This is just one question Claire Petras presents in this short documentary about tea in Denver.

This video was produced for UC Denver,.

Thanks Claire for your interest in Colorado teas, and for giving English Tea Leaves the opportunity to be interviewed for your documentary.

What does a Mother’s Day Tea Party look like in Parker, Colorado?

You can see all of the details in the brochure, but  it’s a way to pamper Mom and show her how much her love means to you.  Of course, any time of year is a great time to express your appreciation, so why not do something really special for Mother’s Day this year?

At the Tealeaves Cafe’ in Parker, you can choose your own teas from over 125 flavors, as well as:

• Delicious finger sandwiches
• Scones, Cream, and Jams
• A Melody of Fresh Fruits
• A Selection of Decadent Desserts
• Scottish Shortbread Biscuits
• Battenbergs from England

See the Tea Party page for more details on this year’s Mother’s Day Tea Party specials!

We can also custom make orders (depending on quantity and other factors) to however you would like to have your flavored teas blended.

Here’s a quick video we made to showcase a few of our flavored teas.

Featured in the video are the following flavored teas:

• Apple Almond Crisp
• Christmas Tree Tea (Seasonally available)
• Dark Chocolate Orange
• Earl Grey Creme
• Earl Grey
• Enchanted Forest
• English Tea Leaves Breakfast Tea (Our #1 BestSeller!)
• Exotic Mulled Wine
• Hawaiian Passion
• Organic Indian Chai
• Island Dreams
• Jasmine Pearls (Great tea from China)
• Lemon Dreams
• Lemon Souffle
• Mango
• Nut Extravaganza (Something a little different, but excellent.)
• Orange and Spicey
• Orange Creamsicle (Flavor tastes just like it too!)
• Peach Apricot (Caffiene Free!)
• Red Christmas
• Snowflake (People LOVE Snowflake)
• Strawberry Green
• Vanilla

Keep in mind that all of our flavored teas are not just selected by us.

The flavored teas which stay in the store and on our website are the teas which our customers love.

(If there is a flavor that customers tell us they don’t like, remaining quantities sometimes go in the discount bin, and we pass on it for next time.)

Take a look at the flavored teas above and please let us know if we can help you find the perfect flavor for you!

Christmas Tree is the most incredible blend to view. Although “looks” has no actual connection to taste, the green leaves, almonds, orange slices with the pink peppercorns gives the expectation of an incredible flavor and they are not disappointed. Orange and almond taste it not overpowering and the base green tea creates a very drinkable tea. From our tastings we find that ardent black tea drinkers are surprised that they can not only drink the green, but really like it!

Check out the Christmas Teas on the front page of the web site. ROB

We have three main types of tea drinkers in our Café. Those that prefer plain teas, flavored teas, and caffeine free/decaffeinated teas. A few of the plain tea drinkers will crossover for an exceptional natural flavored tea.
A blend might be a combination of 2 to 4 teas to give a unique taste and strength, such as a Russian Caravan. There are two types of Russian Caravan, a fruity version and a smoky one. The blending of Keemum and Darjeeling is one of the fruity versions and with the addition of Lapsang Souchong you get the smoky one, which we blend in Parker and call Rasputin.
We thought that we could easily blend many different teas and found it was much harder than we envisaged. With Rasputin we were trying to get a smoky taste, without being so strong that the aroma was off putting before you experienced the taste. We succeeded!

A blend can also be of many different estates of the same tea to give a consistency of taste over many years, regardless of the current harvest. Good examples of this are Assam, Darjeeling, and black teas from Ceylon.
It could also be a blend of a tea, a sprayed on flavor, and the addition of a flavored fruit or herbal.
Lemon Grass Oolong is a greenish oolong that is sprayed with the oil of Bergamot, as used for an Earl Grey, and then blended with a lemon grass. This is a case where the lemon grass is really adding big time to the flavor, not as with the majority of the flavored teas, where the dried fruit, flowers are added to just “look nice”. It is delicious hot or cold and can be infused at least twice.

