How to Attend a Japanese Tea Ceremony

A friend has invited you to a Japanese tea ceremony. You've never attended one of these special teas before and you're very excited. However, you're also just a bit nervous. You don't want to come across as a rude or discourteous guest because you don't know what is expected of you. You need a few quick pointers on how to attend a Japanese tea ceremony.

One of the easiest ways to be sure you follow all the traditions properly is to ask for help. Simply explain that the whole experience is completely new to you and that you want to do things right. Your host and the other guests should be more than happy to give you a hand.

If you don't understand how to do anything, keep an eye on the other guests. If everyone picks up the cup with their right hands and then they support it with their left hands, odds are you should try picking up the cup this way, too. This also helps you avoid jumping in ahead of the guest of honor, or principle guest, who usually gets to do everything during the ceremony before the other guests, from entering the tea house to drinking the tea.

Tea Pouch Spa Therapy

You're exhausted and achy and you need to take a nice long soak in the tub. The last thing you want to do is dig through the hall cupboard looking for bath salts, but it would be nice to smell a wonderful aroma as you soak. You finally give up on the bath salts because you are too sore to climb on the step stool to search the top shelf. On the way to the tub, you make a detour for a nice hot cup of green tea. It sure smells great. Maybe you should buy some tea bath products, but in the meantime, you're going to make do.

Since a tea pouch is made with a sturdy silk material and is sewn shut for added durability, it is sturdy enough to last in a tub, too. Simply hold the pouch under the hot water faucet as the tub fills and enjoy the aroma of your favorite freshly brewed tea blend filling the air.

Of course, since teas made for drinking are not designed for washing in, you should use some caution. Avoid using chamomile tea bags unless you are absolutely certain that you are not sensitive to ragweed, since chamomile is a member of the ragweed family. You don't want to end up with a bad case of hives after your leisurely soak.

Using a Sealable Tea Pouch

You love the variety available when you shop for loose tea. The blends available seem to be almost limitless and just shopping for new tea seems like an adventure. You also love the beautiful tins that most loose teas come in. They seem to really keep the tea fresh and when the tins are empty they are a great way to organize small things, from craft supplies to a child's hair accessories. However, you also love the convenience of a tea bag, especially when you are on the go. It is a lot harder to tuck a tin of loose tea and an infuser in your briefcase or purse than it is to slip in a few tea bags. You're going to invent a way to put some of your loose tea in bags yourself.

Actually, someone has already invented a handy way to bag up loose tea. With a sealable tea pouch, you can quickly go from a tin of loose tea to a tin of bagged tea in minutes. T-Sac filter bags are sturdy, easy to use bags designed to hold loose tea for brewing.

For people who hate to use five or six bags in a single pot of tea, there is a handy pot size bag available, as well. Since the bags come in boxes of 100, you'll be able to make quite a dent in your loose tea collection before you need to place a new bag order.

Herbal Tea Recipe Ideas

You've heard of green tea cocktails, but you're more of an herbal tea drinker. Can you substitute herbal tea for green tea to make an herbal tea recipe for a cocktail instead? While it can be a bit more time consuming to make an herbal cocktail because you aren't able to simply use Matcha in the drink, herbal tea cocktails can be delicious.

For a great herbal tea cocktail, choose your favorite tea blend and drop a pouch of the tea into two ounces of vodka. Leave the tea pouch in the vodka for several hours and then remove it. You now have a great base for a fun herbal cocktail. Add some Peach schnapps, some tonic, or your favorite flavored liquor to finish it off.

If you don't want to wait for the tea to steep for several hours before you can mix a drink, take a look at Chamomile Citrus Berry AperiTea. This herbal tea mixer can help you create an herbal cocktail in seconds. Simply splash some of the AperiTea into a glass of gin or vodka, add a splash of tonic, give it a quick stir and you're done. You may also want to check out Orange Jasmine Mango AperiTea, which is a black tea and herbal blend.

Chai Tea Recipe

Chai tea is a traditional drink in India that has become quite popular in other countries, too. The Hollywood crowd frequently can be seen with a health conscious version of this delicious drink - the soy Chai tea latte. However, before Chai tea found its way into coffee houses, it was a high calorie, refreshing beverage enjoyed by thousands of Indian residents and people visiting these fascinating country.

To make Chai tea, you can choose one of two options. You can buy a Chai tea blend or you can buy black tea and create your own Chai blend. Chai tea is simply a good, strong black tea mixed with several spices. Cardamom is always added to the tea blend and cinnamon and cloves are fairly common in Chai recipes. Ginger or whole black pepper are also sometimes added to the Chai blend.

Once you are satisfied with your Chai tea blend, it is time to prepare the tea. Simply brew a pot of tea for three minutes using water that has reached 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Use a strainer to pour the beverage into a pitcher so that you don't end up choking on a peppercorn. Add milk and sugar to taste.

