TEA TRADTIONS.....Enjoy a cuppa tea

TEA TRADITIONS...

ENJOYING A CUP OF FABULOUS TEA

White Tea is named after the tiny white or silver hairs that cover the bud as it develops at the tip of each tea shoot.  The teas are usually made from just the unopened bud.  The caffeine content of such teas is minimal and the lowest of all tea types.

Yellow Tea is China’s rarest.  Similar to white teas, they are made from the skillfully picked new buds which are then piled and left so that the heat generated from the natural oxidation process dries them out and prevents any further decomposition.  There is more caffeine in the infusion than in the brew from most green teas.

Green Tea is not oxidized at all.  The leaves are steamed after picking to prevent fermentation.  These leaves produce a delicate brew that is very light in color.  Mothers have used green tea for centuries to help upset stomachs, and there is increasing medical evidence that drinking green tea provides unsuspected health benefits.

Oolong Tea is a compromise between black and green teas.  Fresh shoots with one new bud and three leaves are gathered as they reach their peak on the bush and are immediately processed.  It is a partially fermented tea whose leaves are greenish black.  The brew produced is lighter in both flavor and color.  Oolong teas contain more caffeine than green teas but less than black teas.

Black Tea is completely fermented tea.  This is achieved by withering, rolling, oxidizing (drying the leaves with air which turns them a beautiful copper color), and finally firing the leaves (a process of treating them with blasts of very hot air).  Black teas produce rich, hearty brews which are very popular.

NOTE:  White tea is sundried, picked in early spring, unopened buds covered with white down.  Green tea is in the natural state then fired.  Yellow tea is also used in the natural state, but you wait one day then fire.  Oolong tea is not fully oxidized.  Black tea is completely oxidized.  From white to black – from delicate to damaged.

Puer Teas are in a category of their own because of their unique and complex processing.  Made from the larger leaves of the plant, they can be either sheng (raw, uncooked, green) or shu (cooked, black), and finished as loose-leaf or compressed into a variety of shapes.  If stored properly, puer teas are the only teas that improve with age and are often used as investment opportunities.  Collectors have special caves, in which puer cakes mature for decades.  Some people age puer cakes to save money to pay for their children’s college, or because they consider it a safer investment than the stock market, although more recently the puer market deflated sharply.  Because puer teas can be worth many thousands of dollars, the puer market is prone to counterfeiting, just like the Darjeeling or the Longjing markets. 

Decaffeinated Teas have become very popular.  Tea contains less caffeine than coffee; one cup of coffee has 100 mg, cola packs about 80 mg, and per cup, tea has 40 mg of caffeine.  Today, most tea manufacturers no longer decaffeinate their teas through a chemical process – they use sparkling water instead.  Those who use this process let you know, so read the label.  Also, a word of caution:  If the tea box lists “Mate” in its ingredients, the tea has caffeine.  “Mate” is a South American caffeine plant.

Herbal Teas are not really teas at all.  They are considered to be infusions, or in Europe, tisanes.  (Infusion – the act or process of infusing, the continuous slow introduction of a solution into a vein)  An herbal tea is made from a combination of herbs, leaves, flowers, plants, berries, and spices. They are naturally caffeine free, and provide a wonderful alternative to caffeinated drinks and carbonated sodas, and are good both hot and cold.  Rooibos (pronounced Roybus – long o and short u) or sometimes called Red Tea is a product from South Africa.  It is sometimes spelled Rooibosch in accordance with the Dutch etymology, but this does not change the pronunciation.  It is also caffeine free.  Honeybush is a sister of Rooibos, with just a hint of honey flavor.  In South Africa it is more common to drink rooibos with milk and sugar, but elsewhere it is usually served without. 

Traditionally used as “medicines,” herbal teas can act as mild digestives, help lift depression, soothe you to sleep, and slenderize the physique.  The myriad benefits of herbal teas also carry with them an element of caution.  Exercise care in the amounts and kinds of herbal tea you drink.  In the interest of safety, you should limit your intake to two or three cups per day, moderation being the key.  Not all herbal teas are safe to drink as a beverage. 