If you are just looking for a hot or cold tasty drink, and don’t need the caffeine or tea flavor, consider a blend of dried fruit or herbs. They are now becoming more sophisticated, by combining over 10 different ingredients, with some great tastes. In some ways it is easier to create a good flavor without the tea, as you don’t have to balance the strong tea with the other flavors. That’s why the more subtle flavors use white, green or greenish oolong tea.
Jasmine tea is very popular, and there are many different qualities. Here the sweet smelling jasmine flowers are rolled with the tea, white, green or oolong to give a delicious tea. The number of times the tea is rolled with the jasmine is dependant on the quality, and varies from 3 to 10, after which the jasmine is removed. Jasmine Dragon Pearls generally consist of 3 young green shoots that are hand rolled, and open up as the tea is brewed. If you like jasmine tea, this is close to the ultimate, as the rolling seems to keep in the flavor and it is fascinating to watch the pearls uncurl into “dragons”! The pearls can be infused 3 to 4 times, and I prefer to “wash” the pearls with a 30 second infusion, pouring off the liquor, and then re-infusing for 3 minutes. Fantastic taste, aroma, and no bitter after taste. The other alternative, not so sweet, is Jasmine Silver Needles, which is a white tea base and my favorite Jasmine.

We offer 6 different Earl Greys, Organic (most popular), Royalty which has less bergamot, Lavender, Cream, Pu Erh and decaffeinated. There are several stories that give the origins of this very popular tea. A British diplomat, according to one tale, saved the life of a very important Chinese Mandarin, and in return was given the recipe for the flavored tea. The diplomat was Earl Grey, who later became Prime Minister from 1830 to 1834.
The black tea is flavored with the oil of bergamot, which is pressed out of the rind of the bergamot fruit, a pear shaped citrus fruit grown in the Mediterranean. The different tastes of Earl Grey teas can be explained by the different types and quality of the base teas, plus the way the oil reacts with different teas. Also if it is really natural bergamot oil or synthetic, and the amount added.If Earl Grey is in the top three blended teas, what is more popular?

The answer is English Breakfast, or on the East Coast, Irish Breakfast. This is a typically an equal blend of Assam, an Indian tea, and a Ceylon blend. An Irish Breakfast is renowned to be stronger, especially in caffeine, and the percentage of Assam, a very strong malty tea, is increased, to the extent that some Irish Breakfast is just a blend of Assam teas.
As the name suggests the tea is ideal to have with a real English Breakfast, where there is high grease content in the rich and hearty plate of bacon, sausage, fried eggs, fried bread, mushrooms and tomatoes. If you have stayed in a B & B (bed & breakfast) in the UK you will understand how this tea, which I rarely drink on its own, is perfect with the breakfast. Our #1 selling tea for the last 8 years is our own blend called English Tealeaves Breakfast and is a blend of Assam, Ceylon and Nilgiri (S. India).
There are so many blends to try and then there are straight teas that are so fantastic on their own they need no alterations BUT they vary from year to year, such as my favorite, Darjeeling 1st Flush.

It is difficult with anything you taste – to try and explain to someone else what your taste buds experience and we probably all differ on what we taste. Age is a big factor and we perhaps had experiences of our parents insisting we eat our sprouts that for youngsters with acute fresh taste buds found too overpowering.
With tea it is easy to explain that a flavored mango tea tastes like mango, but to describe say a first flush Darjeeling is far more difficult. Darjeelings according to many tea books have a muscatel flavor. I think I tasted muscatel wine many years ago but could not describe the taste in the Darjeeling!
So as a result of discussing this at many tea tastings I have come up with a list of around 40 words that may help you describe the tea. For most people it is easier to have the words to choose from in front of them to help register the tastes. When we had been open for around 12 months we had 2 male high school seniors who came in the Café 3 or 4 times a week and were the first to experience this concept. One word is bamboo that one of them took a liking to and subsequently everything had a bamboo taste. So be careful not to only link to a few words. Here is our word set so give it a try and let me know if it helps and let me have suggestions for words to add.
Tea descriptive words

aftertaste honey like BASIC COLORS
aromatic light amber
astringent malty black
bamboo mellow emerald green
bitter mild pale green
bold nutty tan
burnt refreshing
complex rich LEAF
creamy ripe fruit rolled
crisp sea weedy flat
delicate sharp tippy
earthy smoky multi colored
fishy smooth
flowery sour COMMENTS
fresh strong changes in cup
grassy sweet multi flavors
hay like vegetal
honey

