Legend has it that it came to us by fortuitous accident. A gust of wind blew leaves from a wild tree into a Chinese emperor’s pot of boiling water. The sovereign found the resulting brew surprisingly enjoyable. Now the Chinese consume 1.6 billion pounds of it each year.
Beyond China, researchers say the annual per capita consumption in Turkey is around seven pounds. Albert Einstein enjoyed a cup every day. Mick Jagger, Jude Law, and Tom Hanks are quite fond of it.
In the United Kingdom, its history goes back to an advert in the newspaper, Mercurius Politicus, circa 1658. The advert announced that a “China drink called … Tcha” was now available in a coffee house in London.
The establishment was Garraway’s Coffee House, situated along Exchange Alley in Cornhill. Its proprietor, Thomas Garraway, is said to have been the first merchant to sell tea in England. By the mid-18th century, tea had become the UK’s most popular drink.
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The Best Tea Tools and Equipment
The world consumed nearly 14 billion pounds of tea last year alone. The popular notion is that –save for water – people drink tea more than any other beverage on earth. In fact, tea is so popular that an entire industry of gadgets and styles has prospered around its consumption.
If you’re new to drinking tea, you may find the great array of tea tools and equipment overwhelming. Don’t worry. We’re here to help. Below is a roundup of some gadgets we think are well-worth a try in your quest for the perfect cup.
Fellow’s Electric Tea Kettle
We’ll begin with our favorite kettle for brewing tea. Fellow’s stainless steel electric kettle lets you adjust your brew’s temperature to the precise degree. You can set it to stop heating and keep the water inside at the exact temperature you need.
You can use it to make green tea at 175° F, or black teas at 212° F, among others. The kettle’s slender, curved neck allows a mess-free and accurate pour, too.
Oxo Brew Tea Ball Infuser
If you favor loose leaf tea, then you’ll need a tea infuser to brew a cup. There are many out there, but we favor Oxo Brew’s Twisting Tea Ball Infuser. Twist the handle of this contraption and it opens the spherical infuser basket at the tip. Opening the ball turns it into a tea ladle. Plunge the little ladle into your container of leaves to scoop up your desired amount of tea.
To close the ball, simply twist the handle in the opposite direction. Once closed, you can dip the ball end into your mug, tea flask, or insulated bottle to brew the tea. Cleaning this tea infuser is just as easy. Just twist the handle and eject the spent leaves into your compost bin. That’s it.
Hario Cold Brew Tea Pot
People who favor iced tea will definitely like Hario’s Cold Brew Tea Pot. This simple and inexpensive glass flask makes excellent iced tea. Just drop eight to 10 grams of loose-leaf tea into the pot and fill it with room-temperature water. (If you prefer teabags, we suggest that you use two for a cup.)
Once filled with water, snap the cap back on and pop the pot into the refrigerator. Let your beverage brew overnight. If you like a good strong cup, we suggest you allow 12 to 18 hours of brewing. The tea will steep gently in the cold water. The next morning, you’ll have one liter of excellent chilled tea to take to work with you.
The metal mesh filter in the cap keeps the leaves in the bottle when you pour. Cleaning is a cinch, too. Just give the pot a quick rinse and you are done.
Hydro Flask Vacuum Flask
Keeping your brew sufficiently hot all day can be a challenge. We like to use Hydro Flask’s 32-Ounce Wide Mouth Vacuum Flask for this purpose. The flask keeps your freshly brewed tea hot all afternoon. The manufacturers say its double-walled vacuum insulation keeps drinks hot for 12 hours.
You can also use this bottle to brew fresh, individual cups of tea. Just fill the flask with hot water then pour out one cup at a time over tea leaves or teabags. This flask is an essential piece of equipment for people who drink their tea in the office or on the move.
DavidsTea Tea Steeper
DavidsTea Tea Steeper is a fun, innovative tea kettle. Pour loose-leaf tea and hot water into the kettle and let your beverage steep. Then, set the kettle on top of your mug. The weight of the kettle will open a spring-loaded valve in the bottom, and hot tea flows out. Cool, huh?
To stop the flow, just lift the kettle. The valve will spring shut. There are many such clever kettles, but we like this best for the price and quality of the build.
Cuzen Matcha Starter Kit
Matcha is finely ground powder of specially grown and processed green tea leaves. (The leaf is called tencha.) The beverage resulting from the brewing process is most commonly consumed hot. But cold matcha is also delicious in smoothies, iced hibiscus, and iced almond-matcha lattes.
The Cuzen Matcha Maker Starter Kit makes room temperature matcha from freshly ground leaves in just a few minutes. Just remove the machine’s bamboo lid to access the hopper. Pour in the dried tencha leaves sold by the company. An integrated grinder pulverizes the leaves into matcha with the push of a button.
From there, the fresh matcha powder falls into a small plastic cup which you have filled with water. A magnetic system beneath the cup spins a small plastic whisk at the bottom. This process mixes the powder into the water.
Cuzen sells tencha sachets in different sizes. A 20-gram pack makes about 20 cups. The 60-gram packet makes about 60 cups. Both are available by subscription or a la carte.
If you love cold matcha and drink it daily, this machine is for you. If you don’t like cold matcha, you can use the machine’s grinder to make matcha powder, instead. Then you can prepare matcha the regular way. The machine will cost you $369, though. So, yes, perhaps hot tea drinkers are better-off sticking to the old kettle and the whisk.
Here’s to your health!
Why drink tea? Well, there is nothing quite as refreshing and relaxing as a cup of tea. But there is more to enjoying a cup than just that.
Tea is a delicious source of antioxidants known as flavonoids. Flavonoids keep your heart and blood vessels healthy by keeping the blood vessels flexible. This helps blood flow smoothly through your body. The flavonoids also help to reinforce our body’s natural defense system and slows the ageing process.
So why not?
