luxury tea houses springing up in London and Sydney indicate China might succeed in exporting its high-end tea culture. And Liu and her students feel meanwhile that they are tapping into much more than a fad.

Student Ngan is evangelical about pu erh. “Before learning about tea, a lot of my friends believed the stereotype that tea is for old people. But now I think they’re changing their minds,” he said.

From the steamy, subtropical lowlands of Xishuangbanna (“shee-shwang-bah-na”), to the crisp highlands of the Tibetan plateau, China’s Yunnan province has been a link between tea growers and drinkers for more than 1,200 years.

Years ago, tea growers and horse traders met in markets along Yunnan’s Tea-Horse Road, an old trade route also called the South Silk Road, between Xishuangbanna and Tibet. Today, you can travel the ancient route and find remnants of the caravan road in old market squares, patches of cobbled lane and still-thriving tea plantations.

Trace the ancient Tea-Horse Road by beginning where, in theory, it all starts: with the tea trees in southern Yunnan. Then move northwest along the old route until you reach Zhongdian, or Shangri-La, which is one of the last stops in China before the Tibet Autonomous Region and is nearly 10,000ft higher than Xishuangbanna. Most towns are populated by ethnic minorities who played individual roles in the tea-horse trade, such as growers and middlemen. Today, many of these minorities still dress in their traditional clothing and speak dialects far removed from Mandarin. Interacting with them is a highlight of any trip to Yunnan.

Here is a breakdown of some of the villages and sites along the way:

Xishuangbanna
Xishuangbanna prefecture encompasses the subtropical lowlands of Yunnan. Its rolling hills are spotted with small Dai villages surrounded by acres and acres of tea. This is the land of Pu’er, a particularly favoured tea that is fermented and shaped into bricks or pancakes for easy transport by mule.

Dali
Dali Old City sits at 4,000ft, with vertical peaks rising behind it like a green screen. A major conduit market town on the route, Dali is the cradle of Bai civilization and you will notice their signature whitewashed buildings with flower-painted borders. This ethnic minority group acted as middlemen between tea growers from Xishuangbanna and horse traders from Tibet.

Shaxi
The climb continues to Shaxi, another major trading hub designated as a Unesco World Heritage site. Cobbled streets, old horse stalls and small courtyard guesthouses that were once used for muleteers are all being preserved in Shaxi as it prepares for tourism. It is one of the most intact and beautiful sites along the Tea-Horse Road, with its market square framed by a performance stage and powerful statues guarding a temple; the square is still used by locals in the evenings for traditional dancing.

Lijiang
Traders rarely made the entire journey along the Tea-Horse Road, instead trading goods at markets along the way. Lijiang, also on the Unesco World Heritage List, was one such town. It is a stunning place if you can get past the theme park-feel and the crowds of tourists. But with its ancient canal system filled with rushing water from the snow-topped peaks in the distance, topped by arched stone and wood bridges, and reflecting moody red lanterns in the evening, Lijiang’s personality is difficult to resist.

Zhongdian/Shangri-La
What is still locally known as Zhongdian (or, in Tibetan, Gyeltang) was officially changed to Shangri-La in 2001. At nearly 10,000ft in elevation, Zhongdian swirls with the smell of wood and coal smoke permeating its cold, dry air. Here, ruddy-faced Tibetans stand out from the Han Chinese, as does their architecture: square, three-storey homes with bright scrollwork trimming them. Tea is mixed with yak butter for a high-calorie drink in this shivery climate.

Just outside the old city is the Songzanlin Monastery, a golden, multi-storied complex where Tibetan Buddhist monks make clockwise circles outside, and juniper smoke and Tibetan prayer flags burst against the blue sky.

Here are some more of the new exclusive TEA shirts from Tea Selector, the tea comparison website. They’ve created 26 unique, cool designs for you to pick from. Each design is available in a variety of styles, colors and sizes. They make ideal gifts for tea lovers.

