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...

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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...

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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.

The Breville One-Touch Tea Maker

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...

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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...

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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...

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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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