Archive for the ‘Tea’ Category

Some Like it Iced

Posted on: August 24th, 2010 by Dana Hunter in Tea | Tags: ,  | No Comments

Hungarian Iced TeaI drink a lot of hot tea year round, but during the warmest months I supplement that with copious amounts of iced tea.  Walking around one day last May, I even stopped for iced tea while on my way…to get iced tea.  It’s an addiction.  I was also recently drinking quite a bit of it on a two-day drive back to the East Coast.  Of course, being on the road in the middle of nowhere means the iced tea options are pretty limited.  Thankfully, McDonald’s fresh brews Lipton tea every day (sweet and unsweet), and for $1 you get a giant cup of it.  It was really the only option (other than getting it at Wendy’s), but it’s certainly better than consuming multiple liters of Mountain Dew every day.  This may be the only time you see me recommending McDonald’s for anything.

So how did iced tea come into being, given that the vast majority of tea drinkers outside of the US are content to take it hot, no matter the temperature? A common myth is that it originated at the 1904 World’s Fair in St Louis and proved immensely popular.  Given the sweltwering heat and humidity of a St Louis summer, it’s no surprise that it would be a popular drink, but there appear to be iced tea recipes dating from as early as the mid-1800′s.  There has since been an explosion in the variations of iced tea, most famously the sweet teas of the South.  85% of tea served in the US is served iced, and in many regions, this is practically the only way to get tea (leading to the addition of the iced tea spoon to the silverware drawer).

Another popular variation is sun tea, in which the teabags are steeped outside in a large glass jar for several hours while sitting in a warm, sunny spot.  Growing up, this was always how we made tea during the summer.  Arnie Palmers have become popular too; these are half-tea/half-lemonade.

Of course, iced tea is now common in other parts of the world.  Both Lipton and Nestle have made mass market bottled, powdered, and flavored teas to appeal to everyone.  Although I find many of these to be intolerably sweet.  While on vacation in Montreal once I ordered iced tea at a popular restaurant.  I really did expect to get a large glass of black, unsweeted iced tea served with a lemon.  Instead I got a can of Nestea that I could barely drink.  Of course these same ones are available in the US, but if that’s what is served by default in other countries, it’s no surprise that iced tea hasn’t taken off quite as well as it did here.

Another famous variation is bubble tea, a recent popular import from Taiwan.  It’s a sweet or flavored tea (sometimes milky), served with tapioca or jelly pearls.  It spread in the US from the West Coast, and now even in Minneapolis is bubble tea an extremely common drink to find.  If you’re drinking it for the first time, the tapioca pears may be a little interesting at first.

Although I love iced tea almost as much as I love it hot (really, you can have every kind of tea over ice), I find that I drink it with a different mindset than I do hot tea.  When I want hot tea, I’m usually trying to relax or get a lot of work done.  I’ll make hot tea in the evening to help calm down after a long day and get ready for bed.  On a cold day in winter, hot tea is the best at helping to create that cozy feeling.  I find I drink iced tea when I want to be out and about or trying to get an extra little kick of energy to tackle a hot and humid day with.

There are many ways to make iced tea, but I find that brewing a stronger pot of tea and pouring that over ice works well.  Another variation I have tried is filling a pitcher with half-cold/half-boiling water and adding tea bags to steep until desired strength is reached.  This can then be put in the fridge to finish chilling.  For sun tea, I take a large mason jar or container with a spigot.  I fill that up with water and put the desired amount of tea bags in, and set it in the sun for a few hours, then chill.

Organic Lemon Deliciousness

Posted on: August 4th, 2010 by Dana Hunter in Tea | No Comments

Lemon Zest: Photo by davitydaveWhat: Organic Fair Trade Summer Lemon
From: Infinitea
Where: Infinitea – Minneapolis

I mentioned in a previous post that I am partial to citrus flavored teas (as I don’t totally avoid flavored teas). At a tasting a few weeks back led by David Duckler (of Verdant Tea), he brought out the organic Summer Lemon. From even one tiny tasting cup I could smell the wallop of lemon this tea packs. Today I finally remembered to order a pot of it to try out.

