Category: News

“In November, the smell of food is different.”

Cinnamon is a spice that has found a home in many tea drinkers’ cups. But how did it get there? Where does it come from?  Why did we start blending it with our tea?  Let’s find out!

Native to South Asia, cinnamon eventually found its way in Africa and Europe via the silk road.  Among the ancient nations it found itself in, cinnamon was so highly valued that, in many cases, it was gifted to some of the wealthiest and most powerful monarchs of the time.  It was commonly used in food, as incense, and of course… tea!

The history of cinnamon use in tea can be easily traced along with the history of chai, considering that cinnamon is native to India.  It’s an incredibly common ingredient found in chai tea blends and beyond.  Tell us more, you ask? Well, cinnamon is a common pairing with rooibos. The rich maltiness of rooibos is only enhanced by the sweet spiciness of cinnamon.

Cinnamon’s incredible flavor also comes with some incredible health benefits, as well. The iconic aroma of cinnamon comes from the oil cinnamon bark extrudes. This oil contains a high amount of cinnamaldehyde, which is a chemical that can improve your metabolism and reduce inflammation.  Cinnamon also contains a high amount of polyphenols, which are great antioxidants. It can also lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of heart disease, and it may have beneficial effects on neurodegenerative diseases!

There’s a long list of teas here in the tea shop that feature cinnamon. Spicy Orange, Aztec Chai, and Chemical X, just to name a few.  Like I mentioned earlier, cinnamon enhances the flavor of tea a lot.  Spicy Orange, for example, pairs its sweet citrus flavor with the spiciness of cinnamon perfectly.  It just wouldn’t be the same without cinnamon!  We couldn’t imagine most cinnamon teas without it…

Cinnamon is such an iconic flavor that it’s easy to picture it in your mind without even tasting it.  Whether it’s in chai, coffee, or Spicy Orange, cinnamon has a home in the cups of people all around the world.  By far, it’s one of the most essential spices in the tea world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what Exactly is Pu-erh?

Let’s dig in and discuss the fascinating world and rich history of pu-erh tea! Pu-erh tea is exclusively a type of tea from Yunnan province of China.  This  status is defined by the National standard, it has a protected designation of origin (PDO).  That means only tea grown and produced in Yunnan province can be called by the name of Pu-erh.  You will not find pu-erh tea produced anywhere else in the world, just like you won’t find Champagne produced anywhere else but in Champagne, France. 

The uniqueness of this tea comes from the fact that it is aged through a fermentation process that can take a few months to more than 50 years. Fermentation gives pu-erh a fragrance unlike any other, with a pronounced earthy flavor,  as well as the reported health benefit of boosting your gut and digestive health. 

Pu-erh comes from the large leaves of the ancient Dayeh strain of the Camellia Sinensis.  The leaves of these trees are very mature and the trees themselves are said to be between 500 and 1000 years old.  The trees are grown without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. The best pu-erh leaves are plucked in the spring when the tree begins producing new leaves.   The leaves  are processed by roasting, sun-drying and steaming.  The next step is to stack the leaves on top of each other and press them in a disk shape. 

 There are two distinct classifications of pu-erh; shou and sheng.  The major difference between the two is that shou (cooked) pu-erh goes through a rapid acceleration in the aging process before being packaged into cakes or other shapes, whereas shang (raw) are aged for at least 10 years before being considered drinkable.  To cook the pu-erh, the tea leaves are wet-pilled and wrapped in a linen cloth to reduce evaporation of the moisture.  This will cause the leaves to undergo a microbial fermentation.  After 40 to 60 days, the leaves are ready to be aired out and then compacted into cakes and other forms. 

Pu-erh dates back more than 2,000 years and has spread far beyond the boundaries of Yunnan.  It can be found all over the world and here in the US, too! Pu-erh  found its eventual path to us by first being transported on horseback along the silk road, also called the horse tea trail. This trail is one of the most important landmarks in the history of Asian  trade.  It connected the southern Chinese province of Yunnan via Burma and then across India to Tibet.  The two most important goods being traded for a whole millennium were pu-erh and Tibetan horses. Because of the long periods of time the tea would spend being transported to buyers, it ended up becoming fermented by the time it reached its destination.  Tea sellers also found it easier to sell and carry tea when it was packed into a cake or brick form, which is how pu-erh is commonly sold to this day.

 

To steep pu-erh tea, you’ll first need to chip off pieces of your tea cake. Using something like a fork, a knife, or even your bare hands, it’s easiest to chip pieces off the cakes if you chip at it horizontally.  This is because the tea leaves are layered from bottom to top, making it easiest to break apart the cakes layer by layer.  You can also re-steep pu-erh up to 10 times, if you’d like! Pu-erh has a lot of flavor to give, enough to take you on a flavor journey, even!

