5 Myths & Facts About Tea

There are so many things to know about coffee. Sometimes, it can be hard to know which bits of knowledge are real and which ones are fake. We are here to sort that out so you can enjoy your tea with the correct knowledge.

Herbal teas are genuine teas. Sorry my friend, but herbal teas are not real teas. They are actually "tisanes", real teas are green tea, black teas, white teas, and oolong teas. If your tea is made by steeping fresh or dried flowers, herbs, seeds, roots, or plant barks in hot water, then it is a tisane.

Decaf tea has not caffeine in it. Unfortunately, when tea (and coffee) are decaffeinated, there is still a bit of caffeine left in the product. Not much, about 2 to 10 milligrams per cup. Why? Well, it is very difficult to remove 100 percent of the caffeine in these things, so some caffeine is naturally stuck in the tea (and coffee). Lo siento, mi amigos.

Herbal tea is safe to drink during your pregnancy. Many women believe that they need to avoid normal tea during their pregnancy in favor of herbal tea; however, herbal teas are not much safer during a pregnancy. Some herbal teas have ingredients in them that are not known to be safe with a fetus, so speak with a doctor prior to drinking herbal teas during a pregnancy.

Tea is great for more than just sipping. True! Did you know that you can use green tea for things like poaching fish or cooking grains? Next time you're looking for a fun way to use green tea, consider some cool methods like those!

Adding citrus to your tea makes it healthier. Yup! Tea already is very healthy for us, especially due to its flavanoids (little guys that help reduce heart disease). However, adding in a spritz of citrus (lemon, orange, lime, etc) will help preserve the flavanoids and add in nutrients from the citrus.

So next time you go reaching for a "healthy" beverage, consider brewing some K-Cup tea instead and enjoy the health benefits of tea with the fast, easy convenient brewing style of K-Cups! 

A Brief History About Tea

The history about tea is one that is actually exciting and interesting for both those who enjoy tea and those who do not. It gives us great information about the world we live in.

Tea was first discovered in China and has made its way across the globe with great popularity, as it holds the position of second most consumed beverage in the world, behind water and before coffee. As we know, just about every country drinks it so some extent and it has tremendous health benefits.

The history
Legend has it that tea was discovered in China during the year of 2737 BC by the Chinese Emperor at the time. For a few hundred years, people consumed the beverage due to its medicinal abilities. When the Zhou Dynasty reigned, tea was considered to be almost sacred since it was used as a religious offering.

When the Han Dynasty came into power between the years of 202 BC to 220 AD, tea plants had become rather limited and could only be afforded by royalty and the rich, both for health and flavor.

Thanks to the Tang Dynasty, tea went from a drink for the rich to a common drink that everyone could afford and enjoy; the government at the time encouraged planting of tea plants and sharing the crop with everyone. Also, during this time, tea was shared with Japan via Japanese priests in China. The priests drank the tea to remain awake and meditated, thus, it was associated with Zen Buddhism. From this, Buddhists created the Japanese Tea Ceremony. The Japanese enjoyed tea so much that they also started planting tea plants.

During the 1600s, tea arrived in England and was due to imports of the East India Company when Charles II marrying Catherine of Braganza, a Portuguese princess. Tea became a drink of the royals. The aristocrats formed "afternoon tea" so they could enjoy time together for tea. Tea became rather expensive so smuggling began so the poorer residents could afford tea as well.

Years later, East India Company began importing tea to the Americas.

We are certainly glad tea came to North America because otherwise we wouldn't have K-Cup tea and other delicious forms of tea. Enjoy tea? Purchase green tea, black tea, especially some English breakfast tea? Then shop Coffeevines! 

What You Should Know About Tea

Tea is a fun and healthy drink. There are many health benefits to it and it is interesting to know a lot about it. We have compiled another list of cool things that you ought to know about tea. Once you read these, you'll want to get some tea for yourself.

