So Many Teapots, So Little Time

In your quest for the perfect teapot, you’re likely to encounter an incredible variety of styles and materials suited to different needs. While there are many compelling reasons to buy one teapot or another, we believe that the material the teapot is made from is among the most important.

The table below gives a quick overview of the pros and cons of most common teapot materials:

Hopefully, this mini-guide will help you seek out the perfect teapot. Of course, you can feel free to continue your search by browsing our teaware collection on the Arbor Teas website.

What Does Carbon Have To Do With Cold Brewing Tea?

Actually, there is even more you can do to reduce your CO2 emissions when it comes to tea-making. We covered a variety of “green brewing” techniques in a previous post.  These are certainly great ways to reduce your carbon footprint, but there is yet another easy and practical alternative to the regular brewing process: cold-brewing! As its name suggests, this technique involves making your favorite tea with cold water, slashing energy consumption by eliminating the water-heating process.

Of course, there are pros and cons to brewing tea this way. Cold-brewing will produce a lighter-bodied tea with less astringency and bitterness, as this method draws out a fewer tannic compounds, which is great for a mellow, even sweet, iced tea. Cold-brewing is also more time efficient, since you can make a pitcher of tea and store it in the refrigerator for a few days without having to brew a batch every day.  On the flip-side, it is also suggested that cold-brewing will draw out as little as half of the caffeine and half the beneficial antioxidants derived by hot-brewing, but our “research” can’t speak to that. Some suggest that splashing the tea leaves with a little bit of hot water “opens up the leaves”, helping release stronger flavor, more caffeine and higher antioxidant levels.

How To Cold Brew Tea

All you need to cold-brew tea is some good-quality loose leaf tea, a quart-size glass jar with a lid (if you don’t have a fancy cold brew tea pitcher), and cold water.  Any black, green, oolong or white tea will brew well. Herbal teas are generally not recommended, since they don’t usually undergo heat processing and may therefore harbor impurities and bacteria that are killed through standard hot-brewing.

Here are the simple steps for cold-brewing the perfect batch:

• Measure four to eight teaspoons of loose tea and give them a quick rinse (to remove dust and impurities, etc).
• Put the tea into the jar and fill to the top with cold water.
• Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 to 8 hours.
• Strain the tea leaves before storing or drinking to minimize bitterness.

You may want to experiment with the ratio of tea leaves to water and the length of steeping, depending on how strong you like your tea. You can also play around with the flavor of the tea by adding cut fruit or mint to it while it’s steeping. Cold-brewed tea is naturally sweeter, but you can sweeten it further with simple syrup, honey or agave nectar. Adding lemon or other citrus juice to the tea can also help sustain the tea’s antioxidants.

By cold-brewing your tea, you not only get easy, delicious iced tea, you also get peace of mind knowing that you took a small step in the right direction toward lowering your carbon emissions! Give it a try, and leave a comment telling us about your cold-brewing experience!

If you’re reading this blog, chances are you’re an environmentally-conscious tea drinker like us. While we’ve made big strides towards comprehensive sustainability (by sticking with organic tea, carbon-offsetting our business activities, using backyard-compostable packaging, etc.), buying your tea from an eco-friendly company such as ours is only part of the equation – the tea still needs to be brewed! Because we live in a world with limited freshwater resources and a dependence on fossil fuels for energy, we need to do all we can to minimize waste in our daily rituals – including tea drinking! With that in mind, we’d like to offer five quick (but hard-core) tips to help out:

1. Measure Then Fill. Start the process by filling your kettle with the water you intend to use for brewing, pouring in only the amount of water required to fill your teapot. This way, you’re not wasting any water, and you’re not expending any more energy than necessary to bring the water to the right temperature. If you don’t think you’ll drink a whole pot, then fill the amount of cups you intend on drinking with water and pour those into your kettle instead.
2. Local Water = Smaller Footprint. We often recommend using natural spring water when brewing your tea for better flavor (or at least dechlorinated tap water). Keep in mind that some areas have local spring water available – so use it! The less distance your spring water has to travel to reach you, the less carbon is emitted to the atmosphere in the process.
3. Refillable Containers Save. If you use spring water or filtered water bought in plastic containers, bring them back to the store to be refilled! This reduces packaging material necessary to transport the water, and typically saves you some cash, too! Many grocery stores and co-ops have machines available to do this (if your’s doesn’t, go find one that does, or ask management to consider adding this option).
4. Stick With Gas If Possible. Generally-speaking, it’s more climate-friendly to use a gas stove than an electric stove or AC-powered (plug-in) kettle. Use a gas stove if you still have one!  Gas burns cleaner than coal (which is used to power the vast majority of residential electricity in the United States). Natural gas is definitely not a perfect solution for all of our energy needs, but until technology and renewable energy markets develop further, it’s still better than coal. Of course, if you’re powering your home or office with solar energy, then an electric range is A-OK!
5. For Electric Stove Users. If you drink your tea with a meal, use the same burner you cooked with to heat your kettle while the burner is still hot! This takes advantage of the residual heat left in the burner, reducing the energy necessary to heat your water. Also, if you plan on re-steeping your tea with left over water boiled for the first infusion, turn the power to the stove off in between infusions, but leave the kettle on top of the stove to absorb the leftover heat.

