More likely than not, a layman’s idea of brewing good tea would be to dump a teabag into a cup and then pour hot water on to it, and voila, a few mins of immersing the teabag later, you would have of cup of hot tea! However, if you consider the fact that what is usually contained in a typical teabag are actually tea fannings(the tiniest pieces of broken leaves usually of the lower grades), you are really losing out on the enjoyment of savouring quality teas that can only be brewed from loose leave tea!

Granted, I’m not saying that all teabag teas are made from poor quality teas as some excellent teas can also be found in teabag form, but nevertheless, there are other mitigating factors that makes tea brewed from loose tea leaves superior.

One factor I can think of is that the brewing of good tea require space for the tea leaves to expand. If you have ever brewed Dragon Pearl Jasmine tea before, you would have witnessed the tiny rolled balls of tea unfurling in the hot water, which allow all surfaces of the tea leaves to steep and release its essential chemicals and oils, the basis for the enchanting flavour of tea. However, in the constricted space of of a tea bag, the process of expanding of the tea leaves is largely restricted, hindering the release of its full flavours!

Other than missing out flavour-wise, brewing tea from teabags also means that you miss out on the experience of watching poetry in motion as the tea leaves unravels in a beautiful dance. There are many kinds of quality chinese tea that are rolled into various forms(some are even handcrafted and tied up into various interesting shapes), and viewing how the different tea leaves unfurls can heighten the experience of enjoying quality tea as much drinking the tea itself!

Also, in a typical tea bag, although quality tea might be used, it would usually contain broken up pieces of tea leaves rather than whole tea leaves due to the size of the teabag. This increases the likely hood that the tea leaves might be stale as there is greater surface for the essential oils found in the tea leaves to evaporate leaving the tea lacking in taste and nutrition when it is brewed.

With the above factors in mind, next time you think of relaxing over a cup of good tea, try brewing from quality loose leave tea rather than settling for just a tea bag. Check out our premium loose leaf teas once, and I’m sure you’ll never go back to your usual teabag teas ever again! =)

One would normally associate pairing good food with fine wines… but with tea? Actually, the concept of tea-food pairing works similarly to wine-food pairing. Like wines, quality teas can have a wide range of flavour, smell, acidity, body and texture muchly depending on where and how they were produced. Hence, if a good pairing between tea and food is made, the characteristics of a tea can interact with the flavours of food to greatly enhance and accentuate the taste of the food, thus increasing the enjoyment.

There is no exact science to which teas go well with which kinds of food but a good general guideline would be to pair teas with food which either have similar characteristics or have complementary characteristics. For example, unoxidised green tea with its smooth grassy taste would go well with seafood as it washes down any fishy aftertaste. Another example would to have an Oolong tea with its more toasty flavour to go with grilled chicken. The whole fun of tea-food pairing is to treat it as an adventure to explore and experiment with how different attributes of the various teas and food interacts and serve to heighten each dining experience you have.

Here’s some general guidelines to kickstart you in your experiments

• Green teas eg. Dragonwell - lighter flavoured food such as seafood dishes
• Oolong teas eg. Tie Guan Yin - grilled dishes, white meats such as chicken
• Red teas eg. Assam, English breakfast - full flavoured food such as red meat
• Black teas eg. Pu-erh- Dishes with higher oil and fat content such as curries, cream based pastas, sweet desserts

Have fun pairing!

At a recent staff meeting, I was quite surprised that there are still people who thinks that the various types of chinese tea comes from different species of plants. Well yeah, Pu Er teas does taste so much different from say a Dragonwell tea, but the fact is, all true tea comes from the same plant, the Camellia sinensis plant. The word tea has nowadays been loosely used to include beverages made from other types of leaves or flowers of other plants(known as tisanes), but true tea only comes from the tea bush, the Camellia sinensis. This means your favourite camomile tea, rose tea etc are not really true teas but are actually called tisanes.

The different types of chinese tea tastes the way they are due to the different methods that the raw tea leaves are actually processed, main differences being the level of fermentation:

1) Green Teas

Green teas are teas that do not undergo the fermentation process. In this way, the leaves will retain its iginal green color and natural fragrance and flavour, producing a light coloured tea with a more “grassy” aftertaste. An example of a green tea would be Dragonwell.