Beverage-Safe Herbs

           

Alfalfa

            Catnip

            Chamomile

            Chicory root

            Elder flowers

            Fennel

            Fenugreek

            Ginger

            Goldenrod

            Hibiscus

            Lemongrass

            Linden flower

            Nettle

            Peppermint

            Rosehip

            Red and Black raspberry

            Red clover

            Spearmint

            Slippery elm bark

            Yarrow

Roots

            Ginseng

            Turnip

NEW ONLINE TEA ETIQUETTE TRAINING AVAILABLE!

Ms. Bernadette M. Petrotta

Founder & Director

Polite Society School of Etiquette

             Authored Books:                

The Art of the Social Graces

The Art and Proper Etiquette of Afternoon Tea

EMMA The Etiquette Cat: Meet Emma

Website:  PoliteSocietySchool.com

Email:  PoliteSocietySchool@Whidbey.com

Blog:  PoliteSocietySchool.blogspot.com

TEA TRADITIONS.....Tea promotes wellness...

TEA AND HEALTH

Tea continues to be used to promote overall health and wellness in traditional Chinese medicine, and is believed to boost vitality and longevity.  Contemporary research offers evidence of tea's benefits for a variety of health concerns, ranging from weight loss to heart fitness to anxiety reduction.

An integral part of Chinese culture, today tea is enjoyed by the general populace, but it was not until the Tang dynasty, which spanned from 618 to 907, that an appreciation for tea widened beyond aristocratic and monastic circles.  The monk and tea master Lu Yu, who lived from 733 to 804, published a treatise on tea entitled Ch'a Ching, or The Classic of Tea.  His widely read book held universal appeal, describing the benefits of the beverage, as well as more practical information, such as preparation, utensils, and different types of tea.

Lu Yu wrote about the traditional tea ceremony in a way that blended the teachings of spiritual wisdom and celebrated harmony, unity, and simplicity.  An excerpt from the book reads, "The effect of tea is cooling and as a beverage, it is most suitable.  It is especially fitting for persons of self-restraint and inner worth.  Tea tempers the spirits and harmonizes the mind, dispels lassitude and relieves fatigue, awakens thought and prevents drowsiness, lightens or refreshes the body, and clears the perceptive faculties."

The Classic of Tea played a significant role in bringing the knowledge, customs, and practices of tea to a wider swath of China, but it could be said that tea itself is deserving of the credit for such widespread appreciation as it continues to enjoy, these many thousands of years later.  It is a beverage that seems to transcend time and culture, bringing comfort and encouraging reflective moments of solace to all who savor it.

Credit to Victoria Classics.

NEW ONLINE TEA ETIQUETTE TRAINING AVAILABLE!

Ms. Bernadette M. Petrotta

Founder & Director

Polite Society School of Etiquette

             Authored Books:                

The Art of the Social Graces

The Art and Proper Etiquette of Afternoon Tea

EMMA The Etiquette Cat: Meet Emma

Website:  PoliteSocietySchool.com

Email:  PoliteSocietySchool@Whidbey.com

Blog:  PoliteSocietySchool.blogspot.com

TEA TRADITIONS....The Art and Practice of Drinking Tea

The Art and Practice of drinking tea...

has its origins in thousands of years of history.  That people the world over continue not only to drink but also to honor it through ceremonies and customs speaks to the timeless qualities of this comforting beverage.


Victoria Classics shares, "The enjoyment of tea," as being one of modern civilization's most sublime pleasures, while the ceremonies that surround the beloved brew are embedded in the very cornerstones of tradition.

Opening one's home to friends and strangers alike and welcoming them with food and beverage has long been anexpression of hospitality in many cultures across the globe.

Although it is commonly understood that the British elevated the taking of tea to its once and again place of prominence in polite society, istory reveals that tea parties were a popular pastime in Europe and in the American colonies for almost a century before becoming the high fashion of England's aristocracy.

The Dutch were among the first Eiuropeans not only to widely consume tea but also to serve it with dainty cakes and other delicious morsels in a convivial setting of friends, flowers elegant apparel, and cultured conversation.  The English expanded tea party menus, adding a savories course, as well as a patina of refinement to the overall presentation.

