Storing your Tea

The Best Way to Store Loose Tea

Just like coffee, tea has an expiration date that many people aren't aware of. Depending on how store your tea, it can last up to a month under the right conditions. This gives you the opportunity to buy tea economically in bulk and save a few bucks on the drink you love. Tea can get pricey, so it's important to use the correct storing procedure to preserve its flavor. Spending a little money to go the extra mile will be well worth your time.
Paper Bags
Tea bags are suitable up to two weeks
Whether you have loose leaf tea or tea bags, paper bags can be used to store it around the kitchen for frequent use. If you purchase loose leaf tea, the vendor will most likely serve it to you in a sealed paper bag that keeps the tea fresh for up to two weeks. For longer shelf life, paper bags aren't ideal, but they will keep the tea in good condition until you can find it a new container. If you have an ounce or less of tea, a bag should be suitable enough until the next time you run out. Just keep note of the expiration date, as marked on the box or bag that you purchased. For even better results, store your bag in a cool, shaded area of your kitchen (ex: pantry, cabinet).
Tin Cans
Tea tins are decorative and efficient
Many tea experts will tell you that the next best thing to a sealed bag is a tin can. Tea tins can be found at specialty shops, shops that sell kitchenware, and of course, cafes that sell a variety of tea. Typically, vendors will sell a range of sizes in tin cans as well to cater to different amounts of tea. They are ideal because they keep the tea tightly sealed without trapping heat or allowing moisture. Tins can also be decorative accent pieces on your kitchen counter, depending on where you shop for them. For an extensive amount of options, browse tea specialty websites such as Teavana.com or SpecialtyBottle.com.
Air-Tight Containers
Air-tight jars are great at keeping out moisture
If you're looking to use something you already have around your kitchen, consider one of the air-tight containers you use for flour or sugar . These are perfect for both bagged tea or loose tea, and will keep it fresh for up to a month. Ceramic containers are ideal, as oppose to glass, because they keep the tea from exposure to light. However, if you keep the container in a shaded area of the kitchen, you won't lose any value. These can be purchased at most kitchenware retailers for less than $20. Prices vary in according to size.
Proper tea storage is essential to maintain freshness and flavour in loose leaf tea. Purchasing a large amount of loose tea can be quite an investment, and you obviously do not want it to immediately begin to lose its essential flavours right after purchase, but that is exactly what will happen if you do not store tea properly. Loose tea has four enemies; these are moisture, light, heat, and odours, and it is necessary to consider all of these when storing tea.
Though it may be tempting to store your newly purchased tea leaves in a beautiful glass container on the counter, this is a very bad idea. Exposure to light can fade tea of its colour, and it can begin to break down and lose its flavour. Instead, tea should be kept in a dark location, such as a cool cupboard. In addition, it is necessary to store tea in a proper airtight container.
Many stores sell tea tins specially designed for this purpose. In addition, ceramic containers with rubber seals that are able to latch closed are another great way to store tea. Both of these give tea protection from light and air; the oxygen in air is able to alter the molecules of the tea, again potentially changing the subtle flavours.
When tea is placed inside a sealed container, that container should then be kept in a cupboard away from heat and strong odours. The cupboard should remain a relatively steady temperature all the time; room temperature is best. This means the cupboard should not be located near the oven or toaster, and it should not also be used to house spices or other strongly flavoured items which could potentially impart their flavours to the tea. In addition, the heat and steam from the stove could potentially create moisture in the tea storage container, which could cause mould to grow, ruining the tea.
It is not possible to store tea in the freezer or refrigerator. If you have purchased tea in bulk, it may be a good idea to store most of the tea in a large container, and transfer smaller amounts to another container for everyday use. This will limit exposing all of the tea to light and air every time the container is opened. When you store tea properly, it can last from six months up to more than a year, retaining all of its original freshness and subtle flavours, and protecting your investment for later enjoyment. 

Ever wonder why your tea always tastes the best when you first bought it, but gradually loses its flavour over time?
If stored properly, tea can last up to 2-3 years. Treat it with contempt, and it will start turning bad within weeks of opening.
Listed below are 5 enemies of tea to watch out for, and ways to store your tea for optimal freshness and flavour.
Five Enemies of Tea
HUMIDITY ~ OXYGEN ~ TEMPERATURE ~ LIGHT ~ ODOUR
Humidity
It is the No 1 cause of quality loss.
A properly-made green tea is dried to 2% to 3% moisture level.
A high grade Dragon Well tea, for example, should be so dry that if you were to rub it between your fingers, it turned into powder. It is not easy to remain that dry forever. Air moisture is always lurking around.
A Chinese study found that it takes just 2 months to increase moisture level from 3% to 7% at normal storage. When moisture reaches 6% and higher, tea polyphenols and chlorophyll start to oxidise quickly, resulting in rapid quality loss.
Recommendation: Store in an airtight container.
Oxygen
Tea compounds react with oxygen in the air and cause tea liquor to deteriorate in colour.
Storage oxidation proceeds more slowly than enzymatic oxidation that occurs during the making of oolong or black tea. But it can be significant. Polyphenols such as catechins (which include powerful antioxidant EGCG) theanine and Vitamin C are especially vulnerable.
Oxygen plays a key role. A Chinese study found that high temperature storage at oxygen-less environment causes external browning (probably due to the breakdown of chlorophyll), but with no loss in taste.
Recommendation: Store in an airtight container.
Temperature
Higher temperature speeds up chemical process. A Chinese study found that for every 10 degree Celsius rise in temperature, the aging process quickens by 3 to 5 times.
Recommendation: Store in a cool place, away from heat (oven, stove).
Light
Light is a form of energy. Ultra-violet rays, especially, can generate heat and cause chemical changes. A Chinese study found that storing tea in transparent glass container for 10 days reduces Vitamin C by 10% to 20%.
Strong indoor lightings and direct sunlight are the worst offenders. High grade green tea is especially sensitive to light, which turns tea yellowish brown, dissipates its aroma and darkens its liquor colour.
Recommendation: Store in an opaque container in a dark cupboard.
Odour
Tea leaves are very good at absorbing smells from surrounding objects.
Recommendation: Store away from other teas and smelly foods.
STORAGE
Clear Plastic Bags
When knotted, these bags can be water tight, but not air-tight. They often contain pin-holes - very small holes that allow air through, but not water.
Ziplocs Bags
Another popular choice, even among vendors, as these zipper storage bags are re-sealable.
But they are not airtight. It has been found that air can seep through the ends of the grip seal.
Plastic Containers
Convenient, however most plastic containers and not airtight and allow light to pass through and slowly spoil your tea. Many containers have a distinct smell which will be absorbed by your tea.
Tea Storage Tin
Tins are a convenient way of storing tea, however the type and size can make be the difference between fresh, flavoursome and stale tea. Tins are most effective for short-term storage. Only use small tins with a good airtight seal, no clear windows and refill often.
Polyfoil Laminate
Heat sealed polyfoil laminate is an excellent form of long term storage and widely recognised as the best amongst tea experts. Buy tea in multiple small foil laminate pouches (50 grams each or less), so that you can open them one at a time.



