A Cup of Tea

When I’m traveling, I love checking out local tea shops. Last December when I was in Anaheim, California, I stopped by Zama Tea. Their location in the Anaheim Packing District is a fancy kiosk. They had a wide variety of teas available. I picked Do Re Tea because it has a great name and I liked the cherry smell. When I opened the bag to make a cup recently, I was surprised how by the strong cherry smell wafting up from my bag of tea. With a smell like that before brewing, I was concerned the cherry taste was going to be too sweet like a fake cherry flavoring. After steeping my tea for 4 minutes, I had a lovely deep red tea that had hints of cherry with hardly any smell at all. It was a smooth, delicious tea. I would gladly share this tea with my friends!

 

 

 

 

After seeing a big display of cold brew tea bags in the grocery store last week, I decided to do some research about the difference between a cold brew vs regular tea. I learned a cold brew tea is ground up to very small bits while your regular tea bag is not as finely ground. The cold brew bags tell me I can add cold water and simply let it steep for 2-4 minutes and have a delicious cup of cold tea. Well, I didn’t want to buy a new tea when I have so many at home, so I put a bag of Pomegranate White Tea into some cold water and in about 3 minutes I had delicious pink colored water.

After some researching, I found that regular tea bags work well for cold brew tea if they are left in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight. So, I tried China White Tea from McNulty’s and Wild Sweet Orange. This time I used two tea bags each with about 2 cups of water.

Here are the results. China White Tea is on the left and Wild Sweet Orange is on the right. While they both look good, the China White Tea was very bitter, pretty much undrinkable. The Wild Sweet Orange was tasty. I am enjoying it while sharing this review.

My recommendation is give cold brewing a try with your favorite tea. Why not? If it doesn’t work out the way you like the first time, call it an experiment and try again.

If you decide to give cold brewing a try, I found this to be a helpful place for information.

My husband is part of the Sunshine Committee at UMES School of Pharmacy and Health Professions. This hard-working group celebrates everyone who works there. On your birthday, you get a birthday card. When you have a special event in your life, you are celebrated with a special get together. Promotions, job changes, new arrivals, and good-byes are all celebrated well by the Sunshine Committee.

I’ve just begun learning more about Development by volunteering for UMES SPHP, and luckily, my volunteer day last week was the same day they were hosting a tea party! It was such a treat for me to help with setting up and cleaning up for a tea party. The menu featured finger sandwiches, cheese cubes, fruit salad, cream puffs, cupcakes decorated like flowers, and tea and lemonade. It was a fancy and fun affair! I’m very impressed at how this committee turned a boring room into a flower filled and fancy decorated tea room.

You will not be surprised to read that I love visiting tea shops. I love talking with the people who work at the shops and hearing their recommendations of new teas to try. And I love the free samples. Recently I visited  Capital Teas. They had two teas available for sampling. One of these teas I will never forget. I sampled their Sailor’s Delight. It was served cold and was so tasty. It is a blend of green and black tea with strawberry and papaya too. Delicious! I highly recommend it.

As I said I sampled this tea and enjoyed it. And then, I noticed that my tongue was tingling. Pretty soon my tongue started to swell a bit. As I was walking to the store to get some Benadryl, I began to cough. The good news is that I now know that I am allergic to papaya. I had been searching for years to find out what fruit I was allergic to after a reaction years ago. Also, good news is that after some medicine, lots of liquids, and a good night of sleep, I feel just like myself again. The bad news is that I won’t be able to drink Sailor’s Delight again. I do highly recommend it to everyone else!

Growing up my family drank tea. Not the delicious hot tea I enjoy today, they usually drank Lipton iced tea. In the summer, it was most often made as sun tea. We’d place our sun tea jar on the picnic table or steps to let the sun do the hard work of turning tap water into tea. Now there is evidence that this method does not get the water hot enough to kill all the potential bacteria. I do not remember anyone getting sick from sun tea when I was young. My point here is not to debate the merits of sun tea. I wanted to share memories of seeing my family enjoy drinking tea together on hot summer days. My parents got rid of our sun tea jar a few moves ago, and yet I still remember it.

