Tea in Strange Places - The Latest

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

Tea in Strange Places - The Latest

By William I. Lengeman III

My most recent article about tea in strange places was concerned with a few of the more offbeat places you can go to drink tea. Prior to that I wrote several installments that focused on growing tea in places that are not normally considered hotbeds of tea production. See the latest of those articles here.

But wait (as the old ad slogan goes), there’s more. To start off with, there’s...

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Aunt Martha’s Stories About Tea

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

Aunt Martha’s Stories About Tea
By William I. Lengeman III

In the time that I’ve been writing about tea I’ve run across countless books on the subject, but relatively few of them were geared toward a younger audience. I actually can’t think of any at the moment, but that might just be a failing of my memory.

I ran across one such volume not long ago in the form of Aunt Martha’s Corner Cupboard, Or, Stories about Tea, Coffee, Sugar, Rice, Etc., an 1895 volume by...

read the full article here

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Can Green Tea Shrink Tumors?

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

Can Green Tea Shrink Tumors?
By William I. Lengeman III

I tend to be cautiously skeptical when it comes to the many and varied health claims for tea. For my money tea is just fine as a beverage and, if it happens to benefit my health in any way, I’ll take that as a nice fringe benefit. As always, I caution the reader to approach the more lofty health claims for tea with a grain of salt or three. For a recent article on mixed messages about tea and one specific type of cancer, look here.

All of which might seem like an odd way to start an article that reports on one of the latest such health claims, but given the content of said claim I can imagine...

read the full article here

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Tea Review 150 - Whittard Assam Hazelbank

Assam Hazelbank
Whittard of Chelsea

To paraphrase that old slogan for the Marines, I'm looking for a few good Assams - always. I've had the pleasure of trying a few good ones lately and Whittard of Chelsea's Assam Hazelbank was yet another. Not all Assam tea is created equal, as I've said many, many times, with the lesser ones tending toward bitterness and a distinct lack of flavor. Not so with this one, which was quite flavorful and with a "classic" Assam tea (whatever that means).

Here's what the merchant had to say about this one:

This small and picturesque garden produces one of the world’s best teas. This tea was named after Hazel, the daughter of state official, Dr Mead. The richness, size and colour of its tips make Hazelbank an all-time favourite.

Image: Whittard of Chelsea
Sample provided by Whittard of Chelsea
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Tea Business Spotlight 14 - Kally Tea

Welcome to the fourteenth of our Tea Business Spotlights, in which we allow tea people to share insights on running their business. If you're a tea business owner and you'd like to take part in an upcoming spotlight, please contact us.

Kally Tea, LLC
Winchester, CA

How long have you been in business?
Just under 1 year

What is the size/scope of your business?
We are a mail order online retailer specializing in loose leaf tea and “accoutrements”.

Why tea?
We absolutely love tea, we love the taste, the fresh feeling it imparts, we love the healthy aspects (scientific proof or not, we know how we feel!), the flavors, the special taste blends, and especially the community who drink and enjoy tea.

How did you get the ball rolling on your venture?
We started to get the desire when we knew we loved tea and we knew we wanted to do what we love. We made contacts; we tasted vast amounts of samples to narrow the product line down to what we felt were the cream of the crop. Once the tea was selected, we then interviewed photographers, web designers, and put it all together, based on what we like to read, and see in an online shop. We felt we wanted to convey what we like in an online shopping experience and not what others like, or (marketing people hate this!...) “how to make big sales.”

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your business?
The excellent variety as well as the fun blends. Our customer service is taken very seriously.

What were/are the biggest challenges of getting into/being in the tea business?
Locating top quality teas and ingredients that met our high standards.

What would you do differently, if anything?
There are some things, but those would mostly be behind the scenes and not necessarily worthy of discussion in this forum. But as a whole we have been very happy with the whole process.

How's business?
There are many peaks and valleys, but what we do love is that the orders we have shipped there have been glowing reviews of all our products.

