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Prism Tea and Gifts

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	Tea Information and Facts

What is tea time?

In the United States, the tradition of tea time was essentially wiped out with the Boston Tea Party. As you may recall, England taxed the tea more than the colonists wanted to pay, so they protested by unloading a bunch of tea into the Boston Harbor. Coffee became the choice of the colonial patriot, while tea remained the choice of England and her numerous colonies around the globe.

As time passed, however, tea did make a come back in the South. In the late 1700s, tea was actually grown in South Carolina, the only state that ever grew it. By the early 1800s, iced tea was immensely popular. The end of the 1800s saw a resurgence of fine tea. The rich began enjoying afternoon tea in fine hotels. Tea time was seen as extravagant and regal. Nevertheless, in the 20th century, tea time waned in the North. The South, however, continued the tradition with ladies' tea time. To this day, hotels like The Jefferson in Richmond, Virginia have a traditional Southern afternoon tea four days a week.

In the United Kingdom, tea has remained popular throughout the centuries. British tea time is the gold standard for those seeking traditional tea. Afternoon tea is enjoyed anywhere from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. It can be served a little later, but since it is intended as an afternoon snack, it shouldn't be served too close to dinner. While one often finds this tea referred to as high tea, it is actually called low tea. "High" is often thought incorrectly to mean royal or fancy. The high and low actually refers to table height. Low tea is served on low tables, like coffee tables while sitting in a parlor. High tea is served on high tables, like dining tables or bars.

High tea is served in the evening with dinner and is more of a working man's tea - nothing particularly regal or romantic about that. The regular working person didn't have time to enjoy low tea, so tea was pushed to dinner time. Thus, high tea is just strong tea with a solid dinner. In fact, rather than say dinner, many English families will say tea.

In the United States, we like to focus on low tea, since that's where one finds all the good tea treats, like butter cookies, tea sandwiches, scones, and tarts. A favorite tea time snack is a toasted teacake with clotted cream and raspberry jam. Most stores carry clotted cream now. Teacakes are more difficult to find, but a sweet roll, like hot cross buns, will certainly fit the bill. Once you try this delicious combination, you'll crave it, so be careful!

For your own low tea, simply set aside half an hour to enjoy some tea with the cookies and jam we offer. If you're feeling really adventurous, use our recipes to make your own scones or teacakes. At the midway point, you can always use our scone mixes to create your tea treats. Whatever you choose, low tea is truly something to savour!

If you are interested in baking teacakes, try the following recipe. Teacakes are actually large yeast rolls filled with currants. Eat them the same day you make them as they tend to go stale quickly. Just split them, toast them, then cover them with jam and clotted cream.

Ingredients

2 pounds bread flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons butter or lard (lard is very traditional in English baking)

2 ounces dried black currants

1 ounce fresh yeast

1 cup of lukewarm milk

1/4 cup of strong black tea, cooled

Sift together the flour and salt. Cut in the butter or lard until the flour looks like sand. Mix the yeast, sugar, tea, and milk until smooth. Mix with the flour mixture to make a soft dough. Knead for about 10 minutes. Cover and let rise for an hour. Lightly punch down the dough. Gently knead in the currants. Cover and let the dough rest for 10 minutes. Cut the dough into six pieces. Shape each piece into a ball. Then flatten each ball into a 1/2 inch thick disc. Place on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let them rise until doubled in size, about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Bake the teacakes for 15 to 20 minutes. They will be brown and sound hollow when done. Enjoy with your favorite Prism tea!

Caffeine in Tea

The question often arises about the amount of caffeine in tea compared to coffee. When comparing tea to coffee, we compare brewed cups rather than coffee beans to tea leaves. Rooibos red tea and Honeybush red tea have no caffeine. For white, green, and black tea, caffeine will vary depending on the type of tea variety you brew, but generally speaking, white tea has the least amount of caffeine per cup, with one eighth the caffeine of coffee. Green tea has a little less than one fifth the caffeine of coffee. Black tea has about a third the caffeine of coffee. You can buy decaffienated white, green, and black tea, if you're looking for caffeine free tea, or you can go with red tea, which is always caffeine free.

Brewing White Tea and Green Tea

Prism Tea and Gifts sells tea tins with detailed brewing instructions, so you can always brew the perfect cup of tea. We thought, however, that you may be interested in some of the finer points of brewing white tea and green tea. To someone new to enjoying fine tea, these detailed techniques might seem strange and counterintuitive. For example, our China Pai Mu Tan white tea brews at 158 degrees Fahrenheit, after the water has been boiled then cooled. That doesn't exactly fit the concept of hot tea.

The use of this cooled water all comes down to science. Stated plainly, boiling water plus white or green tea leaves equals bitter tea. The bitterness in tea comes from tannins, just like you find in wine. To keep tea from being bitter, the brewing process just needs to keep those tannins out of the tea. So, white and green tea leaves are steeped at a temperature lower than the point where tannins will dissolve into the water but at a temperature high enough to extract the flavors from the tea leaves. The end result is a delicious, relaxing cup of tea.

The brewing times for both white tea and green tea are relatively short. Steeping the tea leaves in water too long leads to a flat, harsh tasting cup of tea. When making the tea, though, you will most undoubtedly think, "That wasn't enough time." In the United States, we tend to place our teabags in boiling water and let them steep for five or ten minutes. However, our China Lung Ching green tea brews for only two minutes, which is exactly enough time to extract the delicate, grassy flavor. If you brew the tea longer, the grassiness becomes more pronounced, with a hard, unpleasant edge.

What is Red Tea?

Rooibos red tea comes from the South African plant Aspalathus linearis. The leaves from the bush are oxidized to create the traditional tea. It has no caffeine. The low tannin content makes the tea very smooth and mellow. Red tea also contains several minerals, like zinc, copper, calcium, iron, and potassium, and cancer fighting antioxidants.

South Africa has another popular red tea called Honeybush. It is from the plant Cyclopia intermedia. Production of Honeybush involves fermentation of the flowers, stems, and leaves for several days, followed by a drying period of a couple days. When brewed, Honeybush is similar to Rooibos in flavor, but a little sweeter with honey undertones. Like Rooibos, Honeybush is loaded with good minerals, like calcium, magnesium, and potassium, and is caffeine free.

Tea Info

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