Russian Tea Tradition

Tea became available in Russia in the 17th century, brought by the caravans of traders on camels who would make the cross-continent journey from China. This journey took almost an entire year to complete, resulting in tea being quite expensive and only available to the aristocratic class for many years. Everything changed in 1880 when the Siberian Railroad was opened, and the trip could now be done in just two short months. Tea became widely available, and was embraced by all social classes.

Around this same time, the samovar was introduced in Russia, and became the centerpiece of any Russian household, rich or poor. The samovar was a large decorative urn made from copper or silver, that could hold a large quantity of water. An inside chamber was heated with coals and kept the water hot and bubbling all day long, so that tea could be prepared on a moment’s notice. On top of the samovar, a small teapot rested and was kept warm, containing a very strongly brewed concentrate of tea called tscheinik.

When there was a keen urge for a cup of tea, it could immediately be prepared to the liking of the recipient by pouring out a small amount of the tscheinik, and then diluting it with hot water from a spigot on the samovar. This invention is of Chinese origin and soon came to be recognized as the symbol of Russian hospitality. If unexpected guests were to arrive in a Russian home, they could count on being served tea quickly thereafter. Even in the great expanse of Russian literature, from Tolstoy to Dostoyevsky, the samovar is consistently mentioned in scenes taking place in the Russian home, as a symbol of Russian hospitality and company.

Russian tastes in tea are quite unique compared to other countries. The concentrated tea found in the samovar’s teapot can be green, but is more often black tea from India or Sri Lanka. Russians will often use a blend of teas which has been smoked to varying degrees [Try Tea Total Lapsang Souchong]. Some believe this to be a taste that developed due to the Russian climate or local gastronomy, while others have the more romantic notion that this smoked tea is a reminder of the old caravan tea, which would become slightly smoked simply by the repeated exposure to campfires along the route. In fact, many tea companies have created smokey blends which are often called “Russian Caravan Tea.” [Try Tea Total Smokey Russian Caravan Blend] The preference for smokey tea would seem an odd combination with sweets, but the traditional way of drinking tea in Russia is to sip the tea through a sugar cube in the mouth, or by stirring a spoon of homemade jam into the cup before drinking. However it is prepared by the individual, tea can be found in any household and is enjoyed throughout the day.


Source: http://www.itoen.com/cultural-tea-traditions

INDIAN TEA TRADITION - CHA-YA

Tea in India only gained popularity as a national beverage in the 19th century after the British began creating large scale tea plantations in order to ensure adequate supplies for their country’s growing thirst. As a result India now is one of the world’s largest suppliers of tea, and yet because of this very recent history relative to the nations of the Far East, tea has not had time to appropriate any elaborate tea rituals as in Japan or China.

In India, tea is more a part of everyday life at home, work, on the streets and while traveling.

Cha-ya is the preferred style of tea sold and consumed on the streets, in train stations and in eateries. Cha-ya is traditionally a strong black tea, spiced with cardamom, fennel, cloves or other spices which is then sweetened with sugar and mixed with milk for a sweet and creamy beverage that many Westerners and Europeans would know as Chai tea.

Although it can be drunk alone, Cha-ya is often enjoyed with a savoury snack like samoosas. Usually street vendors or train stations will sell this tea in small clay cups that are only used once, and then smashed after use.

Cha-ya in clay cups -
http://migrationology.com/2013/04/kolkata-clay-cup-chai/ 

Whether enjoyed on the street or at home, Cha-ya provides respite from the heat or weariness from travel or work.

You can bring this Indian Tea Tradition into your home by making Cha-ya using tried and tested recipes or you could just go to Tea Total and get some TEA TOTAL Nepal Masala Chai tea to enjoy.

Whatever you choose, we hope you have your tea just the way you like it.

For more Chai and other great tasting teas, visit Tea Total and take your pick.


Source: http://www.itoen.com/cultural-tea-traditions

CHINESE TEA TRADITION - GONG FU

Before tea became the beverage of choice and a way of life, it was considered a medicinal staple. Tea was not only a treatment for individual ailments, but was also a general health tonic, purported to promote long life and vitality. Even today, in traditional Chinese medicine, green teas and pu-erhs are prescribed for a variety of ailments, especially as modern research has come to support many of these claims. Why not try these green teas?