What advice would you give to someone who aspires to be in the tea business?
Read, drink, talk, read, drink, learn…Oh yeah, did we say drink?

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Punjana - Our Favourite Tea Commercial

Another that came to us by way of teadog.com.

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Tea Gadgets – The Latest and Greatest

Tea Gadgets – The Latest and Greatest
By William I. Lengeman III

Forget about orange juice and sunshine – a day without tea gadgets is like a day without…well, tea, and it’s hard to even imagine such a horror. But, as I’ve said before in these occasional tea gadget reports, it seems that barely a day goes by without at least one new tea gadget calling itself to my attention.

One of the most tried and true of all of the tea gadget categories has to be the novelty tea infuser. These clever little items are churned out at a prodigious rate and you can check out...

read the full article here

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Video - Capsule Based Tea Brewing System

Is the latest and greatest in tea technology? Here's what the company that came up with it has to say:

Innovative product development company Cambridge Consultants -- which helped create the first round tea bag -- is now taking tea making to the next level. It has designed a capsule-based tea-brewing system for the home that gives the perfect cup of tea at the touch of a button.

Adagio Teas - Best Tea Online

Got Milk? Should You?

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

Got Milk? Should You?
By William I. Lengeman III

Should you add milk to your tea? Are you committing a mortal sin against tea culture by doing so? As a member of the non-milk camp, I used to have strong opinions about this issue. But I’ve come to realize that everyone likes what they like and that’s just fine (I’m still having trouble with the concept of crunchy peanut butter, but I digress). Tea culture has gotten along quite nicely with milk for at least several centuries now and will surely continue to do so.

So how did this all get started, I found myself wondering. Who initiated the practice of...

read the full article here

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Tea Review 149 - Tozy Tea Up North!

Up North!
Tozy Tea

This one will be short and sweet. There's not much to go on with Tozy's description of their Up North! black tea. They refer to it as "A Bold Blend of Black Tea" and "Handpicked Chinese black tea." I'm guessing that it's primarily Yunnan. What I have no doubt about is that I liked this one quite a bit. The truest test of how much I like a tea is how long it lingers in my tea cabinet after I receive it. This one was out of there in nearly record time. Good stuff. That's all.

Image: Tozy Tea
Sample provided by Tozy Tea
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How to Taste Tea

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

How to Taste Tea
By William I. Lengeman III

Why do you drink tea? Ask a random group of people and I’m sure you’ll get a wide range of answers. If you live someplace like the United Kingdom, it might be as much for tradition as anything else – it’s something that you do and you’ve always done and ditto for your ancestors many branches down into the family tree. For others, tea drinking might be about the caffeine boost, and still others might be seeking to gain some of the health benefits we hear so much about.

Then there are those of us who drink tea primarily for the taste. In my own case, all of the aforementioned is fine but, if the tea doesn’t taste great, I don’t want to...

read the full article here

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Tea For Two & Other Songs About Tea

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

Tea For Two & Other Songs About Tea
By William I. Lengeman III

After writing several articles exploring various poems about tea (check out the latest one here) it seemed like it was time to tackle the topic of songs about tea. As noted in this article not so long ago, there’s been something of a fad for rap songs about tea in the past few years. Although most of these fall into the category of novelty/viral video type songs rather than productions by established artists.

Of course there are a number of well-known songs about tea, as well as slightly lesser-known songs about tea by...

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Tea Business Spotlight 13 - Enjoy Better Tea

Welcome to the thirteenth of our Tea Business Spotlights, in which we allow tea people to share insights on running their business. If you're a tea business owner and you'd like to take part in an upcoming spotlight, please contact us.

Enjoy Better Tea
Worthington, Ohio

How long have you been in business?
I first started selling coffee and tea online in 2006, so more than 6 years.

