Archive for the ‘Teas’ Category

Opening times update

Hi just a quick note that we have restricted opening times.

We are currently counting down our final days in Midland.

The  NEW OPENING TIMES are as follows

Tuesday to Friday 10am till 4pm Saturday and Sunday 10 till 2pm.

Our most popular lines are selling quickly.

Anna Chandler Design range is especially selling fast with 20% OFF the entire range. We do have two of her much loved Dark patchwork lamps and base sets in stock along with three of her mozaic mirrors. Door mats are also 20%OFF.

We have also received a new range of cast iron tea sets especially for this sale with 15% OFF all designs. We also include a free box of Larsen & Thompson tea with every set sold.

Thanks for your support.

see you soon!

Tea Varieties

Chinese Tea
White Peony White Peony Tea Its smooth, clean flavour reminds some connoisseurs of grilled chestnuts – but all agree that the long, slightly curled leaves resemble peony petals when steeped.

Picked a little later in Spring from the same plants as
Fujian Province’s legendary Silver Needles, similarly
rare and sought-after White Peony produces a pale
orange tea of exquisite flavour and delicate aroma.

Steep in just boiled water at least five minutes.

The leaves may be used more than once.
Yunnan Green Yunnan Green tea Yunnan Province in the south-west of China has been a tea producer for at least 2,000 years. It is said to be the home of more than 200 varieties of Camelia sinensis (tea).

This high grown green tea appears yellow and green
in the cup and has a grassy flavour, with a mild astringency on the palate.

The leaves may be used more
than once.
Lapsang Souchong Lapsang Chong / China Black This black tea is smoked with pine wood during the firing process of tea manufacture.

Ordinarily, a tea with a smoky taste would be discounted bytea buyers but this famous style, first produced in China’s Fujian Province in the 17th C, has a loyal followingamongst tea connoisseurs.Golden in the cup with a complex palate of burnt
wood flavours this tea enchants many tea aficionados.
Puerh Pureh Tea A tea of musty myth a millennium in the making.
Created in secrecy by a coterie of Yunnan tea masters.
Hidden, hoarded, stolen, fought over: love it or loathe it,
Puerh is one of the great tea experiences.

After the first
infusion allow more time to your
taste. You’re in charge – so
experiment to find the brew
that suits you.
Burma Tea
Burma Tea Jungle Green Burma Tea has been grown in the Shan States of Myanmar since the 14th Century but its cultivation remains an intensely personal cottage industry. This Oolong-style tea has a rich, earthy flavour slightly smudged with smoke. Made in the traditional style, it was picked and produced in the highest jungle country of the Golden Triangle.

Your palate is your own. And because each batch of tea is unique, experiment with how much you use and how long
you infuse.
Indian Tea
Chai Tea Chai Tea A peculiarly Indian concoction of fine Assam black tea, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, dry ginger, green cardamom and nutmeg. Chai is the ubiquitous street pick-me-up of the entire sub-continent. Instructions In a saucepan, heat one or more cups of full cream or soy milk. Add a level teaspoon of Chai for each cup. Slowly bring to boil. Simmer on a very low heat – for at least seven minutes – until the concoction turns a rich honey colour. While brewing, sweeten with sugar or honey to taste. Strain and serve.
Earl Grey Earl Grey This blend of Assam teas is flavoured and scented by oil squeezed from the skin of the orange-like bergamot.
The blend known as Earl Grey originated in the UK some time in the 1830s. The tea takes its name from the 2nd Earl Grey who was British Prime Minister at the time. The blend was created in London. Two rival tea merchants claim to have created it, however, the exact origins are uncertain and are lost to time and commercial hype. With certainty we can say that blends of Earl Grey use tea which has been flavoured or scented with bergamot oil. Bergamot oil is an oil extracted from the rind of the bergamot orange, a fragrant citrus fruit native to southern Italy
Good Morning/English Breakfast

English Breakfast/ Good Morning

This hearty-flavoured English Breakfast-style Assam blend is strong and golden in the cup and at its best when taken with milk.

Instructions

One teaspoon per cup in heated pot; pour in boiling water, steep 3 to 5 minutes depending on the strength you prefer.

Best with milk; sugar if desired.
Single estate teas India
Darjeeling Chamong Organic Single Estate Region: Darjeeling Garden: Chamong Inv. No: DJ 187
Grade: FTGFOP1

Heavy pervasive second flush flavour with some strength.

Slightly dry on the palate with a good nose and some stunted (Kukreko) leaf.

High cuppage use only a small amount.

Best taken black with a shorter brewing time.

Assam Tea India Region: Assam Garden: Halmari Inv. No: O 330
Grade: TGFOP

This exquisite whole leaf India tea is the pure, unblended product of the garden named on the front of our pack.

An invoice is a parcel of tea, often pinpointing a section of the garden and the time of its plucking. To connoisseurs, invoice numbers are as meaningful as wine vintages.

With its glinting sprinkle of golden buds, this smooth, rich, malty whole-leaf displays a distinctive Assamese character and brightness when brewed for three minutes and drunk black. Brewed for five minutes this tea will need milk and will have a round, mellow, sweet and full flavoured taste.