Women Drinking Tea for Health and Happiness

Tea has been a soothing drink for sick, tired, or stressed people for thousands of years. It has been an excuse to gather with good friends to show off pretty clothes and share the latest shocking gossip. Because of the antioxidants most teas contain, this beverage has even become a way to practice disease prevention. Women drinking tea, cooking with tea and using tea for everything from poultices to dyes are a part of our past and will be a part of our future. To join the women throughout history who have enjoyed tea, you may want to:

• Host a tea related event. If a tea party isn't quite your thing, try a modern twist that serves tea cocktails instead or model your event after a sophisticated wine and cheese tasting.
• Introduce your family to tea by having pitchers of iced tea available or adding tea to favorite family recipes.
• Try crafting with tea. Tea can be used as a dye, a substitute for sand painting crafts, or as part of your miniature dollhouse landscape.
• Add tea bags to your first aid kit. A dampened tea bag can quickly sooth itchy skin or lessen eyelid puffiness.

Loose Leaf Herbal Teas and Food

You know that there are foods that use green or black teas right in the recipe, but you'd like to try to use some of your favorite loose leaf herbal teas. However, you don't want to create unappetizing meals, either. You need some ideas for ways to use herbal tea in your menus.

Herbal teas are just as easy to add to recipes as green or black teas are. Simply think about the flavor of the tea you'd like to use and how it complements the foods you usually drink it with. For example, a delicious lavender tea usually goes well with a variety of desserts. Try substituting a bit of lavender tea for water in your lemon sponge cake or your famous vanilla cupcakes. Chamomile tea leaves can be a great way to enhance your favorite shortbread recipe.

Mint has been paired with lamb for centuries, but it also is delicious with pork. Try substituting a cup of brewed mint tea for some of the liquid in a dish or adding a teaspoon of dried mint tea to a pork rub. Mint tea leaves can also be surprisingly delicious in salsa or some salad dressings.

Don’t forget soups. Lemon balm and mint are both commonly used in many soup recipes.

Reduce Blood Sugar With Organic Green Tea

Green tea has many useful benefits. However, one of the most exciting benefits, while it has been discussed and studied for some time in Eastern cultures, is just receiving serious attention in the Western world. Studies have shown that you can actually reduce blood sugar with organic green tea.

What could be better than preventing the development of type 2 diabetes while you are enjoying a cup of delicious green tea? Even if you already have diabetes, you may want to discuss drinking green tea with your doctor. Scientists have found that indulging in this healthy habit can stop cataracts from forming in rats and think that it may work for people, too.

To follow an effective green tea regimen, you'll need to plan to drink a lot of this beverage - at least four large glasses. If you are drinking your tea in a standard tea cup, you'll need to drink a lot more, since scientists are suggesting that at least 36 ounces of tea per day is necessary for an average size adult to see results.

If you’re thinking to ignore the benefits of green tea because you don’t enjoy the taste, take a look at the way you brew your tea and give it another chance. A good cup of green tea is prepared by heating the water to around 175 degrees Fahrenheit and steeping it for two minutes.

Drinking Tea in England

When you think of tea, the first thing that comes to mind is the Queen of England. As you sip a morning cup of your favorite blend, you decide you want to learn more about how this country that is so small in size and so influential worldwide created such a love for this fabulous beverage. As you begin your research, you are shocked to discover that this passion for tea didn't start until Great Britain decided it wanted to own New York, which was a Dutch colony called New Amsterdam. Tea was very popular there and the combination of acquiring a colony of tea lovers and the rise of the English East India Company helped Britain's tea habit to really take off.
Drinking tea in England is still a popular pastime. British tea lovers usually drink their favorite black tea blends with a lot of milk and have plenty of high calorie treats to go with their beverages. Scones with clotted cream or biscuits are often served during the two traditional tea breaks, which are referred to as Elevenses and Afternoon Tea. For people who couldn't take an Afternoon Tea break at four o'clock, High Tea at six o'clock was once very popular. Today, most people simply have dinner instead of having High Tea, which included a fairly hearty assortment of food.

The Book of Tea

For someone who wants to learn about the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura is essential reading. This book may be over a century old, but it is just as fascinating and beautiful today as it was when it was first written.

The thing that makes The Book of Tea special is that it is not a classic dry instruction manual. This lovely little volume gives us a look at the old Japan in a style that is every bit as lyrical as one of Shakespeare's plays. As you read about the different tea rituals, you'll learn much more than how to brew and pour your tea. You'll also learn why tea ceremonies have such a special place in Japanese culture and you'll learn that simplicity can actually be an extremely beautiful and complicated thing.

Because this book was written during a time of drastic changes in Japan, it is sure to fascinate people who aren't interested in tea, as well. Coax the history lover in your family to pick up this little treasure and he or she will probably enjoy it every bit as much as you did because the book allows anyone who reads it to experience a bit of the old Japan through the eyes of a gifted writer.

Books About Green Tea

You've heard quite a bit on the news about the health benefits of green tea. However, you aren't sure exactly what those benefits are or how to get the most out of the tea you are drinking. You'd love to find out more, but you don't want to spend hours tracking down articles and reading tons of unrelated information to discover the information that you need. What you need are some books about green tea.

For someone who is concerned about whether the claims of the benefits of green tea are really true, The Green Tea Book by Lester Mitscher and Victoria Toews is a good choice. This book combines information on health benefits and guidance on choosing and brewing green tea to create a useful and comprehensive guide.

If you are more interested in how to make the perfect cup of green tea, then The Green Tea User's Manual by Helen Gustaferson may be the right option for you. This book discusses green tea basics, such as how to brew green tea properly.

For people who just want to read about diets that use green tea, there are many books on the topic, such as The Green Tea Lifestyle by Keith and Gilian Bales.