2) Red Teas

Red teas are fully fermented tea leaves that gives a robust, strong flavoured and dark colored tea when it is brewed. Most western types of tea such as Darjeeling and Assam tea are red teas.

3) Oolong Teas

Oolong teas are partially fermented teas, giving it the characteristics of both green and red teas. It leaves a sweet and pleasant aftertaste. An example would be Tie Guan Yin (Iron Goddess of Mercy)

4) Black Teas

Black tea is a kind of tea that is left to ferment for many years in an “aging” process. This kind of post-fermentation process imparts to the tea brew a dark color and earthy flavor. One example would be Pu Erh Tea.

Now that you know the basic differences between the various teas, do make an effort to explore and enjoy the many types of chinese teas and I’m sure you’ll soon be able to find you personal favourites among them!

Are you more of coffee or tea drinker? It’s not too difficult to guess which one I prefer considering what Essential Brew offers. I’ll choose tea over coffee anytime.

To put the debate into perspective, here’s an interesting article on the benefits of drinking tea vs coffee (The Coffee vs. Tea Smackdown). Seems like both tea and coffee drinkers derive health benefits from their daily fix of caffeine but tea wins overall(score: 7 vs 3). Of course we cannot avoid the fact that having too much caffeine can be bad for you too (Caffeine Overuse), but I don’t really drink that much to the point of dependency and addiction so I should be quite safe. =) Historically, tea has also been drunk as a medicinal beverage so while I’m getting my daily dosage of caffeine, I might as well get the maximum benefits out of it.

By having my cup of tea, I’m also sharing the passion with billions of other people around the world as tea is the second most popular beverage in the world. Guess which is the most popular beverage?(click to find out but no prizes for guessing correctly =P) Almost everywhere around the world be it England, India, Sri Lanka, China, Japan etc have their local versions of tea being enjoyed daily and its prevalence round the world is no doubt partly due to its long history. According to Chinese legend, Emperor Shen Nung who was known as a scholar and botanist, discovered tea in 2737 B.C. when some tea leaves fell into his boiling water. Comparatively, coffee has a much shorter history dating back to around 800 A.D.

The culture of tea preparation makes it perfect for a relaxed get together with friends or family. Avid tea enthusiast do not solely enjoy the taste of the beverage but also enjoy the process of brewing tea. Personally, I find the process of the chinese tea ceremony therapeutic, as it forces one to slow down the pace and relaxes one’s mind. Time just seems to pass by more slowly and melt away all my stress when I have a good chat with friends while brewing a pot of good tea. In contrast, brewing coffee is a much less elaborate and more straight forward process.

Yeah, I might seem a bit bias choosing tea over coffee, but no doubt with the above in mind, tea is a more appealing beverage to me as compared to coffee(although i still have the occasional round of coffee). Over at Essential Brew, we’ve made the process of enjoying a good pot of tea a much simpler and easier process for those people who are intimidated by the intricacies of a traditional chinese tea ceremony. So what’s stopping you from being a tea convert given its innate attractiveness?

Just an email I got in my mailbox. Thought I’ll share with all of you! =P

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25 Reasons Why You Should Start Drinking Green Tea Now

Green tea has increasingly become a very popular drink worldwide because of its immensely powerful health benefits. It is extraordinarily amazing what green tea can do for your health. And if you’re not drinking 3 to 4 cups of green tea today, you’re definitely NOT doing your health a big favor.

Here Are The 25 Reasons Why You Should Start Drinking Green Tea Right Now:

1. Green Tea and Cancer

Green tea helps reduce the risk of cancer. The antioxidant in green tea is 100 times more effective than vitamin C and 25 times better than vitamin E. This helps your body at protecting cells from damage believed to be linked to cancer.

2. Green Tea and Heart Disease

Green tea helps prevent heart disease and stroke by lowering the level of cholesterol. Even after the heart attack, it prevents cell deaths and speeds up the recovery of heart cells.