Herbal infusions
Camomile Organic Revered as a sacred gift from the sun god Ra, these organic Egyptian camomile flowers have been used since ancient times to aid digestion and as a gentle sleeping draught. Instructions Your palate is your own. And because each batch of camomile flowers is unique, experiment with how much you use and how long
you infuse. Try one small level teaspoon per cup of boiling
water in your pot. Infuse for at least thirty seconds.
If too weak, re-infuse, if too strong, dilute.
Lemongrass & Ginger Organic Herbal Infusion A delicious duet of two of the world’s great flavours, each believed to possess almost supernatural powers of healing and wellbeing. Lemongrass is respected as a fever medicine in India and Africa while ginger is used worldwide as a digestant, a carmative, an expectorant and, even, in some places, as an aphrodisiac. Together they work in mysterious ways. Instructions Certified organic, this Lemongrass and Ginger tisane is a
refreshing thirst-quencher. Infuse one level teaspoon per
cup of boiling water for at least three minutes.
Peppermint Leaves Unlike cruder, broken types, this whole-leaf Polish peppermint offers more of itself to impart a rare subtlety in both flavour and aroma. Thought to aid digestion and invigorate tissues, Larsen & Thompson Peppermint is a tempting tisane for all seasons. Instructions Your palate is your own. And because each batch of Peppermint
is unique, experiment with how much you use and how long
you infuse. Try one small level teaspoon per cup of boiling
water in your pot. Infuse for at least thirty seconds.
Rosebuds Organic Herbal Infusion Blush pink in the cup, this is a delicately floral tisane, with a distant hint of Turkish Delight. Organic, caffeine-free and high in Vitamin C and antioxidants, these rosebuds from Yuxi in China’s Ynnan Province are said to work wonders for the complexion and to aid circulation. Here’s health! Instructions Use two to three teaspoons of rosebuds per cup and infuse for
two to three minutes in just boiled water.
  •  

White Peony Tea

china_white

Its smooth, clean flavour reminds some connoisseurs of grilled chestnuts – but all agree that the long, slightly curled leaves resemble peony petals when steeped.

Picked a little later in Spring from the same plants as Fujian Province’s legendary Silver Needles, similarly rare and sought-after White Peony produces a pale orange tea of exquisite flavour and delicate aroma.

Steep in just boiled water at least five minutes.

The leaves may be used more than once.

(The least processed of teas, Whites are believed to contain more antioxidants than any other.)


 

  •  

China Tea

Hi.

Here is a little information about the origins of China Tea. As provided by Larsen & Thompson.


China Tea

The earliest records show us tea leaves being eaten straight from the tree, ground to powder, added to soup stock or being roasted. The Chinese have been consuming tea for a long time. Long enough that they have their own implausible, accidental origin for where it came from. The first literary reference to tea dates back to 2737 BC when the scholar-emperor Shennong, the father of Chinese Agriculture, medicine and acupuncture, was feeding the fire for his boiling water with some dry tea twigs. Some leaves were blown into his pot, the water changed colour and flavour and the inevitable followed…

Regardless of the the reliability of the origin the Chinese give for tea, we can confirm that the drink itself originated in the South West provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan.

Shennong wrote “Tea tastes bitter. Drinking it, one can think quicker, sleep less, move lighter, and see clearer”.

Shennong’s authority as a medical giant naturally coloured the patterns of tea consumption for several hundred years with most Chinese imbibing the decoction for its ability to freshen the body and clear the mind. It wasn’t until the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220AD) when Tea became popular amongst the nobility that the idea of drinking it for its own sake became commonplace. The following Wei and Jin Dynasties saw tea replace wine as the preferred beverage at banquets as people preferred it’s freshness and clarity to wine’s violence and intoxication. During this time both Buddhists and Taoists helped to promote tea’s popularity. The Buddhists praised tea for it’s capacity to ward off dreariness and langour whilst the Taoists insisted on Tea’s ability to keep the drinker young and ultimately attain immortality.

It wasn’t until the Tang dynasty and Song Dynasties (618 AD – 1270 AD) that tea culture came to something approaching its present infusion in Chinese society. During the Tang; the first tea houses opened, shops solely dedicated to tea thrived and tea became the number one foreign export. During this period Japanese Buddhists introduced tea to Japan. Amongst the poems and other miscellaneous writings dedicated to tea at this time, Lu Yu wrote the seminal “The Book of Tea” covering all known aspects of tea culture. By the time of the Song Dynasty, even emperors such as Huizong Zhou-Ji were composing literary meditations on Tea. The emperor’s “General Remarks on Tea” is considered to be the most detailed description of the Song era Tea Ceremony in existence.

By the time of the Ming Dynasty (1368 AD – 1644 AD) wild tea trees were no longer considered sufficient to meet the demand of total tea consumption. Plantation farming began in earnest with the extensive layout of tea gardens and experimentation with processing techniques leading to the five types of tea we recognize today. The greater availability of tea has allowed it to well and truly transcend its earlier medicinal uses. Now tea is inextricably infused into China as an everyday expression of its culture and cuisine with most tea produced being destined for domestic consumption.