Tea Bag Storage
If you believe your pre-packaged tea tastes stale after two months, I advise you to buy in very small quantities and stop reading right now. For most of us the short time span is irrelevant unless you live next door to a tea plantation. Think about it, after the tea is picked and processed it is put into a warehouse. Later it is loaded on a truck that takes it to a harbor. There it is loaded on a ship, which makes a long voyage across the ocean. It is then unloaded at another harbor and trucked to the tea company’s warehouse. The company will then further process and blend it according to their standards. After packaging it is sent by truck to a distribution centre and finally it arrives at your local store where it sits on the shelf for some time before you buy it.
How long does all this take? For most of us, it takes more than two months, but that is OK. The little secret here is that pre-packaged tea remains pretty stable for quite some time if you take care of it. If the tea company tells you their product is good for three years, it will probably be good for a little while longer. They are not likely to chance turning you off to their tea by selling it to you stale.
I just recently discovered some Bigelow tea in the back of my cupboard that I had forgotten about. It had expired long ago according to the date on the box. The teabags were sealed in individual foil wrappers so I thought I would brew it and see how badly it had deteriorated. To my surprise it tasted just like I remembered. It had been kept in a dry airtight environment all that time and survived very well. I am not suggesting this is good practice; just stating tea is more resilient than is often stated.
So how should you store your teabags? I usually leave them in the original box. The majority of the boxes I buy come with the bags sealed in individual foil wrappers. Some come in a re-closeable bag. One brand I use has the bags packed in a zip-lock bag. The rest come with the bags either in paper envelopes or loose in the box.
The last category (paper envelopes or loose in box) are the most likely pre-packaged teas to go stale once the shrink-wrap is removed from the box. Even then, unless you have too many boxes open at once, you may not have problems if you keep the box closed to minimize the air circulating around the bags. If you have destroyed the lid or have more bags than you can comfortably use in a reasonable amount of time put them in a zip-lock bag, canister, or tea chest. This should increase their useful lifespan. However, note that if you store various unsealed teabags together in the same bag or chest the flavours may mingle.
Loose Leaf
I have so far been discussing bag teas the average person can find at their local retailer but I am not wholly convinced there is a real lifespan difference with the loose-leaf blends. True the expensive stuff may start out with a better grade of leaf, still the physics of the tea should be the same. Maybe you can tell the difference between one-month-old off the shelf tea and one-year-old tea, I cannot if it is stored properly.
Where the lifespan really is as short as two months it is most likely due to inadequate packaging or improper storage and too much exposure to air. Every time you open the container you expose the entire batch to air and light. Buying in bulk can be a lot less expensive. Buying in smaller quantities is less likely to result in stale tea. What to do? One thought is to buy in bulk and divide the tea into smaller more manageable amounts that are kept sealed in separate containers.
Many brands of loose-leaf tea come in a metal can. Many claim this is perfect and recommend you keep the empty tin for future use. Some teas come in a bag. Keep it sealed as best you can. It will probably start to break down or tear at some point before you have emptied it so you might consider putting it in something else to start with. Besides the tea tins previously mentioned ceramic, glass, and metal canisters will work if you have a good sealing lid. If glass is used it should not be clear. Green or brown glass work well to prevent UV rays from breaking down the tea. I use a stainless steel canister from Wal-mart for my loose-leaf tea.
Avoid plastic unless you are sure it is odour-proof. I’ve read of a good test for this is to seal up the container and leave it a few days. Now open it and smell the insides. If it has an odour don’t use it unless you want your tea tasting like that smell. Some people use zip-lock bags to hold their tea. For short-term storage, I have placed teabags in zip-lock bags without incident. A friend stores his loose leaf Jasmine tea this way without complaint. Others have said that the bags are not odour proof so be aware.

Make your own GREEN TEA PERFUME

With the right scent, you can easily get into the soul of every fashion trend. With the increasing popularity of green tea fragrances, you can sure live in this rising trend with a fine bottle of green tea perfume. The delicate scent and exclusive distribution of this newest addition to the world’s growing collection of perfumes only adds to its charm. From soaps, lotions and other body care products, green tea has been regarded for its healthful and refreshing benefits. From its lush green world, this wonder herb now offers a fine opportunity for you to update your fragrance collections.

Green tea is known for its sensually uplifting properties. In addition to its powerful antioxidants, Green tea essences perfectly blend into the effervescent properties of zesty fruit and floral essences, giving you a fine collection of naturally scented perfume. The key notes to this perfume include versatility in terms of scent combinations. As a result, you get to enjoy just the kind and quality of perfume that will lift your senses from day to night.


When green tea promotes oxidation, green tea fragrances have been created to surround with you a refreshing breeze of natural scents. In addition to its high vitamin C and E content, it also creates a personal fragrance that offers sweet, oriental and floral options. This type of perfume is developed to give popular scents a rising new competition. By giving you fine collections of uplifting, rejuvenating and energizing fragrances of citrusy, floral and musky base notes, you get to wear the breath of paradise day in or night.

