English Tea Store Tea Header

Tea Blog

Official Blog of the English Tea Store


tea

  • Autumn Tea Time and the Mother-in-Law

    Autumn tea times are the best for me. They can be spoiled, though, with a mother-in-law watching over your shoulder to make sure things are done just so. In fact, such behavior can make you quite jittery and downright irritable. Not good for any tea time, but especially bad for those autumn tea times! One… Continue reading

  • Don’t Judge a Tea by the First Steep

    Having been so fortunate as to gotten to taste test a whole bunch of tea samples from a bunch of tea companies, I have found that the initial taste of a tea, and even that whole first potful, is not an indicator of things to come. A recent experience with two black teas that I… Continue reading

  • Tea and the Backgammon Game

    There is nothing like a cuppa tea to make just about any activity seem extra special. Whether it’s reading a book, balancing your checkbook, or playing a game with your nearest and dearest, the event is somehow extra special. So it was with the first backgammon game hubby and I had ever played together. We… Continue reading

  • Tea Journeys

    I’ve written a lot about travelling with tea, but what about tea that travels? There is, of course, a lot of tea that gets shipped en masse across the world as imports and exports; tea is a popular drink across the world, and most of the tea in Europe and the United States is shipped in from… Continue reading

  • Is There a Perfect English Tea?

    The idea of perfect tea and being able to make that ideal cuppa seems to be all pervasive. We have featured several articles on this blog by fellow writer Bill Lengeman on this topic (see list at end of this article). Nevertheless, I am diving into the topic with gusto and adding to the huge… Continue reading

  • Strange Research on Tea

    In the course of my time writing for this fine site I’ve commented on numerous research studies about tea. Most of them appeared to me – a layperson – to be well-thought out and fairly sensible, for the most part. But as I was doing a little research of my own recently, I ran across… Continue reading

  • Tea in the Movies — “Goodbye, Mr. Chips”

    A classic novel often gets made into a movie, and some get made into movies more than once. Such is it with Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Time to steep up a classic tea and take a gander at what is to me the best version. First, the tea. We need one worthy of such a portrayal… Continue reading

  • Tea Elegance on a Budget, Part Two

    What a wonderful feeling to face the day with a hot cup of tea warming your hands.  You are sure to cherish the memories of friends, food and tea all wrapped up in an elegant party.  You have done your prep work and today, the day of the event, you know you can remain calm… Continue reading

  • Tea Room Charm Is Not Dead

    All the fuss about trying to attract men to tea rooms and to tea in general has caused some to think that the charm of the tea room is gone. As if men, in order to feel at home in a tea room, need it to be like a woodworkers shop or the “man caves”… Continue reading

  • Teas of the World: “Tippy” Teas

    Tippy is a term that describes a tea which has many golden tips (the newly budding leaf). It usually designates a higher quality of tea, especially as part of the Orange Pekoe grading system. For example, there is TGFOP (Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe) which represents some of the most precious tea in the world.… Continue reading