Check out the other 22 designs at the Tea Selector T-Shirt Store!

Life Hacker, by Whitson Gordon, 28 Oct 2011

If you need to make more than just a cup or two of tea, you can brew it all at once (and keep it warm) by making it in a coffee pot.

DIY web site WikiHow details how to do it, noting that it’s quite useful if you need a large volume of tea—like if you’re sick. It isn’t all that different from making coffee, except you don’t use a filter and you place a tea bag or two in the filter basket. Hit the link to see the step-by-step instructions.

• How to Make Tea Using a Coffee Pot | WikiHow

Serious Eats, by Liz Clayton, 25 Oct 2011

In the high-altitude hills that roll beneath the specter of Mount Everest are the somewhat unexpected tea gardens of Nepal. The nation’s tea growing regions are said to have been founded in the 1860s, upon a gift of Chinese tea saplings to the then-Prime-Minister Jung Bahadur Rana, who delegated the task of planting to one of his colonels. This established the first Nepali tea factory in Ilam, only a short distance (a few hours, as the crow flies) from the now-famous Indian tea gardens of Darjeeling, whose flavors Nepali tea are said to echo.

Tea production in Nepal is divided between two streams. First are the very mechanically processed CTC, or crush-tear-curl teas, which may be destined to land in blends or bags, and are ideal for preparation of Nepali sweet milk tea. But there are also the orthodox teas, which are traditional leaf teas where the leaves have been hand-rolled or rolled in a machine that emulates hand-rolling (rather than crushing, tearing and curling.) Specialty quality teas which are grown for the orthodox tea market are found along the high elevations of Nepal nearer the Himalayas, while CTC teas grow in the lower regions.

Though political and economic conditions have not allowed Nepali tea to really flourish on an international spectrum, these teas have been acknowledged for the subtle flavors derived from their particular landscape’s conditions (such as high altitude and a long growing season, approximately March to September).

Over the course of such a lengthy crop cycle, the tea harvest gets divided into four distinct seasons, or “flushes”, each of which represents a different stage of growth in the tea plant and carries with it its own palate of flavors which guide the tea drinker in selection. First Flush is said to be light and delicate, with young, small tea leaves producing wonderfully subtle flavor; Second Flush is a stronger development of the first flush’s flavors; Monsoon Flush, or “rainy tea”, harvested during the summer rainy season, has a fuller flavor yet; and Autumn Flush presents a more tart and musty development of those flavors as the season winds down.

And although the traditional bent of Himalayan tea production has been towards not-tremendously-oxidized black teas, a growing enthusiasm for producing flavorful oolong teas has sprung up in the nation’s hills, several thousand kilometers from the celebrated oolong-native regions of China’s Wuyi mountains, and the fertile gardens of Formosa.

Three Nepali Teas to Try

Steep these teas in a gaiwan, which has room for the leaves to open up. (Here’s a guide to gaiwan brewing.)

2011 Nepal Silver Tips Oolong
This startlingly floral silver-tipped late spring oolong is a gem. It’s a moderately oxidized tea, creamy, bright and zesty all at once. The liquor develops more depth on the second infusion, but with the same breezy floral sweetness along with the boldening flavor. A really lovely representation of an evolving style of tea for this tea-producing region. (From Tea Trekker)

Shangri-La Nepal Oolong
This tea from Nepal’s Ilam valley is more astringent and less fruit-flowery than the first we tried—but it’s got a very creamy, near-butteriness that’s sure to beguile. Partially oxidized and twisted with a medium amber liquor, Shangri-La still stands up well as a sessionable oolong with a bit of bite. (From Sing Tehus)

Himalaya Golden Nepal: Maloom Estate (First Flush)
This black tea is a gentle execution of its cousin teas in India: it’s an easy-drinking, twisted leaf tippy black tea, gentle on its own or supremely soothing in milk. It’s light amber in the cup and un-astringent, with a fresh, grassy taste—at worst a little indistinct, but at best quite graceful. (From Tea Trekker)

Do you have a favorite tea from Nepal?