The world’s finest perfumes are those made from natural essences. Compared to any other types of perfume, soft and stimulating green tea perfumes are made from natural ingredients, which will sure not pose serious risks for allergic reactions. The tranquility and lightness of their scent is one of those perfumes that never overwhelm the senses, leaving you fresh all day. To avoid compromising their soothing scent, you may also wear it along with personal and skin care products such as lotion and bath gels that are made from green tea. This way, you get to live green, and smell green in a good way.

Did you ever think of finally impressing your friends with a kind of perfume that they never get to wear first? Did you ever wondered just which kind of fragrance should you wear to get that head-turning effect? You may have found a bottle of perfume on your friend’s wardrobe or purse. So you wonder, “When will I ever buy myself one?” Apparently, the distribution of signature green tea fragrances is limited, which gives it an element of exclusivity. This explains its relatively expensive price. But certainly, its quality and distinct fragrance will convince you that ever cent of its worth speaks of the effect and quality of the perfume inside bottle. Only great products are given this kind of treatment. With that said, try using your home internet connection to find the best deals offered on the new collections of green tea perfume.

How to Make Green Tea Perfume - Instructions
Things You'll Need:
• green tea
• green tea fragrance oil
• measuring cup or shot glass

• vodka

• clean, empty spray bottle

1. Step 1

Brew a really strong cup of green tea. Add a packed tea ball or 4 tea bags to 1 cup of boiling water. Let steep until the tea is cold, at least 20 to 30 minutes. Use a really good quality green tea -- the better quality green tea you use, the better quality your green tea perfume will be.

2. Step 2

Begin assembling your green tea perfume. In a clean glass jar with a lid, add 1 ounce of your strong green tea. You can use a shot glass to measure. A standard shot glass is 1 ounce. To this, add 3 ounces of vodka, or 3 shot glasses worth.

3. Step 3

Add 15 - 20 drops of green tea fragrance oil to your green tea perfume. Fragrance oils are not as pure as essential oils, but produce a better scent when it comes to green tea perfume. Try to find one with the most natural ingredients as possible so ensure high quality green tea perfume.

4. Step 4

Store your green tea perfume in a cool, dark place, like a kitchen or bathroom cabinet. This is called "curing." You want to cure your green tea perfume for at least 2 days, up to a few weeks, depending on your preference. This allows the scents to mingle and infuse, and makes for a stronger smelling green tea perfume.

5. Step 5

Store your green tea perfume in decorative bottles. Dark bottles work best to help green tea perfume keep its scent longer by blocking out light. You're now ready to wear your green tea perfume!

Old Wives Tales about Tea(bags)

Old Wives' Tales Old wives' tales are superstitions which are untrue and/or totally ridiculous. Many people maintain that old wives' tales are based on truth, and have merely been distorted by the passage of time. This, however, is probably just an old wives' tale. The following list of old wives' tales should be taken with a pinch of salt. We accept no responsibility for the level of luck acquired by following these instructions. Life's hard enough already.
Health and diet My mother always said that if you can manage to slurp up those little bubbles in a freshly poured cup of tea, it means good luck. I wasn't so lucky, since I always took a drop of milk in my tea, after which the bubbles were usually gone.
General pearls of wisdom A watched pot never boils.
Reading a Person's Character Through Their Used Teabags
In the dim and distant past, before we started to incarcerate tea-leaves in paper cells called 'teabags', sage old women used to tell your fortune by reading the tea-leaves left in your cup of tea. So in an acknowledgement of 21st Century tea-drinking habits, here is a guide to getting an insight into someone's character by analysing their used teabags.
In fact, teabags have been with us only since about 1908, when Thomas Sullivan, a tea and coffee merchant from New York, first bound tea-leaves in silk pouches. They were intended as samples of his wares yet his customers popped these straight into the pot instead of loose (as was traditional) and so was born another American convenience food invention.
The Ripped Teabag

It is very hard to rip a teabag. However, if it comes individually wrapped, beware: often the ensuing struggle to open the wrapping endangers the integrity of the teabag.

Left to Dry

Some people leave their teabags on a saucer or the draining sink/board to dry out. There are four types of character who do this so be careful not to prejudge.
• Left to Dry for Composting The first type realises that used tea-leaves and even bags make excellent compostable material. If the person is prepared to recycle the dregs of their favourite drink for compost they are liable to be into organic vegetables and fruit. The teabags can either be left separately or with other compostable goods in the draining section of the sink. It does not matter which. Also, they are liable to take an active concern in a number of environmental matters. Someone who maintains a compost heap is also likely to be active in their own garden and their flowers and/or vegetables may be their pride and joy. This person therefore will pursue a healthy lifestyle with outdoor activities and possibly even home-grown produce on the table; however, they may also smell of manure and compost.
• Left to Dry Before Dumping in the Bin This is the person who conscientiously drains the water out of their teabag before dumping the remains in the normal waste. This type of person is liable to be houseproud; you will not find dust, unwiped drips or anything out of place in their house. They refuse to put a wet teabag straight into their bin as they know they will eventually have to empty the bin bag into the collection bin. If it is wet it will drip through and stain them later and they will also have to wipe the kitchen bin after emptying.
• Left to Dry for Re-use There is an old myth that people used to hang out teabags to dry to send to missionaries. This is doubtful, considering this rumour started when the missionaries in question were largely in India and China where tea is produced and was being shipped back to the very people who were allegedly saving their teabags. This would have been a virtuous reason for re-using teabags. Today if you stumble upon someone who is drying out teabags for re-use, unless they are in absolute poverty or even homeless, that person is a skinflint. You can be assured that they will never knowingly pay for a round of drinks at the pub.

