Tea Blog

The year 2013 has been a busy one for this blog, where an array of writers have brought you a variety of views of tea.

Tea Guy William I. Lengeman kept us informed with his monthly reports on tea books, gadgets, and other news. He’s also been trying some of the teas and herbals from The English Tea Store and sharing his thoughts on them with us. And he writes about some issues with tea that can be confusing and points us to sources that clarify them.

A focus on some great recipes using tea came to us from Janet Sanchez, who runs her own tea business centered on pairing tea and food, and from writer Janis Badarau, a fellow tea aficionado who also treated us to other writings on teawares, teas, and her wonderful cats.

Dance student and tea lover Elise Nuding shared her visits to the British Museum in London with us, remarking on some of the unique, historic, and beautiful teapots on exhibit there. She has shared some of her travels and tea experiences, including her trip to Bremen in Germany and most recently to Morocco. She has also been trying some of the teas and herbals from The English Tea Store and sharing her thoughts on them with us.

We had a few contributions to the blog from another tea vendor who is from Germany but now lives in Thailand. Thomas Kasper has since gone on to devote his time to building his business but shared some great thoughts with us about tea.

Occasional contributions from guest bloggers such as Sarah Rosalind Roberts have also spiced things up a bit. Plus we have plenty of classic articles that never seem to lose their popularity.

And finally there is yours truly. I have contributed the lion’s share of articles and had a lot of fun along the way. Some articles have been humorous, some informative, some addressing issues in the world of tea. And every month there has been a line-up of teas to try to carry you through it all!

As editor of the blog also, it is my privilege to select some of my favorites and also reader favorites (based on comments, ‘likes,’ and hits from January through mid-December). We all hope you will take a little time to read through some of these, even if you’ve read them before, and enjoy the fruits of our labors. And this list just goes to show that, no matter how much you know about tea, there’s still more. (List is in order of number of ‘hits’ on the blog.)

1. 5 Signs That You’re “Going Southern” at Tea Time — The surprise hit of the year, thanks to TheSouthernLadyCooks.com.
2. Super-heated Water and Tea Flavor
3. You Know You’ve Stored Your Teas Too Long When…
4. The Do’s and Don’ts of Boiling Water for Tea
5. 5 Surprising Things About Tea
6. A Closer Look at Teapot Spout Styles
7. 5 Things I Wish I’d Known About Tea
8. 5 Reasons You Should Clean Your Tea Cup or Mug Between Uses
9. 5 Ways to Prepare Your Palate for a Tea Tasting
10. The Pros and Cons of Sun Tea
11. The British Tea Tradition Is Changing
12. Milk First, Last, or Never in Your Tea?
13. Are Americans Abandoning Coffee for Tea?
14. Painting with Tea: Tea Dimensional Art
15. A Jane Austen Teatime
16. Cooking with Tea: Sangria
17. 10 Egregious Tea Time Behaviors
18. Tea Doughnuts
19. Tea Quiz: Can You Identify These Teas?
20. Why Do Some Teacups Have Feet?
21. Japan’s Green Tea Wars
22. The Confusion of “Purple Tea”
23. Who Cares What the Tea Leaves Look Like?
24. Is There Really Such a Thing as Being “Tea Drunk”?
25. The Fine Art of Tea Dueling
26. Teapot Styles — Electric
27. 5 More Surprising Things About Tea
28. “Afternoon Tea” vs. “High Tea” — Should We Preserve the Distinction?
29. How Do You Bake Your Scones?
30. Can You Get a Premium Silver Needle Tea from India?
31. The Ultimate Tea Crime
32. Wow! More Tea Artists!
33. Alexander McCall Smith and George Orwell Talk Tea
34. The Ancient Tea Road – from Yunnan to Lhasa
35. Teas of the World: Holiday Blends
36. The Overuse of “Tea Room”
37. Teapots at the British Museum – Part 1
38. Rinse, Wash, or First Steep?
39. 19th Century Tea Patents
40. Green Tea and Depression
41. Adding Milk to Tea
42. On Gloom, Doom, and the End of Tea as We Know It (Or Not)
43. Is Replacing Your Water Intake with Drinking a Lot of Tea a Good Idea?
44. Gaiwan Snobbery?
45. The REAL Tea Boat!
46. Tea Caddy Spoons Demystified
47. “Sweet Tea” Explained (Sort of)
48. Does Your Tea Site Need A Makeover?
49. Do Tea Pods Have a Future?
50. How to Serve Tea in Bed
51. This Tea Is Bugging Me or The Secret of Oriental Beauty Oolong
52. Can You Win in the Tea Market Through Quality?
53. Might as Well Face It, You’re Addicted to Tea
54. Tea Elegance on a Budget, Part One
55. Cooking with Tea: Good Gravy!
56. 3 Teas Compete — Which Is the Better Builders Tea?
57. Remembering That Experience at Bettys Café Tea Room in York, UK
58. 5 Ways to Deal with That Tea Time Interloper
59. Some Thoughts on Terroir and Tea
60. Stephen Twining – 10th Generation Tea Guy
61. How to Have Samovar-Style Tea without the Samovar
62. What ConsumerLab.com Wants You to Know About Green Tea
63. In My Cups: Kangaroo Mugs
64. Offbeat Tea Patents
65. How Precise Do You Want to Be with Your Tea?
66. Why Soft Drinks Are NOT a Substitute for Tea
67. Recipe for Pu-erh Pot Roast
68. In My Cups: Lacquerware
69. A Jasperware Teapot at the British Museum
70. Tea and the Four Times of Patience
71. Thoughts on the Term “Matcha”
72. 2 Great Books to Get You Started Collecting Teapots
73. Tea and a Good Read — “A Dream of Daring” by Gen LaGreca
74. Recipe for Darjeeling Beef with Barley Soup
75. Book Review: The Tea Cyclopedia
76. Have Yourself a Merry Little Tea-mas!
77. 5 Signs That You’re “Going Hogwarts” at Tea Time
78. Who Was Okakura Kakuzo (The Book of Tea Guy)?
79. Cascara: The Coffee “Tea”
80. Share and Share Alike: A Little More on Tea & Social Media
81. Tea in the Movies: “Gosford Park”
82. Tea Bowls in the British Museum
83. Save the Tricks and Pile on the Tea Treats!
84. Spicing Up Moroccan Mint Tea
85. Stopping for Tea in Bremen, Germany

Some classics:

• Clotted Cream vs Double Devon Cream
• Make Your Tea Taste Better
• The Humble and Excellent Brown Betty
• Collectible Sadler Teapots
• The Importance of Decanting Tea
• Types of Tea
• Is English Cadbury Different Than American?
• The Dark Side of Sun Tea
• The Benefits of Electric Kettles

Thanks, and have a Joyous New Year in 2014! We’ll keep the great tea info coming.

See more of A.C. Cargill’s articles here.
See more of Elise Nuding’s articles here.
See more of William I. Lengeman’s articles here.
See more of Janet Sanchez’s articles here.
See more of Sarah Rosalind Robert’s articles here.

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