What is the size/scope of your business?
We import Pickwick tea and Douwe Egberts coffee from the Netherlands, along with many other imported and premium brands. We do buy a small portion of our products from US distributors. We sell tea through our website www.EnjoyBetterTea.com. In addition to retail sales, we have a wholesale business line with some small specialty stores.

Why tea?
Originally, we were focused on imported coffee so tea came up naturally as an addition to our business. Our focus is on premium tea, imported by distinctive tea producers, often with long and storied histories.

How did you get the ball rolling on your venture?
I started out having a small ebay store where I sold some of my favorite coffees and teas. I spent weekends, then later weekday evenings too, in procuring products, filling orders and mailing the packages. As my business grew, I involved my wife and 3 daughters to help with the packing and mailing of orders. Eventually, I hired a part-time assistant, and a few months later, I quit my day job in Information Technology. Today, I have a staff of 4 full time and 2 part time employees, and I am looking to hire a new salesperson. My wife and daughters still help out too!

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your business?
We have a great selection of tea products all at reasonable prices. In fact, we get that feedback often, that our prices are very good.

What were/are the biggest challenges of getting into/being in the tea business?
The obvious challenge of being in the tea business is the amount of competition in the marketplace. Quality tea is available in a lot of different places. Our goal is to offer premium tea at exceptional prices and by doing that, be a leader in the marketplace.

What would you do differently, if anything?
I can honestly say I wouldn’t do anything differently. My plan is to continue to build on my sites, adding new products as I find them, and continue to challenge the competition.

How's business?
Business is good. When the tea site first started, we had 5 tea brands and business was slow, but steady. Today, we offer more than 11 premium brands, along with tea-making accessories, and we have many repeat customers. Because we offer a subscription service for both coffee and tea orders, we have a strong, loyal customer group. We also offer discounts in our newsletters – the tea newsletter is published and sent once a month – and we are on Facebook, Twitter and we have our coffee blog, with a section devoted specifically to tea. (We have a very beneficial relationship with a social media consultant at www.ThePinkAnvil.com. The Pink Anvil folks handle our online presence - and they are taking new clients!)

What advice would you give to someone who aspires to be in the tea business?
Think about the approach you want to take in the market. You want your idea/product/service to be at least somewhat unique. That is, offer something different, or offer something old in a new or unusual way.

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Lyons Tea Natural Commercial

From the gang at Lyons Tea, one of Ireland's most popular brands.

The Breville One-Touch Tea Maker

Tea Review 148 - Luhse Tea Assam

Assam
Luhse Tea

Over the years I've made no secret of my fondness for black tea and specifically Assam, although lately I've been developing a marked fondness for Yunnan black tea as well. Lushe Tea doesn't really elaborate on the origins of their Assam or whether it's a single-estate variety, but I suspect that it's probably not. I wouldn't rank this one at the top of the Assam heap, but by the same token it wasn't so shabby either. I wouldn't have any objection to drinking it on a regular basis.

Luhse doesn't have a lot to say about this one, but here it is:

No explanation needed for this founding father, revolutionizer of the 19th century. Bold, brisk, malty, strong and bright.

Image: Luhse Tea
Sample provided by Luhse Tea
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The History of the Tea-Cup

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

The History of the Tea-Cup,
by Rev. G.R. Wedgwood
By William I. Lengeman III

You might not stop to think about the history of a relatively mundane object such as a tea cup but it has a history nonetheless, a history that was explored in an 1878 volume appropriately titled The History of the Tea-Cup. It’s not completely clear if the author of this book, Rev. G. R. Wedgwood, was a member of the famous Wedgwood family but it seems oddly coincidental that he should write such a volume if he wasn’t.

In any event, the book is...

read the full article here

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6 Things I’ve Learned About Tea

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

6 Things I’ve Learned About Tea
By William I. Lengeman III

It’s taken a while but I’ve come to a point where I’ve been writing about tea just about long enough to realize how little I know about tea. In spite of all that I’ve managed to pick up a few nuggets of something like wisdom along the way.

