Scones for Breakfast

I saw a wonderful recipe for scones online and couldn’t resist trying them out. Though I’m not an experienced cook, hubby scarfed them down anyway. These two are the only ones left. Just enough to go with a cup of tea, OJ, and a touch of honey (we finished off the lemon curd yesterday – sigh!).

Adding a "Bit of Cute" to Your Tea Time

My growing collection of cute tea accessories is taking over. Having to clear out some cupboard space to make room is worthwhile, though. No more bland tea time! The piece that started it all? This little cheese spreader knife, with its handle consisting of stacked teacups and saucers. It makes me smile every time I use it.

See the details here on The English Tea Store blog.

Teatime Memory — Kitty Waits for Tea

“T.C.” would peek at me from his nap on the chair. “Is it teatime yet?” I could almost hear him thinking. He’s in the great kitty beyond now, but I remember him well, especially at teatime.

Little Japanese Teapot

One of the treasures of my tea equipage arsenal is my little cast-iron Japanese teapot. Find out why in my latest article on The English Tea Store blog.

Nothing like reading a good book while waiting for the tea to infuse, if it’s not being used as a pedestal, that is.

The wooden vase in the photo was hand-turned by a friend of ours. Its natural beauty makes a perfect place for bamboo branches and adds a touch of elegant simplicity to the tea table.

One of my favorite teas to brew in this teapot is Gunpowder. I just spoon them into the teapot (not into an infuser basket) and pour over the hot water (not quite boiling). The cast iron really helps the steeping and keeps the tea hot for over an hour.


Gunpowder tea before infusion

Gunpowder tea after infusion

A Tea Book for Real Tea Drinkers

A good book is a great thing to find. A good book about tea is even better. Beautiful photos and lots of tea info await you in Lydia Gautier’s book. Read all about it here.

An Autumn Cup of Tea

Autumn is a special time of year. That means it’s time for a special tea. But which one? See some of the choices I’m considering here.

Some of the signs of Autumn and a rich-tasting cup of Darjeeling:

Arizona Tea Website Overdoing the “Flash”

In my journey through the Internet, exploring various Websites devoted to tea, I visited the Arizona Tea site. As an avid tea drinker, I am not usually interested in pre-packaged tea beverages. However, the Internet being the perfect venue to cruise and explore new things, I took a chance and clicked on the link to their site on the list of search results. The purpose was to learn about the company and its products. What I got was a lesson in how NOT to build a Website (something I am keen on as a Website designer). That lesson can be summed up in one word: Flash®. (Maybe I should use two words: Adobe® Flash®.)

First, I have to say that Flash is a great program and there are some very creative and user-friendly things be done with it on lots of Websites. However, it’s sort of like cayenne pepper, i.e., using a little can spice things up a bit, but too much can be hard (if not impossible) to take. In the case of the Arizona Tea site, the whole “dish” is “cayenne pepper.” The whole site has been built using Flash.

Now, I like spicy food, especially curries and southwestern dishes, but a whole dish made of the hot stuff is a bit impractical. The Arizona Tea site is a dizzying display of overlapping background images, scrolling text, and products displayed in “carousel” fashion that goes faster or slower depending on where you put the cursor (making the act of selecting a particular product a very “iffy” proposition). All of this is accompanied with music that seems to play on even when I hit “Pause” and sound effects when I mouseover a menu item.

A big usability issue is going from one site “page” to another. Because the site is basically a Flash movie (and, therefore, doesn’t have real “pages”), you can’t use the “Back” button on your browser to return to a previous page.

The site breaks about every standard of usability there is, something to be expected from the company founders (John Ferolito and Don Vultaggio), who are mavericks in the beverage market. Chasing potential customers away from a site that is meant as a sales tool, though, may be a bit self-defeating. Certainly, a few minutes on the site, and I was no longer interested in purchasing any of their products, even if I were inclined to do so. Just like brick-and-mortar stores that play loud music and in effect keep out would-be shoppers like me, Arizona Tea is keeping away potential converts and maybe even people who already like their beverages but get dizzy watching those product “carousels” and grow weary of the wait while the next “page” is slowly displayed.

