All About Tea

Will, Kate, and the family have arrived in Victoria (I happened to catch a glimpse of them accidentally which was kinda cool and very memorable) so we are in the British mood and are continuing on with our British blog posts. Today our focus is on something very British, tea! Nicole is a tea expert, she loves everything tea, and I do like tea a lot too so we are going to have a fun time with this post. I have broken down the blog post into four categories, tea etiquette, things you have tea in, kinds of tea, and how to make tea. So grab a cup of tea and read on about all things tea!

Tea Etiquette

I’m going to first start off by saying look at the links to these pages. They have some very helpful hints to help guide you through a proper afternoon of high tea.

http://www.afternoontea.co.uk/blog/the-afternoonteacouk-team/afternoon-tea-etiquette-top-10-do's-don'ts/

http://www.etiquettescholar.com/dining_etiquette/tea_etiquette.html

In North America it is common to have tea between 3-5pm with 4pm being the best time for tea. Along with a variety of teas; you should serve little sandwiches, scones, and pastries and in that order. As you have seen in the links above, there are guides in how to invite people to tea; you can be as informal or formal as you want to be.

Also included on the websites are supplies that you will need in order to have your tea.

There are lots of suggestions how to run your afternoon tea time, but you can be as proper or as informal as you would like. These are only guidelines. 

Things You Have Tea In

Nicole apparently loves tea cups just like she loves tea so she found a website that has the history of tea cups that she is sharing with everyone.

http://demiq-demitasse-cups-saucers.blogspot.ca/2011/03/history-of-cup-saucer.html

 

She also found some neat tea cups that you can serve your tea in. Take a look.

Kinds of Tea

Typically tea is broken down into 4 types, white, green Oolong, and black. Follow these guides to see the benefits of each type of tea.

http://www.octaviatea.com/pages/tea-guide.html

You can also have tea bags or loose tea. Tea bags are easy to use and easy to clean up. They are also relatively inexpensive and come in many types of flavors. Loose tea has more flavor because the leaves are still intact and are larger. They have all of their essential oils and aroma left. Loose tea does require some extra tools and time. Both are popular and in the end it is personal preference when it comes to making yourself a cup of tea.  

If you are into different flavors of tea check out these websites...

 

http://www.tetley.ca/en/our-teas/our-full-range

http://www.twinings.ca/templates/group_ProductGroup.aspx?GroupGuid=100

http://www.twinings.ca/templates/group_ProductGroup.aspx?GroupGuid=101

https://www.davidstea.com/

How to Make Tea

 Here’s how to make a perfect pot of tea.

First start off with a clean tea pot and then swirl around some hot water in the pot before you begin making your tea.

Decide if you are making black tea or green tea first of all.

For black tea, you want to make sure the water is around 97 degrees and for green tea around 70 degrees.

If you are using a tea bag it is best to steep for 2-3 ½ minutes and if you are using loose tea they recommend steeping for up to 7 minutes. The Twinings website says that “the larger the leaf, the longer the brewing time. Earl Grey and Lady grey need five minutes while smaller leaf teas will only need about four minutes.”

After steeping, pour into cups and then add your milk, honey, sugar, or lemon wedges. 

*Some people will put the milk/cream into the cup before adding the tea; apparently this was done in the past to protect the bone china that tea cups were made from, but now, it is a personal choice.

http://www.twinings.com/int/l2c_perfect_cup.php