About the author: Liz Clayton drinks, photographs and writes about coffee and tea all over the world, though she pretends to live in Brooklyn, New York. She is bad at keeping up her coffee-world blog attwitchy.org

Montreal Gazette, 18 Oct 2011

As Asians become a higher percentage of the Canadian population, tea-flavoured drinks such as green tea are among the dietary climbers, along with pork, rice and seafood.

Canadians are eating less beef and potatoes and more pork, seafood and rice, thanks to the fact that about 10 per cent of us now are of Asian descent. We’re also snacking more, even more so on fruit, and drinking more green tea — both again due to eastern influences, according to a study by Toronto-based market research company NPD Group.

There are 3.3 million Asians in Canada, or 11 per cent of the population, and the food and beverage industry ignores them at its competitive peril, says the study’s authors.

By recognizing the similarities and differences between Asians and others, restaurants and retailers “will be better equipped to make the strategic decisions necessary to fuel their success,” said NPD analyst Joel Gregoire.

The study, Eating Patterns in Canada, found that over the past 10 years, the number of meals featuring potatoes has dropped by 703 million “eatings” every year, while those that included rice jumped by 297 million eatings.

Beef consumption was down by 384 million meals since 2001, while pork during the same time jumped by 372 million meals a year and seafood by 248 million eatings.

“As the face of Canada’s population continues to change, our eating behaviour is sure to follow suit,” said Gregoire.

The study also found Asians snack more than other cultures, at an average of 309 snacks per year per person, with fruit being the dominant food choice 38 per cent of the time. The average Canadian chooses fruit as a snack 30 per cent of the time, it said.

There has also been a hike in the number of meals consumed by Canadians that included a flavoured tea drink, to 44 a year per individual from 25 in 2001.

The jump is most noticeable with green tea, which falls in that category. In 2001, Canadians included green tea in their meals just four times a year and that number is now almost 15.

Immigration is expected to grow by 15 per cent over the next decade and most of the new Canadians are expected to come from Asia, NPD said.

“The Asian community is a prime growth target in Canada whose dietary preferences should not be overlooked by corporations seeking longevity,” NPD said in a news release issued Tuesday.

© Copyright (c) The Province

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/life/Canadians+tastebuds+turning+eastward+Asian+flavours+take+root/5569006/story.html#ixzz1cLSNQ5gC

Craft Passion

Tea leaf eggs [茶叶蛋] is one of my favorite snacks since the 80′s. I was attracted by the five-spice fragrance when I first walked into a Taiwanese Chinese Tea house in my hometown. I have to order one to try. The look of the tea leaf egg really surprised me, “Hey… it is cracking and I think it is HATCHING”!!!! I believe when you first see the photo of the tea leaf eggs I cooked, you will probably relate my reaction.

Now, tea leaf eggs is a common snack that we can find in most Chinese populated area and even inshopping complexes. You don’t have to find it, just smell it and you will know which shop or stall is selling it. Cooking tea leaf eggs isn’t difficult if you can get the spices, most Asian shops should have them, if not, you can get them from AsianSupermarket365.com.

If you love easy Chinese cooking, probably this is the best book you should buy, Easy Chinese Recipes: Family Favorites From Dim Sum to Kung Pao. It is not merely a recipes book that provides recipes. This 144 pages recipes book full of bountiful photos and awesome information from utensils, ingredients, tips & tricks to basic cooking method. You will never get lost half way through cooking the recipes from this book, authored by Bee Yinn Low who owns a popular website Rasa Malaysia: Easy Asian Recipes.

After flipping though the book over and over again, I decided to cook this tea leaf eggs because it seems so easy and simple to follow. The most important thing is that I wanted to try out if I can get the same authentic tea leaf eggs taste ever savored in my taste bud. This recipe didn’t fail me and I will cook more for my family with this recipe book.