Re-use as a Beauty Product Some people, once they have dried out their teabags, will place them in the fridge to use as an eye beauty treatment.
Left in a Sink at Work While leaving teabags to dry in a sink at home is often a sign of environmental consciousness, to do so at work is a sign of laziness. For a start, it is probably ignoring the signs displayed at your work sink to clean up your own mess. Secondly, someone will eventually just throw the teabags out of the sink into the nearest available bin. It will also probably lead to the head of services in your building having to send around emails requesting you and your colleagues to look after your working spaces. Therefore you will have taken up other people's work time unnecessarily.
The Off-white Teabag This tea-bag is most likely to be found drying out for the compost: the reason being that it is unbleached or made of recycled paper. This person is most likely to be a very keen environmentalist. The tea is also most likely to be a fair trade or organic variety as these teas most often use this sort of teabag. Someone with such a high environmentalist conscience is liable to be an evangelist for the green cause, so possibly best not to visit their house in your SUV.
The Red Teabag The red teabag will be accompanied by the sweet aroma of herbs, spices and possibly fruit. The owner of this teabag will be a drinker of herbal tea. They may be drinking this as a detox from caffeine-rich normal tea and coffee or simply as a refreshing alternative. Also they are very likely to be into healthy food options and possibly, though not necessarily, a vegetarian as herbal tea negates the requirement for milk. This person is quite likely to be chilled-out as they are not requiring a caffeine fix at whichever point in the day you discovered their teabag.
The Drip Trail You will discover this teabag by following the tell-tale trail of dripped tea, possibly stained across the floor or worktop to the final resting place of the teabag. If the drips are still wet, clean them up immediately: even if it is not your kitchen, a dried-in tea stain can be a pain to remove. The fact that a track, or tracks, of tea lead from the tea making area to the teabag graveyard indicates a serious lack of care from the tea-maker. If this is discovered early in the morning it might indicate a good night the night before: the person responsible for the resultant drunken tea trail might therefore be forgiven. That decision, however, is obviously up to the trail discoverer.
However, if the trail was not created under mitigating circumstances and the trails occur persistently, the serial offender is lazy and not willing to clear up after him- or herself. This person is liable to be lazy in other areas and therefore liable to be hard work.

The absence of a tea trail in the vicinity of the bin may not necessarily indicate due care and attention. People who make tea in mugs may take the mug to the bin and dispose of their teabag straight into it. This is aided if the bin is pedal-operated, however if it is not, drips may occur on the lid as the user wishes they had three hands while attempting to hold mug of tea, throw away teabag and open bin simultaneously.
The Pull-string Diva Some of those clever manufacturers of teabags have come up with a solution to hide the tracks of the drip trail demon; they have invented teabags with a pull-string that enables the tea-maker to squeeze the water out. The owner of such teabags is either a reformed dripper or houseproud. If they fit into the first category you have someone is able to learn from their mistakes - a highly-prized asset. The second can cause problems: it may lead to excessive compulsive tendencies at one extreme. You may have to be careful about putting anything down, eating may become an act of military precession instead of an enjoyment and don't dare put down a cup or glass without first locating a coaster from the stack neatly piled near the coffee table.
The Pull-string Dumb-Dumb This is a pull-string teabag with the pull-tag soaked through and possibly unable to be used. This is someone who was making tea without due care and attention and just flung the entire teabag into the cup or pot without preserving the integrity of the pull-strings. This person is liable to be someone in a hurry, or someone who does not care for details. If they are in a hurry it is highly likely that the person is ambitious. However, if they are someone who does not care for details those ambitions are likely to flounder. Unfortunately teabag observation is not an exact enough science to differentiate between these two character types.
The Concave Squashed Teabag A teabag with an identifiable concave indent in it has been mercilessly squeezed of its last liquid content by a teaspoon-wielding tea drinker. This person may have at one time been a finger-pincher (see below) but now realise that molesting a teabag on the side of the mug with a spoon is far more pain-free than attempting to only use their finger. This person is evolving; they may yet develop the third arm to allow them to hold the mug, teaspoon holding the bag and open a non-pedal-operated bin for disposal all at the same time. Charles Darwin would probably have been interested in this type of teabag user, if only teabags had been around when he was alive.
The tea technophile will have various implements which are meant to improve on the humble spoon such as specialised tongs for draining the teabag, or even a vessel to suspend the teabag in the boiling water. Such people are either obsessive about their tea or easily gulled by marketeers; it is very difficult to tell the difference at this level.
The Finger-pinching Dumper This is someone who, when they extract the teabag from the tea-making receptacle, will merely pinch the residual water with their fingertips and dump it into the bin. For this person, tea-making will occasionally be associated with screams of pain, unless they have calloused fingers (look out for a guitar elsewhere in the house). The evidence is what is missing; no teabag, unless you open the bin, and no teaspoon on the draining board. The finger-pincher will by nature hold a corner of the teabag in a mug until brewed sufficiently and therefore there will also be no teapot present. This is a person in a hurry or someone who drinks a lot of tea in an ill-equipped office with very few supplies to aid their tea-drinking experience.
The Milky Bag A teabag that has a milky complexion has in fact been used in a mug which contained the milk before the water was added. This is a pre-laitarian attempt to make tea in the modern non-teapot age. Adding milk before the tea is often, though not exclusively, a sign of a tea-drinker from the lower classes.
Left-in-the-pot Bags The amount of water that is left with the teabags will determine the character of the person who has left the teabags in the pot. If the pot looks full, the poor tea-maker has either forgotten they were making tea or was distracted before the tea was given the proper time to infuse. A forgotten pot of tea can be an indication of the fact that the tea-drinker will forget other issues - your birthday, name or the relationship the tea-maker has with you, that kind of thing. If it is only an occasional offence, this suggests distraction, but if it recurs there are serious memory problems to be considered. Distraction happens to all of us by things such as phone calls, or something cropping into your head or life that needs immediate action. Someone who has left a full pot of tea on the go under these circumstances is probably deeply caring as the distraction has taken them away from a well-earned cuppa. If it looks like the pot has been partially drained the person was most likely distracted after the first cup before drawing a second to drain the pot. Maybe this is someone who cares but also realises that they will be useless unless they are allowed to relax. Alternatively it may just indicate that the distraction happened later in the process ie, during the first cup of tea rather than during the infusing period.
However, someone who just leaves their teabags having drained the pot is as lazy as a persistent drip-trail-maker; see above.

