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...

read the full article here

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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

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

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
Tea Guy Speaks Review Policies

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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?

The Breville One-Touch Tea Maker

Punjana - Our Favourite Tea Commercial

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

The Breville One-Touch Tea Maker

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...

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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