How The Teaspoon Got Its Name

I saw it in the tea shop…silver, shiny and sleek.  It had a pocket that was round and deep.  I picked it up and found it solid and slightly heavy.  This was no dainty little spoon for stirring, but a sturdy one for scooping a measured amount of loose leaf tea.  I was hooked even before I read the inscription on the handle, “one cup of perfect tea.”  Sure enough, my new beautiful teaspoon gives me just that.

Teaspoons @janetbianchini

Is a teaspoon called a teaspoon because of tea? I did some research into the etymology and origins of the teaspoon to find out. The short and sweet answer is, yes. In British dictionaries, a teaspoon is defined in two ways.  It is not only defined as a measurement but “as a small spoon” used for “adding sugar to tea” and to “stir tea.”[1]  The word teaspoon is quintessentially English as the word and the spoon developed from England’s love of drinking tea as well as England’s colonial sugar wealth. 

Tea was first introduced to England in the 1600s and it is commonly believed to have become fashionable due to Catherine of Braganza, the Portuguese princess[2], who became Queen of England when she married  King Charles II in 1662.  Catherine was an avid tea drinker and tea soon became a fad in courtly and aristocratic circles.[2]  

Sugar, like tea, was an expensive import in the early 1600s that only rulers and the rich could afford.[3]  Whether to lessen any bitter taste in their tea or as a means of flaunting one’s wealth, tea drinkers in England, unlike China, added sugar to their tea.  

 

Towards the end of the 1600s, tea and sugar became less expensive and more common to the average English citizen.  In fact, the first written appearance of the word "teaspoon" was in a 1686 edition of the London Gazette.[4]  The reference appeared in an ad listing a reward for a stolen "three small gilded Tea Spoons."[5] 

 
Tea became less expensive thanks to the British East India Company.  Charles II had granted the company a monopoly over trade between England and the East.[5]  Because of the company’s increasing importation of tea from Asia, the prices of tea fell in England.[5]  Sugar also became less expensive in England as England imported ever greater amounts of sugar from the colonies in the New World - where sugar plantations were run on African slave labor.[7]   

An interesting side note about that 1686 edition of the London Gazette which listed a reward for the stolen gilded tea spoons.  On the same page is another ad listing a reward for a 15 year old run-away negro boy, last seen on Christmas Day (presumably a slave).[5]  Just a reminder of the realities of 17th century world labor conditions that made the proliferation of tea and sugar so affordable to many.

London Gazette Issue 2203 27 December 1686 page 2
 

Click here to find the perfect teaspoon on Amazon.com

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[1] MacMillan British Dictionary, http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/teaspoon; and Cambridge Dictionary, dictionary​.cambridge​.org​/dictionary​/british​/teaspoon;

[2] United Kingdom Tea Council, Influence of a Portuguese Princess, http://www.tea.co.uk/page.php?id=96

[3]  http://www.bostonteapartyship.com/tea-blog/one-lump-or-two#sthash.EZt1335B.dp

[4]  "ˈtea-spoon, n.". OED Online. Oxford University Press. 27 June 2012

[5] 1686 London Gazette No. 2203/4,  http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/2203/pages/2

[6] Catherine Braganza and Charles II, http://www.tea.co.uk/east-india-company

[7] The Brittish Library, Sugar in Britain, 1715 http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item107515.html

On the Go Tea Glass at NYC Coffee & Tea Festival

Some people every morning pick up a cup of coffee or tea at a café.  I make tea at home and bring it to work in an average looking thermos.  Last March at the Coffee & Tea Festival in New York City, I saw an attractive glass container designed to carry tea, hot or cold.  

The Libre Tea glass (affil.) is slender and sleek, with a pretty gold logo design on the cap and a solid silver bottom and trim.  It reminded me of zen-like yoga gear – a look that suggests health, nature and spirituality at the same time.  Even the logo looked like a drop of water or maybe a flame.

I spoke with Wendy Weir, the creator and founder of the Libre Tea Glasses.  She was inspired to create her tea glasses when she was in China and saw so many people walking around drinking tea.[1]  Libre Tea glasses are designed not only for drinking tea “on the go” but for brewing tea “on the go” too.  The glasses have two suggested brewing methods for loose leaf tea and the company’s website has a video tutorial on “How to use your Libre."  I tried the two methods at home with a sample Wendy gave me.

