Put Your Tea on Ice!

Guess what folks?!? June is national iced tea month, so I thought it would most appropriate to offer a blog entry to that affect. I will share with you some history on iced tea, as well as providing you some brewing methods and some recipes.

While it would be unfair to say that iced tea was created in 1904 (there is significant evidence that this is not the case), it's very much the case that Iced Tea was, in popularized in 1904, the circumstances of which are as follows:

It was a particularly warm summer day in Saint Louis, Missouri. This was were the World's Fair was being held that particular year. An Englishman named Richard Blechynden was manning a concession stand selling tea. Not surprisingly, hot tea was not a big hit with the crowd, who were too busy wiping the sweat from their eyes to notice him. Not wanting to put up with poor sales all day, Mr. Blechynden turned on his English ingenuity, and began pouring the tea over a cup of ice. The beverage was a big hit, and the world quickly caught on and followed suit, hence the popularization of iced tea in the US.

I could tell you a great deal about the history of iced tea prior to this event, but since this is national iced tea month, and the nation I am in happens to be the US of A, I seems fitting only to emphasize the American portions of this tale.

Quite nearly any tea can be turned into in iced tea by being brewed a tad stronger and poured over ice. Some times with certain teas this process will cause the beverage to cloud, causing no difference in flavor, but perhaps making it a bit less aesthetically pleasing. A couple suggestions that sometimes work is to add a small amount of lemon juice or boiling water. Another suggestion if your going to use a tea prone to temperature clouding, is to simply allow the tea to cool slowly instead of pouring it over ice. This will take some time, but will be worth it if you aim to eliminate cloudiness.

One very popular way to create iced tea is to place a large, specially made tea bag into a massive pitcher of cold water and allowing it to sit overnight. Those of you that are aware of my thoughts on tea bags can predict what I will say next - that this is not a proper way to make any sort of tea, even iced tea. The tea used in any teabag is almost always broken into too small of bits, and is generally of much lower quality.

A second popular way is to use instant or powdered iced tea. This is an abomination to the world of tea, and does tea tradition a huge disfavor. Using this method, you have zero control over flavor blending, and zero control over quality - you're simply stuck with whatever they happened to put in that mix (generally ungodly things like processed sugars or corn syrup.)

I maintain my position that loose leaf is still the best way to go, even for iced beverages.

And now, I would offer you some links to delicious iced tea recipes. I hope you will enjoy them, but what I hope even more is that you'll experiment and create your own delicious concoctions.

The links are as follows:

Saigon Iced Tea

A few recipes and some great suggestions and ideas (although with this one take care to avoit the teabag recipes.)

A great from-scratch Thai Iced Tea recipe (although I recommend you leave out the food coloring).

Cheers, and enjoy the tea!

Relz

No Stamp Act!

In American History there is a tendency to place messages upon teapots. Generally these messages are about political thinking of the time. From "No Stamp Act" to the ever so charming "Votes for Women"

It is possible to get reproductions of these items, and recently I have come into owning a "Votes for Women" one. I purchased this while in Rochester, New York, at the Susan B. Anthony house. It is quite lovely and now adorns my teapot collection.

While reproductions are nice, there are times when you can see one of the originals. There are three of these known. One in the Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem, Mass., one in Williams burg, Virginia, and now, recently collected, The National Museum of American History Smithsonian.

To find out more about this, historic teapot perhaps even get the chance to see it when the Museum re-opens in Summer of '08, click on 'No Stamp Act'

Enjoy,
Jinxekitty

School is out. Tea-time is in.

Hi again folks.

This article will be mostly about using tea as a tool for introspection and reflection, and about how much better tea tastes when the semester has finally ended!

I recently watched in a mixture of pleasure and discomfort as several of my comrades and associates in college marched across the stage, and received a college diploma. I didn't know whether to be sad that they were leaving, or happy that they were being successful and productive members of society. I resolved to feel a little bit of both.

