January Is "National Hot Tea Month"
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CELEBRATE TEA LOVERS
Make tea a part of your daily routine. Research states that, tea is one way to achieve a healthier lifestyle. Maybe being healthier is one of your most important health resolutions for the New Year? Why not incorporate tea into your drink options and a little less of other types of drinks. Afterall, this antioxidant, nutrient-rich beverage has been credited with protecting against and helping to lower the risk of heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure and cholesterol, stroke as well as many forms of cancer. Check it out, and come into the fold.
I'll be adding to this page throughout the month of January. So if you have some activities that you do, traditions that you embrace, special places that you go, or just want to express how much you love tea, you can do it here.
The State of the U.S. Tea Industry
Prepared by Joseph P. Simrany, President, Tea Association of the U.S.A., Inc.
When walking through the supermarket, a noticeable new development is that tea can be found in several different locations throughout the store, not just in the "coffee" aisle. But, even in its traditional location, the amount of space devoted to tea has increased tremendously and the number and size of competitive offerings has changed dramatically. In addition, many new sections have been added within the supermarket to accommodate all the new forms of tea that have been introduced in recent years.
http://www.teausa.org
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Charitable Giving Ideas During National Hot Tea Month
Let's review the actions regarding a stage play:
-The play is written and produced.
-The actors and supporting staff are selected and hired.
-Marketing is activated and tickets sold for all the play run.
-Its opening night and everything is in place.
-The stage has been set.
-The actors are in place.
-Not the audience enters, sits expecting to have a wonderful theatrical experience.
-All the scenes have been completed without flaw, as far as the audience is concerned.
-The cast enjoys the recognition through the applause of the audience as well a peer accolades for a job well done.
-The actors take their last bow and exit the stage.
-The curtains close, a final indicator of completion and for the patrons to depart to their next destination.
-The cast leaves the building.
-The cleaning crew carries out their job responsibilities of spiffing the place for the next opening.
-Last man out of the building, turns off the light.
Now it's silent; it's dark, it's lonely. That is how the cycle of charitable giving often ends.
However, there is come good news and an opportunity. It's National Hot Tea Month.
National Hot Tea Month is a time in which tea lovers celebrate everything they love about hot tea. Its taste, health benefits, variety, origin, and history. If you are a new tea lover or an old timer, you can still continue in charitable giving on behalf of National Hot Tea Month. Some things that you can do include:
Host a Tea Party with a Group of People
Everyone will enjoy dressing up and coming to a tea party with all the trimmings. Yes, men are invited to attend as well, since they also drink tea.
It can be formal with specific teapots, teacups, caddy, etc.
On the other hand, you might choose a less formal tea party, by having everyone bring their own bag (BYOB). You provide the place, the water, and the snacks. All invitees bring their favorite tea, and their own teacup. And yes a paper bag, to take some goodies home.
Increase Others Knowledge of Tea
You may be crazy over tea, but not everyone you know gives a hoot. Donate a gift basket of tea to an organization or charity of choice. Put a tid-bit about tea in the basket to enhance their knowledge. If it's a legal non-profit, you can possibly write it of on your taxes.
Send Out Cards
Create or purchase cards that reflect your excitement and love for tea. I personally like to make my own cards. It's personal and I get feedback that people enjoy them.
Do Reading of Tea Stories
Your local library, or community center would love to have you some share with young people. My point is you can find a group. Make sure you incorporate a little show and tell to keep the students engaged.
Finally, you can always make a monetary donation to some organization. So make this a great month for others, as it will be for you. Don't just be a part of history, make history. Spread a little tea-focused charity around.
Tea Timers
If you want a perfect cup a tea, you need special tools. A watch simply won't do. A cell phone won't do. An old fashioned clock won't do. You need a "Tea Timer."