Whatever happened to a straightforward yet attractive site like The English Tea Store and Learn-about-tea.com?

I did manage to learn a bit about the company in spite of the challenges presented by the site design. Arizona Tea, always devoted to making the best tea drinks, starts with tea leaves (not tea “fannings” or “dust” like is found in many bagged teas) and uses the best flavors in their products. They are also focused on making their tea drinks healthy, starting with their Ginseng Tea in 1995, and are continually striving to improve their product line. This commitment to quality includes a hot fill process that pasteurizes their beverages, eliminating the need to use preservatives, and their brightly colored package designs really attract attention. They are currently the #1 pre-packaged tea drink in the United States, in spite of the head start by their competitors: Snapple (Cadbury-Schweppes), Nestea (Coca-Cola), and Lipton (Pepsi and Unilever).


© 2009 A.C. Cargill photos and text

Have a Ghost in for Tea

Halloween can be a scary time. Tame those wailing ghosts with a fun teatime, complete with lots of carved jack-o-lanterns, and plenty of hot tea!

Some Halloween-themed entertainment is a good idea, too, like these:

• Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain”
• Campy favorite “The Monster Mash”
• The outrageous “Ghostbusters”

 Happy treating!

Why Is Tea So Expensive? Part III

The label “Organic” is appearing on a lot of tea packages these days. Not surprising, since in produce (fruits and vegetables) there has been a promoting of “organic,” with ever-growing sections on the shelves and in the produce area of the grocery store. The question here is: Is there any validity in the claims that “Organic” is healthier, or is this just an emotional appeal? Tea drinkers need to assess the issue from a rational perspective.

Nibble.com, a site that focuses on specialty foods, presents this information about the “Organic” label on foods (not just on tea):

The USDA’s National Organic Program certifies products as organic based on farming, handling, manufacturing, distribution and labeling practices. Requirements include: no antibiotics or growth hormones for animals, animals must be raised on organic feed and have free range to graze, crops must be raised with no synthetic pesticides or fertilizers containing synthetic chemicals, no sewage-sludge fertilizer, no bio-engineered foods or irradiation, and no GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Farming practices should enhance and preserve soil and water. A government inspector must certify the farm after visiting it; farmers must keep detailed records on crops. There is a network of certifying organizations outside the United States who do the certification, for example, in China and other tea-producing regions.

Here’s the seal:

As John Stossel says, “Give me a break!”

In fact, in his book Give Me a Break, in chapter 10, “The Left Takes Notice,” he has an interesting section called “The Organic Food Hoax.” In it, he discusses pesticides, “non-chemical” pesticides and fertilizers that are worse than man-made items, and quite a bit more. Not even the USDA label is a guarantee of something being truly organically grown. Tests have shown that, even with this label, foods contain man-made pesticides and fertilizers. If you want the full scoop, check out Stossel’s book.

Farming practices that enhance and preserve soil and water are just common sense and hardly need a government agency to promote them. A farmer that doesn’t use such methods won’t be a farmer for long.

Bottom Line

Don’t get sucked in by the “Organic” label. You’ll just pay more.

As for me, I’ll just have another cup of non-organic tea brought to me by a lot of hard-working people, all of whom I’m sure engage in fair trade practices.

Read Part I and Part II.

© 2009 A.C. Cargill photos and text

Tea Time at Tee Time

I’m becoming a real golf fan, especially when I have my tea time at tee time. And thanks to my DVR, I don’t miss a single stroke when I go for a refill… or another snack… or a rest stop... Get the details here.

Why Is Tea So Expensive? Part II

A lot is being said these days about “Fair Trade” teas. The stated goal is noble: to assure that tea growers get a fair price for their products. Anyone who works hard to produce something wants that.

The question is: Do “Fair Trade” policies benefit tea growers as they claim, or do they just add to the shelf price of tea? Tea drinkers need to assess the issue from a rational perspective.

What is “Fair Trade”

Nibble.com, a site that focuses on specialty foods, gives the following definition:

Fair trade certification allows farmers to receive higher prices than they would in the conventional market. It means that the farmers were paid a fair price for their product and were not exploited by middlemen who pay them less than their crop is worth. See a longer discussion of Fair Trade Certification. 

