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Today is the final day to let us know about your recent March Mad Hatter Tea Party. Just leave us a comment with a link to your photos or video in this post.
Canadian entrants will be in a draw to win a selection of Steeped's best selling teas:
As we move into more spring-like weather, there are more shows and things to do. We encourage you to visit us when we're out and about. Here's a list of events where Peg is planning to set up a booth. Why not stop by and talk tea with her?
It seems that Vancouver Island will soon be a place where tea is cultivated. Waye Brendan writes at TChing, "With the revelation that I possess a thoroughly green thumb and a lifelong love of the tea leaf in all its forms and manifestations, I now find myself on a land-buying quest for a dozen or so acres to attempt the cultivation of Camellia sinensis on Vancouver Island."
If all you think of when you think of Canada is ice, snow, the frozen north, well, consider this...
... it may not be that far from a reality. Brendan says, "After visiting the Charleston Tea Plantation (in the US) this past September, the idea that I could potentially grow tea in Canada has moved from a distant fantasy to a burgeoning reality. Climate change, for all its negative repercussions, has moved the tea-growing belt further north as the planet heats up. This is great news for me up here in an area of western Canada known as the banana belt. And speaking of such, the University of Victoria recently announced that they successfully grew their first batch of real bananas on Vancouver Island. Who would have imagined?"
So just how close is Brendan to making this dream a reality? "After combing the raw land listings for Vancouver Island, I jumped on the ferry and started the process of locating a suitable parcel of land. The prime growing region on the Island is the Cowichan Valley, about a 45-minute drive north of Victoria. It has the warmest annual climate in Canada and already supports a very successful wine industry. The other very cool aspect of the Cowichan is the abundance of south-facing mountain slopes, which we in the tea business know is highly prized for tea cultivation.
My search of more then a dozen properties yielded two potential parcels – one just over 10 acres and the other around 16 acres, both on sloping terrain. Just recently, a tea grower in the Nilgiri Hills in India informed me that he produces around 1,000 pounds of orthodox tea a month from his 45+ acres. This is a yield of 22 pounds per acre. At 10 acres, my little tea garden could potentially produce 220 pounds of orthodox tea a month. The downside, of course, is the painful wait as my little saplings take root and grow into mature tea bushes - a wait that I’m sure will pass with a surmountable collection of challenges."
And how long before Brendan's Canadian tea is available to interested buyers? Well, don't hold your breath. Tea plants take some time to mature. As Brendan says, "I’ll let you know when the first “first flush” is ready for harvest. However, don’t hold your breath - unless you can do so for at least seven years."
Neat, EH?
And for those of you who remember the line - Only in Canada... pity! Here you go (by the way, for the time being, Steeped Tea, which is far more full-flavoured than Red Rose anyway, is also only in Canada. Pity!):
... this one is for our consultants. You didn't think all the goodies go only to customers did you? We love our consultants and love making things even more fun for them as they build their business. Here are the details for this contest:
You can help your consultant earn this fun afternoon by holding a party in April, so call her now to book a date and start inviting your friends, family, neighbours and co-workers. OR - you could get in on the afternoon yourself, by starting your own tea business. We are looking for tea consultants all across Canada! In addition to earning fun incentives like this event, and a trip to Punta Cana next January, consultants earn cash income for each party. We'd love to tell you more! info@steepedtea.com
I recently came across this article from the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper about a men's group that meets monthly for tea and conversation. I am sure that our Steeped Tea customer base is seeing a growing number of men, and we welcome more! And tea tastings for men are always do-able too!
The 10 men bantered about their wives' cooking, boxing greats, and suits that fit too snugly.
This, however, was no sports bar meet-up or barbershop chat. Two hours earlier, Howard James, a co-proprietor of Tea Country in East Oak Lane, had called the group to order by taking requests for a beverage steeped in centuries of elegant tradition.
"Can I have yerba maté?" asked regular Weller Thomas, 54, a travel magazine publisher who lives nearby.
James, 61, wearing a maroon apron stamped with his shop's name, looked pleased. "It has four times the antioxidants than green tea," he told the men, the first of many tea tidbits he would pass along this afternoon. "It keeps you alert without the jitters."
So began the third meeting of the budding Gentlemen's Tea Club - one more indication of guys' growing interest in the aromatic liquid.
No one keeps track of how many macho types find the leaves of the Camellia sinensis to be just their cup of tea, but it is known that tea itself is big business.