But a far earlier practice draws on Chinese lore, which attributes the discovery of tea to Emperor Shen Long five thousand years ago.  According to legend, the emperor, being possessed of a scientific mind, would boil his drinking water.  When a leaf from a nearby plant in the garden drifted into his pot one day and lent its infusion to the hot water, he found, upon drinking it, a pleasant flavor.  His enjoyment was such that he researched the beverage and discovered its medicinal properties-an attribute for which it is still known.

more on the next blog......

Please let me know if you enjoy my blogs by commenting on my blog.  Thank you so very much.

NEW ONLINE TEA ETIQUETTE TRAINING AVAILABLE!

Ms. Bernadette M. Petrotta

Founder & Director

Polite Society School of Etiquette

                Authored Books:                

The Art of the Social Graces

The Art and Proper Etiquette of Afternoon Tea

EMMA The Etiquette Cat: Meet Emma

Website:  PoliteSocietySchool.com

Email:  PoliteSocietySchool@Whidbey.com

Blog:  PoliteSocietySchool.blogspot.com

TEA PLEASURES..... Dear Friends

TEA PLEASURES....

The art and practice of drinking tea has its origins in thousands of years of history.  People all over the world continue not only to drink but also to honor it through ceremonies and customs speaks to the timeless qualities of this comforting beverage.

Victorian Afternoon Tea

Brief History

An old legend credits the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung in the 28th century B.C. with the discovery of tea.  As the story is told, the health conscious emperor knew that boiling water before drinking seemed to protect people from disease.  He always insisted on having his water boiled and that simple precaution led to a wonderful revelation.  One day while touring the provinces, the emperor stopped for a rest with his entourage.  Servants gathered branches from a nearby evergreen bush to build a fire for boiling the emperor’s water.  A passing wind blew leaves from the bush into the boiling pot and soon a delightful aroma issued forth.  Intrigued, the emperor quickly sipped a bit of the infusion.  He immediately declared that the refreshing brew must have medicinal qualities and ordered his servants to gather leaves from the bush to take back to the palace.

News of the emperor’s discovery spread quickly throughout the provinces.  Soon everyone in China was drinking tea and the infusion of that evergreen plant quickly became an important part of the Chinese culture.  Over the centuries, the knowledge and appreciation of tea gradually spread to other parts of the Orient.

After hundreds of years, tea arrived in England and by 1660 tea was flowing everywhere on the island.  One Samuel Pepys, renowned 17th century diarist, noted in 1660 that he had his very first “cup of tee of which I had never drunk before.”  In 1662, when England’s King Charles II married Portugal’s Princess Catherine of Braganza, part of her dowry was a chest of tea.  It was this queen’s love for tea and her influence on the royal court that influ­enced the spread of the “new drink.”  Tea merchants were soon offering tea as an elixir for just about anything that ailed anyone.  It was first served in public coffeehouses and in outdoor “tea gardens” then increasingly in homes.

Around 1650, Dutch ships carrying the new drink to the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam introduced it to the American colonies.  It took another twenty years for the rest of the colonies to become acquainted with tea, though no one really had any idea of how to use it properly.  Americans would let the tea brew and stew for hours, creating a dark bitter drink.  They also salted and ate the used leaves on buttered bread.  It wasn’t until 1674, when the British took over New Amsterdam and renamed it New York, that the custom of tea drinking as we now know it began.

Tea was enjoyed in the American Colonies until the late 18th century.  But when King George III decided to use tea as a source of revenue, and raised the import tax on tea sent to the Colonies, the independent-minded Americans rebelled.  In 1773 the colonists dressed as Native Americans and dumped a shipload of tea into the Boston Harbor.  This event became known as the Boston Tea Party and was one of many that propelled the colonies toward independence and probably indirectly led to a marked preference for coffee in the United States.

Around 1840, the custom of afternoon tea began in England and is credited to one of Queen Victoria’s ladies-in-waiting, Anna Maria Stanhope, known as the Duchess of Bedford.  In England at the time, people ate a heavy breakfast, a late dinner, and very little in between.  Toward mid afternoon the Duchess routinely experienced a “sinking feeling” which she remedied by dining in her boudoir with tea, cakes, tarts, and biscuits.  Others soon followed the Duchess’ lead and in a few decades the custom of “taking tea” in the afternoon became well established.  At first the practice was limited to the upper classes, but it eventually became so popular that tea shops and tearooms began opening for the enjoyment of the general public.  This elegant custom became greatly popularized during the height of the Victorian Era making “teatime” a regular pastime of the proper English Lady.

