Tea Causes and Cures Prostate Cancer?

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

Tea Causes and Cures Prostate Cancer?
By William I. Lengeman III

If you keep close tabs on tea-related news (guilty), you’ll notice that it’s a rare day when there’s not some report trumpeting another of tea‘s alleged health benefits. On the flip side, you’ll find that it’s quite rare to see a report that presents a potential downside for drinking tea. But in recent weeks we’ve actually seen conflicting reports that tea can be beneficial and harmful for the exact same condition – prostate cancer.

read the full article here

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

Tetley Tea Makes You Extra Strong (Commercial)

I'm not sure if this will work for everyone who drinks Tetley Extra Strong but I guess it's worth trying.

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

Recent Research on Tea and Health

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

Recent Research on Tea and Health
By William I. Lengeman III

If you’ve been tuned into this blog for a while you’ve probably noticed that we’ve featured quite a few articles that highlight possible links between tea and improved health. If you’ve missed those articles, do not despair. They’re still around and you can access them right here.

One of the topics we reported on previously was how tea might aid in guarding against...

read the full article here

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

The State of English Tea

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

The State of English Tea
By William I. Lengeman III

Nobody knows anything. Screenwriter William Goldman probably wasn’t the first person to use that phrase but when he applied it to the movie business, it caught on and has become something of a pop culture catchphrase. One that could apply to the state of tea drinking in the UK, now that you mention it...

read the full article here

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

Tea in America – Some History

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

Tea in America – Some History
By William I. Lengeman III

For those of us enamored of the many charms of tea it’s easy sometimes to forget that we’re rather a minority here in these great United States. Contrary to what many may believe, however, Americans didn’t suddenly swear off drinking tea after the events of the Boston Tea Party. These days we’re best known for our consumption of iced tea and also for creating sweet tea, a syrupy variation that’s especially popular in the South.

For an interesting look at the history of tea in America, try one of my favorite works of tea history...

read the full article here

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

Adagio Teas - Best Tea Online

Resurrecting Classic Teas

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

Resurrecting Classic Teas
By William I. Lengeman III

As someone who spends a fair amount of time studying and writing about the history of tea I can’t help wondering occasionally about some of the teas people drank in days gone by. Wondering specifically, that is, what those teas tasted like. Of course, unless I manage to lay my hands on a time machine, there will never be any way to truly know. Even the most detailed description of what a tea from yesteryear might have tasted like isn’t sufficient to the task, given that matters of taste are so subjective.

While a simple web search will turn up any number of “classic” tea blends, there have been several attempts lately to recreate actual tea blends...

read the full article here

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

Tea Video Channels

Here are some tea-related video channels. If you have anything to add, feel free to leave a note in the comments. If you have a tea-related podcast or you know of one, feel free to add it as well and we'll include it in the list.

Updated 08/22/2012

Video Channels
Adagio Teas
Bigelow
Dilmah
Guayaki
Lyons
PG Tips
Samovar
Seven Cups (Videocasts)
Seven Cups (YouTube)
STeaP TV
Tavalon
Tea Guy Speaks
Teatulia Tea
Teavana
Tetley
Twinings
Typhoo
Walker Tea Review
Yorkshire

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

Tea. A Poem. Or, Ladies into China-Cups: A Metamorphosis

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

Tea. A Poem. Or, Ladies into China-Cups:
A Metamorphosis
By William I. Lengeman III

Which has inspired more poetic paeans of praise over the course of the years – tea or coffee? I can’t tell you for sure since my knowledge of coffee culture is next to nil. I’d be willing to place a small wager that the answer is tea, but I admit to a rather serious bias when it comes to this sort of thing.

What I can say for sure is that the eighteenth century seemed to be a good time for tea poetry...

read the full article here

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

Tea Review 143 - Paisley Tea Co. English Breakfast

Organic English Breakfast
Paisley Tea Co.

I have mixed feelings about English Breakfast tea. I'm always happy to sample almost any type of black tea, but when it comes to English Breakfast I can't help being prepared, deep down inside, to be disappointed. If I drank my black tea with milk and sugar I might not find myself disappointed quite as often but drinking it straight up brings out every nuance of flavor - or lack thereof.

Having said all that I'll now say that I found this Organic English Breakfast, by Paisley Tea Co., to be somewhere around the middle of the range for black tea. It has little of the harshness or bitterness of lesser blacks but it doesn't quite measure up to the fuller flavors of the really great ones. Then again, it's probably not fair to expect it to do so.

I tried blending this with a higher quality single-estate black tea, to make the latter go a little further, and that worked out quite nicely. I suspect it would also respond well to the milk and sugar treatment, if that's your preference. Here's what Paisley Tea Co. has to say about it:

If you want a proper cuppa', this tea hits the spot. As a specialised blend of Indian and African teas, our Organic English Breakfast Tea is traditional, but approachable. We love it in the morning with a splash of milk.

These are traditional English-style paper teabags with tea that's Organic and Fair Trade certified.

Image: Paisley Tea Co./Two Leaves

Sample provided by Paisley Tea Co./Two Leaves
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The Breville One-Touch Tea Maker

The Mechanics of Cold Brewing Tea

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

The Mechanics of Cold Brewing Tea
By William I. Lengeman III

There are any number of ways to whip up a cup of tea these days, and we’ve commented on several of them in these pages. They range from the tried and true method of heating water with a teakettle (or microwave) and pouring it over a tea bag or loose tea leaves to a high-tech session with one of the many allegedly automatic gadgets that seem to be all the rage these days.

