B is for Brew Basket, a tool used to make loose-leaf tea that I have exceptional difficulty using.  One would think I would have figured it out after so many failed attempts…

C is for Caffeine, as many people get their daily dose of caffeine from tea.  Not me, though.  I drink caffeine free.  Too much caffeine makes me hyper.

D is for Darjeeling, a bright and tangy tea grown in the foothills of the Himalayas.  It’s very good, and if you like Earl Grey, you’ll probably like it.

E is for English Breakfast, one of the best known tea blends, and my personal favorite.

F is for Fresh and Easy, a nice, natural-ish grocery store about ten minutes away from where I live.  They sell 100-count and 40-count boxes of English Breakfast tea for the same price.  No complaints here.

G is for Ginger, a spice used to flavor tea.

H is for Hot, the temperature of a good cup of tea on a cold morning.

I is for Iced, the temperature of a glass of tea in the hot summer air.

J is for Jasmine, a flower found in many herbal teas.

K is for Kitty Cats, who like tea.  Especially mine.

L is for Loose Leaf, the original type of tea that requires the aforementioned tool I have trouble with.

M is for Milk, a simple, old-fashioned additive to tea.

N is for Natural, the types of flavors you wish to have added to your tea, as opposed to artificial flavoring.

O is for Organic, as in the yummy organic teas we all like.

P is for Peppermint, a flavor that many teas have.

Q is for Quantity, referring to the large quantity of tea that many others and I consume.

R is for Rachel, my sister - a fellow T Ching blogger - who can actually use a brew basket.

S is for Steep, what your tea does before you drink it.

T is for Tea, the drink and the inspiration for art and literature, among many other things.

U is for Unanimous, the vote of all T Ching bloggers that tea is delicious.

V is for Vanilla, a flavor included in many teas.

W is for Water - what you need to make tea, unless you like eating the leaves; some people do.

X is for Xylose, what diabetics use to sweeten their tea.  Also known as “I’m scraping the bottom of the bucket here”.

Y is for Yoga, an activity that many tea drinkers partake in.  I’m not one of those people.

Z is for Zesty, the perfect adjective for lemon tea.

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This week, a release hit the tea news wires from the budding U.S. Tea Giant, TeaGschwendner.  Initials no coincidence, huh?  Their website’s even tgtea.com.  The release stated that “loose leaf tea is gradually becoming a way of life for millions of consumers nationwide”.

True - loose-leaf tea is a healthy (pun fully intended) growing niche.  But is it a way of life for most Americans?  No, not yet (I guess Tea G did, quite appropriately, use the qualifier gradually…).

Tea G’s news release also states that “Globally, more than 3 billion cups of tea are consumed every day”.  The Tea Association of the U.S.A. Inc. reported that in 2007, 55 billion servings of tea were drunk by Americans.  Even if we give tea a 15% growth rate (steep, eh?) over the past 2+ years, we Americans would presently be consuming about 75 billion servings annually, about 7% of the tea consumed on the earth today.  Sounds right in line with our share of the world’s population (5%), but not really.  I think we all know that we Americans are out-of-control consumers.  When we compare our per-capita consumption of tea with, for example, water and energy (we consume 6X the world average of each of these), meat and fish (5X), paper (8X), and automobiles (18X), it becomes very clear that tea still has a lot of catching up to do to in the U.S. consumer market*.  No wonder companies like Tea G, Itoen, Unilever, and Tata are cool with wetting their toes in the U.S. waters while consumers gradually get enlightened about tea.

I’ll leave you with an actual solicitation that was posted in a tea forum a few years ago.  It stunned me to read it, because we Americans don’t like to think we’re ever near the bottom of any consumption totem pole…but read on:

“We are Ukrainian Import-Export wholesaler.  In our country we supply military bases, prisons and other Governmental Institutions.  We mostly interested in cheap (low quality) BOP tea, but not CTC tea.  At present we urgently want to buy 18t of black tea (BOP). Place of origin we are particularly interested in is Shri-Lanka or China.  We can accept both bulk or packed.  But we prefer packed into consumer boxes by 100g.  Please send us your offer with FOB price per 1pcs (100g box) or per 1kg.”

Given the Tea Association of the U.S.A.’s statistic that 65 percent of tea brewed in the United States is in tea bags, odds are you are drinking lower-quality tea than a Ukrainian prisoner.  But you’re eating a lot more meat and sugar, scribbling on more paper, and probably driving a cooler car than he is.  Happy sipping!

