Cardew Club News » 2007 » September

I cannot describe to you how enamoured I am with teas and herbal infusions. I have a tea for every mood and occasion. Let me elaborate: to perk myself up in the morning, ginseng tea does the trick, to detoxify, ginger and lemon, to drink tea for my general well-being, I go with green, when I feel blue, peppermint tea. If I have trouble sleeping, chamomile, when I am writing these weekly articles, Earl Grey or Darjeeling, and the list goes on. I possess so many teas, tisanes and herbal infusions I could open a tea salon. Please note, officially, tea comes from the plant Camellia Senensis. If a “tea” is not from this bush, it is an infusion or tisane.

Making the perfect cup of tea is not as easy as it seems.

I never liked designer coffee places. Although they brew good coffee, they are terrible makers of a proper cup of tea. So I seek joy in a glass of Masala tea at Indian restaurants – an orange brew, with copious amounts of sugar, evaporated milk, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves.

As disturbingly New Age as it may sound, it gives me a sense of well-being. What? That pair of shoes I’ve been eyeing don’t come in my size?

Masala tea.

As tea grows more popular, so do ceremonies tied to the calming brew.

JoAnn and Becky Schotthofer are so energized by what they learned at the World Tea Expo in June that you’d think they would need to start drinking decaf.
But the mother and daughter who run the Hayloft Gift Shops at Illinois Route 29 and Old Galena Road don’t have the caffeine jitters. Instead, they have a new appreciation for the increasing popularity of tea and enthusiasm for what’s available for both serious and casual tea connoisseurs.

Tea is becoming big in the United States “like coffee did 10 years ago,” said Becky Schotthofer.

Tea is a soothing beverage but crafting a teapot can be a creative challenge for an artist.

“A teapot is complicated because it has so many parts,” said Susanne Lesny of Camp Hill. “It’s really such an ancient art, and, actually in classes, a teapot is one of the projects because it’s got so many elements.”

“Find yourself a cup of tea; the teapot is behind you. Now tell me about hundreds of things.”

— Saki

Tea is more than just tea these days. It’s a lifestyle. It’s about choices and flavors and what it can do for your mind and body.

Tea is historical.

At Maine-ly New Hampshire, on Deer Street, co-owner Deborah Bouchard-Smith had the incredible idea of reproducing tea, as it used to be made and sold in downtown Portsmouth.

Can a kilo of black tea cost $ 600? An Indian tea maker has claimed that the black tea produced by the company is the most expensive in the world, and therefore, it should be entered into the Guinness Book of Records.

Glendale Tea estate at Coonoor in Tamil Nadu says the black tea it has made is of SFTGFOP (Super-Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe) grade and fetches a price of $600 for a kilo.

Company officials said the tea had be sold at the world tea expo in March 2006 at Las Vegas for this price.

Although tea is the most popular drink around the globe, second only to water, Chinese people are particularly known for their love of tea-making. A Chinese popular proverb says, “Better to go without food for three days than without tea for a single day.” The Chinese are believed to have enjoyed drinking tea for about 5,000 years. According to legend, one day in the year 2737 B.C., a great Emperor of China named Shen Nung, who is believed to have tasted numerous kinds of medicinal herbs, was sitting under a Camellia tree while his servants boiled a pot of water. Suddenly leaves from the tree fell into the pot, resulting in a fragrant brown liquid.
T
he Emperor showed an interest in a new liquid and drank some, and found it very refreshing.
Before this discovery, Camellia leaves were only used in vegetable replenishes and medicines.