It was not long before tea expanded its reach and was incorporated more and more into daily life, and began to be enjoyed solely for its own pleasures. Since the beginning of the Ming dynasty, teahouses sprung up all over the country, and people of all ages would come at all hours of the day to drink tea and enjoy each others’ company. In this way, tea was never confined to a strict time of the day, but could be taken at any time. Besides mealtime, tea is served to welcome guests as a form of respect, and is a long-held tradition in all classes.

The Chinese practice a form of tea ceremony called Gong Fu. In a Gong Fu style tea ceremony, the tea master preparing the tea for the group is considered an artist in his or her own right. Styles for pouring the water and tea vary individually, and many devote a lot of time practicing difficult and artistic manoeuvres. The equipment for this tea ceremony would be a clay Yi-Xing pot and several small teacups, a tea sink or shallow bowl for draining water into, and a few bamboo tools for handling the hot objects. Arranging the teapot and cups in a circular fashion over the tea sink or in the bowl, the tea master pours hot water into each to rinse the objects and to warm them so that the temperature of the tea is more consistent. This rinse water is discarded, and then a generous helping of tea leaves, usually oolong, is measured into the pot. More hot water is then poured into the pot and the tea leaves will begin steeping.

Every infusion of the tea leaves in Gong Fu ceremony is very quick, about 20 to 30 seconds. Hot water is usually poured over the outside of the teapot, and when the water is seen to be fully evaporated, the tea is ready to be poured. Then the tea master will begin pouring in a continuous flow around to each of the teacups, a little at a time, resulting in each person having the equal amount and strength of tea in his or her cup. After enjoying this first round of tea, the leaves may be re-steeped for many more infusions.

Gong Fu Tea Ceremony 

With or without ceremony, we hope you enjoy your tea just the way you like it in tea ware that suits you!

Source: http://www.itoen.com/cultural-tea-traditions

THE AMAZING BENEFITS OF TEA

The Amazing Benefits of Tea

Improved health and wellness is the overarching ideal and physical state we all long for – whether we achieve this ideal state or not is another question entirely.

Kirstin Kirkpatrick – Wellness manager in Cleveland and contributor to The Huffington Post - wrote an article covering the top 6 amazing benefits of tea:

If you are trying to improve your health or drop a few pounds, think beyond superfoods and supplements, because this "super-drink" deserves your attention. The things we chew are not the only dietary factors that contribute to weight management, disease fighting, energy boosting and stress reducing. Consumed for thousands of years, tea has provided delicious medicinal benefits to many cultures around the globe.  Drink up - your overall health is about to get a lot better!

Tea can help you in maintaining a healthy weight. The Journal of Obesity found that mice fed a high fat diet and given compounds found in green tea gained weight at a slower rate than mice that were not fed the same compounds. The findings from this study suggest that green tea extracts may actually interfere with fat formation in the body. As a side note: green tea extracts should not be confused with bottled green tea drinks that may be full of added sugar. To get green tea extracts, opt for the real deal -- boiling water with a good old-fashioned teabag or loose tea! Tea Total Teas: Pure Unflavoured Teas

Green tea may help you see better. The eye, like any part of the body, can suffer oxidative stress -- making it more prone to disease.  Components in green tea positively affected the tissues of the eyes, especially tissue related to the retina. Drink on green tea lovers and protect your precious eyeballs! Tea Total Teas: Japanese Lime, Feng Shui and Jade Green Sencha

White tea can help you look younger!  Extracts in white tea inhibited wrinkle production by strengthening elastin and collagen.  Tea Total Teas: China White Hair, China Premium Snowbuds

Black tea can help to reduce stress levels. Stressed out? A cup of black tea may be just what you need. One study found that black tea actually helped in reducing levels of the stress hormones in study participants.  Tea Total Teas: Special Breakfast Blend, Assam Organic Breakfast

It may help you fight diabetes. A variety of caffeinated teas found that the caffeine in tea may help in reducing the overall risk of diabetes. Tea Total Teas: Good Strong Teas

Tea can make your ticker stronger! One study found that green tea helped to improve endothelial function rather quickly after consumption but resist the urge to add milk to your tea if you are drinking for better cardiovascular health! That's because the caseins in milk may actually decrease the cardioprotective benefits you get from tea according to one study, but if you like milk click here... Tea Total Teas: Good with milk

The tea-takeaway. You can use tea bags or go loose, drink it hot or drink it cold. Either way, tea is fabulous -- and so are all of its benefits. Tea Total Teas: Deluxe Pyramid Teabags

Source:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristin-kirkpatrick-ms-rd-ld/tea-health-benefits_b_3504917.html

For more by Kristin Kirkpatrick, M.S., R.D., L.D., click here.