Teabag Left in Mug Some people do this with herbal teas as they claim it increases the medicinal benefits of the herbs. This Researcher has heard of just one person who claims to do this with tea. And what does this say about them? Either they like strong tea or they need a very serious caffeine kick at the end of their cuppa. However, there will be many cultured tea-drinkers who merely consider such a person to be a philistine - they'd assert that just as you should know how you like steak cooked, you should know the strength at which you prefer your cuppa.
Afterword While the study of teabags is lagging behind that of tea leaves and is more based on character rather than prediction, this guide may help you to navigate the complex world of tea users and teabag abusers.

Tea and Biscuits - a weekend for cooking?

Many of us love our tea with a light and non-invasive (flavourly speaking) bikkie. I know I do. In my search around my world (wide web), I found a whole world of biscuits that others like to have with their tea, and biscuits made especially to accompany tea. So in today’s post I have selected some Tea biscuit recipes for you to try. As an Aussie, I have been brought up on Anzac Biscuits as an accompaniment with tea. They aren’t the light, flavourless cookies that many like to have with their favourite brew, but are very moorish (one is never enough)! Anzac biscuits are easy to make, easy to store and I have never met a person who didn’t like them!

 

Tea biscuit
Rich tea is a type of sweet biscuit, the ingredients generally include wheat flour, sugar, vegetable oil, and malt extract. The biscuits are popular in the United Kingdom, where their plain flavour and consistency makes them particularly suitable for dunking in tea and coffee. Originally called Tea Biscuits, they were developed in the 17th century in Yorkshire for the upper-classes as a light snack between full-course meals. Credited with creating the prelude to the modern Rich Tea Biscuit was Keryn Knight, a serving chef for Thomas Wentworth, whose otherwise unremarkable service under the Earl ended in 1627 when he died from pellagra. In 2004, Terry Wogan, a radio presenter for the BBC described the Rich Tea as the "Lord of all Biscuits" on his Radio 2 breakfast show.[ Perhaps the best-known manufacturer in the UK is McVitie's; however, all major supermarkets now sell an own-brand version of the biscuits. They are also sold as a finger variety, and as Rich Tea Creams, a long thin rectangular version with vanilla cream sandwiched between two biscuits (made by Fox's).
The Morning Coffee biscuit is rectangular rather than round but tastes very similar to the Rich Tea. A Cadbury's variant of the Rich Tea was coated in chocolate, similar to a digestive.
Peter Kay famously called Rich Tea biscuits 'one-dips', poking fun at the way the biscuit crumbles away easily due to its thinness. He also said that you cannot dip it in an average mug, you instead need to bite a chunk off first to fit the biscuit in the mug.

 

These biscuits were really easy to make. I really like the flavour, a butter cookie with a hint of green tea. A tip is to really watch these biscuits when they are baking. You want to make sure they don't brown too much. I found that the biscuits that were too brown had a really strong burnt taste, which is still good, but it hides the green tea flavour. The biscuits that were not burnt at all had a beautiful green tea flavour.

 

Green Tea Biscuits
Ingredients
3/4 cup icing sugar mixture
145g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 3/4 cup plain flour
3 large egg yolks
1.5 tbsp matcha (powdered green tea)
1 cup castor sugar (for coating)
Method
1) Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
2) Whisk the icing sugar and green tea together in a bowl.
3) Add the butter and green tea/sugar mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix until smooth and light in color.
4) Add the flour and mix until well combined.
5) Add the egg yolks and mix just until the eggs are fully incorporated and a mass forms.
6) Form the dough into a disk and chill in the refrigerator until firm (about 30 minutes).
7) Roll the dough out to ½” thickness.
8) Cut the dough with a cookie cutter.
9) Toss each cut cookie in a bowl of castor sugar to coat.
10) Place the sugar-coated cookie on a parchment lined pan. Bake at 180C for 12-15 minutes, or until slightly golden around the edges.

Rich Tea Biscuits

Ingredients

• 2 c Flour

• 1 tb Baking powder

• 1 ts Salt

• 1/3 c Shortening

• 2/3 c Milk

• 1 Egg, beaten

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 450~. In medium bow, mix flour, baking powder, and 1 teaspoon salt. With pastry blender or two knives, cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. With fork, stir in milk just until mixture forms a soft dough and leaves side of bowl. 2. On lightly floured surface with floured hands, knead dough 10 times. Pat dough 3/4 inch thick. With floured round cookie cutter (3 1/2"), cut out as many biscuits as possible. Place biscuits, about 1/2 inch apart, on large cookie sheet. Press dough trimmings together; pat and cut as above. 3. Brush biscuits with beaten egg. Bake 12 to 15 minutes until golden.

Tea and Biscuits.

Does grandma love biscuits more than her tea?

I ponder this thought, and then it occurred to me.

If she loves biscuits more than her tea,

could she in fact, love them more than me?

 

The crunchy topping, the creamy inside,
a chocolaty taste you can’t deny.
Heaven in a moment some would say,
or pretty close to it in a round about way.

 

Begin compared to a biscuit, isn’t that bad.

At least if it’s a good one, and not some cheap nasty brand.

Individually wrapped and sealed with love,

not tasting all lumpy like a clump of mud.

So as I weigh up the pluses and minus of sorts,

I came to the conclusion, after much thought.

She couldn’t possibly love biscuits more than me,

as she gave me the last one at afternoon tea.

 

Ingredients for Tea Biscuit Recipe
1 cup scalded milk
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons shortening
½ teaspoon salt
1 yeast cake dissolved in½ cup water
4 cups flour
Instructions
1. Put the sugar, salt, and shortening in a mixing bowl and add scalded milk.
2. When lukewarm, add dissolved yeast cake.
3. Slowly add 3 cups of flour, beating to a light batter and let rise to double the bulk.
4. Add 1 cup of flour, rise again, shape on molding board, brush with melted butter.
5. Cover and rise until light.
6. Shape into rounds and bake at 425 degrees from twenty to twenty-five minutes

Chinese almond biscuits

Preparation Time 25 minutes
Cooking Time 20 minutes
Makes 30
Ingredients
• Melted butter, to grease
• 125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 100g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
• 2 tsp finely grated orange rind
• 1/2 tsp almond essence
• 1 egg
• 225g (1 1/2 cups) plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 30 blanched almonds
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush a large baking tray with butter to lightly grease. Line with non-stick baking paper.
2. Use an electric beater to beat the butter, sugar, orange rind and almond essence in a large bowl until pale and creamy. Add the egg and beat until just combined.
3. Sift in the flour and baking powder. Use a large metal spoon to stir until combined.
4. Roll 2 teaspoonfuls of the mixture into a ball and place on the prepared tray. Use the palm of your hand to flatten slightly. Place an almond in the centre. Repeat with remaining mixture and almonds to make 30 biscuits. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Set aside on the trays for 5 minutes to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
• Make this recipe up to 1 day ahead. Store the biscuits in an airtight container.
• For an added Chinese touch, serve the biscuits with a big pot of Chinese-style tea, such as green tea or jasmine tea.