The first brewing method was simple and fast.  No waiting for the tea to brew, just throw the loose leaf tea directly in the glass with the hot water, close the cap and go.  No removing the tea leaves either. There is a built-in filter in the cap and because the leaves are beneath the filter, they are strained out as you drink. 

Tea aficionados are conscious of the recommended brewing times and know that leaving tea leaves in the water for too long can sometimes make a bitter cup of tea.  I chose a rooibos tisane blend, one that I knew did well with an extended steeping.

  

The second brewing method took a little more finesse, but allowed for the removal of the tea leaves.  You put the leaves on top of the filter, add hot water and close the cap.  Then turn the bottle upside down. Since the filter is at the top of the bottle, the water doesn’t touch the tea leaves unless you turn the bottle over so that the water completely saturates the tea leaves.  When the tea is fully steeped, flip the bottle back over, open the cap and dispose of the tea leaves from the strainer.  When I tried this the first time, I didn’t close the cap completely before I flipped the bottle over and I spilled a little.  On my second try, I got it right.

I compared my thermos to my Libre Tea glass.  The Libre Tea glass is definitely more elegant looking.  Both containers are about the same weight and hold about the same amount of liquid.  I found that my tea in the Libre Tea glass was still nice and warm over an hour later.  My old thermos keeps my tea piping hot for hours but does not brew loose leaves and I can’t admire the color of my tea.

Overall, my husband would use my old thermos and leave the Libre Tea glass for me because the glass is “just too pretty,” he says.  I’ll use the Libre Tea glass but probably stick with the simple brewing method for  tisanes when I’m on the go.

 

[1]  http://www.reuseit.com/libre.htm  

Tea & Cheese

 Tomme Blanche, Brie Paysan, Kaskaval by MOs810

While attending the Coffee & Tea Festival in New York City last week, I took a tea seminar that would make a cheese lover smile.  The seminar was called “Tea and Cheese” and it was presented by Chef Cynthia Gold, Tea Sommelier and co-author of the book Culinary Tea.  Gold has developed her own unique ‘Tea Cuisine, including lines of signature teas as well as Tea Cocktails and ‘Tea Cuisine’ dishes.  Her culinary training is from Johnson and Wales and the Culinary Institute of America.

Wearing her white chef’s uniform, Gold discussed how to balance flavor, texture and feel when pairing teas and cheeses.  Gold recommended pairing an astringent tea with a soft rich fatty cheese.  The astringent tea essentially cleanses the palate so that the taster's next bite of the cheese can be fully experienced.  With a sip of astringent tea, balance is returned to a person's palate after eating a cheese that contains a good amount of fat. 

In class, we tried a first flush Darjeeling with a brie cheese.  Brie cheese is known for its fatty creaminess and First Flush Darjeeling is known for its astringency.  Normally my brie quota is a couple of bites before I find I can’t go on due to the richness.  But sipping the First Flush Darjeeling in between bites of the brie made me feel like I could eat brie all day.  Gold also recommended pairing a gunpowder green tea (another astringent tea) with brie cheese.

License: artlibre

Taming pungency” is another concept Gold discussed.  For example, Gold recommended a smoky tea to tame a pungent cheese.  The class sampled a pungent blue cheese with a Lapsang Souchong.  This tea is traditionally smoke-dried over pinewood fires and consequently has a distinctive smoky flavor.  I did find that the powerful smoky flavor of the Lapsang Souchong nicely counterbalanced the strong taste of the blue cheese.  I am usually not a blue cheese fan but this pairing made the blue cheese taste pretty good. 

Matching subtle flavors, explained Gold, is another good way to pair teas and cheeses.  By matching the subtle flavors, the taste of that subtle flavor becomes more pronounced in both the tea and cheese.  The class experimented in matching the delicate tastes of nuts.  The class tried a Dragon Well green tea with a gruyere cheese.  Both are known for having a hint of nuts.  This was my favorite of the sample pairings.  Gold identified other teas with hints of nuttiness such as a Keemun, Ceylon or Autumnal Darjeeling.  I’m now excited about pairing these teas at home with a slightly nutty cheese.