We’d love to hear your perspective on how to make the tea brewing process more sustainable. Creative ways to make less waste, use less energy or somehow give back to the planet are always welcome! Leave us a comment with your own ideas!

Methylene chloride decaffeination is a process by which the molecules of caffeine bond to molecules of methylene chloride.  Caffeine is removed either by 1) directly soaking the tea in methylene chloride or 2) indirectly soaking the water (used to remove the caffeine) in methylene chloride and then returning the water to the tea for reabsorption of flavors and oils.  Because methylene chloride is widely believed to be unhealthy for consumption, a legal limit of 5 parts per million is placed on residual traces in the tea and the US bans all imports using methylene chloride.

Tea processed using ethyl acetate is often referred to as “naturally decaffeinated” because ethyl acetate is a chemical found naturally in tea. Caffeine is extracted in the same way as with methylene chloride processing, but ethyl acetate is the solvent.  However, ethyl acetate is very difficult to remove after the decaffeination process, and is sometimes described as leaving a chemical taste.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) decaffeinated tea is essentially “pressure cooked” with this naturally occurring gas. At high pressures and high temperatures, carbon dioxide reaches a supercritical state. The CO2 becomes a solvent with its small, nonpolar molecules attracting the small caffeine molecules. Since flavor molecules are larger, they remain intact, which is why this process retains the flavor of the tea the best.

Caffeine extraction with water is used primarily for coffee decaffeination, however a small amount of tea products are decaffeinated using the water method. After the caffeine is removed from the tea by soaking the tea in hot water for a period of time, the solution is passed through a carbon filter for caffeine removal. The water is then returned to the tea for reabsorption of flavors and oils.  This process is often described as “watering down” the flavor of the tea.

Arbor Teas offers organic decaffeinated teas that exclusively use the carbon dioxide (CO2) method.  We feel that this is the safest form of decaffeination, while retaining the greatest flavor and health benefits.  Try some today!

The World Tea News recently reported (11/30/09) on a study that suggests that plants producing high-quality tea cannot simply be reproduced in other regions with the same outcome.  Researchers at the Kenyan institutions Maseno University, Egerton University and Moi University, conducted the study, which will appear in the April 2010 issue of the scientific journal Food Chemistry.  They started from the idea: “A superior quality genotype in one location is assumed to replicate the same attributes when planted in different regions, especially when climatic variations are minimal.” To test it, they cloned 20 plants that produced high-quality tea and planted them under identical circumstances, but in three different regions.  The results showed significant differences in the quality of the plain tea produced, based on certain parameters, among varying locations of production. A closer look further indicated that the changes in the tea were not systematic, because the same clone underwent different changes in different regions.  The study led the team to conclude: “A genotype selected in one site for high quality may not retain the relative quality over other genotypes in new areas. It is necessary to test genotypes in new areas of production to fully evaluate their relative quality potentials.”

This is no news to us at Arbor Teas and we look forward to reading the full study in April.  We have always supported the idea that tea, like wine, has a specific flavor profile associated with its geographic region (also known as “terroir”).  Knowing this, we’ve made it a priority to source our teas from their traditional countries of origin.  For instance, all of our Japanese Green Tea is sourced exclusively from Japan.  None of our Japanese Green Tea is grown in China, unlike many of the “Japanese” teas found in the United States.  Furthermore, we are proud to source many single-origin, estate-specific teas that showcase the flavor and quality of each of their individual regions.

Thai Tea is is made from strongly-brewed black tea, often spiced with ingredients such as star anise, crushed tamarind, cardamom, and occasionally others as well (often making this beverage a favorite among masala chai tea fans). This brew is then sweetened with sugar and condensed milk, and served over iced.  For the sake of flavor, consistency and visual appeal, glasses of Thai Tea are usually topped with additional dairy, such as evaporated milk, whole milk, half and half, or coconut milk (this last one, of course, is not actually dairy, but you get the picture).

The best thai iced tea starts with a strong infusion of high-quality black tea – I encourage our readers to try our organic Keemun black tea. It’s a classic among East Asian black teas, and works nicely with Thai Tea’s unique combination of flavors. –Jeremy, Arbor Teas co-founder

Sound good?  Well, here’s a thai iced tea recipe to help you get started!

