Tea Expands Culinary and Mixology Possibilities
It's More Than Tea
by Jill
5h ago
The annual World Tea Expo fosters exploration, innovation, networking. Tea industry producers, importers and distributors, tea shop owners, restauranteurs, and tea drinkers sample and discuss teas, teach or attend classes, peruse tea-related merchandise, and network. Why should you care? Well, products that catch the eye of attendees may possibly turn up in your local tea shop, restaurant, or even big-box store at some point! This year, in an arguably more novel and fun vein, Lisa of TeaHaus, Ann Arbor, and Phil (Mammoth Distilling) taught popular classes that demonstrated how to use tea leav ..read more
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Tea and Alcohol Work Well Together
It's More Than Tea
by Jill
1w ago
Next week’s World Tea Expo is taking place alongside the Bar & Restaurant Expo, which is fitting. Although we may view tea and alcoholic beverages as two entities, they’ve long been entwined. Europeans were first introduced to tea in the early 1600s, although only the wealthiest could afford such a luxury. At the same time, British East India Company employees discovered punch during their travels. Whether the word “punch” truly derived from Hindustani panch, meaning “five” (see earlier post), isn’t clear. However, the drink’s five elements: spirit citrus sugar spice/tea water remain the ..read more
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Salt-in-Tea Shakes Things Up
It's More Than Tea
by Jill
3w ago
Have you seen the latest tempest in the [salted] teapot? Recently, American chemist Michelle Francl had the audacity (!) to recommend a sprinkle of salt in your tea. Which prompted the Brits to charges of heresy. (Read story here.) However, adding salt to tea is nothing new. Chinese tea master Lu Yu, who wrote the Classic of Tea around 760 CE—that’s over 1200 years ago!—added salt when he boiled water to make tea. Although he cautioned against making the water too salty lest the tea also be too salty, he apparently used only a pinch of salt to about a quart of water (Barnes 2014:11). That amo ..read more
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The Evolution of the (Souvenir) Teaspoon, Part 3
It's More Than Tea
by Jill
1M ago
In my last post, we had reached the mid-1800s, entering into the advent of leisure travel in Europe, a period when souvenir collecting evolved into spoon collecting, both in Europe and the United States. By displaying a collection that advertised where you had been, you demonstrated your interest in the world, your ability to travel, and, of course, your disposable income and accompanying status. On May 10, 1892, the Omaha Daily Bee of Nebraska remarked on the “spoon fad,” explaining that American cities as well as those in Europe were producing their own souvenir spoons for tourists, commemo ..read more
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The Evolution of the Teaspoon, Part 2
It's More Than Tea
by Jill
1M ago
Here I continue to look at how utilitarian teaspoons turned into souvenirs that we hang on a wall! As mentioned in my previous post, both teaspoons and tablespoons existed by 1704. Still, because tea was a precious commodity in the West, both teacup and teaspoon were very small. However, around 1710, the East India Company began their tea trade with China and the cost of tea started to decline. As tea grew more affordable, teaspoon size increased and by the 1730s, a teaspoon was 1/3 of a tablespoon. (Incidentally, that size has persisted in the U.S. as a unit of culinary measure.) Now that te ..read more
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The Evolution of the Teaspoon, Part 1
It's More Than Tea
by Jill
2M ago
Way before the pandemic disrupted, well, pretty much everything, TeaHaus was gifted a set of decorative teaspoons—which I’m finally getting to, and thank you! (What I did not get to was polishing the silver-plated spoons.) At first glance, these diminutive spoons are definitely in souvenir territory—but inspection proves that some are very detailed. And some are mini works of art, like this ship with the wave motifs down the handle. But really, why was cutlery ever turned into souvenir? And why, why, why do we hang non-functional cutlery on a wall? The story begins, unsurprisingly, with spo ..read more
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Keemun Black Tea
It's More Than Tea
by Jill
2M ago
Having looked at two Chinese black teas from Yunnan Province in my last post, I turn now to keemun. Like the Yunnan black teas, keemun teas hail from China and are highly valued. Therefore, tea producers want to protect the reputation of these unique teas and ensure that cheaper teas aren’t being passed off as the acclaimed keemun. So, what is this tea and how is science helping the efforts of tea growers? Keemun is produced in Anhui Province, located in eastern China and celebrated for the Huangshan Mountains (Yellow Mountain), which, incidentally, lend their name to the green tea Huangshan ..read more
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Golden Yunnan Black Teas
It's More Than Tea
by Jill
2M ago
Yunnan Province in southwest China is considered the birthplace of tea, and the mountainous region remains one of the world’s top tea producers. Interestingly, demand for tea in this area has fluctuated at times, which allowed the native large-leaf, assamica-variety Camellia sinensis tea plants to spread and become part of the natural vegetation. In their book The Story of Tea, Mary Lou and Robert Heiss rather rapturously describe the black teas from this province: Yunnan black teas are lush, thirst-quenching treats that are worth the search. You may see these black teas as dianhong teas, w ..read more
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Uranium Glass: Lovely & Just a Bit Radioactive
It's More Than Tea
by Jill
6M ago
Walking around your house with a black light can be hugely illuminating. For instance: I discovered that my handmade ceramic steamer for food contains a disconcerting number of fluorescent green spots (radioactive?) I sadly beheld the full extent of pet accidents on our wool rug I found that I own four pieces of vintage uranium glass (unequivocally radioactive) Uranium in Glass It turns out that uranium gives glass a lovely yellow, yellow-green, or green color. The precise hue depends on the oxidation level. But under ultraviolet or black light (a type of ultraviolet light), such glass fluo ..read more
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Japanese Green Tea: Genmaicha and Matcha Genmaicha
It's More Than Tea
by Jill
6M ago
Autumn is officially here. Yet, the Great Lakes region always approaches this seasonal change with some trepidation, unsure whether to stay rooted in summer warmth or commit to autumn’s chill.  Loath to embrace the cold, I cling to the last precious days that speak of summer. Others might enthusiastically pull out autumn flavors, but I prefer to linger a bit, brew up another iced tea, pretend it’s July. To that end, matcha genmaicha is ideal. With its stunning color and wonderful starch-vegetal balance, it reminds of spring and summer when iced—but can quickly pivot to a cold-weather tea ..read more
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