To get your next TEA TOTAL TEA, visit http://www.teatotal.co.nz/how-to-buy

TEA AND THE WORKING CLASS

Tea, for the working class was a substance that constituted a break from work. It was a brief time of rest to mix with other workers, and summon the energy to finish the day. Not only was it a break from work, but the caffeine and sugar in the hot tea gave the impression that one had eaten something. Tea made any food seem like a hot meal, and was drunk in large quantities amongst the working class just as beer or ale had previously been drunk. 

Tea was not a luxury commodity to members of the British working class, but a daily necessity

So why the switch from the traditional alcoholic beverages to tea, a beverage that had been a foreign luxury for the past two centuries?

By the 1830's tea was a necessary "luxury" for many of the working class. The 1870's and 1880's marked the introduction of cheap black tea from Sri Lanka on the market in Britain. This tied with the increase in trade due to the tea clipper ships that began in the 1830's and 1840's, meant that the price of tea was relatively low.

With the advent of the temperance movement in 1791 when a number of Quakers joined forces with others against slavery and abstained from consumption of sugar and rum. Both of these substances were produced by slave labor. The movement expanded to include the abstinence from all alcoholic beverages. Tea was chosen as one of the alternative beverages to alcohol and by 1871 the average British person consumed 2kg of tea in a year.

The high tea evolved to take the place of dinner when a proper hot meal could not be afforded. High tea was a family meal, and took place anytime between 5:00 and 7:00 pm. It was much larger than the few sandwiches and pastries eaten for an afternoon tea in the upper classes. Instead one or two small hot dishes were served along with cold chicken, game, or ham, salad, and cakes or tarts. Tea became part of a larger meal and faded into the background, often relegated to from the table to the sideboard.

HIGH TEA TO DIE FOR

It could be the ticket to die for at February's Art Deco Weekend in Napier.

Organisers are offering high tea at a funeral parlour - and though death by chocolate might be a good way to go, they want to make sure guests are still breathing at the end.

The idea is that they will be able to discuss graveside etiquette and the growing size of coffins with funeral directors as they indulge in cream horns, lamingtons, and chocolate.

Event organiser Peter Mooney admitted it was "playing with death" by hosting an afternoon tea in a funeral parlour. But it had proved so popular it had sold out in just two days.

It came about when Michelle Dunstall, of Dunstall's Funeral Parlour, asked if classic hearses could join the annual vintage car parade at next year's Tremains Art Deco Weekend, from February 18-22.

There had been a revival of vintage hearses being used around the country, she said. The business, which she runs with husband Paul, bought "Harold the Hearse", a 1938 Plymouth, about seven years ago as it fitted with Napier's art deco character.

It was now used in 60 per cent of its funerals, as people liked the idea of saying goodbye to their parent in a car similar to one in which they might have got married, Michelle said.

He brought local business Silky Oak Chocolates on board, and the event Death by Chocolate was born. Silky Oak staff will be whipping up at least 500 chocolates for the event.

Mooney said it would be like sharing high tea with the Addams Family.

"It will be macabre to some, but violently hysterical to others."

Mooney said the quirky events always sold well because it was a chance to "get dressed up and play silly buggers".

- The Dominion Post

Tea Lady notes: "I wonder what sort of tea they'll be serving? 1001 Nights? Sleepy Dream Time?"

SWAP COFFEE FOR A HEALTHIER CUP OF TEA

A cup of tea after dinner has health benefits. Photo / Thinkstock

Have a glass of wine with dinner - but afterwards you should swap that coffee for a cup of tea if you want to live longer, health experts have pronounced.