Tea is only second to water as the most consumed drink in the world. So how did the leaf gain such significance?
There are many tales of how tea first came to be a drink. One difficult to believe is when a Chinese monk vowed to spend years in meditation. In his frustration at falling asleep he pulled out his eyebrows and threw them to the ground. A tea plant sprang up from where they landed and he made a drink from the leaves.
My favorite and perhaps the most plausible dates back to 2700 B. C. and the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung. He is credited with developing the agricultural plow and herbal medicine. He was very fastidious about his drinking water and one day he fell asleep while boiling water and a tea leaf from a nearby plant fell into his pot. The resulting drink was flavorful and stimulating, and soon became a very important part of the emperor’s herbal medicine.
The Dutch, not the British, were the first to bring tea to Europe in 1610, during the reign of the House of Orange, and cleverly called it Orange Pekoe, inferring a Royal warrant. This is where it is commonly believed that the orange comes from in Orange Pekoe (OP), nothing to do with oranges or orange flavor.

It was not available for sale in Britain until 1658, the year that Oliver Cromwell died, and was given a big boost when Charles 11 married a Portuguese princess, who was a big tea drinker, and her dowry included a chest of tea from China.
The British soon caught onto this marvelous drink and began importing great quantities of tea from China in exchange for cotton, which the Chinese did not really need or want. This was initially solved by trading in opium, grown in British controlled India, regardless of the fact that opium was banned by the Chinese Government. This resulted in the Opium War of 1839 and was one of the reasons that stolen Chinese tea plants and know-how were taken to India, but unfortunately did not grow well in the different climatic conditions. A Scotsman, Robert Bruce, had explored Assam, a district of India, and found that the natives drank tea from indigenous plants. After his death, Bruce’s brother continued developing tea in this region, and it is now one of the world’s famous black teas, used as a strong breakfast tea.
The East India Company took 12 to 15 months to sail to London (just proves that tea is a little fresher now), and in 1845 the first American clipper ship did the journey to New York in 8 months, with the resulting Clipper races before the steam ships in 1871. We can’t move on without briefly mentioning the importance of tea in American History, and the dreadful waste of good tea that was brewed incorrectly at the Boston Tea Party of 1773. The resulting embargos and boycotts gave coffee an unfair advantage!

In the 1830’s Anna Maria, the Duchess of Bedford, is credited with the tradition of afternoon tea with food because she could not curb hunger pains between lunch and the late dinner. High tea, or low tea as it is sometimes called, consists of delicate finger sandwiches, scones with cream, decadent desserts and plenty of tea. This tradition is continued at English Tealeaves. One of the questions I am frequently asked at tea parties is should the cream (milk) go in the cup first or last? My normal answer is not at all, as although I am English, I never use milk or sugar. It is best to put the milk in last as you can gauge the amount of milk by the color of the liquor. Tradition is the opposite, as the milk was always put in first so that delicate porcelain cups would not break due to the heat.
Reading Jane Pettigrew’s “A Social History of Tea” gave me a new perspective on the importance of tea in Britain for the working class and during the two world wars. At the end of the 19th Century the farm workers & laborers drank beer with meals and to quench their thirst during hard work on hot days (not too many in Britain?). Bland Garland, a landowner, decided to stop supplying them beer and give them unlimited supplies of good tea. He found that his men worked much better and at the end of the day were less stupid and sullen and much more alert the next morning. All around the country the change to tea was followed and the tradition of tea breaks was adopted, with the famous mid morning “elevenses”. I can remember as an apprentice engineer with Dunlop in Coventry, the tea cart coming round with the milk and sugar already in the tea. That’s probably why I don’t use milk and sugar now and dissuade as many as possible to try the tea without milk first!

