I love tea, not just drinking it, but the whole celebration of tea - teapots, tea trays, infusers, bone china cups, and sugar tongs.

Té teas

For me, tea has always been associated with fond memories of having tea parties with my mother, Victoria, beginning when I was a little girl and continuing today, and later having afternoon tea with my grandmothers, Angelina and Irene. I still drink my afternoon tea, and love to pamper myself with freshly brewed loose tea served in an assortment of teapots, or when I feel like I need a little extra pampering, served in a silver teapot, and always drunk out of a bone china tea cup.

In June 2004, I went to the Fancy Food Show in New York, and was delighted to discover té teas www.teteas.com, a tea company with ultra premium whole leaf teas from China. In addition to sampling their wonderful assortment of teas at the show, I also learned from Founder, Kevin Luu, that tea is over 5,000 years old, is the most consumed beverage in the world after water, and that all tea comes from one plant, the Camellia Sinesis plant. Since the show, I have tried their teas at home, and have sampled their Chaá Fancy Magnolia Blossoms which has fragrant magnolia blossoms infused with oolong tea leaves, creating a light tea with an aroma reminiscent of jasmine, their Chaâ Organic Legend Dragonwell a green tea, their Sweetest Jasmine Pearls which was delicate with floral aromas, and their Finest Jade Pouchang an oolong tea. I drank the teas hot as well as iced, and they were really excellent either way. Since I have always been partial to jasmine teas, I especially enjoyed the Chaá Fancy Magnolia Blossoms and the Sweetest Jasmine Pearls, which is a green tea.

I love watching what tea connoisseurs call the “agony of the leaves”, the process of the leaves unfolding in the hot water. It is almost a magical process, watching those dried tea leaves come to life and turn into aromatic flavorful beverages, especially the Sweetest Jasmine Pearls, where the tiny dried “pearls” slowly unfolded in ballet-like movements. The tea leaves also lasted through several infusions, using the same leaves and refilling my teapot with hot water, and they gave consistently good flavor. Once loose tea is experienced and appreciated, you won’t want to settle for a tea bag again.

All of their teas come in stylish tins, and their organic Chaá teas have their own stainless steel infusers stored inside the lids of the tins. The infusers fit my many teapots, as well as fitting over my teacups, making it extremely convenient. The company also sells beautiful handcrafted tea ware, including teapots.

Although tea is now being cited as having many health benefits, for me, the most important health benefit is taking time out of my busy day, to stop for a few minutes and relax with a cup or two of tea; I suggest you do the same, the health benefits alone are worth it.
 

© September 2004. Luxury Experience  www.luxuryexperience.com All rights reserved