Researchers in France who compared mortality among tea and coffee drinkers found that death rates from non-cardiac causes were 24 per cent lower among regular tea-drinkers than among those who chose coffee.

The study of tea and coffee drinkers, presented at the same conference, looked at 131,000 people who had health check-ups in Paris over seven years. It found regular tea drinkers had 24 per cent lower mortality from non-cardiac causes than those who did not drink tea often, and slightly lower mortality from other causes.

Researchers said some of the differences were likely to be because tea drinkers were less likely than coffee drinkers to smoke.

Professor Nicolas Danchin, from European Hospital Georges Pompidou, said that based on current evidence, it was not clear if it was the properties of tea itself or the lifestyles of those who drank it that gave them longevity. But he said he would encourage people to choose tea rather than coffee.

"Tea has antioxidants which may provide survival benefits. Tea drinkers also have healthier lifestyles, so does tea drinking reflect a particular person profile or is it tea per se that improves outcomes?

"Pending the answer to that question, I think that you could fairly honestly recommend tea-drinking rather than coffee-drinking - and even rather than not drinking anything at all."

- Daily Telegraph UK

TAKE MEASURE OF YOUR TEA

There are a number of considerations when pursuing the perfect cup of tea. Some are out of our control such as water quality or, quelle horreur, second rate motel tea bags!

As tea drinkers, one of the things we can control when making loose leaf tea, is the amount of tea we use. Each tea has a range in which it produces the optimum taste. For a lighter taste, you want to use use the minimum amount of tea, but still enough for optimal flavour. For a stronger taste it's better to use slight more tea but not so much as to produce a bitter flavour. I like this range method as it takes into account people's personal preferences.

The following guide highlights a good starting point for how much tea leaf to use with various teas. When trying new teas, start with a lighter flavour and work your way to a stronger flavor over subsequent brewings.

Measurement Guidelines for 250ml (standard NZ cup size)

BLACK TEA

Light Flavour: 1 teaspoons, or about 3 grams of tea per 250ml of water.

Strong Flavour: 1.5 Teaspoons, or 5 grams of tea per 250ml of water.

GREEN TEA

Light Flavour: 1 level teaspoon, or about 2 grams of tea per 250ml of water.

Strong Flavour: 1 heaped teaspoon, or 4 grams of tea per 250ml of water.

WHITE TEA

Light Flavour: 1 teaspoon, or about 2 grams of per 250ml of water.

Strong Flavour: 2 teaspoons, or 4 grams of tea per 250ml of water.

HERBAL TEA

Light Flavour: 2 teaspoons, or about 3.5 grams of tea per 25ml of water.

Strong Flavour: 2.5-3 teaspoons, or 5-6 grams of tea per 250ml of water.

FRUIT TEA

Light Flavour: 1.5 teaspoons, or about 3.5 grams of tea per 250ml of water.

Strong Flavour: 2 - 2.5 teaspoons, or 5-6 grams of tea per 250ml of water.

For All The Tea In China - a good read

For All The Tea in China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History, written by Sarah Rose.  This is the dramatic story of one of the greatest acts of corporate espionage ever committed. Sarah Rose recounts the fascinating, unlikely circumstances surrounding a turning point in economic history. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the British East India Company faced the loss of its monopoly on the extremely lucrative tea trade with China, forcing it to make the drastic decision of sending Scottish botanist Robert Fortune to steal the crop from deep within China and bring it back to British plantations in India. Fortune's danger filled odyssey is magnificently recounted and reads like adventure fiction.

For those who like a good read in the company of a nice cuppa, this is it.
Tea recommendations to accompany this book:  A lovely malty Assam 'Mokalbari' or perhaps a light First Flush Darjeeling 'Jungpana'

Milk In First?

The tortured question was put to rest in 2003 by Britain's Royal Society of Chemistry. MIF (milk in first) creates a cup of tea that's smoother and richer; MIL, a cup that's more tannic. The chemical explanation involves the degradation of milk proteins. ''If milk is poured into hot tea, individual drops separate from the bulk of the milk and come into contact with the high temperatures of the tea for enough time for significant denaturation to occur. This is much less likely to happen if hot water is added to the milk,'' it reported. There are additional cultural and historical factors fuelling the MIF/MIL debate, but ultimately it comes down to a question of taste