I definitely had a great time yesterday doing the Sacramento and Co. show. It went so fast, I didn’t get to say everything I wanted. Because I was asked on as a “Tea Expert,” I wasn’t allowed to say the name of my business or promote it in anyway.  That felt a little strange as I realized that’s who I am. If you take it away, then I feel like I’ve lost my identity. Interesting feeling.

For those of you following my adventures, I’ll be at the Mandarin Festival this weekend in Auburn as a guest chef.  I’ll be making “Mandarin Orange Scones.”  That should also be fun! I love doing classes.

Hope to see you there!

Amy

• White - Da Hao Silver Needle - white teas are the least processed of all teas
• Green - Tai Ping - this tea is only made 2 weeks out of the year
• Oolong - Milk Oolong - a very unique tea with a silky buttery texture
• Black - Zhen Qu - a tea made exclusively for our tea distributor
• Pu-Erh - Golden Bud Pu-Erh - this is the tea found to significantly lower cholesterol in recent studies, very earthy

Come visit us to learn more, to try our tea and discover why we were voted Sacramento Magazine’s Best Tea Room this year!

I’ll be on Sacramento and Company tomorrow. I don’t have a time but somewhere between 8:30-10:00 I think.  I’ll be talking about tea, the types, the health benefits and how to make it.  Check me out if you have time!

Amy

Since I’ll be on Sacramento and Company next week, I’ve been doing more research about the health benefits of tea -especially Pu-erh teas. After hearing Norwood Pratt speak about a research study in France during his visit to our tea room, I decided to pursue Pu-erh tea a bit further. I discovered more specifics. In France a blind study was conducted with 500 patients with advanced cholesterol conditions, usually controlled with medication. Half of the controlled group consumed 3-4 cups of Pu-erh tea daily, while the rest of the participants were given something else. After a 30-day period the results showed that drinking Pu-erh on a regular basis could significantly lower cholesterol and further research confirmed that Pu-erh was as effective as the most advanced cholesterol lowering medications available. I think this is exciting news! More research definitely needs to be done in this area, I can’t wait to find out more!

Pu-erh tea is definitely something to experience. It is processed in a similar way as black tea but it does belong in a category of its own. Here is a bit of information for you:

The tea leaves are picked, processed and partially fired (in contrast to black tea which is completely fired to stop oxidation). This partial firing allows the leaves to retain moisture. The slightly moist tea is then piled. The natural bacterium on the leaves creates a reaction similar to that of a compost pile.

Next the tea is aged in special underground rooms or caves, which adds to its unique character. One unique distinction is that pu-erh tea tends to get better over time. Aged Pu-erh teas are prized and can be found in vintages like wine with some dating back 40-100 years.

Pu-erh tea can be found in several forms: loose or in cake form. The one we have at the moment is Golden Bud Pu-erh which is in loose form. It has beautiful golden tips and has a honey-like taste. For those who haven’t yet experienced a pu-erh tea, be forewarned. It may take a bit of getting used to. Most often times it tastes much better than it smells. It definitely has an “earthy aroma.” For those who love earthy foods such as mushrooms, this will be the tea for you! It is also great with a bit of Chrysanthemum flowers mixed in. Just ask and we can blend it for you.

Can you believe the holidays are almost here?  As I sit here writing this e-mail I realized that my sons are out of school for Thanksgiving break starting next Monday.  Wow!  It also made me realize that I need to get moving on my shopping.  I hate doing everything at the last minute and since starting the tea room I’ve realized I need to be organized otherwise I feel absolutely crazy during this season.

It seems I go overboard every year with gifts so this year my focus for gifts will be authentic and sincere.  It’s really friendship and family that count - not what you give or get.  I’m really trying to enjoy living in the moment and not waiting for the future.  So here are a few ideas I’ve been working on for the tea room.

A Few Gift ideas under $16.00:

• One idea is to give a 2 oz. tin of tea, a few Tea Pockets, and a favorite recipe. Of course one of my favorite gifts to give is a tin of tea, but I’m never sure if the person already has an infuser.  It can get expensive if you buy an infuser for every tin of tea you give. Therefore, I have discovered if I buy a box of Tea Pockets (which has 50 pockets), I can give away 5 pockets with their tea and I can get 10 gifts out of one box. I also like to include a favorite recipe. This adds a very personal touch and if I received this gift I would be thrilled!  I love favorite recipes.  The cost for this gift idea is about $9.95 per gift.
• Elephantino tea pot and infuser - $11.95 - I love this pot!  I bought a sample at the World Tea Expo in May and have used it ever since.  It’s a 2 cup pot, perfect for one person.
• Prepackaged Gift Sets - $15.95 - These gifts are beautifully wrapped.  We have 3 styles:
  • A tea cup and a tin of tea
  • A tea cup and a box of decorated sugar
  • A teapot trivet and a tin of tea
• Scone Mixes - $5.95 basic, and $6.95 for the Cinnamon Pumpkin Pecan add a jar of our homemade lemon curd or Devonshire and you have a yummy gift!
• Cookbooks - These make wonderful unique gifts for anyone who likes to cook.  (“SORRY - EMAIL only customers“)

Upcoming Events and News Items:

• Learn How to Make Quiche - Wednesday, November 12th at 9:00AM
• Scone class - November 18th 9:00AM
• Sacramento and Company - November 20th - I’ll be talking about tea!
• Mandarin Festival - November 22nd - I’ll be a guest chef making Mandarin Orange Scones
• Sugar Plum Fairy Teas - December 5th, 12th and 19th 3:30-4:30
• Check out our brand new World of Tea Exploration Program - Bring the world of tea right to your door…
• Free shipping for online orders this month - Use the coupon code (“SORRY - EMAIL only customers“) at checkout
• We now offer Morning Tea - $6.95 per person Wednesday-Friday 9-10:30
• Don’t forget we are open on Sundays 11AM-4PM (seatings at 12PM and 2PM)

Have a wonderful week!

