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HAPPY NEW YEAR! (top of page)
=============== Happy New Year to one and all! January is National Hot Tea month, and what a great way to start off the new year. Ahead of us lies another great year, of this I am certain! There will be more tearooms featured and of course, to start off we'll also introduce to you the types of tea that are available in honor of this special month. The 2nd Annual Take Me To Tea Expo will take place from March 28th through to March 30 in Las Vegas, NV. If interested, you can check their website out for more information at http://www.takeme2tea.com. If you're interested in tea and networking, this is the place to be. Seminars will be conducted and there will be lots to learn and networking opportunities as well. Pat Peterson's "Explore Teas Of The World" offered by the Des Moines Public Schools, starts on January 26, 2004. If you get a chance, I'm encouraging you to sign up for this class. It runs for 5 weeks and the cost is $29.00. Until the next issue, stay warm!  Warm wishes,
Annette
TeaRoomsOnLine.com
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=========== TYPES OF TEA (top of page)
=========== At the beginning of the New Year, I was invited to a friend's 9th annual Christmas Tea. The idea was to spend time with friends whilst tasting different teas and having fun.  I thought it was such a wonderful idea to start off the year, greeting old and new friends. While sharing tea with friends may not have been a new concept, nonetheless it always seems like new each time. Our gracious hostess served a variety of teas to choose from including Earl Grey, Chai, Green Tea and English Breakfast tea. A beautiful mix and match collection of teapots and teacups and saucers were used, each one having a delightful history to them.
Tea tasting can take shape in a lot of forms. One form is as I have mentioned above, or in our various other travels and visits to tearooms, tea tasting events etc. If you are already tasting and trying out different tea types, then I encourage you to continue to do so. What better time to learn as well. These days tea is becoming more and more a popular beverage in the United States, and we seem to learn more and more of its health benefits.
I'd like to share a little of what I've learned about tea. My interest in tea grows as I continue to visit and experience the atmosphere of different tea rooms as well. So I think they just seem to blend together. A little bit of history about tea as well. China has always been referred to as the birthplace of tea, since that is where it is said to originate from. She is still a major producer of tea, along with India and Sri Lanka.  Basically there are 3 types of tea. Black tea makes up the majority of what is exported to the West, Oolong teas and, of course, Green tea. White tea is also considered as another type of tea, however it is very limited in its production.
Specialty blended teas could also be considered as another type of tea. These come from blending black teas. Typically retailers can blend to suit your preference and to give you the required taste. Fear not if you are unfamiliar with the types of tea to blend, because some teas come already blended. For example, China is also known for their specialty blends like Keemun, Oolongs and Green Tea. India on the other hand has Assam, Nilgiri and Darjeeling and Sri Lanka offers us Ceylon Tea. My favorite tea is Earl Grey, which is scented with oil from bergamot, a citrus fruit, and blended with China black teas. Chai, for your information is from India and is a spiced milk tea that is also becoming increasingly popular. Very delicious and rich in taste. If you have the means, it is preferable to use loose leaf tea as it is typically of a higher quality than tea bags and more full flavored as well. The differentiation in the basic tea types is primarily derived from how the tea leave are treated. There are mainly 5 stages to tea processing. Withering, rolling, sieving, fermenting and firing. It is at the fermentation stage that the types of tea are determined. Tea leaves are oxidized in a humid atmosphere and usually takes about 4 hours. The tea then turns to brown in color, thus producing black tea. Oolongs are fermented only for a short time while Green tea, on the other hand, is not fermented at all. For your information, Japan and China are the largest consumers of green tea than most other nations. I hope that you have enjoyed this basic introduction into tea and the different types of tea that are produced from the tea plant that comes from the Camellia family. Historically, the  introduction of taking afternoon tea came about in the early 1800s, from Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford. Later, taking tea outside of one's home became fashionable, and soon ladies needed a place to go to, unchaperoned, to meet up with friends. And so from there, tea shops or tea rooms came about and thus the tradition continues to this day. |
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PRODUCT REVIEWS (top of page)
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Lapsang Souchong Tea - A superior leaf Lapsang offering a smooth, crisp, and heady aroma of an oak wood fire. A popular and certainly unique tea. 8 oz bag of loose tea $9.28 
Rose Congou Emperor Tea - Congou is a general name for non-broken China black teas. This tea is layered 5 times with rose petals, which give the tea a delicate ethereal rose character. 8 oz bag of loose tea $8.59
Formosa Oolong Tea - A good Oolong at an affordable price. Smooth, slightly sweet and toasty, with a touch of dryness (astringency). Comes from the island of Taiwan. 8 oz bag of loose tea $11.21 
Jasmine with Flowers - During the manufacturing, process jasmine flowers are layered between the green leaves. The fragrant flowers impart an ethereal floral character. 8 oz bag of loose tea $8.95 | =================================== SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE INFORMATION (top of page)
=================================== To subscribe to the newsletter, please go to http://www.tearoomsonline.com/ and fill in you name and email address. To unsubscribe, please reply to this message and “Remove” in the Subject line, or click here. We hope that this newsletter has proved to be informative and useful to you. If it was, please forward it to your friends. Don’t forget to continue visiting us at http://www.tearoomsonline.com/ - the tearoom lover’s information source. |