By the late 19th century, teatime had acquired its’ own formal etiquette.  Tea services were made of silver or china.  Fine linens were used for tea cloths and serviettes (table napkins).  Tea gowns were loose and flowing with matching hats and gloves.  The tea itself was imported from India or Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), colonies of the British Empire. With the tea came decorated platters of savories (dainty finger sandwiches), scones with jams or homemade preserves and clotted cream, toast with cinnamon, petits fours (small cakes cut from pound or sponge cakes and frosted), and other delicacies that came to be known as “tea food.”  In working class homes, afternoon tea became a much heartier affair with cold meats, cheeses, and breads.  This evening meal was called “high tea” and often replaced dinner.

The United States can claim two distinct contributions when it comes to tea, both dating from the 20th century.  In 1904, visitors to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis sweltered in a heat wave and shunned the hot brew offered by Indian tea growers.  An Englishman named Richard Blechynden, who represented the tea growers, experimented with pouring the tea over ice in order to entice fair visitors.  The result was a success.  Iced tea now accounts for 80 percent of the tea drunk in the United States.  The second contribution is the tea bag, the brainstorm of an American tea merchant named Thomas Sullivan, who hit on the idea of providing samples to his customers in small silk pouches or “a tea leaf holder.” Sullivan’s customers soon discovered that the pouches could be put directly in teapots.  Orders soon came pouring in for the tea packaged in those little bags and Sullivan patented his brainstorm.

Nearly five thousand years have gone by since Emperor Shen Nung sipped the first cup of tea on that Chinese roadside and almost two centuries have elapsed since the Duchess of Bedford first thought of tea and cakes to carry her through until dinnertime.  So much time, yet some things do grow better with age.  Tea can be enjoyed today with a sense of history and a sense of kinship with those who made significant contributions to the development of this lovely pastime.

NEW ONLINE TEA ETIQUETTE TRAINING AVAILABLE!

Ms. Bernadette M. Petrotta

Founder & Director

Polite Society School of Etiquette

Authored Books                 

The Art of the Social Graces

The Art and Proper Etiquette of Afternoon Tea

EMMA The Etiquette Cat: Meet Emma

Website:  PoliteSocietySchool.com

Email:  PoliteSocietySchool@Whidbey.com

Blog:  PoliteSocietySchool.blogspot.com

TEA PLEASURES...Dear Friends

Whether you are a teaatime novice or have a long-standing trdition of hosting teas, I think you will find the following information very useful.  An invitation to tea presents an opportunity for guests to enjoy companionable conversation while following the age-old practice of sipping a beverage steeped from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant.  

I enjoy having one or two friends drop by midmorning for just-baked scones and a bracing cup of English Breakfast or Earl Grey.  For a larger group and a more formal prsentation, I bring out my mismatched English bone china cups and saucers, which I have been collecting for many years, my favorite teapots along with antique table linens.

Most tearooms serve a scone, three savories, and about three sweets for afternoon tea.  I like serving fruit also.  

Remember:  enjoying tea seems to require that we slow down and treasure the moments spent scooping up the leaves, timing the brewing, and sipping the warmth of the beverage.  My book, The Art and Proper Etiquette of Afternoon Tea, will take you through many guidelines to hosting a formal tea along with hosting a simple tea for two.

I hope you enjoy my future blogs that will take you through tea pleasures!  

I appreciate any feedback!...

 

Ms. Bernadette M. Petrotta
Founder & Director
Polite Society School of Etiquette

                       Author of:                  
The Art of the Social Graces
The Art and Proper Etiquette of Afternoon Tea
EMMA The Etiquette Cat: Meet Emma

Website:  PoliteSocietySchool.com
Email:  PoliteSocietySchool@Whidbey.com
Blog:  PoliteSocietySchool.blogspot.com