Is green tea good for everyone?
How to
select tea?
Shall
I let the water completely boiled?
What kind
of teapot is good for Tie Guan Yin?
How
to select a teapot?
Cha Dao
or Tea Ceremony?
Is drinking
tea more healthier than drinking water?
What kind
of tea is diet tea?
Does
green tea contains caffeine?
How
to prepare a perfect cup of tea?
Other
alternative benefits that tea can offer
Preparing a cup of tea is easy, enrich your quality of life with tea tasting is also not too complicate if you could take a little bit of time for yourself, paying attention to some tiny details. Please visit our blog, www.tea-antwerp.be/blog regularly since we will continue update and provide more tips and suggestions.
Q: Is green tea good for everyone?
Yes and no because it is subjects to:
- What kind of tea
are you drinking - loose tea leafs or tea dust in a tea bag?
- When are you drinking what - refreshing up your body and mind early
in the morning with a cup of tea, but not drinking tea in the late evening
if you have sleeping problem -- How do you prepare tea - it is not just
about drinking but how do you preparing tea. Water, choice of tea ware,
control of temperature and infusion time is essential according to the
type of tea.
- How do you drink tea - It is better to enjoy tea with its light and
pleasant taste the whole day instead of having one strong & bitter cup
of tea that you need to add on sugar and/or milk. We definitely suggest
to avoid extreme approach, "
"
- the middle ground - is the best concept in maintaining balance life
style.
The best choice always is Hand-picked loose leaf, and there are many quality grades under the same tea name, i.e. the grade goes down if the leaf is broken; then is machine cut broken leaf. Finally they chop those broken leaf to make tea bags.
- The color of tea
- it should be nice and shining but not dusty look
- The smell - both dried tea leaf and tea itself should give pleasant
smell
- The taste - it is very objective decision, we would suggest you to listen
to your stomach.
Q: Shall I let the water completely boiled?
As matter of fact, appropriate selection of tea and water are perhaps the most complicate things in making a cup of tea. Tea and water is a very sensational and romantic combination, like matching a man with a woman. For example, using average quality of water with the top quality tea, the taste might be just so-so; vice versa, using right quality of water for average quality of tea, you might be surprised by its delightful taste if you know how to manage the quality, quantity, temperature and infusion time.
Living in the city, it's hard to get the fresh mineral water from the spring. Of course you can also consider using the filtered water from the tap.
Many people ask whether to boil the water completely or not, in the situation that we cannot access to the natural mineral water from the source, we can use the bottle mineral water or filter water. No matter what you choose, we suggest you to check the quality of water and its PH level, suggesting the PH level, between 7.2-8.0.
Water temperature should be adjusted according to the type of tea you use. The following table is not absolute but at least a simple tip to remember:
- Low temperature
- 70℃
- 85
- for fine quality Green tea, White tea and Yellow tea -
- Medium temperature - 80
- 95 - for Oolong (i.e.
Oriental Beauty), fermented White tea
- High temperature - 90
- 100 - for high mountain
Oolong, Red/Black Tea (subject to whether hand-picked in which season
and level of fermentation)
Treat each tea with care. Avoid re-boiling the cooked water, because the active minerals in the water have already reduced from the first cooking process already.
Q: What kind of teapot is good for Tie Guan Yin?
You can use either GaiWan (porcelain or glass) or Yixing teapot. However same tea might taste differently. Also it is necessary to adjust the use of tea ware for different level of fermentation and/or quality.
Yixing teapot always is my preference to Semi-fermentation tea, i.e. Oolong / Tie Guan Yin.
- For Tie Guan Yin,
it is better to choose Yixing purple clay with big round shape;
- For light fermented Oolong/Tie Guan Yin I will choose the clay is finer
and thinner.
- For Autumn / Winter Oolong / Tie Guan Yin, then I will use Yixing teapot
that has thicker round shape.
Each Yixing teapot is a living art, the more you use it the more shinning and beautiful color it will become
Tea and Tea ware Tea ware made from ceramic can keep the warmth for longer time, so normally it is the best choice particularly for oolong or Pu-erh tea.
Here are some suggestions for you when selecting a ceramic tea pot:
- Choose the one that
is small and fine - tea taste from a small tea pot normally is more pure
and finer than from the big tea pot, so we suggest you to have at least
1 small tea pot, the size is about your palm, choose the one that has
round bailey that allow tea leaf to open and release its aroma and flavor.
- Choose the one that has shorter tea mouth that is easy for cleaning
- you can also use tea ware of glass, porcelain and/or cooper, particularly
for infusion tea (flowers or herbs)
- Remember tea (particular Camellia scenesis plants) is afraid of iron
because it will further stimulate the oxidation process, so try to avoid
to use the iron tea pot to make tea. Iron tea pot, however, is very suitable
to cook water because it can soften the hard substains in the water.