1. "Tea", the word, comes from the Chinese word, T'e; this word hails from a Chinese dialect called Amoy. The word is the name of the plant that the tea leaves come from.
2. "Chai" comes from the Mandarin word "Ch'a". 
3. Tea comes from the Camellia sinensis plant. Black tea, green tea, and oolong tea all come from leaves that are pulled from the same tea plants; what makes them different are their processes. Black tea is fermented, oolong is semi fermented, white tea is unfermented, and green tea is unfermented as well. White tea is from the same bush as the others but is picked before the tea buds open. 
4. According to Chinese stories, Emperor Shen Nong was the first man to discover tea in 2737 BC. His servants were purifying water and some leaves from tea bushes fell into the water and created tea. In tea's early days, it was for medicinal use only. 
5. When a Jesuit priest named Jasper visited China from Portugal, he traded with men in the region and was allowed to bring the tea leaves back to Portugal with him. This is believed to be how tea made its way to Europe. 
6. All the way until the mid-1800s, China was the world's biggest producer of tea and their main customer was Great Britain. Great Britain began finding tea from places like India, Africa, and other regions when it grew harder to find tea from China. 
7. United Arab Emirates is the biggest consumer of tea in the world, consuming 14 pounds of tea every year. China is still the world's biggest producer of it. England comes in seventh, the United States is in 69th. 
8. Tea used to not be brewed from tea bags, that did not happen until Thomas Sullivan, an American, sent some to customers in some silk pouches. His customers did not know to take the tea out of the silk. 
9. The world's most expensive tea hails from China, in the mountains of Ya'An, located in the wonderful province of Sichuan. The way it gets to be the world's most expensive tea is due to how it is grown. Field workers fertilize the tea plants with the feces from the pandas since it is so nutritional. How much for a cup? About $200. 

If you are looking for more moderately priced, yet gourmet quality, tea, then shop Coffeevines. Find great brands of single cup tea. 

Wild And Interesting Facts About Tea

So tea is one of the most consumed beverages in the world, it ranks right up there with coffee and water. As online coffee retailers, we knew that you would love to know about the great and interesting facts about tea. There is a good chance that many of us on Earth have had at least one cup of tea in our lifetimes, so why not expand our knowledge about it?

1) In order for something to be considered "tea", it has to have leaves from the tea plant, or scientifically known as Camellia sinensis. If it just a bunch of herbs and leaves of plants that are not the Camellia sinensis, it is actually called Tisanes. Typically, when you find something marked "tea" in the grocery store, you are actually drinking a tisane.

2) Decaffeinating tea on your own is possible. When you want a cup of tea for its warmth and wonderful flavor and aroma, it can
be hard to find tea that is non-caffeinated when all you have around you is the perky stuff! So how do you get the tea without the caffeine when you have no seemingly possible way to get it? Decaffeinate it yourself. Rumor has it that all you have to do is brew the tea for 30 seconds or brew it twice (after throwing away the tea from the first brew). In order to do decaffeinate it yourself, you have to brew the tea for about 10 minutes (this removes about 90 percent of the caffeine). Then brew it again.

3) Soy lecithin actually isn't bad for you. Soy lecithin has been found in many kinds of teas and originally, it was thought that it was bad for you. However, researchers found out that when in moderation, it can be good for things like ulcerative colitis.

4) While tea can have caffeine and that stuff can wake you up, it has been found that the intense effects of the stuff is diminished when consumed via tea instead of coffee. This is because tea has something called L-Theanine. L-theanine has beneficial effects on the brain like being able to induce meditative states; it can help you relax but doesn't make you feel drowsy. It has even been found to help with stress and anxiety.

5) In the United States, we often drink something called a chai tea latte; tea mixed with lots of spices and milk. However, in many Asian countries, this drink will get you some awkward looks because chai  just means "tea" in many of those languages. So a chai tea would be redundant. "Can I have a tea tea?"

6) In some countries, like Burma, they drink tea but they also eat it. Yep, they eat it. They pickle the leaves and call it lephet. The tea leaves are softened, cooled, rolled, and aged.

7) In some countries, mostly in ancient times, they would use tea for something besides eating and drinking; they would use it to practice witchcraft; a ritual was performed that was called Tasseomancy.

Hopefully now you feel smarter about the tea you drink and can whip out some of these awesomely cool facts at tea parties. If you have a love for tea but not the time to shop for it in stores, then visit Coffeevines and purchase your tea online! Even though we are online national coffee distributors, we also have a vast selection of teas and hot chocolate.