Recipe: Tea Leaf Eggs [茶叶蛋]

Recipe from: Easy Chinese Recipes: Family Favorites From Dim Sum to Kung Pao
Makes: 12 eggs or serve 6 as an appetizer

INGREDIENTS:
4 cups (1 liter) water

12 large eggs

Tea Mixture
4 cups (1 liter) water ( I used 5 cups since I simmered the eggs for overnight)
3 heaping tablespoons Chinese puer tea leaf or black tea (I used Tie Guan Yin tea leaf 鐵觀音)
1 cinnamon stick
3 star anise
6 tablespoon soy sauce
3 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt

METHOD:

• Add 4 cups (1 liter) of water to a pot and gently drop in the eggs. Make sure the water covers the eggs. Bring the water to boil over high heat. Boil until the eggs are cooked, about 10 minutes.
• Remove the hard-boiled eggs from the boiling water and rinse them with cold running water. Using the back of a teaspoon, gently tap the eggshell to crack the shell. Discard the water in the pot.
• To make the Tea Mixture, heat the water in a pot and bring it to a boil. Add the rest of the ingredients and return to a boil.
• Transfer the eggs to the pot and boil the eggs with the Tea Mixture for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to low. Simmer the eggs for at least 2 hours. (I placed my them in a
  slow cooker and simmered for overnight.)
• Serve the eggs immediately or leave them in the Tea Mixture overnight to further develop the color and flavor. Tea Leaf Eggs are best served the next day.

Long before he co-founded TWG Tea Co. in 2007, Manoj Murjani was an avid tea collector, keeping about 70 different kinds in his home at a time. Mr. Murjani, chairman and chief executive officer of the brand, which is sold in Dean & Deluca stores in the U.S. and Harrods in London, is a purist when it comes making and drinking tea.

When entertaining or dining with his family, Mr. Murjani often brews loose-leaf teas by the pot. He prefers large whole leaves and avoids using tiny tea balls, which he says don’t give the leaves room to unfurl and infuse the water with flavor. Instead, he places about two and a half teaspoons of leaves in a large strainer. “You don’t want the water to be boiling hot,” he says. It could “burn the tea leaves.” After about three minutes—or up to seven minutes for more delicate varieties like white teas—he removes the strainer. He generally avoids adding milk or sugar and feels lemon “overpowers the taste.”

Mr. Murjani likes to kick off his day by pairing a mint tea or light green tea with his breakfast. He sometimes sips tea during lunch and dinner; if he is having a light lunch of salmon or a salad, he usually chooses a fresh-tasting tea such as a green or white tea. “It’s light and balances well with the freshness of what you’re eating.”

With heavier foods such as steak, he likes to sip more robust or smoky varietals such as Pu-Erh or Lapsang Souchong. With spicy food, he likes to go with a more “daring” tea spiked with cloves, cardamom or ginger. Mr. Murjani says the smoky flavor of Earl Grey is a good accompaniment for chocolate. He likes to finish his meals with mint tea, saying it’s refreshing and helps with digestion.

Sometimes, he combines iced tea with champagne for a pre-dinner cocktail, using fruity black teas with berry or floral tones. “You don’t know what that extra something is, and that extra something is tea,” he says.

A new website has been launched offering “the biggest collection of chai teas on the web.”

Chai Buyer is aimed directly at those looking to buy chai tea, the delicious traditional spicy Indian tea made with milk. The website makes the final selection that much easier for those who already know they want to buy chai tea.

Chai Buyer is divided into simple categories to make browsing for chai tea straightforward. The categories are:

• Loose Leaf Chai Tea Blends
• Loose Leaf Black Chai Tea
• Loose Leaf Green Chai Tea
• Loose Leaf White Chai Tea
• Loose Leaf Pu-erh Chai Tea
• Loose Leaf Herbal Chai Tea
• Black Chai Teabags
• Green Chai Teabags
• White Chai Teabags
• Herbal Chai Teabags
• Chai Teabag Samplers
• Sugar and Spice…

There’s also an advanced chai tea search facility which allows you to pinpoint exactly what you want using keywords and category filters.