Anzac Biscuits Recipe

A delicious, golden crunchy biscuit (cookie) made with Coconut, Oats and Golden Syrup. These biscuits will keep in an airtight container for a very long time. The initials ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corp.
ANZAC biscuits are so delicious and will keep for a long time.
Anzac Biscuits were originally baked by women in Australia to send to their husbands and sons serving overseas during WW1. The parcels containing the lovingly baked biscuits took over 2 months to arrive at their destinations and they still tasted just as good!
Ingredients
1 Cup of Plain Flour
1 Cup of Rolled Oats
3/4 Cup Dessicated Coconut
3/4 Cup Caster Sugar
140g Butter
3 tspns Golden Syrup
3 Tblspns Boiling Water
1 tspn Baking Soda
Method

• Preheat your oven to a slow 150°C
• Sift the Flour into a bowl. Add the Rolled Oats, Sugar and Coconut.
• In a saucepan melt the Butter, then add Golden Syrup and Water. Take off the heat and add Baking Soda, allow to foam and pour over the dry ingredients in the bowl. Mix well.
• Take teaspoonfuls of the mixture, roll into a ball and place on a greased Baking Tray. Leave about 5cm space between each one, for spreading. Press them down slightly with a fork.
• Bake in a slow oven until golden, approx 12-15 mins. Keep an eye on them as they burn easily. Allow the Anzac Biscuits to cool for a few minutes on the tray (they will be slightly 'sticky' when hot) and then transfer to a rack to completely cool and harden.
• Enjoy! and store them in an airtight container.

Tea and Cheese - Oh my!

The cheese course seems to be the biggest trend in the culinary world. I see myself reading about it in many popular cooking magazines as of late. I myself wasn't familiar with the formal cheese course until I became a fan of the cooking reality TV show, Top Chef. All of sudden, after duck confit with roasted sunchokes, but before the lavender scented panna cotta, there appeared a plate of cheese, arranged to please the eye, with maybe a artistic dab of quince jam on the plate. The closest thing I had known to a cheese plate before hand was the heavily picked-over plastic tray of cubed Cheddar and American cheese, and if it was fancy, it had some cubed Pepper Jack as well. You would stab a cube with a tinsel-topped toothpick and place it on top of Ritz, eating it to stave off your hunger because your hosts failed to mention that there wouldn't be 'real' food at their function.

Where does tea enter the picture? Most often, we think of wine as the perfect companion to cheese; the wine and cheese party is an established theme when it comes to entertaining. I had taken an interesting workshop on tea and cheese pairing while at the World Tea Expo where this was first introduced to me. Tea, can also pair very well with cheese, as it also contains tannins. Tannins are a substance that exists in grapes and tea leaves among other things and produces that tart, astringent taste that you may experience after drinking a deep red wine or black tea. It also lends to the colour of the tea. Without tannins, both wine and tea would lack that complex taste and beautiful colour. Not all teas are tannin-rich; exceptions are White and Green teas, which contain very little tannins, while Oolongs are in the middle, and Black teas have the most. When thinking of teas to pair with your cheese plate, sticking to Black or Oolong teas are good, but including a Green tea with a grassy or vegetal note will round out your selection wonderfully.


The idea of building a cheese plate may seem intimidating, but it's a great exercise in learning about different varieties of cheeses and exposing your palate to something different. Cheese and tea have a lot in common if you think about it: both vary when it comes to the region they are grown or produced as well as yield different tastes depending on the amount of or lack of processing. There are many good guides that have come out in the last few years that can also be helpful, if you think it'll be baffling. Though there might not be a cheese shop in your town or nearby, many supermarkets are expanding their cheese sections to include a diverse selection, going beyond Cheddar and Swiss. If you are fortunate enough to have a gourmet market with an extensive department or a cheese shop nearby, your cheese monger can help you make a selection and answer your questions.


To start, you basically want to choose about 3-5 types of cheeses with different textures (hard, semi-hard, creamy, soft), milks (sheep, cow, goat), and regions (from international cheese to locally made- many possibilities here!). Have some good bread and fruits that'll complement the cheeses on hand- they can make for palate cleansers in between tasting.
For your tea, choose some flavourful teas that have distinctive notes to them. To start, try 2-3 black teas and round out with a green and an oolong; adjust to match how many cheeses you will have on hand. Some great Black teas to have as the base for your tastings: Darjeeling, Assam, Lapsang Souchong, and Yunnan; they are all full-bodied teas that can stand up to the creaminess of cheese. Prepare your tea accordingly, being sure not to over-steep. Make sure there is enough for everyone to get a good taste of, but not fill up on.
In order to create great pairings, it's important to feel and understand the relationship between the taste of the cheese and tea. Tastes can be complementary- with similar flavours or contrasting where you can taste two distinct flavours that marry well with each other. Of course, you may also come across pairings that aren't good at all. First try each tea and cheese separately to understand the flavours, and then try together to see how they meld. Experiment profusely! Remember taste is subjective; use the following pairings as guidelines.