In World War 11 Winston Churchill acknowledged the importance of tea to the British people, and claimed that it was more important than ammunition. The historian A.A.Thompson wrote, “They talk about Hitler’s secret weapon, but what about England’s secret weapon, tea. That’s what keeps us going and that’s what going to carry us through.” Check out this “Tea making Tips” from 1941 on You Tube with the link below. Interesting, amusing, some have said the instructor would be good in a horror movie BUT you will learn some good points on brewing tea.

So where did those teabags come from? As with many inventions it was a mistake, as in 1908 in New York a tea salesman began to send samples to his customers in small silk bags. They thought that the tea should be brewed in the bags and put them straight into their teapots, hence teabags. Now from recent numbers from the tea council, 65% of tea consumed in the USA is from teabags, and 85% in the UK. Iced tea was also a great opportunist story. John Blechyden was trying to promote hot Indian tea to visitors at the World Trade Fair in St Louis on a very hot and humid day in 1904. Blechyden was trying to convince Americans to buy Indian tea rather than teas from China. In desperation he brilliantly poured the hot tea over ice and invented iced tea. I think it is ironic that it was a Brit that is credited with the invention and yet customers always complain to me about difficulty in getting iced tea in England, but not the case at English Tealeaves, where we offer a choice of over 125 iced teas.
So where are we today – the tea industry (Camellia Sinensis tea) is a $3 billion industry in the USA, with the specialty tea side growing at rates of 10 to 15% per year, and tea bags declining. It’s difficult to get exact figures as it is for who drinks the most per capita. The Irish and British compete for the number one spot, followed some years by Kuwait. My thinking, however, is that the Chinese and Indians should be in the top two, but statistics are difficult to come by? America is nowhere near the top at the moment, but the popularity of tea is increasing dramatically, not just for health benefits but for the pure enjoyment of all the flavors that are offered. Give it a try and find out?

Rob Ridge is the owner of English Tealeaves at 18671 Mainstreet Parker 720 851 6099

From: Tealeaves
Subject: Tea Tastings, New Teas & Electric Kettles
Reply: englishtealeaves@aol.com
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BLOG

We have added a BLOG to our website. 3 articles have been posted on tea that I have written, that I think you will find interesting.
At least 6 more will be added in the next week. Check it out:

Blog at ET

TEA TASTING

ROB’S FAVORITES

We are planning a free tasting at 4PM on Saturday Sept 24th and the same time on Oct 1st.

We will be trying some of my favorite teas and I”ll explain why I like them and what’s in them.

FREE but we ask you to stay for dinner or come early for tea and dessert to help offset our costs.

You need a reservation so we can make sure we have sufficient room.

Call 720 851 6099 or

e mail below:

Rob’s e mail

SALES CRATE

In the sales crate we have some bargain teas at the moment, as shown below.

One is a black tea that is ideal for ice tea (could be hot) that is selling at $15.75 for 16 ozs. I managed to get a special buy and we were drinking it on vacation. Similar to Indochine but not as fruity.A few others in the crate today are:

White Cinnamon

Coconut Quench

Crimson Berry

Cinnamon Orange

White Bouquet

Tung Ting

Shui Hsien

DO YOU EVER FEEL SICK?

I supppose 99% of us have to say yes and TEA can’t cure all ailments, but certainly helps with the antioxidants – BUT what I really mean is when you may have had some thing similar to food poisoning.

What made me think of this was a few days ago one of our staff had an illness like above. She looked very sick.

We suggested that she try a Pu Erh (PE) tea and she drank Mint Vanilla PE. After about an hour she looked and felt much better which was attributed to Pu Erh.

I certainly believe in it and we have given this to patients on chemo and I should not say everyone, but all I had feed back from stated it reduced nausea.

Suggest you buy a Trial size bag of Earl Grey PE, Orange Chrysanthemum PE (my favorite) or the Mint Vanilla PE.

I am confident you will become a believer! Rob

Tea Tastings, New Teas & Electric Kettles 9/2011
Dear Tea Lover,

Looks like Saturday night will be viable from the support so far. We hope that customers will bring friends and that we can have some live music.

Enticements to join us on the 17th and/or the 24th there is free tea with every entree IF you book a table before closing on the Friday before. ALSO a 50% discount on any bag of tea, limit one per person, on the Saturday night.