Jasmine tea has a long-lived reputation of promoting introspection and reflective moments. So when I returned home from the commencement ceremony, I sat down in front of my french press, and prepared an infusion of Jasmine, Silver Needle (A mild form of white tea, so as not to take away from the Jasmine), and a bit of rose hip. I went through the usual routine of watching the water boil (I always do this, even though superstitious folk will tell you a watched pot will never boil), pouring into the press, and watching the herbs swirl around as they impart of their flavour and colour to the water around them.

I poured myself a particularly large serving (16 ounces, where I usually drink 6-8), and sat down to ponder. I pondered about how next term would be different with some of my favorite friends missing. I pondered about how potential new friends would likely come into my life, not to replace the old ones, but to make life for fun and interesting in their absence. I pondered about what sorts of grades I would be receiving, hoping for the best. And then I had a realization: I realized that no matter how much I pondered, wondered, or hypothesized about the situation at hand, it would largely be the case that nothing would change on the basis of that alone.

As I sat in introspection, I began to think that, while it is appropriate to miss friends who have moved on, it is perhaps more appropriate to live not in the past, but in the current moment, realizing that each moment I spend not making the most of whatever situation is at hand is a moment poorly spent. Rationality over emotion. While I won't discount the value of introspection and emotional adaptation, I definitely further promote the value of rationality over these things, and attempt to proport the most logical and reasonable alternative.

As the sweet aroma of the Jasmine teased my senses, I resolved to pursue the rational alternative that is to live my life as if I were to see my missed friends tomorrow. As if they hadn't actually left at all. And while there might be some semantic differences, it would largely be the case that life would continue as it had before.

Tea tastes so much better when you don't have schoolwork to do - When you don't have these lingering nags that you really should be doing something other than drinking tea. Like writing an essay, or studying for a test, or preparing a poster. Instead, the opportunity arises to sip your tea, and simply enjoy it. To revel in the moment, and allow yourself to relax and unfold completely, without any lingering worries about forgotten duties. What sweet joy.

Sorry of this post is more of a personal one than a topic-focused one, but I think you'll enjoy it anyway.

Cheers, and enjoy the tea,
Relznuk Zero Relznuk

Hoi-tea-toid.

'Sup tea peoples?

Since the time of the last posting, It has been brought to my attention on numerous occasions that I might, in fact, be hoity-toity. I find this topic so important that I feel it necessary to write a full posting on my hoity-toitiness, discussing just what it might mean to be a hoity-toid, and why that just might be a thing of importance for a tea connoisseur such as myself.

In the various discussions that were had about hoity-toitiness, the definition that seems to have been settled on involves declaring that there are varying quality levels that exist in things, and that the hoitey-toid simply recognizes these differences in quality, and actually heeds them to such an extent that he/she feels compelled to seek only the highest quality things.

This is in contrast to the popular definition of hoity-toitiness, which refers to someone who is pompous and does certain things (like using large words) only to flaunt ones status or intellectual merits. I suppose this distinction is, effectively, between an "utility hoitey-toid," and a "synthetic hoity-toid," where the utility hoity-toid uses hoity-toiteyness to achieve a purpose, or serve some specific cause, such as finding the highest quality chocolate, or gaining the ability to detect subtle flavor characteristics in fine chocolates, and the synthetic hoity-toid is a hoity-toid only in the sense that they want to appear overly important, intelligent, or sophisticated.

Largely, the people that actually *are* more sophisticated, intelligent, and important in society are those who have learned how to use utility-based hoity-toiteyness in their favor (although this may not always be the case, as there are certainly plenty of examples of people who are smart and important but fail to be hoity-toids.)

The importance of this sort of utility-based hoity-toideyness to the subject of fine tea is apparent. Without this awareness of the varying quality levels and various, often subtle characteristics that make a certain tea what it is, one could hardly make any sorts of claims regarding actual wisdom or knowledge regarding tea. It seems necessary to be aware of and to be able to make distinctions between these subtle characteristics in order to properly describe a tea, in order to properly rate a tea for quality, and in order to not be conned like mad when purchasing high-quality teas.