In the United States, the wholesale market has nearly quadrupled from $1.84 billion in 1990 to $7.13 billion in 2008, according to the New York-based Tea Association of the U.S.A. Also, Americans consume more than 55 billion servings of tea - 2.5 billion gallons.
But if the idea of men sharing stories sipping blueberry rooibos rather than Budweiser sounds like a Saturday Night Live skit, consider the anecdotal evidence to the contrary.
Tea drinking is no longer confined to lace-covered parlors. In recent years, tea cafes and tea bars with chic, hip vibes (and no pink) have joined the party - more than 2,400 tearooms exist around the country - and have offered a welcoming hub for men. One New Mexico venue even provides tea and cigar tasting for the manly.
Last year, Thistledown Shop in New Hampshire, which has long made teapot covers in flowery motifs, added a man cozy, called a hob (cozy being too feminine-sounding), "to appeal to the growing number of male tea drinkers," as its Web site notes. Hobs come in olive greens and grays with a buckle - no silk ribbons here.
Meanwhile, TeaGuySpeaks blogs about "Tea and Boobs," "Tea During Wartime," and a company called Manteas.com.
"It's not an Earl Grey, English breakfast tea scene anymore," said tea blender and author Bruce Richardson, owner of Elmwood Inn Fine Teas in Perryville, Ky.
Men, of course, have historically enjoyed the brew, including George Washington, but the rise of Victorian-era tea culture in the 19th century was a dealbreaker for many fellas. Now, America's renewed interest in tea, particularly among men, has "gone into fifth gear," Richardson said, taking off like a Maserati. When he began tea talks two decades ago, he attracted mainly women. Now, men make up at least 20 percent of the audience.
"A gentlemen's tea club is right on for this time in our tea world," said Pearl Dexter, editor and publisher of Tea A Magazine, who has noticed more male tea imbibers in her travels.
Even though the club makes sense, James himself seems an unlikely enthusiast of tea. "People are amazed I'm around," he said. He grew up in the rough James W. Johnson Homes in North Philadelphia, where gangs ran rampant. "I've been stabbed and stomped, all that kind of crazy stuff." But he also was a Boy Scout, and mentors kept him at his studies, he said.
His interest in tea began as a requirement. As a master's of business administration student at Eastern University while working full time in information technology (eventually retiring as assistant vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia), he had to create a new-venture business plan. Classmate Richard Miller, an avid tea drinker, suggested a tea business. James and another student, Duane Higginbotham, "looked at him like he was crazy." But because it was only an academic exercise, they thought, why not?
When research showed tea was a growth industry, the trio decided to invest in Tea Country as an online vendor in 2001 before opening the East Oak Lane shop in 2004. (A second location near Temple University's campus never got enough foot traffic and closed last year.)
A few years later, James noticed that not only were more men buying tea at his shop - where shelves are stocked with black canisters that feature 100 varieties (Golden Assam, Monk's Blend, Organic Wuyi Oolong) - but they were asking questions on the finer points of tea leaves.
"Some of them would sit down and chat," said James, who replaced his addiction to two large cups of Starbucks a day with three cups of tea. Before long, he was introducing customers to one another. Why not create a club?
"This is really a relaxation spot," he said, noting that membership comes with no obligations beyond a $40 annual fee that includes the gatherings on the third Saturday of the month (and plenty of tea). New members also get a free porcelain teapot.
Several of the men live in East Oak Lane, as James does, and joined the club because they knew the trim (he has taught karate) shopkeeper with the shaved head through Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
"He was someone I respected," said Emerson Willis, 59, a sales rep who admits he wasn't much of a tea drinker at first. But tastings turned to full cups, green tea among his favorites. "I've grown to like it. Howard brought a whole new world to us."
Thomas, who serves as the club's vice president, agreed. "I was just fascinated," he said. "I'm always learning something. At a bar, you have so many different distractions. Here, you don't."
As the day's guest speaker, Donald Schuler, Sr., talked about "taking charge of your body" and the pluses of fruits and vegetables, the men poured the rich brown liquid from mustard-colored or white pots into patterned Chinese-style cups (no handles) and black mugs with a splash of color. English teacups held with a raised pinky would be "too soft for the men," James said with a chuckle.
Health was the topic of the day, prompting discussion of recipes for smoothies and how best to prepare greens. It's the health benefits, and foodie allure, of tea that often attract the testosterone set. "It's a very easy way to alter your lifestyle," said Joe Simrany, the tea association president.