In ancient Chinese history, either Cha Dao among scholars, luxury tea party by rich and powerful hierarchy, or tea tasting by refined scholar in mountain region, Cha Dao (don't know who and when it has been translated as 'tea ceremony' in English) has been adjusted according to the situation.
"Dao", an ancient Chinese wisdom that has +/- 3000 years history. Chinese traditional Taoism and Confucius emphasis authentic, nature and self-cultivation; and Chinese do not use Dao to describe everything by knowing it requires very intensive learning and practices. For many Chinese we recognize Dao is nothing something you can reach by searching or defined but can only be enlightened through practice/s.
When Japanese monks who returned with their learning in Buddhism, including Chinese Chan (known as Zen) and Cha Dao, who continue to preserve the old traditional and in-depth spiritual learning in Chan (Zen). Japanese like to use "Dao' to describe things that difficult to learn, i.e. Cha Dao (Tea ceremony), Hua Dao (Ikebana); this is the most fundamental difference between Chinese and Japanese in the practice of tea ceremony today.
The wheel of time keeps on rolling, some old traditions got lost or have changed, that's norm not only in China for also for the rest of the world. There is nothing wrong for us to understand how our ancient Japanese students have preserved the original Chinese Cha Dao that they've learned started from Tang Dynasty to Soong Dynasty, and then again emerge with our ancient Taoism, Buddhism and Confucius philosophies. After all, tea and Cha Dao were from China more than 3-4000 years ago and now today practice by people around the world.
There is no high or low, no authentic or fake in Cha Dao (Tea Ceremony), each practitioner can introduce and emerge with his/her own philosophy and personality that adjust according to the situation. Relax and enjoy a cup of fine tea!
Q&A: Is drinking tea more healthier than drinking water?
According to the research result reported by BBC on 24 August 2006, indeed drinking tea is more healthier than drinking water.
Drinking three or more cups of tea a day is as good for you as drinking plenty of water and may even have extra health benefits, say researchers.
The work in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition dispels the common belief that tea dehydrates.
Tea not only rehydrates as well as water does, but it can also protect against heart disease and some cancers, UK nutritionists found.
Experts believe flavonoids are the key ingredient in tea that promote health. They found clear evidence that drinking three to four cups of tea a day can cut the chances of having a heart attack.
This is a very encouraging and great confirmation, however, we have to realize that everyone's physical condition and health requirements are not the same. I hope the following brief tips are useful to you:
- Carefully select
quality
- Pay attention to water & infusion time, especially those who have cardiac
or kidneys' problems it's suggested to check with your doctor about caffeine
consumption
- Be flexible with the choice of tea by listening carefully to your body.
Avoid drinking too strong tea, definitely no tea from the day before.
To prepare a perfect cup of tea isn't hard to learn and you do have to pay attention to tiny details
Indeed tea is a healthy drink, however, it should not be treated as 'substitute' to water that you and I need to drink per day.
We do, however, suggest you to take time out regularly to enjoy a cup of tea when you can enjoy a peaceful personal time is important to the balance life style and a good health.
Q&A: What kind of tea is diet tea?
Indeed tea provides us a lot of health benefits, besides it contains a lot of anti-oxidants; it constrains our appetite, clean up fat in the digestion system, stimulating circulation which eventually can contribute the weight loss. But personally I am reluctant to emphasis too much on the weight loss due to the following reasons:
Many people are not know how to prepare tea with loose leafs correctly
When I was teenager a good of mine is a very skinny girl because of very strong tea. Half of her glass was filled up with heavy roasted Oolong tea, and I remember the taste of tea was very bitter. In fact, my friend wasn't healthy at all, because she had problem with her kidneys ; because the extremely strong and bitter tea she drank, it has diminished the tasters on her tongue, so she liked to put a lot of salt and spicy ingredients in her dishes.
In Er-Ya it wrote "Tea, bitter plant can brighten your eyes", as we know the condition of our lever can affect our eyes. Interestingly, in Flemish, an old idiom says "Bitter in de mond maakt het hart gezond" (bitter in the mouth makes your heart healthy). But when it is 'TOO MUCH', then some people might experience negative impact to their health.
I gained a lot of weight after living in Belgium, like many people, I have tried different kind of medicines to lose weight. One day I went to a natural Bio shop in Antwerp and found a diet tea which actually is low quality Pu-erh tea. Soon after that there were some Belgian thought it was t tea cause problem to kidneys. But the problem is not in tea itself, but incorrect way of preparing tea with loose leaf tea.