Chai Buyer plans to become the ultimate chai tea source on the internet, and many more chai teas have been identified for inclusion on the site over the coming weeks. Chai tea fans will be able to browse hundreds of products from the best suppliers around the world.

Manufacturers and retailers of chai tea are sought for possible inclusion on the site. For more information, please go to: www.ChaiBuyer.com

NYTimes.com By GREGORY DICUM

At Om Shan Tea, the air is filled with the clatter of small earthenware teapots, the sound of ethereal gongs and flutes and quiet animated conversation. Tea drinkers cluster on reed stools around low tables surrounded by antiques from tea-drinking lands.

Patrons can choose a Gong Fu presentation, with a stream of different vessels and cups. Oshan Anand, the owner of this year-old teahouse in the Mission district of San Francisco, sits at an antique tea table of dark wood and stone and pours tiny cups of pu-erh, the aged Chinese tea that, like wine, is often known by region and vintage.

Om Shan Tea is the newest of a breed of Bay Area teahouses that are reimagining the world’s ancient and diverse tea drinking customs for modern tea drinkers. Each is an expression of the founders’ sensibilities, and each draws fervid followers.

Samovar, in the Castro, makes tea drinking a stylish affair. Teas from around the world are served as they are in their home countries: Japanese maki bowls of rice and seaweed with ryokucha brown rice tea ($17), English tea service with scones and Devonshire cream ($19), Chinese tea with dumplings ($19) and masala chai with curry ($17). Russian tea is poured from a gleaming samovar ($9 for a bottomless cup).

“We bring the world’s tea traditions under one roof,” said Jesse Jacobs, who opened Samovar in 2001. “It’s contemporary and hip but also respecting tradition.”

Visitors to Numi Tea Garden in Oakland can enjoy a tea ceremony that involves small clay pots on a bamboo tray next to a Buddha figurine and a set of tools.

“You get the Buddha’s belly all wet for good luck,” said Ahmed Rahim, an owner of the Numi Organic Tea company who developed this whimsical take on traditional Chinese tea ceremonies.

The Bay Area loves its coffee, but there is a certain sameness to its coffeehouses. Its teahouses, though, all seem to have unusual offerings. Menus include rare teas and obscure herbs, with teatime snacks from around the world

via .

Press-Telegram

LONG BEACH — Brewing loose-leaf tea can take an elaborate setup, according to Mei Tung, of Long Beach. Her tea set sits on a large, hand-carved wooden tray and includes small, ornamental porcelain dishes. Most hold dried tea leaves of different varieties; others are for steeping them. She poured boiling water into one of the steeping dishes. Water dripped from the kettle and ran in thin streams around the tray. After a moment, she removed a perforated ceramic basket holding the tea leaves from the hot water and poured it into tiny cups. Again, the tea dripped from the dish’s lip and wet the tray.

“Because we’re tea lovers, we really wanted to design something for tea lovers who travel so they can enjoy their favorite tea on the road,” Tung explained as the tea steeped. So she began producing the Perfect Steeper, a small, portable device that brews loose-leaf tea.

The Eight Cranes Perfect Steeper is available online from Amazon.com

“I think bagged tea is OK but it’s not the right way to drink tea,” she said. She describes the quality of the tea in bags as lower and the flavor more bitter.

“I see western cultures enjoying tea, especially Chinese tea, and I really want to show them how to brew the tea,” she said. She placed the Perfect Steeper on the tray. It is a glass cylinder standing about eight inches tall with a metal base, top, and a metal strip around the middle. She twisted it and pulled the cylinder in half. The lower half was a glass jar – for the boiling water, she said – and the upper half held the tea.