PENGUIN TEA TIMER
Automatic tea timer creates a perfectly brewed cup more...0 points
Sand Tea Timer 3.5" Wide x 3" high x 1"
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Taylor Tea Thermometer & Timer
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Thames Oasis Perfect Sand Stainless Steel Tea Timer
Always brew the perfect tea with this classic sand more...0 points
Bodum 4-Minute Clip-On Timer for Bodum Coffee Presses, Black
The 4 minute timer that helps you brew the perfect more...0 points
Beth Johnston, Tea Importer and Expert
Read what she says about, "National Hot Tea Month"
Weight Loss
One recent study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that substances in tea may even promote weight loss by increasing the amount of energy spent by the body. The theory is that green tea, because of the catechin (pronounced "cat E kins") content, has thermogenic properties that promote fat oxidation, may work together with other chemicals to increase weight loss. With more than half of all Americans suffering from excess weight or obesity this is welcome news.
The study was conducted on healthy young men who ate a typical Western diet for six weeks. The study participants also consumed one of the following with each of their 3 daily meals;
A. ) The equivalent of one cup of green tea plus 50 milligrams of caffeine.
B. ) 50 milligrams of caffeine only.
C. ) A placebo.
The men in group A, who consumed the equivalent of 3 cups of green tea per day, showed a significant increase in the number of calories they used in a 24 hour period over either of the other groups B or C. This increase calorie burn resulted in more fats being metabolized by the body for energy.
Another study, published in the International Journal of Obesity, suggests that tea catechins may help resist the onset of obesity. Conducted by Japanese researchers the study compared the body weight and fat mass of mice who had eaten either a low fat or high fat diet, had exercised or had no exercise; had consumed tea catechins or had not consumed tea catechins, resulting in;
A. ) Those mice consuming a high fat diet and tea catechins but not exercising showed a reduced fat accumulation of 18%
B. ) Those mice consuming a high fat diet that exercised but did not consume tea catechins had only a reduced fat accumulation of 14%
C. ) Those mice consuming a high fat diet and tea catechins that exercised showed a reduced fat accumulation of 33%
Fighting Viral Infections
While looking so much better from drinking tea we also have the opportunity to feel better than our coffee drinking counterparts. Research reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that people who drank 3 cups of black tea per day produced 5 times the amount of germ-fighting cells than those who drank coffee, suggesting that tea drinkers have more ability to fight viral infections such as colds and flu than non tea drinkers.
"January's National Hot Tea Month can serve as a reminder to do something healthy for ourselves, like brew a hot cup of tea, which may provide a variety of health benefits, serve as a weight loss aid and help to ward off persistent cold and flu germs" said Joe Simrany, president of the Tea Council of the USA. "What more could you ask for in a beverage."
Don't miss the Chinese New Year e-mail, due to be released in two weeks, it will include an exciting Subscriber Special and fun tips for a traditional celebration.
We wish you all a Happy New Year filled with Tea and Good Health,
© 2007 Teas Etc., Inc
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Beth Johnston, a tea importer and noted tea expert, publishes an informative monthly newsletter on tea, tea history, health and lifestyle enhancements. To learn more about the world of tea, join her free newsletter at http://www.TeasEtc.com/Newsletter.asp or visit http://www.TeasEtc.com.
Rate Your Favorite Tea Book
Let's give our best recommendations. Add to the list, or grab the list, but vote. It's "National Hot Tea Month", afterall. The beginning of a new year, a new president, new year resolutions, new starts, new outlook, new personal goals, etc.
The New York Book of Tea: Where to Take Tea and Buy Tea & Teaware (City and Company) by Bo Niles
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Share your best tea joke, tea song, poems, quotes, stories. We'll decide if it's the best. Don't be betwixted, everyone can't be number 1, but we can sure have a great time sharing.
I'm A Little Teapot
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Can't Have A Celebration without TEACAKE, Right?
History of the Teacake & Recipes
What Is A Teacake Or Tea Cake?
While you are drinking your hot tea, you need a traditional taste of sweets. Of course, we're talking about, "Tea Cakes". There are numerous varieties and variations from all over the world although the definition is basically the same. The teacake is as popular to tea drinkers as keys are to cars.
According to Wikipedia:
A teacake or tea cake is a kind of bread or cake. The name is commonly used for whatever bread or cake is traditionally served for afternoon tea within a region, but can be applied loosely to any kind of cake that is sturdy enough to be picked up with the fingers. Teacake is normally not frosted........
