Tea Blog - Learn All About Tea — Tea History

A Brief History of Earl Grey - the Black Tea and the Man Earl Grey is any black tea flavored with bergamot.  This is a traditional British tea, associated with a certain poshness.  It’s flavor is sophisticated, citrusy, and begs to be consumed on a gloomy afternoon, possibly with a book.  Earl Grey people, I’ve found, tend to also be the sort of people who like to know the history of the things  around them.  Earl Grey - The Man This tea is generally accepted to have been named after the British prime minister in the 1830’s, Charles Grey.  Outside of a...

Before your local Starbucks, coffee shop, tea house, and even quiet local diner got in on the chai tea craze, it was already culturally important to the people of India.   Chai tea, if you’ve managed to avoid it thus far, is a black tea (usually Ceylon), with any variety of spices added.  While the mixture of spices can vary wildly, most chais keep to a pallet of cinnamon, cardamom, clove, and pepper.  Some chais, such as our Vanilla Chai, also add sweeter flavor elements.  In spite of their spices, chais should generally come across as savory and sweet, rather...

You may have noticed, either or in our shop or online, small, odd-looking dishes, always with lids, and sometimes on saucers.  While these dishes can range from primitive and earthy to ornately decorated, they all seem to have one thing in common-- they intimidate tea novices.  Something about the traditional Chinese gai wan feels foreign, like you’re going to use it incorrectly, offend someone, and probably burn yourself in the process.  In this post, I’d like to ease those fears, and explain exactly how simple and not-at-all scary gai wans are.   Gaiwans can be used to both brew and...

Thousands of years ago. When tea started to become a popular drink, Chinese Buddhist monks discovered that drinking tea helped with their daily meditation. Meditation, they believed, was the source of all enlightenment.  If you have ever meditated, you've discovered that it is not easy. Your mind drifts off into distraction and perhaps you even start to nod off. You're not alone.  The ancient monks also encountered these barriers to nirvana.  A Solution Is Found The monks discovered that drinking tea helped them with their daily meditation. They discovered that tea packed a one-two punch of caffeine and L-Theanine. Although they lacked scientific proof,...