* World Bank Development Report 2007

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A recent study, conducted by Kai On Chu et al - leading researchers in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Eye Hospital in Kowloon, Hong Kong, has shown that the catechins in green tea were able to pass the blood-retinal barrier and were found in varied concentrations in different parts of the eyes of rats that were used as subjects.  Gallocatechin (GC) was found in the highest concentrations in the retina and epigallocatechin (EGC) in the aqueous humor, with other catechin forms showing up in different areas of the eyes.  Interestingly, EGCG showed up only weakly in the different tissues of the eye.  The researchers also discovered that some of the catechins were maintained at high levels of concentration - in some areas, for up to 20 hours.

An important question here is whether having various catechins present in tissues (especially those other than the highly reputed EGCG) necessarily means there is a beneficial effect.  One of the ways to assess the health benefits of polyphenols is to determine if they have an anti-oxidative effect in the body.  Oxidative damage to tissues is the result of free radicals (reactive oxygen species) that can be destructive to cells and DNA.  Some of the most significant effects of prolonged exposure to oxidative stress in the eyes are the formation of cataracts, damage to retinal tissue, and glaucoma.  Kai On Chu and his colleagues measured the levels of 8-epi-isoprostane in the eyes of the rats, before and after administration of the green tea extract.  8-epi-isoprostane is a compound, the presence of which indicates oxidative damage to tissues.  The post-test measures of this compound in the eye showed significant decreases, maintained throughout the entire study period, showing that the catechins in the administered green tea extract had substantial anti-oxidative effects.

I believe there are two important lessons to take from this study.  One is that, as always, it is important to take the results of studies that use in-vitro or animal models cautiously, as these models don’t always translate to similar effects in the human body.  The second lesson of interest to me is the fact that EGCG had a weak effect in the eye.  I believe this is important because of the issue of using isolated constituents vs. the whole substance.  I have written about this issue many times before (you can read a related comment I made to a recent post), and believe it important enough to continue to repeat.  As a result of the findings of this study, we can extrapolate that if someone were to take a concentrated extract of just EGCG, they would not reap the benefits of the significant anti-oxidant effects that the other catechin compounds, like GC and EGC, have on eye tissue.

The take-away lesson here is to make sure that you drink a variety of teas that are of different types as well as within the same variety.  No two plants are exactly alike and each contains different concentrations of a variety of healthy compounds.  The same holds true for food.  Variety is more than just the spice of life; it is life itself.  I hope this helps you to see your way to drinking more tea.

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Whether butter, cream, or oil, food chemistry tells us that fat is a carrier of flavor to the palate.  Here, sweet, unsalted butter is the fat of choice - with their dairy sweetness, Plugra brand or cultured butter from Vermont Butter and Cheese would be my choice.  Butter’s the perfect medium to capture all of tea’s flavor (without any tannic bitterness) and deliver it in a mellow sauce that is the perfect accompaniment to many center-of-the-plate proteins.  You wind up with a full and satisfying taste experience as the butter melts and mingles with the pan juices.

When making tea butter, I most often reach for Yunnan or Keemun, the lightly scented and delicate black teas from China.  If you venture into smoky tea territory with Lapsang Souchong - particularly good on scallops or shrimp - you will be adding a depth to foods that might otherwise be achieved on an outdoor grill, used only by the intrepid in the cooler months.

Here’s how to turn whole premium leaf tea and good-quality unsalted butter into something much greater than the sum of its parts:

Use about one tablespoon of butter per each four-to-five-ounce serving of protein (four tablespoons will serve four).  In a small saucepan, melt the butter until just liquid.  Add 2 grams (or approximately 1-1/2 teaspoons) of fresh, fragrant premium whole-leaf tea per tablespoon of butter (the key to flavor is freshness so be sure that you are using only tea that is highly aromatic and butter that has no off aromas or flavors).  Continue heating the mixture for about 5 minutes on the lowest possible heat setting.  Remove from the heat and allow to stand for another 5 minutes or so, or until the butter is discernibly tinted by the tea leaves.  Pour the mixture through a fine sieve, pressing hard on the tea leaves and then discarding them.  Reserve and salt the flavored butter to taste.

At this point, you have two options.  First, you may use the tea butter as is, drizzling it over the meat or seafood in the sauté pan and allowing it to mix with the pan juices exuded after the protein has been cooked.  Or, you may chill it until it is firm and then, with the help of parchment paper, wax paper, or foil, coax it into a roughly round cylinder.  Chill again and when fully chilled, cut the cylinder into ½-inch thick medallions and place over the meat or fish just before serving, allowing it to melt into deliciously rich rivulets on the plate.

You might also wish to try this with your favorite green and oolong teas. Let me know how things turn out.