In one sense, the utility-based tea hoity-toid is in a better position than most tea drinkers and purchasers, in that the hoity-toid will be able to make better, more informed decisions on the matter, and will ultimately end up with the superior cup of tea at the most reasonable price.

Additionally, it seems preposterous to me to suggest that someone could bring themselves to a point where they could be aware of these varying quality levels and subtle characteristics without admitting to some form of hoity-toitiness. Doing so would require that they simply didn't apply the skills that they have at their disposal, and would result in them being largely ignorant (in the sense that they are simply neglecting known quality concerns) of actual tea-quality.

A similar situation would be for someone to become aware of all of the things that make a football player a good or bad member of the team, and then go to the games, disregard this awareness, and simply cheer for the player who's last name they like the best.

So, that's it for my rant on hoity-toitiness. This probably wasn't your favorite post, but I'm OK with that.

Over and out,
Relz

Cool Tea Topic: Tracing Tea

Greetings, readers.

It seems there have been an unusually high number of entries to this in the past month or so. I hope this makes up for the long periods of inactivity that this blog has sometimes seen. :) You might also notice that the contributor list of this blog is growing. There is a specific purpose for this. More on that later.

First of all, I must make a note to thank the Mellow Monk for his very enlightening entry about green tea and caffeine. It was great to have him write for us here, and he was oh-so-willing and eager to do that for us, so thanks to him for that.

I now have a fascinating topic to tell you about, which I was quite thrilled to learn about, and which I feel deserves a great mention here. People sometimes wonder about the legacies or history behind the things they enjoy. Very few people, however, go to such great lengths to unearth this history as the group of seven students who have launched an international project called "Tracing Tea."

Tracing Tea (tracingtea.org) is a large-scale project involving a 15,000 km journey in small open vehicles known as "Tuk Tuks" or "autorickshaws." The journey traces many of the old trading routes, and also tracing the history of tea in a semi-academic fashion from Calcutta, India to London, England and everywhere in between.

The end product of this massive journey by seven ambitious college students will be a book detailing their research findings and travel adventures, which promises to be a very fascinating reading experience.

The primary motivation for this journey of discover is nothing more than a deep and lasting love of tea - one which inspires them to do great and marvelous things. To paraphrase a comment from their website, they really love a good cup of tea, and find it appropriate to travel thousands of miles to get one.

So, I encourage you to take a look at the website, and follow the team's progress. I also encourage you to take a look at the finished book once it is published. I am sure you will find this a very interesting tangent from your everyday dealings.

Have a Marvelous Monday,
R 0 R

Mellow Monk Talks About Green Tea and Caffeine.

Hello!

First of all, I’d like to thank Relznuk for the opportunity to post here. This is a great venue to talk about green tea—and put in a plug for my own tea, which of course is the finest in the land. (Who says monks have to be modest?)

One topic I’m asked about a lot is green tea and caffeine. Java junkies are worried it doesn’t have enough, and caffeine-sensitive folks are worried it has too much. But the fact is that green tea, magical drink that it is, is in the Goldilocks Zone when it comes to caffeine: not too much, and not too little, but just the right amount. Not only that, but you can adjust the amount of caffeine to suit your own personal tastes—to feed your need for speed, or to let you sleep soundly at night.

First of all, a cup of brewed green tea contains roughly one-third the caffeine as the same amount of brewed coffee. Some people say they’ve heard that green tea contains more caffeine than coffee does, but that’s true only if you’re talking about dried tea leaves versus coffee beans. By weight, dried green tea contains more caffeine than coffee, but tea goes a lot longer than coffee does: A pound of dried green tea leaves would brew enough liquid tea to fill a hot tub, whereas a pound of coffee wouldn’t come close. In other words, you use a lot less green tea by weight to brew a cup of tea, which is why an infusion of green tea ends up containing roughly a third of the caffeine.