Ingredients

• 3/4 C black tea leaves (approximately 3 oz.)
• star anise, ground tamarind, cardamom and/or other spices, to taste (optional)
• 6 C boiling water
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1/2 C sweetened condensed milk
• 1 C evaporated milk (most traditional), whole milk, half and half, or coconut milk

Directions:

1. Steep the tea leaves (and any optional spices) in the water for 5 minutes, then remove the tea leaves from the water (either by removing the infuser you’re using, or by straining the water to remove the leaves if loose).
2. While the tea is still hot, stir in sugar until dissolved, then stir in condensed milk.
3. Allow tea mixture to cool to room temperature or colder.
4. Fill tall iced tea glasses with ice, and pour in tea mixture until glasses are roughly 3/4 full.
5. Slowly top off glasses with evaporated milk, whole milk or coconut milk, but do not stir (final dairy should remain primarily as its own layer at the top of the glass).

Notes:

It’s important to make the tea very strong, since it is ultimately diluted with milk and ice.  Also, you can make a large batch of the sweetened tea in advance and keep it in the refrigerator, then you can just pour it over ice and top it with the evaporated/whole/coconut milk at the time of serving.  For a caffeine-free version of this iced treat, try our organic rooibos.

Makes 6 glasses of Thai Tea.

• White Teas, Green Teas or Oolong Teas;
• Jasmine Teas;
• Darjeeling Teas (First Flush or Second Flush);
• Flavored Tea Blends.

Decaffeinating teas requires costly equipment and substantial amounts of energy, which typically make it cost-ineffective to decaffeinate small batches of specialty teas.  Only the most main-stream varieties are generally considered for decaffeination – usually versatile black and green teas that can be sold “as is” or blended in some fashion to create products like Decaf. English Breakfast, Decaf. Earl Grey, etc.  You’ll almost never see a decaffeinated version of a limited-production premium tea, like our Jade Oolong, Silver Needle White, or Gyokuro Green.  These products are already rather expensive and have a limited market demand, so creating a more expensive decaffeinated version to serve an even smaller group of customers doesn’t make sense for the tea manufacturer.

After offering this explanation, I was reminded of a way for caffeine-conscious tea lovers to sidestep the limited availability of premium decaffeinated teas.  If you just HAVE to have a particular variety of tea, and you’re not able to find a decaffeinated version, consider using our “easy at-home decaffeination method.”

1. Place your tea in your brewing vessel (teapot, etc.), and cover with a small amount of water (just enough to cover the leaves) heated to the appropriate temperature for the tea being brewed.
2. Steep for a minute, then remove the leaves and discard the water.
3. Re-infuse the same tea leaves in fresh water for the customary amount of time.

You’ve just made yourself a less caffeinated cup of tea! This method will not remove the caffeine entirely, but could take out as much as 20% of the caffeine (amended from our original thinking that it could remove up to 80% of the caffeine because of relatively new research released by tea “technologist” Nigel Melican). Keep in mind that small amounts of caffeine remain in tea decaffeinated by any method – only naturally caffeine-free herbal and fruit infusions lack it completely. It is also worth noting that the method described above may somewhat diminish the flavor and aroma of your tea.

One of the many new and exciting products added to our catalog this fall is our organic Matcha Green Tea.  Matcha is a variety of Japanese green tea that is stone ground at the end of the manufacturing process, resulting an ultra-fine tea powder that is typically whisked in hot water until a frothy consistency is reached, as in the traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony. The resulting brew has much more body and flavor than tea brewed in a conventional fashion, with a thick, rich green taste and slight bitterness. Drinking matcha has been found to be even healthier than normal green tea, because the entire tea leaf is consumed when matcha is drunk – not just the infusion as with normal teas.

To brew, measure approximately one teaspoon of matcha and place it in a pre-warmed bowl with approximately 1.5 oz. of water at 175°. This is roughly two almond-sized portions when using a traditional bamboo matcha scoop (or “chashaku”). Whisk vigorously in a back-and-forth motion using a traditional bamboo matcha whisk (or “chasen”) until frothy, making sure not to press the whisk down against the bottom of the bowl. After whisking, the matcha is ready to drunk directly from the bowl.

In addition to this traditional method of preparation, matcha is more and more frequently used as a cooking ingredient.  It’s often added to shakes, smoothies, and ice creams, lending a flavor that is at once sweet, bitter and savory.  But whether you’re brewing it or cooking with it, you should definitely try some today!

Many people are accustomed to brewing their iced tea by leaving it out in the sun. We recommend using the method described above instead, which takes advantage of the sterilizing effects of boiling water, as opposed to the “sun tea” method, which can allow bacteria to flourish.

Note: It is OK if your iced tea clouds! There are many reasons this can occur; a clouded tea can sometimes signify a higher quality tea filled with desirable tea solids, or one that has been cooled too quickly. Regardless, a clouded iced tea is certainly not a bad iced tea! Teas from the Nilgiri region of India seem to resist clouding better than other tea varieties, but here’s a nice selection of teas that are also great on ice.