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Although the manufacturer assured me that BPAs were not released into the water, I’d still prefer to eliminate the plastic entirely.  Remember how safe we all felt about nalgene water bottles initially?  When I saw Capresso’s glass canister, I was intrigued.

The Capresso is attractive and easy to use, with five temperature settings ranging from 100 to boil.  I love the fact that it can heat water to temperatures other than boiling.  That allows for optimal oxygenation of the water.  I promptly filled the carafe with the minimum allowable amount of water - which is 16 ounces - a bit more than I’d like.  If I’m making tea for myself and my partner, that’s perfect.  But if it’s just for me, that’s twice as much water as I need, which causes me to have to wait longer than necessary for the correct temperature - which in my case is just under two minutes for 195 degrees.  If I can get the water started before I get my tea ready, I find that I’m not waiting long at all.  The first few heatings released an unpleasant plastic odor, but it passed after that.  I suspect it came from the plastic lid, which fortunately doesn’t touch the heating water.  After I pour my eight ounces, there is considerable condensation on the carafe as I leave the remaining water to sit.  Since the water didn’t boil, I’m willing to leave the filtered water in the carafe and refill it to reach the minimum water level.  I’d prefer having a smaller carafe, but I realize I’m not the typical tea drinker and most consumers want more than eight ounces of water when preparing their tea.

All things considered, this is a tea-making appliance that will get lots of use at my house.  It’s a big step in the right direction.  With a price point of $89.99, I think it’s a healthy alternative for having quick hot water available in less than a few minutes - no timer or thermometer needed.

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Pu-erh, however, has a multitude of exceptional qualities that make it well worth trying, whether the buds are old or young.  For instance, pu-erh is made from tea leaves that are broad, making the leaves a little different in chemical composition.  Fortunately, for those interested in weight loss, this chemical composition helps burn more fat than many other teas.

The way in which pu-erh tea is processed is also notable.  Aged pu-erh, or shu, is a post-fermented tea, but its younger variant (sheng) is a green tea.  In fact, there are four kinds of pu-erh - maocha (green leaves), green/raw, ripened/cooked, and aged raw (considered the best).  Although not all pu-erh is extremely expensive, raw pu-erh, aged from 10 to 50 years, can run thousands of dollars per ounce.

To prepare a delicious cup of pu-erh, you might consider buying mushroom pu-erh, or tuocha.  These varieties are smaller and easier to steam.  To serve it correctly, try gongfu style, using yixing teaware or a gaiwan teacup.  Steep your pu-erh for about five to ten minutes if you want a deep, dark taste.  It is acceptable to steep this aged variant for awhile as the slow oxidation and protracted fermentation process make pu-erh less astringent than some teas.

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You may have read a book written by Mark: The Ultimate Tea Diet.  Or you may have visited his former retail home in West Hollywood known as Dr. Tea’s Tea Emporium - formerly Elixir - where blends were prepared and drinks were concocted with bartending flair using teas and herbals from around the world in original recipes, and where you could take them outside into the most beautiful enclosed garden space in the heart of the big city and “zen out”.  Mark has since left the space due to an unrealistic and untenable space rent increase, but he continues his web site, writing, and interviews, one of which he gave me recently.

Mark’s family in Iraq was in the tea and coffee distribution business for decades, but Mark followed another career direction here in America.  Sadly, the Iraq war with Iran and then the U.S. invasion of Iraq wreaked havoc on and ultimately destroyed his grandfather’s business.

So when Mark serendipitously decided to enter the tea business two decades ago after working in the “green” industry in Northern California, his father reminded him of the family background.  Mark thinks tea might just be in his genes.

While the retail store is, sadly, no more, there is good news.  His Internet business is thriving and, without the retail expenses, his bottom line has actually improved.  He has enough goodwill and recognition to give him a leg up in the web world and smaller online retailers buy wholesale from him as well.

The latest project his publisher is suggesting is a complete line of small books dedicated to the health benefits of tea that would be impulse-friendly at the POS station of tea-related and/or health-related retailers.

“Dr. Tea” continues to be contacted for interviews and information on tea by the media.  He has flair and knows his subject and is “open to whatever the universe sends”.

Would he go into a retail environment again?  Yes, he says, under the right circumstances.  Tea lover and aesthetic though he is, Mark Ukra is also a sharp businessman who knows that to survive in a very competitive industry in a challenging economy, you have to be able to do more than steep a good cup of tea - you must find the right opportunities and then step out and walk through the door.

If the bright orange coat doesn’t tell you something about Mark Ukra, his ability to take his message to the national media should.  He is serious about the business of tea and looking for those right opportunities every day.