Here they are...

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Artists and Tea

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

Artists and Tea
By William I. Lengeman III

Every now and then I run across an article that promises to reveal some number of alternative uses for tea. I rarely pay much attention to these since my only real interest in tea is drinking it. But I have to admit that, if you’re going to do something else with tea, you might as well use it as a medium for creating art.

Which is exactly what a number of artists have aspired to do...

read the full article here

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The Other Tea Parties

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

The Other Tea Parties
By William I. Lengeman III

Recent political movements aside, there’s no question that the mother of all tea parties was the one that took place in Boston a few centuries ago. That was on December 16, 1773, to be precise. As noted in this article a little while back, it’s an event that recently gained its own spiffy new tourist attraction – the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum.

Some of us tea lovers may cringe a bit at the notion of so much tea wasted...

read the full article here

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Good Tea Bad Tea TV Commericals

From the people at McAlister's Deli, who apparently want the world to know that their iced tea falls into the former category.

Adagio Teas - Best Tea Online

Stash Tea and Me

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

Stash Tea and Me
By William I. Lengeman III

I came to tea rather late in life, having discovered its many and varied charms less than a decade ago. But back in the good old days, when I was just beginning to make my acquaintance with this beverage, I experimented with quite a number of varieties from the good people at Stash Tea. Some of the ones I was particularly fond of were their Premium Green and Peppermint varieties. Yes, the latter is technically a tisane rather than a tea, but to this day I still like a peppermint “tea” that’s lively enough to scorch your sinuses, and Stash Peppermint fits the bill.

read the full article here

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Tea Business Spotlight 12 - Tealet

Tealet
Honolulu, Hawaii

Welcome to the twelfth of our Tea Business Spotlights, in which we allow tea people to share insights on running their business. If you're a tea business owner and you'd like to take part in an upcoming spotlight, please contact us.

How long have you been in business?
Tealet went live in May 2012.

What is the size/scope of your business?
We are a grassroots global corporation that facilitates relationships between tea growers and tea drinkers. We are a two-sided marketplace between tea growers from over ten different countries and will initially focus on marketing to the US market, although we do ship tea to customers internationally.

Why tea?
My professional background is in food science and technology and I was never really satisfied working in the food industry until I began working for a RTD green tea manufacturer. I was introduced to the unique qualities of tea and the healthy benefits it can bring for people. I was reintroduced to tea from the perspective of the grower during my time as a Japan MBA student at the University of Hawaii. I studied the market feasibility for Hawaii Grown Tea and then did a four month long internship in Kyoto, Japan at Obubu Tea Plantations. I think the US tea market is growing, the consumer is becoming more conscious, and tea growers are prepared to supply the world with the best quality tea.

How did you get the ball rolling on your venture?
After I finished an internship in Kyoto, Japan I returned to Hawaii and participated in a Startup Weekend event. At the event individuals pitch business ideas and teams are formed to build the business in 52 hours. My idea of "tea-commerce", now Tealet, was selected and my team won second place. Since then I have continued to work on the business idea and now we are in a business accelerator in Silicon Valley talking with investors about growth of the business.

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your business?
Our biggest strength is personal relationships we have with tea growers around the world. We hope that we can build a product that can extend this relationship with the tea drinker.

What were/are the biggest challenges of getting into/being in the tea business?
Like any business it is difficult to get the right partners together and to do the jobs of 10 people. The tea business is a relatively straight forward business, but there is much competition so it is very challenging to find the thing that separates you from everyone else.

What would you do differently, if anything?
I would have started studying Japanese earlier. I work with many Japanese farmers that don't speak English and we sometimes have difficulties communicating. I am practicing my Japanese now, but I wish I was fluent in speaking and writing so I could quickly do business with my partners.

How's business?
Business is growing quickly. Our customers are enjoying our tea and we are excited to try new things and take our customers on an exploration with us.