It is definitely delicious. Dried, the tea smells like an entire canister of grated lemon zest would. I know this would turn some people off, as they might expect the tea to taste like Palmolive, but it brews up nicely. The black tea itself is pretty hearty – it’s most likely an Assam or Ceylon. I think it’s an Assam, because it does come up so dark, but I’ll have to ask Dave (the expert) to find out for sure. The lemon flavor is very obvious, but not in a soapy kind of way. It tastes like you fresh squeezed a slice of lemon in; there’s just enough flavor.  It’s definitely a new favorite and I think some of it is going to have to come home with me very soon.

What some people might wonder about is that this is labeled as an organic and fair trade tea. To be qualified as organic, tea must be grown on land that is free from pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, or man-made chemicals. In many aspects, most tea would likely qualify as organic. The flavor of the tea is heavily influenced by the plants’ surroundings – anything in the water or soil will be absorbed into the plant and affect the flavor (this is why teas that are grown high on mountain sides where the water is filtered naturally are some of the most highly prized). If the tea plants were being treated with chemicals you’d likely taste that in the tea. And you probably wouldn’t want to drink that in any case. The “organic” label is more the result of the formal certification process. Achieving organic certification (for any type of agriculture, really) is very expensive and it’s usually only the largest estates that can afford the certification. However without the certification by an official body, the product can’t be labeled organic.  Today many tea shops and online retailers provide large selections of certified teas, such as Arbor Teas.

US and Canada Fair Trade Logo Fair trade is a different concept.  Fair trade aims to aid producers (chiefly in developing countries) bring their products to markets in developed countries more directly and at rates that provide fairer compensation to the producers.  It has its own certification process, as well, which aims to ensure that certain ethical standards ( such as worker compensation, no child labor) and environmental stewardship goals are met.  As fair trade products are a growing industry worldwide, there is still a lot of room for debate as to how well producers in under-developed and poorly monitored countries adhere to fair trade standards.  There is certainly room for debate about the label of ‘fair trade’ to tea when much of what is consumed in the world is grown on large estates – not necessarily the small farmer business that would benefit most from fair trade promotion.  When buying fair trade tea, it is probably best to research which estates really are fair trade-oriented before purchasing.

Oolong and…rhubarb?

Posted on: July 22nd, 2010 by Dana Hunter in Tea | Tags: , ,  | No Comments

Steeping a rhubarb oolong teaTea: Rhubarb Oolong
From: TeaSource
Where: Bob’s Java Hut

Back at Bob’s. Again. I’ve been tempted back with a new tea to try: a rhubarb oolong. I know what you’re thinking. “Rhubarb? To drink? Wha…what?” The oolong is blended with dried rhubarb and upon steeping gets a “distinctive fruity-rhubarb tang,” according to the TeaSource website.  Of course, rhubarb isn’t for everyone.  In the US it’s that strange red celery stalk-like thing that gets put into pies with strawberries.  It’s combination with tea isn’t unusual from a traditional perspective, though.  In China rhubarb has been used medicinally since at least 2700 BC.

I admit, I’m not a fan of rhubarb.  For me, the oolong used in the tea is very subtle and delicate; it doesn’t seem to be there very much at all, and it’s much closer to a green tea than a black.  The rhubarb flavor comes out pretty strong in this tea – the first few sips feel like a tart shock to the palate.  I’m halfway through a very large cup of it, and my taste buds seem to have become inured to the shock finally.  I’m drinking this hot.  I think serving it iced would help mellow this out a little more.