If you really need a caffeine fix, you can always brew your tea on the strong side. Simply use more tea leaves—say, two teaspoons per 8-ounce mug instead of one. One of the many nice things about green tea is that it’s not acidic like coffee is, so a strong infusion won’t upset your stomach the way coffee can.

Green tea, mellow beverage that it is, is also a gentler way to get your caffeine fix. That’s because green tea’s oh-so-healthy polyphenols regulate the body’s uptake of caffeine. Consequently, the caffeine load is spread out more evenly and over a longer period. That means no jump-out-of-your-chair jolt, but it also means no crash-and-burn, either. Like a gentle lover, green tea lets you down easy.

But let’s say you’ve been restless lately and are worried about getting a good night’s sleep for a big interview tomorrow. What you can do is decaffeinate your green tea yourself. That’s right: There’s no need to buy industrially decaffeinated green tea, which can contain trace amounts of ethyl acetate, and who wants any of that in their body?

All you need to do is let your green tea steep for about 30 seconds, throw out that infusion, and then re-steep the tea as you normally would. Since caffeine seeps out into hot water much more quickly than the tea's "good stuff," the second infusion will contain 80 percent less caffeine than normal. Since green tea already contains about 66 percent less caffeine than coffee, that comes out to less than 7 percent the caffeine in a cup of coffee, if my math is correct.

(And if you let that first infusion steep for a full minute, you will have removed essentially all of the caffeine from the tea leaves.)

Also, instead of throwing away that caffeine-rich first infusion, you could save it to drink later, or water your houseplants with it, or even store up a pitcher full in the refrigerator and then give it to someone whose body runs on caffeine (we all know a couple of those).

If your tolerance for caffeine is very low, you could also try hojicha, which is simply green tea that has been roasted briefly. The roasting not only imparts a smoky aroma but also eliminates a lot of the caffeine. Oh, and Mellow Monk happens to sell some, too.

Well, I think I’ve written enough, so I’d like to wrap this up by thanking Relznuk again for time in his forum, and by inviting you all to try our authentic Japanese green tea. Mellow Monk buys directly from small, family-owned and -operated tea farms located in the foothills of Mt. Aso—an ideal tea-growing environment, with its volcanic soil, clean air, and natural spring water. Our growers are also certified environmentally responsible under the local “Eco Farmer” program, and they vacuum-seal their tea on site for freshness. For more info, please visit us online at MellowMonk.com.

Sincerely,
Mellow Monk

Brewing the Perfect Pot of Tea

The following is a guest post written by Veralicious, a new contributor to the blog who lists the steps required to make a perfect cup of tea. I find this to be quite informative. As you'll note, it supports my long-held notion that loose-leaf is the way to brew the best possible cup of tea. So, a big thanks to Veralicious for this fantastic entry, and on that note, please enjoy the entry.

- Relznuk


Brewing the Perfect Pot of Tea

• begin with your favorite loose tea.

• add cold water to your kettle and bring to a boil.

• fill your teapot with hot tap water to warm it.

• before pouring in the boiling water empty the hot tap water from the pre warmed teapot.

• add 1-2 teaspoons of tea leaves to your infuser, for every eight ounces of hot water

• pour the boiling water directly onto the leaves and steep the tea according to the directions below.

note - quality tea can be steeped more than once, save the leaves and re-steep, adding one minute for each additional brew.

black tea and herbals:
- bring your water to a full boil and remove from heat.
- allow tea to steep approximately 3-5 minutes and strain.

green teas:
- bring your water to a pre boil.
- when little bubbles start to form on the bottom of the kettle, remove from heat.
- allow tea to steep 1 1/2 - 3 minutes and strain.

oolongs and white teas:
- bring your water to a pre boil.
- when little bubbles are coming to the surface (a bit hotter then you would need for green tea) remove from heat.
- allow to steep 4-6 minutes and strain.

* when using a tea ball, fill only half way to allow the leaves room to expand *