Some favorite pairings:
• Asiago Pressata with a vegetal Green, Kukicha or Sencha (Asiago is a very mild cheese and goes well with a green tea that has a low amount of tannins).
• Irish Whiskey Cheddar with Lapsang Souchong (the smokiness of Lapsang Souchong really holds up to the bitterness of the cheese)
• Goat cheese with Assam (try with a dribble of honey on the cheese-it makes for a great flurry of flavours- the maltiness of the tea goes well with the tart of the cheese and the aftertaste of the honey).
• Brie and Darjeeling (I learned to eat the 'flurry' which is the waxy rind on the brie- it helps bring out the flavour).
• Manchego with Sencha (the tea helps mellow out the sharpness of this hard cheese)
A cheese with tea course makes a great addition for any function and the pairing will be unexpected! It's a great way to introduce unknown varieties of tea to novices. Typically the formal cheese course is served after the main course, before dessert, but can make for a great cocktail party dish. Here are more tips for a successful cheese and tea platter:
• When buying your cheeses at a specialty store or cheese shop, you can often ask to sample a piece of cheese. Take advantage of it; though you may not have tea with you, you can imagine how the cheese will taste with a smoky tasting tea, a grassy tasting tea, etc.
• Serve the cheese at room temperature, not right out of the fridge (but be sure to wrap up any leftover cheese and store it in the fridge, you don't want to leave the cheese sitting out-yuck!)
• Arrange the cheese and tea from mildest to strongest. If you were to arrange the selections above, you would start with the Asiago Pressata/Kukicha and end with the Irish Whiskey Cheddar/Lapsang Souchong pairing.
• Be creative and use fun serving pieces to display your tea and cheeses. I use thicker plastic party cups to serve my tea in so people can see the different colours of the tea's liquor. It's quite pretty.
• Cut the cheese (oooh!) from the rind to the tip (imagine a typical wedge of cheese-do not cut from the tip of the triangle for a tiny nub). Cutting this wider slice of cheese will allow you to taste the total flavour of the cheese, which can be layered.
• If you are doing a cheese and tea pairing with a group, leave out some note pads or pieces of paper so everyone can share their thoughts about each pairing. The more taste buds, the better!

Tea and cheese, anyone?
Given that China and Japan, two of the world’s three most prestigious tea-growing nations, do not have long traditions of dairy consumption in their population’s diets (although that seems to be changing as Westernization is taking hold), I set out to be deliciously subversive and pair some of the teas from those countries with cheese, leading to pleasantly surprising results. By contrast, India, the third of that tea-producing triumvirate, has a well-established tradition of using dairy products in its cuisine, marked by a generous use of clarified butter, dairy-enriched sauces dating back to the Moghul empire, delicate paneer cheese for all manner of non-vegetarian Indian specialties, milk-based desserts, and of course, in the beverage realm, the ubiquitous masala chai, which combines bold-flavoured tea with milk and spices.
Tempted by the thought that wine wasn’t the only beverage that could harmonize with cheese, I chose eight teas to pair with six cheeses: choosing five teas from mainland China (White tea, Dragonwell green, Ti Quan Yin oolong, an English Breakfast made exclusively from Keemun, and a subtly smoky Lapsang Souchong); one from Japan (Sencha); and two from India (Arya Darjeeling and Mokalbari Assam). The cheeses represented the three major categories: two based on sheep’s milk (fresh ricotta and Sardinian Pecorino), two based on cow’s milk (a Fontina called Brindisi from Oregon’s Willamette Valley Cheese Company and Fromage d’ Affinois, a 60% butterfat wonder from France), and two based on goat’s milk (one mild and soft, Pyramide from France, and the other a pungent and Spanish variety called Monte Enebro, with its flattened cylindrical shape).
I chose to taste each tea with each cheese and above and beyond the theine buzz, here are some observations from the 48 pairings:
* Drinking the white tea at 170 degrees F. provided enough heat to accentuate the sweet cream notes of the ricotta, making it yielding on the tongue and mouth filling with its fresh dairy personality.
* The floral, somewhat rose-scented warmth of the white tea, when consumed cool, harmonized beautifully with the buttery quality of the Sardinian Pecorino.
* The grapey pleasantly fermented notes in the French goat cheese played beautifully against the grassy, toasty notes of the Dragonwell green tea, imbibed at about 180 degrees F.
* Slightly cooled after brewing, the Ti Quan Yin oolong brought out the lemony notes in the Monte Enebro (Spanish goat cheese), softening some of the cheese’s aggressive barnyard aroma.
* With its sweet orchidy essence, this same tea was a fitting partner to the decadently rich Fromage d’Affinois, with its creamy mellow melting quality.
* The Assam’s malty character was a nice foil for the Brindisi Fontina, which softened the tannins in the tea, setting up the palate for just one more bite of room-temperature Pyramide.
* With its almost caramel-like sweetness, the Fontina also stood up nicely to the smokiness in the Lapsang Souchong, leaving me wishing to explore whether smoked cheeses and smoked tea would prove to be too much of a good thing.
* Proving to be unflattering to any of the cheeses, the Japanese Sencha, born from a formerly non-dairy-consuming country, did not betray its heritage and would be best consumed with noodle dishes, seafood, and sushi, if sake were off-limits.
Hardly the last word on pairings of the brewed leaf and milk’s leap into immortality, this tasting poses as many questions as it answers about how tea and cheeses can enhance each other when tasted in tandem; I hope you’re inspired to dig in and explore.

The Pairings
Here are sources’ guidelines for pairings, with examples:
• Pair opposing flavours – the salty, fruity flavour of Taleggio with the peppery, chocolaty notes of Risheehat First Flush Darjeeling (Barenholtz), or sweet Lychee Black or Pouchong and with salty Gorgonzola or Shropshire Blue (Gold).
• Play on similarities – the grassy-sweetness of Nevat with grassy-sweet Japanese greens, or the herbaceous Vento d’Estate with the honey-hay notes of Golden Needle Yunnan (Barenholtz).
• Consider texture – the fat of a rich Brie with a brisk, palette-cleansing Darjeeling First Flush (Gold).
• Bring out sub-tones and sub-textures – well-aged Comte emphasizes the cleanliness and chestnut tones of Dragonwell (Gold).
• Follow the seasons – seasonally available Irish whiskey cheddar with cold-weather teas like Lapsang Souchong (Enck).