One method that doesn’t seem to get as much attention is cold brewing...

read the full article here

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

Make Time, Make Tetley Tea Commercial

Adagio Teas - Best Tea Online

Arcane Tea Terms: Hyson & Singlo

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

Arcane Tea Terms: Hyson & Singlo
By William I. Lengeman III

In my first go-round with this article I noted that, with the bewildering mélange of tea varieties and a myriad of other confusing terms, a tea dictionary might be a handy item to have on hand. Though I wasn’t aware that such a thing existed, my esteemed editor pointed out that tea authority James Norwood Pratt has already done us the favor of penning one. As I noted in a previous article at this site, which took a look at the arcane tea term Bohea, there are a number of such terms that were in common use at one time but which are mostly regarded as curiosities today.

read the full article here

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

Twinings Tea Commercial - Enjoy Every Day

Be sure to look for more tea videos and commercials from Twinings and other merchants at our Tea Video Channels page.

Adagio Teas - Best Tea Online

The Cultivation and Manufacture of Tea (1878)

In addition to publishing Tea Guy Speaks, I'm a regular contributor to The English Tea Store blog. Here's an article I recently wrote for them. Click the link to read the full article.

The Cultivation and Manufacture of Tea
By William I. Lengeman III

Tea was still a relative newcomer to India in 1878 when Edward Money published the third edition of his book, The Cultivation and Manufacture of Tea. Tea growing in the Assam region had commenced about four decades earlier and about twenty years after that in the Darjeeling region.

By this time, the Indian tea was beginning to flourish. In addition to the two growing regions already mentioned, Money noted that tea production was underway in nine other districts in India...

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Think Pink: Pink Tea

In addition to publishing Tea Guy Speaks, I'm a regular contributor to The English Tea Store blog. Here's an article I recently wrote for them. Click the link to read the full article.

Think Pink: Pink Tea
By William I. Lengeman III

The many types of tea might not cover all of the colors in the rainbow, but they certainly come close. The best known, of course, are green and black. After that come white and oolong. Of course the latter is not a “colored” tea in the strictest sense of the world, but there are those who sometimes refer to it as blue tea. Just as the idea that what many Chinese know as red tea is what the rest of us call black tea. Some of the more obscure types of colored teas are yellow, a Chinese variety that’s not unlike green or white. Then there’s purple tea, a type developed relatively recently by African researchers.

All of which is a rather roundabout way of introducing a concoction known as pink tea...

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Adagio Teas - Best Tea Online

Making Tea In An Indian Factory

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

More Tea Advertising Icons

In addition to publishing Tea Guy Speaks, I'm a regular contributor to The English Tea Store blog. Here's an article I recently wrote for them. Click the link to read the full article.

More Tea Advertising Icons
By William I. Lengeman III

One of the earliest advertisements for tea, at least in the western world, may have been the one which appeared in a London newspaper in 1658, “That excellent and by all pysitians approved China drink called by the Chineans Tcha, by other nations Tay, alias Tee, is sold at the Sultaness Head, a Cophee-house in Sweetings Rents, by the Royal Exchange, London.” Well, to paraphrase another famous non-tea commercial, “tea advertising has come a long way, baby.”

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Tea Water: To Microwave or Not?

In addition to publishing Tea Guy Speaks, I'm a regular contributor to The English Tea Store blog. Here's an article I recently wrote for them. Click the link to read the full article.

Tea Water: To Microwave or Not?
By William I. Lengeman III

To microwave or not to microwave water for tea? That is the question. You don’t have to look hard to find people who have strong opinions about this issue. But if you’re trying to find cold hard facts, you’re going to have to look a lot harder.

There doesn’t seem to be any consensus on this issue, though if you read through a number of forum threads where the issue has been discussed, the anti-microwave camp seems to outnumber microwavers...

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Typhoo One Cup Tea Commercial

Find more Typhoo Tea commercials at their YouTube channel, here.

The Breville One-Touch Tea Maker

A Poem (or 2 or 3) in Praise of Tea

In addition to publishing Tea Guy Speaks, I'm a regular contributor to The English Tea Store blog. Here's an article I recently wrote for them. Click the link to read the full article.

A Poem (or 2 or 3) in Praise of Tea By William I. Lengeman III

Over the years a number of poets have found themselves so enamored of the charms of tea they have been driven to pen tributes to it. For a recent example of this sort of thing, take a look at this review of Elizabeth Darcy Jones’ Distinguished Leaves: Poems for Tea Lovers, which was published in 2011.

It’s hard to say who was the first person to write a poem about tea, but one suspects that it was a Chinese poet of ancient times. As for Europeans, one of the earliest such efforts...

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Czech Olympics Commercial - John Cleese On Tea

As noted at Pythonline, "British actor John Cleese, best-known for his role in the legendary comedy group Monty Python, will be the face of a new campaign by the Czech Olympic Committee to promote the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London." Here's one of the commercials.

Adagio Teas - Best Tea Online

Synchronized Tea Drinking At The Olympics?

It's not an Olympic sport just yet but here's a video of a finely honed synchronized tea drinking team in action. And here's a blog post that helps to explain what it's all about.

Adagio Teas - Best Tea Online