She twisted the top part and pulled it in half, filled it with small, wrinkled black leaves, and screwed it together again. She then filled the bottom part of the steeper with hot water and put the two parts back together. She held it up and showed the top and bottom parts are separated by a fine screen. Then she turned the steeper upside down, letting the water flow into the tea leaves. She sat the steeper on the tray as an orange glow began to radiate up from the leaves. She picked up the jar and slowly tilted it. The lid exhaled rolling clouds of gold that filled the water.

She explained she likes her tea light, but to make it stronger she could turn it over for longer. She tipped the jar again, waited a moment and tilted it to let more golden plumes darken the water. She unscrewed the lid and poured the tea into two tiny cups. The taste of the tea was clean and sweet. This is great for traveling, she said, because the user can drink the tea straight from the steeper.

“I take it wherever I go,” she said. Unlike tea bags, which are good for a single use, loose-leaf tea is good for as many as 10, she added. So the user has no need to take extra tea. Though she perfected and manufactured the Perfect Steeper, her friend came up with the idea. She said she would rather not mention his name because, being a devout Buddhist, he avoids attention. Two years ago, he called Tung because he considers himself a bad businessman, despite being a creative inventor.

He knew Tung was business-savvy; her history proves it. She left China when she was 22 in 1983 to attend Smith College in Massachusetts. In 1989, she returned to China to open a high-end gardening tool factory. Her business know-how served her well. In 1990, she had five people working for her. Today, she employs 300. That is not the only reason her inventive friend came to her with his steeper prototype. He knew she has a passion for tea. In fact, she dedicated an entire room in her home to this traditional Chinese drink.

“Tea is my passion. I feel like I have endless energy and motivation to pass on my experience and knowledge,” she said. She opened the closet in her spare bedroom. From the wooden floor to the ceiling, barrels painted in classical Chinese artwork were stacked among piles of plastic storage containers, themselves stuffed with delicate paper boxes. They were all filled with tea. Sitting on a knee-high stool in front of a statue of Buddha, she recalled the first time she used the Perfect Steeper prototype.

“I really loved it, but it had a lot of flaws,” she said. So she put a metal base on its glass bottom, changed the threading on the top of the jar and changed the shape of the wire mesh keeping the tea leaves in the lid. Then she started a new company to make the Steeper and called it Eight Cranes. Eight is thought to be a lucky number in Chinese culture, she explained, and the crane represents good health. Even the word crane has a deeper meaning. In Mandarin, the word “crane” is made of two words: “xian” and “he.”

“Xian” means “immortal,” she said, and “he” means “drink.” So, naming a device that brews a healthy drink such as tea the “immortal drink” makes sense, she said. Currently, she is working on a “huggy,” or a foam rubber holder that will keep the tea warm, for the Perfect Steeper.

The Eight Cranes Perfect Steeper is available online from Amazon.com. For information, visit the Eight Cranes Web site.

by alexis

British magazine, Waitrose Food Illustrated, took a close look at their nation’s beverage of choice, tea, by commissioning a survey that sought to discover what made the perfect cup. In order to gain true insight, the magazine questioned a 70-person panel, dubbed the Tea Council, which was made up of ”top chefs, food and drink writers, tea experts, etiquette gurus, builders, hoteliers, cabbies, vicars and teachers.” Each panel member was asked the seemingly simple (but obviously complicated) question, “how do you make the perfect cup of tea?”

The British Panel specifically described their perfect cup as:

• English Breakfast loose leaf tea
• In a mug
• Steeped for 3 1/2 minutes exactly
• Made in a China pot, which must be pre-warmed
• Tea In First
• Splash of milk
• No sugar

I was most shocked to read that a mug was preferred by 56% of the panel, as opposed to a cup (only 31% preferred a cup and 13% were undecided). As a teacup collector I am quite biased, although, there is something so very elegant and special about sipping tea from a delicate cup as opposed to a hearty mug.

My perfect cup changes on a daily basis, so I am sure I would prove to be a poor panel member. Cool mornings call for a warm cup of Masala Chai with milk, and humid afternoons are soothed with an iced white peony, etc, etc.