The jury is still out, but studies have shown an association between the antioxidant-rich tea leaf and improved cardiovascular function; reduced incidence of cancer, particularly colon; and increased bone density.
As recently as January, tea was touted as a way for men to trim a belly after researchers found that men who drink more than two cups of tea a day have trimmer waistlines than men who drink coffee or nothing at all. (Alas, women didn't see the same advantage.)
"You're not going to see specialty tea advertised on the Super Bowl," said Frank Viola, 60, of Rydal, an adjunct who taught James at Eastern. But, he said, "men have a lot of issues. They want to take time to decompress. It doesn't have to be alcohol or physical sports contact."
For this group of men, at least, a hot cup of tea will do.
In the busy-ness of starting up a new contest, we failed to announce here the winner of our last contest. Doris was notified by email and her prize went into the mail, but to make it official: Congratulations to Doris whose entry read:
If you would like to win something, there is still time!
Steeped Tea is offering a drawing - someone will wina 50 g bag of each of our 5 best selling teas. All you have to do is reside in Canada, and have your friends over for a tea party - preferably a Mad Hatter's Tea Party. Snap some photos and post them online. Let us know they are there by leaving us a link in this post. Contest ends at the end of March, so hurry up and set your date!
Enjoy a cuppa Irish Breakfast tea, perhaps with an Irish-style breakfast, in honour of our Irish friends and family.
If an Irish breakfast isn't something you can do today, perhaps an Irish style dinner will work - here's a website with lots of Irish cooking ideas, mostly with lamb: http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/2Kitch/rLamb.html
Here's a recipe for an authentic Irish Soda Bread:
http://www.superchefblog.com/2008/03/noreen-kinneys-irish-soda-bread.html
We recently came across a simple description of the art of tasseography or tea leaf reading. The article, written by Rebecca Doverspike, first appeared at T Ching. Most Steeped Tea parties are all about bringing a tea room experience to your dining/living room with tea tastings and some information about tea. For those who are interested in tea leaf reading, there is at least one consultant, Amy Taylor of Hamilton, who offers this service.
Tea Leaves Traces - The Art of Tasseography
How we read the world shapes our lives. Whether we are reading the sun’s place in the sky to tell time, the weather to understand harvest cycles, or animals’ behaviors to tell us about the weather, how we read natural events as well as our own experiences shapes our perceptions and actions in the world. Although we are constantly “reading” the world, some people have created conscious methods of doing so. Many of these methods - Tarot cards, palm readings, hypnosis, and tasseography (tea leaf reading) - involve reading not onlythe present, but the future and the past. All of these ways of reading involve trying to get in touch with the subconscious mind to answer questions about our life.
Reading tea leaves may conjure up a variety of associations - perhaps of gypsy fortune tellers or ancient Chinese dynasties. As tea has traveled, so has the art of reading its leaves. Cultures from Asia, ancient Greece, and the Middle East have all traditionally, and independently, practiced tasseography. Today, Scottish, Irish, and European cultures also practice reading tea leaves. To do so, brew a cup of tea using loose-leaf tea and no strainer. After drinking most of the liquid, with just a little left at the bottom of the cup, turn over the teacup and drain the contents onto a saucer. The images and patterns created by the tea leaves are read to respond to a question the tea drinker contemplated as he/she drank. There are a variety of web sites and books that describe what the images and patterns in the cup might mean. The idea involves the tea drinker moving into a meditative state as he/she consumes the tea and reads the leaves’ traces. The drinker’s energy naturally affects the shapes the tea leaves assume in very subtle ways - how the cup is held, how slowly or quickly the tea is consumed, and how the water is swirled around. The idea is that an answer to the question the drinker has in mind will reveal itself in the tea leaves, as they are inextricably linked to his/her subconscious mind. Someone practiced in tasseography can read others’ tea leaves as well, which involves both the meditative state of the reader and the natural energy of the tea drinker.
As with all kinds of reading, imagination is a key element. I do not mean “invention,” but simply the recognition that anything we read involves imagination and understanding its relation to reality. For instance, tracking an animal, even with visible prints, involves imagination - building a narrative out of what’s seen. A Tibetan Buddhist practiced in the art of reading a pulse can diagnose diseases both by understanding the science as well as imaginatively seeing the person’s whole life and story. As with any art, tasseography involves both practice and imaginative engagement.
