LINKS: Tea facts, Understanding Teas, Teas Defined, Tea History, Tea Culture, Health Benefits of Teas, Miscellaneous Tea Posts, the latest post in our series on historic tea rooms.
Tea blog
Welcome to the Grey’s Teas blog. It focuses on high-grade loose leaf teas from around the world. We hope these will be of interest to you and help you discover more about the teas you enjoy most. Please use the drop-down menu above to choose the category of post that interests you most or feel free to just browse using the post snippets on this and the following pages.
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Caffeine in Tea
Read more: Caffeine in TeaCaffeine in tea: by type and in other beverages Caffeine (1,3,7-trimethylxanthine), also known as theine in tea, is also present in coffee, cocoa and mate. It is a stimulant and diuretic. Caffeine promotes alertness and combats fatigue. In high quantities it can however give tise to jitteryness and irritability. It is thought that the compound…
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Chinese Tea Ceremony
Read more: Chinese Tea CeremonyChinese Tea Ceremony: celebrating the ordinary serving of tea. Gongfu Cha is the original Chinese tea ceremony, designed principally for the preparation of oolong tea. This developed in Chaozhou in Guangdong province. There is a reverence shown to the tea: its delicate aroma is appreciated and its lingering taste is experienced in small cups where…
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Lapsang Souchong Tea
Read more: Lapsang Souchong TeaLapsang Souchong Tea: love or hate like Marmite? We conducted an online poll on the thorny issue of Lapsang Souchong tea, thinking that it was analogous to Marmite in that we considered that people either love it or hate it. In fact we thought the parallel was so close we gave people four choices. Amazingly…
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Loose Leaf Tea Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Read more: Loose Leaf Tea Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)Answers to questions you may be asking about tea! What is loose leaf tea? Loose leaf tea is tea leaves, whether blended, black, green or oolong, flavoured or herbal that is not contained in a bag. Conventionally this may be a paper bag such as a string tagged bag, or a mesh pyramid style infusion…
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What is Yellow Tea?
Read more: What is Yellow Tea?Yellow teas can be compared with green teas and white teas. Yellow tea is little known because little is now made as its production is expensive. It is worth the trouble and expense however as ‘spring tea’ as it is known, is indeed fresh and aromatic. The name is taken from the appearance of the…
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Best tea for early morning
Read more: Best tea for early morningBest tea for early morning: blends, black teas and beyond An early morning cup of tea can refresh you after a night’s sleep and help you concentrate on the task in hand, getting up to face the day, but which is the best tea for early morning? Caffeine from tea passes into the blood-stream slowly,…
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Tea general knowledge: Our series.
Read more: Tea general knowledge: Our series.Here we have some interesting questions relating to tea. They are all quite randomly posed and the answers are in the captions below. If your have some tea questions of your own just get in touch and we will endeavour to answer them! Tea typically provides 17% of our calcium intake giving us strong teeth…
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Introduction to Oolong Teas
Read more: Introduction to Oolong TeasIntroduction to Oolong Teas: complex semi-oxidized teas Oolong teas, or wulong as they were known, translates as Black Dragon and these teas account for around fourteen percent of Chinese tea production. Highly acclaimed in China, they are semi-fermented, in that the leaf is partially oxidised and therefore lye between green tea which is not oxidised…
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Microplastics in tea bags
Read more: Microplastics in tea bagsA research study by the University of Barcelona has found that many teabags are leaching billions of microplastic particles into our cups. This concern was reported by the BBC as far back as 19th September 2019. These particles are most readily absorbed by the mucus-forming cells in the gut and can pass into our blood-stream,…
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Afternoon Tea
Read more: Afternoon TeaAfternoon Tea: What would you choose? Afternoon tea is one of those occasions that we all look forward to even if you are not an ardent tea lover. Is it the time to relax and have a soothing cup of tea that lifts you a little towards the end of the afternoon? Is it the…
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What is English Tea?
Read more: What is English Tea?English Tea: some definitions. English tea is an ambiguous term. It has gained many quite different meanings over England\’s long association with tea. Here we try to provide you with some definitions. Only a few acres are under cultivation in England for growing tea and this is largely for novelty value as the climate in terms…
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English Breakfast Tea
Read more: English Breakfast TeaIs English Breakfast tea the best breakfast tea in the world? Breakfast blend is such an important tea that every tea merchant offers it. However, many offer specifically an English Breakfast Tea. What makes this blend so special and how does it differ from Irish Breakfast, Scottish Breakfast, and indeed, what other single-origin teas could…
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Ceylon Black Tea
Read more: Ceylon Black TeaCeylon Black Tea: ‘the cup that cheers’. Sri Lanka has the perfect climate and conditions for the cultivation of tea. This explains why Ceylon black teas are amongst the world’s most exported teas.They are noted for being brisk and for their floral aroma and fruitiness. They appear clear and golden-red in the cup. Almost all Ceylon…
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Introduction to White Tea
Read more: Introduction to White TeaWhite Tea: the sublime tea drinking experience. In the China Dynasty of Song (960-1279), white tea was revered. Chinese people used to ground the white leaves into a silvery powder. This was an inspiration for the Japanese tea ceremony “Cha No Yu” with Matcha. This method had been abandoned in China for several years now.…
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Tea Grades
Read more: Tea GradesWhy we only sell loose leaf tea We focus on the large leaf grades (OP and above) for these give a more all-round and balanced cup. These grades do not apply to China. Tea grades, especially from India and Sri Lanka are mainly determined by leaf size Large leaf teas have a smaller surface area…
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The Health Benefits of Japanese Green Tea
Read more: The Health Benefits of Japanese Green TeaThe Health Benefits of Japanese Green Tea: they have a formidable reputation. From the late nineteenth until the mid twentieth centuries Japan did produce some black tea but this ceased in the face of competition from new tea producing areas of the world. Originally, its tea making techniques and philosophy came from China but this has…
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The Japanese Tea Ceremony
Read more: The Japanese Tea CeremonyThe origins of the Japanese tea ceremony The custom of whisked tea was brought to Japan by Japanese Zen Buddhist monks studying in China and the Song fashion for whisked tea became enshrined as the method of preparation. It evolved during the 14-15th centuries and reached its apogee in the 16th century. The Japanese tea…
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Orange Pekoe Tea
Read more: Orange Pekoe TeaOrange Pekoe tea defined Orange Pekoe tea is a grade of black tea and is a term commonly used in the sale of traditionally made Ceylon, Indian and Kenyan orthodox teas. The term is not used for China teas with the exception of some black teas from Yunnan Province. The term Orange does not refer…
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Iced Tea
Read more: Iced TeaIced Tea: How to make it. Iced tea is perfect on a hot day and is easy to make. It may be made hot, then cooled or be cold infused. The latter takes longer but cold infused tea better carries the lighter, fresher more floral flavours into your glass. This is especially important when making…
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Serving afternoon tea at boutique hotels & tearooms
Read more: Serving afternoon tea at boutique hotels & tearoomsMaximising opportunities for serving afternoon tea at boutique hotels & tearooms Guests are increasingly demanding when it comes to appreciating distinctive-tasting tea. Serving afternoon tea to guests visiting hotels and to those staying overnight and having a morning pot of tea with their breakfast imposes the same challenge: ensure distinctive-tasting teas are served. There is…
#afternoontea #wholesaletea (1) Chinese teas (8) Herbal teas and their health benefits (2) How to make a good cup of tea (3) loose tea (3) New Tea Growing Areas of the World (2) tea general knowledge (11) tea history (5) What is English Tea (3) What is Oolong tea (1)