Tea and Cheese Pairing
We are used to pairing food and wine, wine and cheese, wine and chocolate... but like with wines, tea and cheese both come in a myriad of textures, flavours and strengths and they can be matched together.
I love a good cup of tea- there is something so refreshing and healing about it that wine just can't match, but I also love a creamy, opulent cheese, so I was happy to read that the two can go together.
Here are some suggested teas to be paired with your different cheeses:
* Asiago (a very mild cheese): Goes well with a green tea that has a low amount of tannins. Try Keemun, Pai Mu Dan
* Brie: Darjeeling, Tung Ting Oolong
* Camembert: Dragonwell, Chun Mee, Gunpowder, Ha Giang, First-Flush Darjeeling, Sikkim
* Cheddar: Tung Ting Oolong, Darjeeling
* Blue tea potCream Cheese: Ceylon, Darjeeling, Cameroon
* Edam: Ceylon, Autumnal Darjeeling, Buddha’s Finger Oolong
* Gorgonzola: Chun Mee, Ha Giang, Ceylon, Pouchong
* Muenster: Tung Ting Oolong, Pouchong
* Provolone: Ceylon, Nilgiri
I would suggest using good quality cheeses and teas, as the range in quality of both cheese and tea is significant.

Tea and Toast

Tea and toast is a simple treat that is light in calories and great in taste. Of course the calories depend of what type of bread you select for your toast.

Most folks use white bread as do I, but whole wheat, pumpernickel, or rye bread makes great toast as well.


Tea with toast is my favourite all-time tea food. It is easy to make, and is perfect for an afternoon treat! All you need to do is brew some tea and toast some bread...what can be easier?

You can put jam on top, peanut butter, or just plain butter. Fruit jams such as blueberry or strawberry go great with toast too. Spiced apple cider spread with just a little butter makes a great tea food along with that morning cup of Earl Grey or Irish Breakfast tea.


If one does not have loose leaf tea available (which I always recommend you use), the sweet taste of the toast with a selected fruit spread hides some of the bitter undertones associated with tea bag tea.


However, to get the most flavour and benefits from tea you should always brew using loose leaf tea!


It makes tea with toast a much more enjoyable meal, as well as gives your body more of those powerful antioxidants present in freshly brewed tea!

Breville BKT500 Makes Tea And Toast For Two

Cup of tea and toast appreciation society

A Nice Cup of Tea + Nostalgia

by George Orwell

Evening Standard, 12 January 1946

IF YOU look up ‘tea’ in the first cookery book that comes to hand you will probably find that it is unmentioned; or at most you will find a few lines of sketchy instructions which give no ruling on several of the most important points.

This is curious, not only because tea is one of the main stays of civilization in this country, as well as in Eire, Australia and New Zealand, but because the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes.
When I look through my own recipe for the perfect cup of tea, I find no fewer than 11 outstanding points. On perhaps two of them there would be pretty general agreement, but at least four others are acutely controversial. Here are my own 11 rules, every one of which I regard as golden:
• First of all, one should use Indian or Ceylonese tea. China tea has virtues which are not to be despised nowadays—it is economical, and one can drink it without milk—but there is not much stimulation in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it. Anyone who has used that comforting phrase ‘a nice cup of tea’ invariably means Indian tea.
• Secondly, tea should be made in small quantities—that is, in a teapot. Tea out of an urn is always tasteless, while army tea, made in a cauldron, tastes of grease and whitewash. The teapot should be made of china or earthenware. Silver or Britanniaware teapots produce inferior tea and enamel pots are worse; though curiously enough a pewter teapot (a rarity nowadays) is not so bad.
• Thirdly, the pot should be warmed beforehand. This is better done by placing it on the hob than by the usual method of swilling it out with hot water.
• Fourthly, the tea should be strong. For a pot holding a quart, if you are going to fill it nearly to the brim, six heaped teaspoons would be about right. In a time of rationing, this is not an idea that can be realized on every day of the week, but I maintain that one strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones. All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong, but like it a little stronger with each year that passes—a fact which is recognized in the extra ration issued to old-age pensioners.
• Fifthly, the tea should be put straight into the pot. No strainers, muslin bags or other devices to imprison the tea. In some countries teapots are fitted with little dangling baskets under the spout to catch the stray leaves, which are supposed to be harmful. Actually one can swallow tea-leaves in considerable quantities without ill effect, and if the tea is not loose in the pot it never infuses properly.
• Sixthly, one should take the teapot to the kettle and not the other way about. The water should be actually boiling at the moment of impact, which means that one should keep it on the flame while one pours. Some people add that one should only use water that has been freshly brought to the boil, but I have never noticed that it makes any difference.
• Seventhly, after making the tea, one should stir it, or better, give the pot a good shake, afterwards allowing the leaves to settle.
• Eighthly, one should drink out of a good breakfast cup—that is, the cylindrical type of cup, not the flat, shallow type. The breakfast cup holds more, and with the other kind one’s tea is always half cold—before one has well started on it.
• Ninthly, one should pour the cream off the milk before using it for tea. Milk that is too creamy always gives tea a sickly taste.
• Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round.
• Lastly, tea—unless one is drinking it in the Russian style—should be drunk without sugar. I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tea-lover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a very similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water.
Some people would answer that they don’t like tea in itself, that they only drink it in order to be warmed and stimulated, and they need sugar to take the taste away. To those misguided people I would say: Try drinking tea without sugar for, say, a fortnight and it is very unlikely that you will ever want to ruin your tea by sweetening it again.
These are not the only controversial points to arise in connection with tea drinking, but they are sufficient to show how subtilized the whole business has become.
There is also the mysterious social etiquette surrounding the teapot (why is it considered vulgar to drink out of your saucer, for instance?) and much might be written about the subsidiary uses of tealeaves, such as telling fortunes, predicting the arrival of visitors, feeding rabbits, healing burns and sweeping the carpet.
It is worth paying attention to such details as warming the pot and using water that is really boiling, so as to make quite sure of wringing out of one’s ration the 20 good, strong cups that two ounces, properly handled, ought to represent.