 

Hip, Fun and Sassy at the NYC Tea and Coffee Festival 2014

What can be better than great style and good tea?  At the Tea and Coffee Festival in New York City this past weekend that’s what I found…vendors with style and good tea.  Vendors marketed their tea in bold eye catching packaging, expressing that New York spirit of hip, fun and sassy.

Damn FineTea caught my attention first with their fun cartoon style prints on brightly colored tins of tea.  My favorite had a playfully exaggerated cartoon horse on a package of Yunnan tea.  The horse color was bright yellow with a dash of pink.  I asked Charles Andrew, co-founder of Damn Fine Tea, about his company.  Andrew emphasized that he and his co-founder Erik Dunham carefully select their estate teas to guarantee the quality.  They frequently have limited additions and my favorite tin, the Yunnan horse, is a limited addition of only 150 tins.

  Another vendor who caught my attention was Fashionista Tea.  Besides tea, do you love shoes?  Carrie Bradshaw of Sex in the City does and this organic tea from Fashionista Tea would be her favorite.  Sassy six inch leopard print stilettos top the packaging logo – giving it a Vogue-worthy aesthetic.  The Fashionista Tea’s founder, Brenda Dillon Cavette, earned a degree in fashion merchandizing as well as in communications. She combined her love of fashion with her lifetime love of tea.  I tried her Creamy Earl Grey sample, it was smooth and delicious.  Brenda explained she added vanilla to this tea and less bergamot to create the creamy taste and texture.  I stopped at her booth for the fashion but stayed for the tea.

Fancy Hat Tea Party

I’ve always wanted to go to what my daughter calls “a fancy hat tea party” and last month I got my chance.  The ladies at the party were adorned with stylish head apparel and tea, of course, was the beverage we drank.  

The tea party was held in the afternoon.  With a little research, I found out the historic and cultural connection between afternoon tea and fancy hats.  The tradition of afternoon tea, in the Western World, dates back to the 1840s in England where, as legend has it, Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, would become hungry in the afternoon before dinner and would request a tray of tea, bread and butter, and cake be served to her.[1].  She began inviting friends to join her, sparking the very English ritual of afternoon tea.  The wearing of hats to afternoon tea parties became fashionable in the late 1880s when women adorned themselves with long gowns, gloves and hats for their afternoon tea.   

 The Afternoon Tea Party 
by Mary Cassatt, 1891, {{PD-US}}

In 1891, the American Impressionist painter, Mary Cassatt, captured the style of the ladies of her era during afternoon tea parties.  Today, hats are no longer the norm for afternoon tea but are reserved for special tea parties.

My party invitation to afternoon tea indicated there would be recognition for best hat.  I decided to go all out and make a fashion statement. The only problem was, I didn’t have any hats, other than baseball caps and boring cold weather winter hats.   Just where do you shop for tea party hats?  I was envisioning dramatic hats like those you see at the Kentucky Derby or Easter Sunday. 

I was lucky enough to know of a hat boutique called Tops of Old Town, in Northern Virginia.  Having been in the hat business for a couple decades, they expertly walked me through a selection of original and one-of-a-kind hats perfect for the occasion.  I selected a tall hat with a satin sash and feathers that rested sideways on my face slightly covering one eye brow.  This hat looked best with a raised chin and long neck.  I was ready to make my debut!

Although I did not win, the winner of the “most fabulous hat” award was indeed fabulous.  She wore a striking high feather white fastener (hat attached to hair like an ornament) that matched her feathered shoes.

Well, the truth is, the tea and food at the party were easily eclipsed by the theatrics of fashion.  For the strict tea connoisseur, hat tea parties may be too much of a distraction from the actual tea beverage.  I admit that I do like my tea time to be all about the tea.…but I hope I get invited to another fancy hat tea party soon, because I like to play dress up.  Take a look at the silhouette of me in my hat looking fabulous!  