To read the rest of the article go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teacake
The practice of serving bite-sized snacks (tea cakes, tea sandwiches) at tea came about gradually. The menu grew with the Victorian era. Many different cakes were served at tea, including crumpets & scones, "English" muffins and Victoria sandwich cakes. Tea cakes are a distinct recipe with several variations.
"Teacake. The day of the teacake, a large flat round sweet yeast-raised bun, often containing currants, is passing. In the 1960s it was still quite a common teatime treat, typically toasted and spread with butter, but since then it has rather faded from the scene...The term dates from the early nineteenth century (the earliest known reference to it is in an American cookery book, L.M. Child's American Frugal Housewife, 1832), and Dickens mentions it in Martin Chusslewit (1844): Tea and coffee arrived (with sweet preserves and cunning tea-cakes in its train).'"
---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 340)
"Tea breads and tea cakes, collective terms of which the first is the more general. It applies to all the yeast-leavened baked goods considered suitable for afternoon tea or high tea in Britain, including many spiced, fruited, and enriched breads and buns. The latter term is applied especially to flat buns...often fruited, and lightly enriched with butter and egg; these are usually split, toasted and spread with butter." ---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 787)
The above history of the tea cake came from:
http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodbreads.html#tea
TEA-CAKES - 2 Recipes.
# 1786. INGREDIENTS.-2 lbs. of flour, 1/2 teaspoonful of salt, 1/4 lb. of butter or lard, 1 egg, a piece of German yeast the size of a walnut, warm milk.
Mode.-Put the flour (which should be perfectly dry) into a basin mix with it the salt, and rub in the butter or lard; then beat the egg well, stir to it the yeast, and add these to the flour with as much warm milk as will make the whole into a smooth paste, and knead it well. Let it rise near the fire, and, when well risen, form it into cakes; place them on tins, let them rise again for a few minutes before putting them into the oven, and bake from 1/4 to 1/2 hour in a moderate oven. These are very nice with a few currants and a little sugar added to the other ingredients: they should be put in after the butter is rubbed in. These cakes should be buttered, and eaten hot as soon as baked; but, when stale, they are very nice split and toasted; or, if dipped in milk, or even water, and covered with a basin in the oven till hot, they will be almost equal to new.
Time.-1/4 to 1/2 hour.
Average cost, 10d.
Sufficient to make 8 tea-cakes.
Seasonable at any time.
TO TOAST TEA-CAKES.
1787. Cut each tea-cake into three or four slices, according to its thickness; toast them on both sides before a nice clear fire, and as each slice is done, spread it with butter on both sides. When a cake is toasted, pile the slices one on the top of the other, cut them into quarters, put them on a very hot plate, and send the cakes immediately to table. As they are wanted, send them in hot, one or two at a time, as, if allowed to stand, they spoil, unless kept in a muffin-plate over a basin of boiling water.
The above recipes came from, The Book of Household Management, by Isabella Beeton (chapter 35)
http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/b/beeton/isabella/household/chapter35.html
Teabag Caddy
Stories of Inspiration, Giving Around The World, Events To Attend, Activities To Do
The Tea Community
- Tavalon Tea Feeds The Hungry
- From Jan. 1 through Feb. 28, Tavalon will donate 25 percent of the revenue from sales of its Serenity tea to Feeding America, a national nonprofit hunger relief organization with ties to the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank, City Harvest in New York and other partners.
- The Brevard Museum Of History & Natural Science
- The Brevard Museum of History & Natural Science will host it's second annual "Tea Party" in recognition of National Hot Tea Month. There will be a variety of teas, beautiful tea sets, light refreshments and more. Where your tea party clothes if you wish.
- Lesson Plans For Hot Tea Month, Lisa Russell
- Discuss the mental health benefits associated with the ritual of relaxing with a cup of tea. Perhaps your children have heard of tea time in England. Imagine being in the habit of settling down in the middle of each afternoon to enjoy sipping tea with friends.
Tea Parties for Grown Ups by Dawnya Sasse
the wide range of teas available, you can incorporate any theme or celebrate any occasion.
From birthdays to anniversaries or other events, tea is a fun, unique and easy way to create a party.