I used to be very sporty, after giving birth of two 'big' babies, there are fat on my body simply are not water-based that tea can help to dissolve it. I do use tea to have a healthy diet plus regular exercise. After all, the most import thing in life is to have good health!
When choosing tea in your daily diet, we strongly suggest you to choose the non-perfumed natural tea; adjust the consumption of tea according to the change of your body system. Most of all don't just depend on tea to lose weight, but try to build and maintain a healthy life style.
Q: Does green tea contains caffeine?
Yes, in any Camellia sinensis based tea, include Green / White / Yellow / Oolong / Red (Black) / Pu-erh, all contain caffeine (the tea base used for Jasmine is either Green or White tea with dried Jasmine flower, therefore, it contains caffeine as well).
For hand-picked tea, the subtraction of caffeine takes time, that's why we suggest you to pay attention to the infusion time vs. water temperature. For tea bag made of tea dust, it does not matter what kind of quality that the maker claims, the caffeine n in each cup will be much higher than hand-picked loose tea leafs.
Caffeine is not entirely evil, it stimulates the blood flood and circulation, but when it's TOO MUCH, then it might create problem to health. That's why Confucius emphasized "Zhong - Yung (the middle)" philosophy.
Q: How to prepare a perfect cup of tea?
Tea and water, one Yan and one Ying, the dedicate combination just like a romantic relationship between a man and woman.
The carefully matching of temperature and infusion time is a critical process to define the tone for tango between the couple. Different kind of tea should adjust the water temperature and infusion time accordingly, even for the same tea but in different quality grade or tea from different latitude from the region and/or in different season. For example -
- Fine quality non-fermented green tea - the temperature may not go too high otherwise it might diminish the nature mineral and healthy ingredients in green tea.
Suggested temperature
between 70 to 85
and infusion time, between 1 - 2 minutes.
Tea ware: glass or porcelain.
- Fine quality of mild fermented green tea, i.e. white or yellow tea
Suggested temperature
between 65 to 75,
infusion between 1-2 minutes.
Tea ware: glass or porcelain.
- As to the Jasmine tea that is made either with green or white tea as tea base, due to the quality of tea base is not as high as fine quality green/white/yellow teas as stated above, and normally in the 2nd round the bitter taste of the tea becomes more vivid, therefore suggest to be more flexible with the infusion time.
The suggested temperature
is 75 to 85,
infusion time should be 1 min. - 45 second then 1 minute.
Tea ware: porcelain.
- For semi-fermented Oolong tea - adjustment definitely is needed according to the different quality, season, region and production techniques.
The general suggested
temperature is between 85
to 99. Infusion time subjects
to the size of tea ware, from 45 seconds to 1 minute.
Tea ware: Yixing clay or porcelain.
- For
full fermented Red/Black tea - temperature can go higher, between 95
- 99, but tea lovers should
pay more careful attention with infusion time, because it subjects to
weather the tea is hand-picked or machine cut. Wash once before enjoying
the first cup of tea.
Tea ware: porcelain or ceramic.
- For post fermented tea, Aged Pu-Erh which is known as medical tea and the taste gets better for the longer preservation and storage. Try to picture how you should treat an elegant elderly lady then you know why you should handle this tea with love and care.
The suggested temperature
is 85 to 95,
infusion time 45 second - 1 minute. Make sure you wash the tea 2-3 times
before enjoying the first cup.
Tea ware: Yixing clay, ceramic or porcelain.
To those who like to drink the Camellia sinensis based tea, if you don't want to have too much caffeine, then try to control the infusion time no longer than 3 minutes.
- For
non-Camellia sinensis base infusion tea (herbs or flowers), the suggested
temperature is between 85
to 95 and infusion time
from 3- 5 or 6 minutes. Low temperature for flowers and high temperature
for branch, leaf or root. Tea ware: glass or porcelain.
Q: Can we use tea as air refresher?
Yes, you can use a pack of dried tea as natural air refresher in bedroom or toilet. Otherwise you can try with the natural incense. When using perfumed air refresher, make sure you keep the window open a little bit.
Actually there are many more alternative benefits that we can enjoy either in our garden, for plants or in our daily household, here are some examples:
- Tea
and tea leafs as natural biologic fertilizers for plant or garden, because
of its rich proportion of Iron
- The left over
tea from yesterday has non-toxic detergent to clean your kitchen tea can
remove fat efficiently
- Put some dried
tea leafs to absorb the bad smell in refrigerator
- Steam your
eyes with warm tea that can minimize the swallow and irritation
...............there are more alternative benefits that tea can offer, of course, let's don't forget we can use tea in our baking or cooking.
Let's enjoy a cup of tea!