Do you have a perfect cup?

Tea lovers around the world can now learn the secret behind the perfect cup of tea with Bigelow Tea’s (www.bigelowtea.com) newest online video. Hosted by Cindi Bigelow, President, this short clip explains the unique differences between black and green tea leaves and offers specific step-by-step tips on how to prepare the respective brews.

Charming and informative, Bigelow explains the importance of using fresh, aerated water and describes the significant step of steeping, or covering, the cup before consumption. With a vibrant and useful demonstration, Bigelow walks viewers through the necessary, and different, steps for both black tea and green tea, bearing in mind the health benefits that accompany each cup.

Steps on the Perfect Cup of Black Tea:

1. Start with cold, aerated water
2. Use water as soon as it boils
3. Steep, or cover, 2-4 minutes
4. Don’t wring out the tea bag!

Steps on the Perfect Cup of Green Tea:

1. Use an open pot rather than a tea kettle
2. Use cold, aerated water
3. Use water as soon as it boils
4. Steep 1-3 minutes
5. Don’t wring out tea bag!

Tea fans around the world are encouraged to check out the videos on the Bigelow Tea-V channel on our website as well as our blog that has tea facts, recipes, celebrity tea sightings and more.

About Bigelow Tea Company

Bigelow Tea was founded by Ruth Campbell Bigelow over 60 years ago in 1945. The company continues to be 100% family owned and managed by the Bigelow family with a special blend of pride and enthusiasm. Today the company is one of the nation’s leading producers of specialty teas which include more than 80 varieties of flavored, traditional, green, organic green, herbal, decaffeinated, and iced teas. One of Bigelow Tea’s best-known products is America’s number one specialty tea flavor — Constant Comment® — flavored with a delicious blend of oranges and spice. It is available in black tea, green tea and decaffeinated versions.

Bigelow Tea products are available nationwide and every variety can be found on the company website (www.bigelowtea.com). Tea lovers will also enjoy the company’s blog (www.bigelowteablog.com).

As more than 30,000 people Sunday raised their designer cups and took a sip of tea, Indore city of Madhya Pradesh set a new record for hosting the largest tea party. Citizens responded with enthusiasm to the novel event and started arriving at a stadium, the venue for the function, well ahead of the scheduled time of 3.30 p.m. and within an hour all seats were taken.

The stadium was divided into four sections and people were given entry only on the basis of their registration passes.

After singers Shreya Ghoshal and Krishna entertained the gathering with their melodious songs, the gates were closed at 4.30 p.m. and volunteers started serving tea to the guests in designer cups – which were later gifted to participants as mementos. Twenty minutes later, a new record was created.

At 6.30 p.m., a Guinness Book of World Record representative announced Indore to be the host of the biggest tea party with over 30,000 people sipping the Brook Bond Red Label tea, breaking the previous record of 14,718 people taking tea in Nishiao city of Japan in 2006.

The event, organised by the Hindi newspaper Dainik Bhaskar, also raised funds to the tune of Rs.50 million for city development.

Indore mayor Umashashi Sharma and Ramesh Chandra Agarwal of the Dainik Bhaskar group received a certificate for the record from the Guinness Book representative amid an impressive show of fireworks and festivities.

By Brandice

LiveJournal is generally a great place to generate conversation about specific interests, so I am a member of several tea communities. Recently, a new one caught my interest, because it involves the actual exchange of tea with a special tea penpal. From their community description:

This is a community for tea lovers to share their favorite teas with other members, as well as make friends/penpals! This will work just like any penpal community - post an intro, comment on ones that interest you and exchange info between yourselves. You can work out what you want to send between you.

Please only accept penpals/swap partners if you are serious about sending mail. There’s nothing worse than penpals who never write back!

Are you interested in finding some tea penpals? If so, hop over to LiveJournal’s Great Tea Exchange and swap some teas.