Use the event (is it a birthday or anniversary?) to determine the best types of tea to serve or, consider hosting a themed party. A theme can be based on anything from a book character to the time of year.
Your party can be as simple or elaborate as you like. Just use your imagination, because you are sure to find a tea that is perfect for the occasion!
Activities
Depending on the celebration, activities may range from traditional to unusual or even none at all! In the fast-paced world we live in, many adults will welcome the chance to sit and enjoy a hot cup of tea and good conversation. Sometimes people need a reason to relax and a tea party can be just that.
However, if you want to incorporate activities, these can easily be based on the reason for the gathering. Consult with your local party supply store or do a quick
search online.
You can incorporate a "tea twist" on many common games, for example. Bridal and baby shower games can include a tea theme (such as word scrambles or searches). Tea gifts make wonderful party favors for your attendees.
Package loose teas in festive netting and tie it with a beautiful ribbon.
Love bingo? Try Teago and let your guests learn about tea and its customs while competing in a familiar game. (www.teago.com)
Decorations
Decorations will depend on the activity, such as a birthday, anniversary, or baby shower. Create a theme for the party, such as a vacation getaway for an anniversary.
Decorate the room with beach balls, beach towels and have guests sit in outdoor lounge chairs (or if the weather is nice, take the party outside!). A "famous babies" theme for a baby shower is much more interesting than decorations that are all green and yellow.
Try filling the room with photos of actors who got their start in "pampers." The key is to put a twist on your party and then, of course, offer a twist on the tea you serve such as a fruity tea for the beach party or bubble tea for a baby shower.
Music
Music selections for your parties can vary greatly. To make it easy on yourself, look for compilation CDs that incorporate the theme.
A CD of soft love songs is a great choice for an anniversary, for example, or an orchestrated mix of lullabies for a baby shower.
Visit your local music retailer for specific suggestions or do an online search for CDs that pertain to your theme.
Invitation Ideas
Use your theme to determine the types of invitations you will use. Get creative and make your own using specialty papers or throw in a few loose tealeaves for a scented and enticing invitation (although some people may not appreciate tea leaves falling out, so consider some type of mesh envelope!).
Because you'll be centering your party on tea, think of using naturally colored invitations and alternative papers.
A traditional birthday invitation may not be quite what you're looking for, so look into blank cards as well, as you can then add your own words.
Foods
What should you serve at a tea party? Again, your theme will have a lot to do with the food selections. If your theme is an anniversary beach party, for example, serve exotic fruits and finger sandwiches.
If you are hosting a famous baby tea, try collecting and serving favorite recipes of the stars then let your guests vote on the best appetizer.
Teas
Many parties lend themselves well to lighthearted and fruity teas and tisanes. Consider offering teas that your guests may not encounter otherwise.
This is a fun way to introduce new teas and enjoy the festive atmosphere.
Creativity is a fountain of youth. Now grab a pencil, jot down your ideas and get started.
(C) Dawnya Sasse
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dawnya Sasse is the creator of the ultimate tea business
training school allowing students to discover the secrets
of the tea industry, "quickly and easily" without ever leaving
home. Copyright 2006 Dawnya Sasse All Rights Reserved.
Tea Events http://www.teaevents.com/
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Chat Back - Was This Information Helpful?
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noobeegin
Dec 10, 2010 @ 5:27 am | delete
- Another wonderful tea lens.
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EyeWomski
Jan 9, 2009 @ 8:56 pm | delete
- The article on giving was nice. I agree with what you said. The way you told is was cool as well.
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LadyT
Dec 31, 2008 @ 5:06 pm | delete
- I'm glad you like it. I enjoyed putting it together.
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Custom-Squidoo
Dec 31, 2008 @ 1:53 pm | delete
- Fascinating lens! As I read this I'm sipping tea from my big tea pot -- I couldn't survive more than a couple of hours without a cuppa!
A great lens that has truly earned a 5 star rating!
Helene Malmsio
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mzthollywood
Dec 30, 2008 @ 11:32 pm | delete
- Lady T, I love this site. The videos are great as well as the information. I've bookmarked this page.
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