But why even flavor a tea in the first place?  Flavoring teas isn’t a new 21st Century trend.  For example, tea has grown naturally in India for thousands of years.  However the native tea plant has bitter flavored leaves that don’t make for a pleasant drink.  When it was discovered that the tea leaves could be used medicinally they were flavored with spices (clove, cardamon, ginger, etc) to make them more palatable.  The bergamot flavor of Earl Grey tea was probably first added in the 1830s to some China black tea. Although no one knows for sure (and Jackson’s of Picadilly sure isn’t telling), adding the oil to the tea leaves could have been an easy way of covering up a poor shipment or just standing out from the rest of the market and charging a bit of a premium price.

Covering up poor tasting tea isn’t as much of a concern today as it was thousands of (or perhaps just a hundred) years ago.  It seems every kind of tea has a range of complementary fruits, spices, or essential oils to add to it.  And I do love some flavored teas myself (I’m partial to anything citrus).  It seems that flavoring tea (especially in the US) is done often to catch new tea drinkers or help convert them from bitter, oversteeped supermarket tea bags.  If you’re buying your first box of tea and don’t know what to get, wouldn’t you be more likely to pick something with a favorite flavor to begin with?

I do know some who are tea purists but take the time to craft exceptional flavored blends that live up to the quality of tea they’re selling.  And then there are those to rail against any sort of flavored tea as a modern trend that just ruins the flavor and tradition of tea.  Either way, choosing a flavored tea should be done because it’s something you enjoy and appreciate.  Whatever it tastes like, it should be a moment out of your day when you can relax and just concentrate on something a little slower for a while.

Now, are you really going to add some milk and sugar to that?

Breakfast in Sri Lanka

Posted on: July 18th, 2010 by Dana Hunter in Tea | Tags: , ,  | No Comments

Lipton Tea - Photo by Steve SnodgrassTea: Ceylon Breakfast
From: Tea Source
Where: Bob’s Java Hut

It might be the afternoon, but on an extra lazy Sunday, sometimes a swift kick is needed to get the day rolling.  The benefit of independent Minneapolis coffee shops is that, with several local tea sellers, they invariably have a good, if not small, selection of quality loose leaf teas.  Thus, my Sunday can finally begin with a mug (or three) of some Ceylon Breakfast, while I wrap my hands around it to warm up in the cold air conditioning.

The tea itself is hearty, without the malted flavor that defines English and Irish Breakfasts.  Tea Source, the local supplier, describes it on their site as having the “classic Ceylon “fruitiness” coming through in the aroma and the flavor.”  Which it does indeed have, but to a lesser extent than the citrus flavor many Ceylon teas are famous for.  I like this tea, and a good three or four minute (if you really need a kick in the pants) steeping brings it up to full strength.  On the second go around it doesn’t have any bitterness to it.

What’s perhaps more interesting than the tea itself is the history of Ceylon tea.  Today the tiny island off the coast of India is known as Sri Lanka.  What many people don’t realize is that large scale tea production outside of China developed much later, generally with the arrival of the British who discovered an unusual fondness for tea during their gradual takeover of much of the world.

The first plantation was planted in the 1860s by James Taylor after the Ceylon coffee industry was devastated by “coffee blight.”  Despite its tiny size, Sri Lanka today is one of the world’s largest exporters of tea and the fourth-largest producer.  Many Ceylon teas are known for their high quality (especially Ceylon Silver Tips) due to the island’s fortune in having highlands and a cool, wet climate.  Teas grown at lower elevations are often used in blends and take on distinct flavors according to elevation.

In the US, Ceylon tea remains most famous as the Lipton tea, which was distributed throughout the US and Europe by Thomas Lipton, who made distribution deals direct with the plantations to bring teas to the masses at unheard of low prices (this is in the late 19th Century, mind you).  Today’s Lipton blends are no longer purely Ceylon, but instead incorporate teas from China, India, and Kenya.  The Lipton Institute of Tea carefully oversees each blend, however, ensuring that the classic Lipton flavor never wavers.

Edit: What fortune!  NPR today just put up a tea-related segment from All Things Considered, discussing a new book on Thomas Lipton.  The book is A Full Cup: Sir Thomas Lipton’s Extraordinary Life and His Quest for the America’s Cup, by Michael D’Antonio.


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