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[1]  UK, the History and Heritage Accommodation Guide, http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/afternoon-tea/)

Frothy Tea Adds Festivities to Tea Dream's Anniversary

It’s been 12 months since we began sharing our dreams of tea.  To celebrate our one year anniversary, we returned to the site of our first blog posting, Le Pain Quotidien in Old Town, Virginia.  This bakery chain was founded in Brussels and sells organic breads, cakes, light food fare, and delicious teas.  

I ordered a chai tea.  To my surprise, the chai tea looked quite festive.  It was as if it were decorated just for our blog celebration.  The tea arrived in a handsome red cup, perfectly round with no handle.  The surface of the tea liquid was divided in three frothy sections with complimenting colors of sprinkled spices.

Even before I tasted the tea, I couldn’t help but smile.  I was tickled at the playful presentation.  Yes, I realize that I can become quite happy just at the sight of beautiful tea.  I’m not used to having froth at all in my tea.  Except for green tea lattes, teas where I’m from in the U.S. are generally not frothy. Froth is made from whipped or steamed milk.

 

For what I ordered, chai tea, milk is frequently added as it is prepared.  When I make chai at home with dairy milk, soy milk or even almond milk, there isn’t any froth. Now that I’ve seen how delightful it can be, I might have to add creating and styling froth to my tea repertoire. 

Having a pretty froth design in my chai tea was a nice way to herald the second year of our tea blog.  We have discussed all things tea, ranging from tea popsicles to tea terminology.  Some of my favorite postings have been about Japanese tea pottery, Chinese dynastic tea fashions, equestrian tea salons and Indian-style chai wallahs selling on U.S. streets.  This year, stay tuned for more on all things tea!

 

Kenya’s Golden Jubilee and Foray into Purple Tea

Photo by Quadell

December 12, 2013 marked the Golden Jubilee of the Republic of Kenya, one of the world’s top tea exporting countries.  The Golden Jubilee and its celebrations commemorate Kenya’s 50^th anniversary of independence from British colonial rule.  Kenya has much to celebrate.  It is one of the more stable governments in Africa with not only a growing economy and solid credit rating [1], but with also a thriving tea industry.  According to a 2013 USDA Foreign Agriculture GAIN Report, Kenya is the world’s largest black tea exporter. [2]


Photo by Steve Connor

The tea plant Camellia Sinensis is not native to Kenya.  It was first introduced by the British when colonial settlers recognized the potential for tea farming in Kenya. Many regions there are perfect for growing tea due to high elevations, plenty of rainfall, good temperatures and great soil conditions.  In 1903, colonist C.W. Cain first planted tea in Kenya and commercial tea production began in the 1930’s.  Just 30 years later colonial rule ended, but tea farming remained and the Kenyans developed a successful tea industry from it.  Today, in black tea exportation, Kenya surpasses both China and India whose populations consume much of the tea they produce.  The Kenyan population doesn’t have a strong tea drinking culture and consequently about 95 percent of the tea produced in Kenya is exported. [3]

Photo by Ninara

Photo by Neil Palmer

Kenya continues to make strides in its tea industry.  Kenya has successfully developed resilient, high yield varietals of Camellia Sinensis.  Recently the Tea Research Foundation of Kenya released a purple tea variety, TRFK 306/1.  This purple tea is considered extra rich in flavonoids and anti-oxidants.[4]  The leaves of this variety actually look purple as they grow.  This tea, grown on Mt. Kenya, is prized and still quite rare.  It took Kenya 25 years to develop it and it is expected to earn farmers 3 to 4 times more than green tea plants.[5]

Kenya and its tea have come a long way in the last 50 years.  It will be exciting to see what new developments come from Kenya in the next 50.


Photo by Ceci

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[1] Business Daily, March 12, 2013, Nation MediaGroup of Nairobi, “Agency retains Kenya on stable outlook rating after poll”
[2] USDA Foreign Agriculture GAIN Report,10/31/2013
[3] Monitoring African Food and AgriculturalProject (MAFAP) Policy Brief #5, June 2013, by the Food and ArgricultureOrganization of the United Nations
[4] Tea Research Foundation of Kenya, Purple Tea
[5] New Agriculturalist