Amy

Cranberry Orange Scones from Creating an Afternoon to Remember

Scones

• 3 c. self-rising flour
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 c. buttermilk
• 1/4 c. orange juice
• 1/2 c. chopped cranberries
• peel or zest of one orange

Glaze

• 1 c. powdered sugar
• 2-3 T. orange juice

Combine flour and sugar.  Cut in butter until mixture is coarse and crumbly.  Add cranberries and orange peel/zest.  Combine buttermilk and orange juice.  Add just enough of the liquid mixture to make a soft dough.  Turn out on a floured board and cut with a biscuit or cookie cutter.

Place scones close together on a cookie sheet sprayed with vegetable oil.  Bake at 400 degrees until lightly browned about 10 minutes.  Brush with glaze while still hot.  Enjoy!

Scones are served best warm and may be reheated in foil before serving.

I have to admit, I’m very disappointed in a new research study about decaffeinating tea. For years I’ve been telling my customers that you can decaffeinate tea by steeping it first for 30 seconds and then resteeping it for the correct amount of time (black 4 minutes, greens/oolongs 3 minutes). Now after reading a recent article from a well respected colleague Bruce Richardson, it was found that it takes 6 minutes to remove 80% of the caffeine -which will take out most of the flavor of the tea. The study didn’t give an exact percentage for the 30 second method but two other studies cited said the 30 second method only decaffed the tea 9-20% which is much less than previously thought.

So I guess the 30 second method does take out a bit of the caffeine and it’s better than nothing. But for those very sensitive to caffeine I’ll definitely have to recommend an herbal tisane such as Rooibos. Luckily at least tea contains much less caffeine than coffee, so for those trying to cut down on their caffeine intake, tea is a great way to go.

To read more about the decaf research read the article.

Have a wonderful day!

Amy

We’re finally ready! I’ve been wanting to do a tea of the month club for a long time. The name of our tea club is the Year of Tea Exploration Program. Every other month we will send out carefully selected teas to your door. Membership also includes 15% off of all teas, on-line or gift shop, tea delivered to your door every other month and a welcome kit which includes a tea pot, infuser and measuring spoon. There will be two programs to choose from-one directed more to flavored tea drinkers who want to experience new teas and one for the “pure” tea drinker with exotic and rare premium teas. Click here to learn more!

The second session for our wonderful tasting with Norwood Pratt is now online. The first session will follow in a few days hopefully. Enjoy!

We’re getting ready for our holiday open house on Thursday.  My family and I will be going up to the tea room tonight to decorate for the big day!  Today I’m busy working on our new tea club program.  We’ll be announcing the details on Thursday during open house.  Hope to see everyone there!

Last week was such a wonderful one for me.  On Tuesday evening I picked up James Norwood Pratt and brought him back to my house for a nice dinner with my family.  We had such a good time getting to know him better.  On Wednesday we had a leisurely breakfast and then headed off to the tea room where he joined a few special guests for afternoon tea.  He really enjoyed getting to know everyone.  At 3:30 the first tea tasting began. Books were signed and at 6:30 the tea room filled again with eager listeners for the second tasting.

Mr. Pratt enthralled us with his knowledge of the tea world.  We learned so much about the tea plant, the processing of the tea as well as wonderful stories about tea. Keep checking the website for the video (I’m working on it as quickly as I can - Pat (Amy’s husband).) We recorded it, keep in mind that it is a new camcorder and we are amateurs.

During the tea tasting we tasted 6 exquisite teas:

• Tai Ping Green - which is produced only 1 week out of the year
• Master’s Choice Oolong - which can be infused many times
• Makaibari Darjeeling - one of my favorites - also in very limited quantities
• Zhen Qu - an absolutely beautiful fluffy golden tip tea - also in limited quantities
• Keemun Sechrna - a slightly smokey black tea
• Golden Bud Pu Erh - which we learned from Mr. Pratt that it lowers cholesterol significantly according to recent research in France.

Babette Donaldson, my good friend, and children’s author of Emma Lea books is on the World Tea Expo Board has written a nice piece about Mr. Pratt’s visit. You can read about it here.  For those of you who have children and are interested in her books she is now doing a children’s newsletter called Emma Lea’s Monthly Newsletter. She is also sponsoring a contest for children to write about their magic tea pot.

It was a wild week for me, not only did we have Mr. Pratt, we also had a dessert class and Miss Spider’s Tea Party. On Saturday I took a personal day and went to San Francisco to see one of my favorite authors, Martha Beck at the O Event.  I was thrilled to get her autograph and even more thrilled when Oprah herself paid a surprise visit to the event. So yes!  I got to see Oprah in person!  It was exciting!

The one exception to my wonderful week was that my son broke his arm riding his bike home from school while I was at the tea room hosting the Miss Spider’s Tea Party. Thomas is doing fine and will hopefully be casted tomorrow.

So let’s see what exciting things we have for next week!

• Taking Care of You - Class 2
• Holiday Open House - don’t miss it, new merchandise is arriving daily
• We still have space in our quiche classes
• Don’t forget about the Sugar Plum Fairy Teas in December - they are starting to fill up (need to add the event to the site…)

Finally, our Tea of the Month for November is Pumpkin Crème.  It will be 25% off for the entire month.

I hope you have a wonderful week and I hope to see you at the Holiday Open House next Thursday.

Enjoy life, drink a cup of tea!

Amy