The Tea Detective
Uncovering and Exploring the Facts About Tea
Uncovering and Exploring the Facts About Tea
| Creating Your Own Unique Blended and Flavored Teas |
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| One of the great things about tea is its immense variety. There's a tea to pair with every type of food, be it sweet or spicy hot, and to go with every time of day - be it morning, noon, as an afternoon pick-me-up, early evening to relax, and finally nighttime, to wind down. |
| There are literally thousands of different tea blends, styles, and flavors, but depending on what your favorite taste preferences are, it can take some time finding your exact perfect tea blend or flavor combination. So, rather than endlessly searching, create your own unique tea recipes that are just right for you. It's as simple as getting some fillable tea bags (see ), your favorite teas (you can find bulk 2 lb. bags of quality loose leaf tea from Silver Leaf Tea), and gathering together some of your favorite flavorings. These can include many common everyday items found right in your kitchen cupboard, everything from dried fruits and citrus peels, to spices such as |
| vanilla pods, cinnamon, and ginger, to herbs like chamomile or mint, which pair well with green teas. You can even add scented flower petals like rose or jasmine for a soft, relaxing touch to your tea. And if you have a sweet tooth, add bits of chocolate or rock candy, nuts, raisins-the choices are endless. You can add most anything you like. Remember, this is your favorite blend of teas and flavorings. There aren't too many rules to worry about when creating your recipe, but if you are strictly mixing together a blend of teas you need to remember to keep the different tea leaf sizes uniform or the tea won't brew properly. Try not to mix broken leaf and whole leaf teas together. Remember, different size leaf brews at different rates. The smaller broken leaf sizes will brew faster than the whole leaf sizes and you will end up with an ugly tasting tea at best. This usually isn't a problem if you're mixing up just enough tea for one cup, but if you are mixing up a larger batch, keep this in mind. When storing your newly prepared batch of tea be sure to use an airtight container with a tight fitting lid. If using a clear glass jar, store away in a dry, dark cupboard away from direct light or sunlight. See our Tea Storage page for more tips on storing your tea properly. One other thing to remember, and this is important-be sure to make lots of notes as you go along so you can recreate a favorite recipe once you have arrived on the perfect blend of teas and flavor. Along with creating favorite tea blends and flavored teas, you can also design specific blends to address various health issues, such as the best blend for an upset stomach, to ward off or shorten a cold or flu, give you a nice afternoon pick-me-up, increase alertness, or help relax after a long, stressful day. These are just a few ideas for you to con- sider when creating that unique brew just for you. As always, if you have a question or would like to share a special recipe, tip, or comment with our readers, use our contact and questions page. We love hearing from you. Tea is so wonderfully versatile and delicious, it makes it fun and easy to design a special recipe streamlined to your own tastes and interests. So go ahead and get started today creating your own special "cup of tea." Enjoy. |
| Flavored Teas - Everyone has a favorite! Satisfy your favorite cravings with a healthy, low calorie cup of tea. Whether it's berries, citrus, or even chocolate or caramel, your favorite flavor of tea is just waiting for you. The making of jasmine and other scented teas. Scented teas have been around since the third century, a process perfected by the Chinese. Take a close-up look at the manufacturing process for Jasmine and other quality scented teas. Is each type of tea brewed differently? How long should tea be steeped? Brew a perfect cup of tea by paying attention to the details. Learn the proper water temperature for each type of tea, along with steeping times and which teas can be infused more than once. Also learn how to visually gauge water temps using an old Chinese method. Are you always on the go? Take your tea with you! Tea tools, like travel, electric, and insulated mugs keep your tea hot while on the go. Learn about other convenient tea tools and accessories that will help you take your tea on the go and enjoy it anywhere. So who is Earl Grey, anyway? Earl Grey is probably the most recognizable of blended teas, but there are many other tasty blends that make the perfect beginning or end to your day. Down and out with a cold or flu? Then this recipe is for you! If you've been hit by a cold or influenza virus, this is one tea recipe that will get you back up and on your feet and feeling rosy again in no time. A cup of hot tea - just what you needed! Nothing is more soothing, relaxing, or revitalizing than a cup of hot tea. If you've had one of "those" days and need to wind down or just need a quick energy boost, check out these great recipes for hot tea. No time to brew - grab a glass of instant or bottle of ready to drink (rtd) tea. Following the creation of iced tea, it took nearly half a century for instant tea mix and bottled and canned ready to drink teas to make their debut. Now days they're easy to find in any number of thirst quenching flavors and variations. The history behind iced tea and recipe for sun tea, a summertime classic. Learn the history behind iced tea and how a spur of the moment decision led to its creation, and the recipe for brewing up a glass or pot of "sun tea" - a summertime classic. |
| For a great selection of quality teas, gifts, and accessories, visit: The Tea Detective's Gift of Tea Store |
| For more information or to learn more about tea, visit our other pages: Tea bags - versatility, quality, and convenience all in one. Learn the history behind the handy, versatile tea bag, and why it's no longer considered to be the poor cousin of loose leaf tea. What do wine and tea harvests have in common? Wine and tea share many similarities. Learn about some common traits shared as well as the exacting process for creating blended teas, along with a description of some popular classic tea blends. |
Receive A Guide To Tea, an 88-page book on the history and enjoyment of tea free with your first Adagio Teas order of $19 or more.
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An easy-to-use ingenuiTEA teapot, whose ingenious design has been featured in The New York Times, Time Magazine and HGTV.