I’d encourage you to reflect for awhile on summer memories. Feel free to share with others or in the comments section. Of course, I’ll give bonus points if your summer memories include a cup of tea.

Happy Summer! Happy Reminiscing!

As the temperature rises, I find myself drinking more fruity teas. And the Zinger teas are always a hit with me. This one is so smooth. I’m always surprised it doesn’t steep up in a bright orange color. I enjoy this tea because it is fruity without being sweet.

While researching this tea, I found it that it is the favorite Zinger to drink over ice. I’m not a big iced tea drinker. If you enjoy fun iced tea, you might want to give this one a try!

First of all, I must begin with a confession. Often, I drink the same teas day after day. Those Lady Grey tea bags just keep jumping into my mug. While it is perfectly acceptable to keep enjoying old favorites, it makes it difficult to recommend new teas to others. I decided to outsmart myself by rearranging my tea cabinet. Now, all my favorites are on the top shelf where I cannot reach them without a step stool. I won’t leave them up there too long. Just until I try a few teas that have been stuck behind all my favorites.

Today’s tea is one that got moved to the front of the cabinet in the tea shuffling, and I’m so glad it did. I am enjoying this tea. It is so dark that it looks like you have coffee in your cup. Good news, it doesn’t taste like coffee. No matter how long you leave your tea bag in the cup, this tea won’t turn bitter. No fruity taste to this tea. It just tastes like tea. This is the perfect tea for drinking on a dreary, rainy day. Plus, it is a fair trade, organic tea.

Recently I realized that it has been five years since our trip to the Charleston Tea Plantation. Before I dive into what that has to do with anything, I’d like to encourage everyone to plan a trip to Charleston, South Carolina because it is a wonderful city filled with history, beautiful buildings, delicious food, and so much to do. And, if you do plan this trip, go to the Charleston Tea Plantation. Tea lovers will enjoy seeing how tea is grown, harvested, and prepared to be enjoyed. Plus, you can enjoy a free cup of tea in their gift shop.

I mentioned it has been five years since we visited the Charleston Tea Plantation. This means the tea I purchased there is at least five years old. I did some research on how long tea is “good”. My research was inconclusive. Some people believe tea is only good for a certain amount of time depending on type of tea, storage methods, and a variety of other factors. I decided to do my own experiment. I would drink my five year old tea and see how it tastes. I know that the scientists out there would find my methods to be less than perfect, but since my goal is a good cup of tea and not being written up in a scientific journal I’m going to share my results. I have enjoyed multiple cups of Charleston Breakfast Tea (their black tea). This tea has been stored in a tin for the past five years. The tea is flavorful. I like it better than any English Breakfast Tea that I have tried. It is not bitter as some black teas can be. I’m not recommending keeping your teas for years to do this experiment. If you find a long-lost tea in the back of your cabinet, give it a try. It might not be too bad.

Growing up elderberries were a part of our life. Elderberry pie was my Dad’s favorite pie. We scoured roadsides for elderberry bushes and got excited when it was elderberry season. I seem to remember my Mom getting poison ivy from an elderberry adventure. I used homemade elderberry jelly on toast. And one year, the elderberry jelly didn’t set. This new creation, which we called elderberry syrup, meant we could enjoy elderberry milkshakes.

With a childhood rooted in all things elderberry, whenever I see something elderberry I want to try it. My favorite tea shop, McNulty’s, has elderberry herbal tea. I had to try it.

I love it. It smells so sweet and fruity. The taste is not as sweet as the smell but still delicious. It brings back my childhood memories with every sip. I have a friend who is planning to use some of this tea to make a fun iced tea this summer. When I hear a report back on that, I’ll let you know. Overall, I’m huge fan of all things elderberry including this tea.

Recently, a friend and I shared this tea together. It smells delicious when you open the envelope and sniff the tea bag. It smells delicious when it is steeping. Sadly, the smell and taste are not the same. It is not the worst tea I’ve ever tasted and yet I kindly refused my friend’s offer of a second cup of tea. She also declined a second cup of tea. This tea leaves you with a bitter aftertaste that stays with you for a long time. Also, I didn’t taste much chocolate mostly just bitterness. I cannot recommend this tea. If anyone has tried this tea and likes it, let me know your secret to enjoying this tea.