After losing her fortune, Miss Matty converts her dining-parlor room into a tea shop.  Mary Smith, the character who chronicles the lives of those living in the fictional town of Cranford, tries to change how Miss Matty views green tea this way:

The only alteration I could have desired in Miss Matty’s way of doing business was, that she should not have so plaintively entreated some of her customers not to buy green tea - running it down as a slow poison, sure to destroy the nerves, and produce all manner of evil.  Their pertinacity in taking it, in spite of all her warnings, distressed her so much that I really thought she would relinquish the sale of it, and so lose half her customers; and I was driven to my wits’ end for instances of longevity entirely attributable to a persevering use of green tea.  But the final argument, which settled the question, was a happy reference of mine to the train-oil and tallow candles which the Esquimaux not only enjoy but digest.  After that she acknowledged that “one man’s meat might be another man’s poison,” and contented herself thence-forward with an occasional remonstrance when she thought the purchaser was too young and innocent to be acquainted with the evil effects green tea produced on some constitutions, and an habitual sigh when people old enough to choose more wisely would prefer it.

And how was this tea business idea acquired in the first place?  As described in the following passage, it was originally the narrator Mary Smith’s proposal:

But when the tea-urn was brought in a new thought came into my head.  Why should not Miss Matty sell tea - be an agent to the East India Tea Company which then existed?  I could see no objections to this plan, while the advantages were many - always supposing that Miss Matty could get over the degradation of condescending to anything like trade.  Tea was neither greasy nor sticky - grease and stickiness being two of the qualities which Miss Matty could not endure.  No shop-window would be required.  A small, genteel notification of her being licensed to sell tea would, it is true, be necessary, but I hoped that it could be placed where no one would see it.  Neither was tea a heavy article, so as to tax Miss Matty’s fragile strength.  The only thing against my plan was the buying and selling involved.

Time might have changed tea in many aspects, but many of the challenges faced by tea business owners remain the same today.

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Teaware vs. tea basically boils down to permanence vs. impermanence.  A cup or teapot should last for a long time - maybe not forever - but certainly for a lot longer than it would take to drink a cup of tea, setting aside clumsy tendencies on the part of the tea drinker.  So the question becomes: would I rather spend $30-40 on a cup, or on the tea to put in it?  We know full well that we will eventually drink the tea and it will be gone, whereas the cup - if we are lucky - may outlast us, and be passed on.

I also like to think that we can foster a love of our teaware.  With some pieces, it is love at first sight, whereas with others, it is a love that develops gradually.  I actually like those pieces of teaware best that I have come to appreciate gradually through constant use.

For many of us, we have learned to love the leaf so much that we wish to treat it with the utmost respect.  We want to serve it in special vessels like an offering to an ancestor or at an altar.

There are many steps to enjoying the leaf, and many different types of leaf to enjoy.  But the great thing about teaware is it will hopefully last, allowing us to enjoy many more teas as things of beauty.

Reading tea leaves may conjure up a variety of associations - perhaps of gypsy fortune tellers or ancient Chinese dynasties.  As tea has traveled, so has the art of reading its leaves.  Cultures from Asia, ancient Greece, and the Middle East have all traditionally, and independently, practiced tasseography.  Today, Scottish, Irish, and European cultures also practice reading tea leaves.  To do so, brew a cup of tea using loose-leaf tea and no strainer.  After drinking most of the liquid, with just a little left at the bottom of the cup, turn over the teacup and drain the contents onto a saucer.  The images and patterns created by the tea leaves are read to respond to a question the tea drinker contemplated as he/she drank.  There are a variety of web sites and books that describe what the images and patterns in the cup might mean.  The idea involves the tea drinker moving into a meditative state as he/she consumes the tea and reads the leaves’ traces.  The drinker’s energy naturally affects the shapes the tea leaves assume in very subtle ways - how the cup is held, how slowly or quickly the tea is consumed, and how the water is swirled around.  The idea is that an answer to the question the drinker has in mind will reveal itself in the tea leaves, as they are inextricably linked to his/her subconscious mind.  Someone practiced in tasseography can read others’ tea leaves as well, which involves both the meditative state of the reader and the natural energy of the tea drinker.

As with all kinds of reading, imagination is a key element.  I do not mean “invention,” but simply the recognition that anything we read involves imagination and understanding its relation to reality.  For instance, tracking an animal, even with visible prints, involves imagination - building a narrative out of what’s seen.  A Tibetan Buddhist practiced in the art of reading a pulse can diagnose diseases both by understanding the science as well as imaginatively seeing the person’s whole life and story.  As with any art, tasseography involves both practice and imaginative engagement.

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