The new electric kettles are amazing – we saw them in Chicago in January and they have just landed in the Country.

Finally found a 1st Flush Darjeeling that I am really pleased with so I suggest you try in the Cafe or buy a Trial size bag (or large bag Sat night)

Glass Electric Kettle

Will look nice in any kitchen and it’s fun to watch the water boil. Apart from water for tea it has many uses that you come to rely on because of the the fast heating. Really nice kettle
This is cordless, 58 oz,1500 watt, auto shut off, opens by pressing button,ON blue indicator light, well balanced sturdy handle with heating elements outside of water.

Price is $58

Special introductory prices.
This will be available next week and we will out an send e mail to advise they have arrived – Password will be Glass.
First customer to come in on the first available day can buy for $36, second $40 and third $45. Then back to $58

NEW TEAS

This is a tisane with an incredible flavorful taste, mainly cherry but not your usual flavor. Good hot but great iced. My favorite iced fruit tea and I don’t have many.One avid customer ate all the dry fruit as it is so tasty.

This is one of my top 3 teas – I drink it for breakfast. Very smooth fresh taste that satisfies my taste buds. The original 2011 1st flush was good but this is exceptional. The original will be in the SALE crate at a real bargin price of $7.95.

Potential NEW tea – FREE tasting

You will see a new tea for tasting in the Cafe this weekend called Mango & Friends – it is a tisane that is mainly mango, with orange & pineapple. It won first prize at the TeaExpo in June for iced fruit tea.

Please try and let me know what you think so that I can make a decision on stocking. Rob

Monthly Tea Suggestion

Try White Grape – white tea with grape flavoring during September and receive a 35% discount – password is

White Wine.

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We moved to the USA from England 30 years ago and one of our first trips was to Sonoma, AZ where we sent the tea back 3 times before we managed to get warmish tea. Having found that 5,500 feet in Colorado reduces the boiling point by about 12 degrees Fahrenheit (212 to 200), this was not the reason for cold tea. One of the things we had to learn was that the tea bags normally used are not put in the water, but in the saucer for you to do yourself. So you have probably lost over 40 degrees before you start.

In the last 6 months, we have had several experiences that I would suggest are very common. We enjoyed an excellent meal at a four/five star restaurant in Southern Denver and I asked if they had any good tea. The waiter responded that they did, and displayed a basket containing tea bags that you would buy in a supermarket. I had coffee!

At a local restaurant we asked what tea they could serve, and being suspicious we even insisted on looking at the tea they were planning to use. The tea was fine, but they used 2 to 3 times the amount of tea needed to make a good cup. We offered a few suggestions.

At a new restaurant downtown Denver we had a great evening with a very imaginative menu and great atmosphere. They offered a choice of four good teas and appeared to have good equipment and know how. They delivered the tea in a teapot that we sell in the Café, that has a good infuser, and yet when I sipped the tea it was lacking flavor and cold. I checked the leaves and the water must have been so cold that that they did not even unfold. They had the right concept, but still failed dismally. Have you ever been to a restaurant where they give you a timer to tell you the tea has brewed? I assume you are supposed to guess when the water hit the leaves and use your watch for the time that you were not told.

So why is it so difficult to get good tea in restaurants, because it is not that hard? Part of the reason is that the requests for tea must be below 10%, and the majority rules. However, does it have to? I think we need to start a campaign to get restaurants to understand that tea drinkers are increasing dramatically and they need to find out how to serve the healthy leaf. They could make a 100% improvement by making sure they have hot water, electric kettles would work for the small volume, and use a good quality teabag that gives some flavor. The higher-class restaurants could offer teapots with infusers at a very affordable cost, and then have the flexibility and quality of loose-leaf tea. What is in it for them?

They could charge more for the tea and perhaps avid tea drinkers might frequent places that are moving with the trends and offer “real” tea? The other important factor for the restaurants is to learn about tea and how to brew it simply. Please promote tea at your favorite restaurant; if they have not yet been educated, then perhaps you could suggest someone to help them. Do you know anyone?