[Author’s note: The above link just goes to Nibble.com’s Glossary. You may want to do a search online for more objective information.]

The wording of this definition is hardly objective and gives no proof of its assertions. The market and the parties involved in the transaction are supposed to determine what a product’s “fair price” is. What supports their charge that middlemen exploit tea growers? Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty, a cornerstone of our justice system? I encourage sites touting “Fair Trade” policies to think about this a bit more.

Truth be told, those “middlemen” risk and deal with a lot, including government regulations in the tea producing country as well as in the market country, to get tea to the stores. All the while, they are vilified by just about everyone, often without proof.

Here’s the seal:

Bottom Line

“Fair Trade” seems to me to be another designation to justify higher retail prices. Learn the facts about “Fair Trade” so you don’t end up paying more without getting more value and without doing “a good deed,” such as helping those poor downtrodden tea growers. (Besides, middlemen have families to feed, too.)

As for me, I’ll just have another cup of tea brought to me by a lot of hard-working people, including those much-maligned middlemen.

Don’t miss part III about the growing popularity of “organic” tea.

Read Part I. Read Part III.

© 2009 A.C. Cargill photos and text

Why Is Tea So Expensive? Part I

As a tea drinker, I hang out in the tea section of various stores in the area and hear comments like, “Why is tea so expensive?” Good question, but a more accurate one is, “Is tea really that expensive?” My answer, speaking as a tea drinker, is, “No.”

A tin of Harney & Sons containing 30 tea sachets is $10.95 at Barnes & Noble. That’s 36¢ per bag, which brews up one tasty cupful and a second so-so cupful (if you care to try a second infusion). Compare that to the price at the local coffee shop.

For the more budget conscious among us, an 80-bag box of PG Tips costs around $8.50. That’s a little over 10¢ a bag. Each bag brews up a cup or two, depending on how dark you like your tea. There are 16 cups (128 ounces) in a gallon – so, the cost of PG Tips tea (not the water, energy to heat it, labor to wash the cup, cream, sweetener, etc.) is about 85¢ for a gallon. If only gas cost that much…or a gallon of milk.

So many things affect the cost of this wonderful beverage that I’m starting to think the correct question is, “Why is everything else so expensive?”

Growing and Harvesting Tea
It takes a lot of tea leaves to make a pound of loose tea. Usually, only the tender young leaves (bright green, almost yellow) at the branch tips and the buds are plucked. Those leaves and buds come solely from the tea bush (Camellia Sinensis), usually pruned to 2-3 feet across and several feet high.

Processing Tea
Processing tea leaves can involve several stages, such as drying, rolling, oxidating, firing, flavoring and/or aromatizing, and sorting pieces into sizes.

Getting Tea to Market
From tea growers and processors to market involves packaging and transportation, both of which add to the cost you pay.

Other Factors
Trends such as “Fair Trade” and “Organic” add to cost. (I’ll go into these in parts II and III respectively.) Governments add tariffs and taxes. For example, a tax of 10¢ on a can of soda was recently proposed by the U.S. Congress. Imagine if a similar tax were proposed per tea bag. Even at 5¢ per bag, the burden on tea drinkers would be horrendous, adding $4.00 to a typical 80-bag box of PG Tips and raising the price to $10.99 per box.

Bottom Line
Tea really isn’t that expensive, all things considered, so go on enjoying the tea life!

Don't miss Part II.

© 2009 A.C. Cargill photos and text

Tea Moments – Watching Raindrops on the Window

Rainy days can be real downers. All gray. No chance to be outside playing or enjoying the garden. But there is a bright side to these days. Don’t believe me? Find out why I stand firm on my assertion here in the English Tea Store.

Tuesdays Are for Tea

Any day is good for tea, but Tuesdays are a little special. I make my case here.

The Old Copper Tea Kettle

Objects can be infused with memories. One of these for me is an old copper tea kettle. Get the details in my latest article in The English Tea Store Blog.