3. Green Tea and Anti-Aging

Green tea contains antioxidant known as polyphenols which fight against free radicals. What this means it helps you fight against aging and promotes longevity.

4. Green Tea and Weight Loss

Green tea helps with your body weight loss. Green tea burns fat and boosts your metabolism rate naturally. It can help you burn up to 70 calories in just one day. That translates to 7 pounds in one year.

5. Green Tea and Skin

Antioxidant in green tea protects the skin from the harmful effects of free radicals, which cause wrinkling and skin aging. Green tea also helps fight against skin cancer.

6. Green Tea and Arthritis

Green tea can help prevent and reduce the risk of rheumatoid arthritis. Green tea
has benefit for your health as it protects the cartilage by blocking the enzyme
that destroys cartilage.

7. Green Tea and Bones

The very key to this is high fluoride content found in green tea. It helps keep your bones strong. If you drink green tea every day, this will help you preserve your bone density.

8. Green Tea and Cholesterol

Green tea can help lower cholesterol level. It also improves the ratio of good cholesterol to bad cholesterol, by reducing bad cholesterol level.

9. Green Tea and Obesity

Green tea prevents obesity by stopping the movement of glucose in fat cells. If you are on a healthy diet, exercise regularly and drink green tea, it is unlikely you’ll be obese.

10. Green Tea and Diabetes

Green tea improves lipid and glucose metabolisms, prevents sharp increases in blood sugar level, and balances your metabolism rate.

11. Green Tea and Alzheimer’s

Green tea helps boost your memory. And although there’s no cure for Alzheimer’s, it helps slow the process of reduced acetylcholine in the brain, which leads to Alzheimer’s.

12. Green Tea and Parkinson’s

Antioxidants in green tea helps prevent against cell damage in the brain, which could cause Parkinson’s. People drinking green tea also are less likely to progress with Parkinson’s.

13. Green Tea and Liver Disease

Green tea helps prevent transplant failure in people with liver failure. Researches showed that green tea destroys harmful free radicals in fatty livers.

14. Green Tea and High Blood Pressure

Green tea helps prevent high blood pressure. Drinking green tea helps keep your blood pressure down by repressing angiotensin, which leads to high blood pressure.

15. Green Tea and Food Poisoning

Catechin found in green tea can kill bacteria which causes food poisoning and kills the toxins produced by those bacteria.

16. Green Tea and Blood Sugar

Blood sugar tends to increase with age, but polyphenols and polysaccharides in green tea help lower your blood sugar level.

17. Green Tea and Immunity

Polyphenols and flavenoids found in green tea help boost your immune system, making your health stronger in fighting against infections.

18. Green Tea and Cold and Flu

Green tea prevents you from getting a cold or flu. Vitamin C in green tea helps you treat the flu and the common cold.

19. Green Tea and Asthma

Theophylline in green tea relaxes the muscles which support the bronchial tubes, reducing the severity of asthma.

20. Green Tea and Ear Infection

Green tea helps with ear infection problem. For natural ear cleaning, soak a cutton ball in green tea and clean the infected ear.

21. Green Tea and Herpes

Green tea increases the effectiveness of topical interferon treatment of herpes. First green tea compress is applied, and then let the skin dry before the interferon treatment.

22. Green Tea and Tooth Decay

Green tea destroys bacteria and viruses that cause many dental diseases. It also slows the growth of bacteria which leads to bad breath.

23. Green Tea and Stress

L-theanine, which is a kind of amino acids in green tea, can help relieve stress and anxiety

24. Green Tea and Allergies

EGCG found in green tea relieves allergies. So, if you have allergies, you should really consider drinking green tea.

25. Green Tea and HIV

Scientists in Japanhave found that EGCG (Epigallocatechin Gallate) in green tea can stop HIV from binding to healthy immune cells. What this means is that green tea can help stop the HIV virus from spreading.

Now, your health is in your hands. You know you’re smart. So, start drinking three to four cups of green tea every day for a drug-free and healthier YOU!

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Ain’t I glad that green tea is one of my favourite thirst quenchers?