Tea For Any Occasion

“If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please, bring me some coffee.”
Abraham Lincoln

Tea For Any Occasion
By Maya

I just love tea. Perhaps you do too, or you are  a coffee person? Or you simply enjoy both?
Well, no matter what ‘s your story, I would like to talk a bit about tea. When you realize the benefits of some teas it might win you over.
So whether you have a some kind of important celebration or just simple party,  evening for two, attempting to impress your partner with that extra touch, or just need to sit back and relax with some calming  music,  (here is some nice piece for you)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HaoTyRb2fM

you could create wonderful, colorful, pleasing and super tasty beverage.  Check stores, specifically health stores for their assortment and give a try to some. Besides white, black and green teas you could try all kinds of fruity flavored tea or various mixes. I personally love hibiscus tea, the color is only one of this kind, deepest red. Adding honey, ginger, even touch of rum (especially for guys) are just some of suggestion.

Note for coffee drinkers: Aroma of coffee is indisputably wonderful and could tease your senses, but
unfortunately if you drink too much of it there are some negative side effects due to its caffeine content. As an example  there could be increased cardiovascular disease factors, including high blood pressure, nervousness and irritability to name a few.
It is very much habit forming so many couldn’t even start their day properly without it any more. Withdrawal can cause headache and dizziness. I personally drink it very seldom, however, if I drink it after 5pm, sleepless night is to be looked forward to for me. Of course teas contain also caffeine, (although there is a huge choice of caffeine free ones for increased daily consumption) but the curve of “giving you perks” is longer and slower that it is with coffee.
As a conclusion I’d like to say that tea lovers shall be very satisfied with this offer and others should simply give a try.
Let’s face it, what we don’t know we can’t judge and who knows, perhaps this something you’ll try would become your favored… Considering preparation, instructions and various preparation ideas are included, plus there is no end to your own creativity, which might be actually very much appreciated by others also. No, you don’t have to study 10 years as Japanese geisha’s methods to master special preparations of endless sorts of teas for all possible and impossible occasions and still excel and be admired for your skill. So, enjoy your tea creations!

Joining you at your tea party ;-)

Maya

I have discovered some history about tea, so you might get a bit educated here also:

The Emperor was inquisitive by nature, and tasted the colored water.
In another myth, Siddhartha Guatma, the founder of Buddhism, fell asleep whilst meditating. He was so upset with himself for falling asleep, that he cut off his eyelids and buried them. They then grew into the first tea plant, with the leaves looking like eyelids.
Tea was around at the same time as Confucious (551-479BC), and rapidly increased in popularity during the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD). By the 3rd Century AD, tea was so popular that it needed its own character symbol, ch’a. This popularity saw it becoming the national drink of China during the Tang Dynasty (618-906AD). During the 8th Century, the writer Lu Yu wrote the first book entirely on the subject of tea, the Ch’a Ching, or Tea Classic which outlined how to make tea, and how tea should be drunk. Tea was also introduced to Japan around this time, by Buddhist monks who had come to China to study.
It took until the late 16th Century for Europeans to discover tea when Dutch and Portuguese traders living in the East Indies started sending tea home as gifts. Although hard to believe now, the British weren’t taken with tea, and even by 1658, tea was still a novelty in Britain. The Portuguese Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles 2nd, loved tea, which helped it to become popular in Britain.
Due to a high tax on tea, it was too expensive for the less well-off, and smuggling was rife. Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger drastically reduced the tax on tea from 119% to 12.5% in 1784, which immediately made tea affordable, and stopped the smuggling almost overnight. In 1851 the annual tea consumption in Britain was around 2lbs per person; by 1901 this had trebled to over 6lbs per person. Patents for the first tea bags were made around this time.
Tea still remains the most popular drink in Britain. Whilst tea bags are favored by over 90% of tea drinkers, tea purists still maintain that loose tea tastes better. In addition, using loose tea allows the drinker to choose their own type and flavor of tea. Different white teas, black teas and green teas are available from different countries.
In the same way that wine connoisseurs know the difference between wines made with different grapes and from different countries, tea experts can tell the difference between teas. Different teas need different brewing times and temperatures for the optimum taste and flavor. Getting this wrong can ruin the taste and flavor of the tea. Getting the brewing process right can lead to a new favorite tea. Learning the optimum times and temperatures for all of your favorite teas may take some time, but it will be worth it.
Now you know more about the history of the nation’s favorite drink, why not try some different types of fine gourmet tea instead of a teabag next time you make a cup of tea.

Related Posts:

• Discover Hibiscus…
• Sinful Grapefruit
• Salmon…Russian Way
• Apple Crisp

By Maya | Published in: Special Recipes | Tags: healthy teas, recipes, specialty teas, tea