Thyme4tea's Blog

Types of Tea

thyme4tea — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:34:33 +0000

There are different types of tea, and everyone has their own preference. My favorite flavor is lavender mint green tea, but I mostly drink Iced Tea. I love passion flavor and fruity teas. One day I would like to produce a lavender tea. Here a the different types of teas and how they are made.

TYPES of TEA

Green Tea

Tea leaves are heated by firing or steaming then dried immediately after plucking. Heating inactivates the enzymes which stops the natural oxidation process within the tea leaves. The result is a lighter yellow-green infusion.

Black Tea

Fresh tea leaves are rolled in order to disrupt cell structure, then exposed to air and allowed to oxidize before firing. The result is a darkening of the leaf colour caused by enzymes in the leaf, a change in aroma and a coppery-brown brew of tea.

Oolong Tea

The leaves are semi-oxidized, which gives them a flavour that is stronger than green teas, but more delicate than black teas. The process to yeild Oolong is a little complicated. Lots of repeated wilting and shaking in bamboo baskets to arrive at the perfect state that captures the fragrant essence of the leaf. Also known as Brown tea.

White Tea

The new buds and sometimes the two leaves at the top of the plant are plucked before they open, usually when still young and while the morning dew coats the leaves. They are then withered to allow the natural moisture to evaporate and then are gently dried. The curled up buds have a silvery/white appearance and give a pale straw colored liquor. Because processing is minimal, white tea is higher in anti-oxidants than other teas.

There is lots of information around about tea. Stay tuned next week and I will share some benefits from drinking tea.

If you find this information helpful, pass it on to a friend.

Enjoy a cuppa tea today.

Candi Elm

http://thyme4tea.wordpress.com

Tea Thyme Recipes

thyme4tea — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:31:28 +0000

Summer is here.

Palm Springs, CA

Do you have a favorite recipe for tea foods? Mine would have to be in the dessert department. I love lemon bars. Actually, I like anything small enough that you can eat several pieces. I think that is always what has intrigued me about having going to tea. I like the small portions, that you can have your different courses and not feel so stuffed.

When I go to a restaurant, I look at the desserts and dream about them. Then I order my food and after I am done there is no room for dessert. When you go for tea, everything is usually included.

When I prepared tea for my teahouse, I served scones, 3 tea sandwiches and 2 to 3 desserts. Then along with hot or iced tea, they had plenty to eat. The compliments were always about how much food they had, some even took leftovers home to their husbands and said “now I don’t have to cook dinner.”

So if you have a favorite tea time food or scone, let me know what it is.

To “A simpler time,”

Candi Elm

http://Thyme4tea.wordpress.com

Starting over again

thyme4tea — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:22:51 +0000

Warm and Sunny

Palm Springs, CA

Two years ago I had to close down the Elm’s Victorian Manor in Palm Springs. It broke my heart as I had difficulty with the City and other factors. I had a friend that was such a great help and maybe one day we will be back to where we were. As for now I will start out slowly and one day hope to have a beautiful tea room again. I enjoyed having the Red Hat Society ladies over and we had lots of fun. They are a energetic group. My tearoom started out as Teacups of Kindness and eventually became the Elms Victorian Manor.

I had the ladies asking me for many of my recipes, so that is where I will start. This Blog will be everything about Tea. I welcome your comments as long as they are related to Tea and are “tasteful“

I hope you will enjoy this blog and share it with other tea lovers.

Thyme 4 Tea

Candi Elm

http://thyme4tea.wordpress.com