TO CAFFEINATE OR DECAFFEINATE - THAT IS THE QUESTION! And it's a big one. Caffeine is not for everyone, hence decaf tea! In theory, a great idea - the possibility to enjoy the same flavours without the 3am bedtime. But have you ever noticed a little something lacking in the taste department when it comes to a decaf tea vs its caffeinated counterpart? Perhaps a diluted flavour? A certain je ne sais quoi that not even steeping longer can remedy? Buckle up, Tea Friends, I’m about to tell you why! There are many reasons you are experiencing a difference in taste between caffeinated and decaffein ..read more

One of the biggest myths still persisting in the tea industry is that we know how much caffeine each type of tea contains. Over generalizations such as "black tea contains the most caffeine" lead to customers seeking the tea with "the most caffeine". The fact is, unless each batch of tea is lab tested, we simply do not know.  Caffeine in the tea plant All parts of the tea plant, with the exception of the seed, contain at least some caffeine. Caffeine in tea is used by the plant as a natural defense against pests eating the new leaf buds, as in high doses, caffeine ..read more

Understanding flavours and how they are made vs marketed by food companies is important for anyone navigating the food industry.  Some customers choose natural over artificial thinking it is the better or healthier choice, and that can't be further from the truth. Food culture has a trend towards labeling things as "natural" without understanding if that label really makes things better - or even what it means in the context of food. All flavours regardless of the label of 'artificial' or 'natural' are safe.  Some tea customers do like to choose "unflavoured" or "pure" estate ..read more

"Tea if by sea and Cha if by land" - that is how the etymology of the words for tea are traced back into China. Chai is a complex subject! Firstly, to go back a bit, chai is another word for tea, used mainly in countries along the land trade routes for tea and spices out of China during the thousand years old Silk Road. The word originates from the Sinitic character 茶 which is pronounced ‘cha’ in the Mandarin language. This pronunciation eventually morphed into ”chay” (چای)  in Persian as tea traveled across the continent.  ‘Tea’ is the term used by trade countries that accessed Ch ..read more

Image from Archive.org: Spices, their nature and growth, the vanilla bean, a talk on tea by McCormick and company 1915.   What is Orange Pekoe? One of the most common questions asked of any tea provider is 'Do you have any 'Orange Pekoe'? To which we can assume the person inquiring is looking for a plain black tea. How we got to this understanding is an interesting journey. The term "Pekoe" can mean a few things in talking about tea, but one of the most common is in its use of grading black tea. Orange Pekoe, as a term, is a grade of black tea used in the traditional colonial tea grading ..read more