What advice would you give to someone who aspires to be in the tea business?
If you want to get in the tea business the best way to start is to network and build a community within the tea industry. Find out what's going in the ecosystem and try to build a solution that will help everyone including yourself. Make friends and find ways that you can work together. There is a lot of opportunity in the tea market right now, so there is much room for synergy.

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Tea Review Sites

Here's the latest version of the Tea Review Sites list. Some sites don't appear to be active but I've left them on the list for reference purposes. If you know of a site I've missed please leave a comment.

Daily Tea Reviews
Hudin - Tea Reviews
RateTea.com
SororiTea Sisters
STeaP TV
Steepster
The Tea Pages Reviews
Tea Reflections – A Tea Blog
The Tea Review Blog
Teaviews
TGFOP Tea Reviews
Walker Tea Review

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Green Tea Aids Memory?

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

Green Tea Aids Memory?
By William I. Lengeman III

The litany of potential health benefits for green tea continues. For anyone who might have missed it, the latest in this multitude of possible benefits is the notion that green tea might help enhance memory. For more on how tea can help other brain functions, refer to this article from a few years ago. It looked at potential benefits in the area of spatial learning, memory, cognitive capability, and learning ability, as well referencing a study on the calming effects of theanine, a compound found in tea.

read the full article here

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The Romance of Tea, by Yan Phou Lee

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

The Romance of Tea, by Yan Phou Lee
By William I. Lengeman III

I can’t quite put my finger on what it is but there’s something about tea that sometimes inspires its fans to flights of literary and poetic fancy. This is something that’s been going on for quite some time now.

I’ve written about a number of rather epic pieces of English verse about tea dating back as far as the early eighteenth century and I’d wager that Chinese poets were tackling this topic much earlier than that...

read the full article here

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Finding Tea in Martin Yan’s Hidden China

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

Finding Tea in Martin Yan’s Hidden China
By William I. Lengeman III

I wasn’t very familiar with Martin Chan until I recently ran across a TV show called Martin Yan’s Hidden China. For anyone else who might have been living under a rock, suffice to say that Yan has been the host of the PBS show, Yan Can Cook, since 1982 and has also hosted various other cooking shows, as well as appearing on popular shows like Iron Chef America.

As the name suggests, Martin Yan’s Hidden China finds the host traveling to...

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Tea Review 148 - Canton Tea Co. Green Twirl

Green Twirl
Canton Tea Co.

The first thing I typically do with a sample of tea I haven't tried is to open the package and smell it. It's not a foolproof method for judging the contents of said package but in the case of a tea like Canton's Green Twirl there was no doubt that I had a winner on my hands.

Oddly enough, I didn't bother to read the packaging materials until after I'd actually tried this tea. I don't have a wide experience of tea from India's Nilgiri region but those few I've encountered haven't impressed me. Ditto for green tea from India, which to the best of my knowledge is a pretty sparsely populated tea category.

I'd give this one my highest recommendation, especially if you're a fan of Chinese green tea. There's nothing in that category that I can make a direct comparison to but I'd say that Green Twirl is in the same ballpark as Bi Lo Chun with perhaps a little bit of Long Jing (Dragonwell) in there. Interesting to note, by the way, that Canton bills themselves as "The China Tea Specialist."

This one came to me by way of Canton's Tea Club, which has taken on the daunting task of delivering a new tea every week for 52 weeks. It'll be hard to top this one in the green category but if the quality is this high throughout I'm looking forward to seeing what the future brings. Read more about the club and this particular tea at Canton's blog.

Image: Canton Tea Co.
Sample provided by Canton Tea Co.
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Scotland and Tea

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

Scotland and Tea
By William I. Lengeman III

Is it a coincidence that a number of key figures from tea history hail from Scotland? Perhaps so and perhaps not, but it’s true. Take for instance the man who gave the tea world what might be one of its most recognizable names – Sir Thomas Lipton.

Several decades before Lipton became a household name another pair of Scotsmen...

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