All categories of tea have rich histories, but pu-erh stands out amongst the crowd for the unique and vital role it plays in the tea-world. Due to its cultural relevance (and delicious flavor!), pu-erh will continue to play that role for centuries to come, as it has in the past.  Give it a try if you haven’t yet!  There’s a whole world of pu-erh to fall in love with!  Check out our pu-erh section and if you live near the shop, stop in to see our ever changing selection of cakes.

If you are under attack – reach for tea!

Our immune systems are amazing and astoundingly complex. Its job, simply put, is to fight off threats to our body. The biggest and most common of all threats is viruses, yet cures remain elusive. One of the most fascinating reasons is that they are incredibly diverse (we have only identified about 7000) which leaves a lot unknown and I mean a lot! In staggering numbers, it is thought that 10 nonillion viruses exist – that’s more than there are stars in the universe, with an estimated 380 trillion living on or inside your body right now! That’s 10 times the number of bacteria we also have to deal with daily!

 Most viruses and bacteria are harmless, many even beneficial, so the task of our immune system is to distinguish friend from foe and be ready for action, an immense role. Just imagine how exhausting that must be. So does it make sense to grab an immune boosting support tea? Reaching for a hot cuppa when your body needs comfort has been traditional in many cultures for centuries, but it goes far beyond that wonderful, warm fuzzy feeling.

Herbs have been used throughout the world for thousands of years and it makes perfect sense that amongst the abundance of plant life, there are many gifted to us which serve to support your body during times of invasion. Science is beginning to catch up to their many uses. You will often hear me say when blending herbal teas with a passionate purpose, that I come at the challenge from several different directions. And so it is with immune supportive tea blends, because there is an awful lot going on at a cell level during these difficult times. I like to carefully select a diverse range of beneficial herbs and am totally ‘function’ focused, with flavor not the primary driver just to gain the whims of market desires. Flavor remains an important yet very secondary goal. With no extra flavorings, even ‘natural’ (I will chat about that another time!) and no other side kick additives, my belief is to always blend wellness teas with the specific purpose forefront in my mind using purely organic leaves, berries, barks, roots and flowers. ELDERBERRY MIX is a perfect example of combining herbs into what is known as a complex blend, using 6 or more ingredients. I chose 8 to aid this important immune task. 

Elderberries are tiny deep blackish-red berries that grow in gorgeous large clusters on bushy tall shrubs. For medicinal purposes we use the variety Sambucus nigra. Heavily backed by recent research, Elderberry has proven to be one of the planets top antiviral plants, reducing the length, symptoms and severity of colds, flu and other viruses by several days. So effective that back in 1995, when a massive flu epidemic ravaged Panama, the government turned to Elderberry to help stop the disease impact. 

 Evidence of its use goes back to even beyond Hippocrates, who touted the berry and flowers as his ‘medicine chest’ for varied ailments. Today, published studies and medical research have uncovered that Elderberry boosts your immune to help fight off the effects of virus overload. I also deliberately chose to also use Elderflowers in the blend. Surprisingly, the flowers are less known than the berries, yet these tiny cream flowers offer many benefits including more of a super potent component, myricetin, which is found in much higher levels in the flowers and is shown to balance plus protect the nerves as the body goes through stresses. As well as being diuretic, helping to clean the kidneys, they are believed to reduce fluids in the blood vessels and aiding lower blood pressure.

Echinacea is probably one of the better known immune balancing herbs, in part because this remarkable plant offers chemicals believed to aid in creating white blood cells, an important internal mechanism used within your immune system to fight infection.  I then blend in rosehips, rich with high levels of antioxidants, Vitamin C, E & B, all considered great aids to immune support. Orange Peel is added more from the prospective of helping during a virus and aiding symptoms. The peel is believed to assist breaking down congestion and cleansing the lungs as well as support to fight off germs. Many think of Cinnamon as an additive for flavor, yet this incredible bark has powerful antifungal and antibacterial properties, more sources of immune bombardment. Also considered an anti-inflammatory, this can be an added benefit during illness. The warmth and comfort of Ginger offers us the properties of being antispasmodic, so the thinking behind adding this is two fold. Calming reactivity plus easing stomach upset during sickness, this helps feeling less queasy and unsettled. Ginger is also crammed full of over 60 trace minerals and 30 amino acids offering a wide range of benefits.

During the chaos of an invasion, there are always casualties and cell damage occurs. I chose to add Hibiscus to the mix because it is believed to help mitigate cell damage and boost overall immune wellness. With viral cures elusive to even the most prominent scientific researchers, it would be incredibly misleading to make over zealous claims about drinking herbal tea to prevent diseases. It is simply not true. Herbal teas present us with the option to consume supportive, comforting and healthy ingredients, just what the body deserves when trying to nurture the body’s defense system. If you see product cure claims, please, run the other way!

So when is it best to drink immune balancing tea? Well, viruses are especially smart, they can often sneak up and be busy causing damage even before your immune system recognizes an onslaught invasion and can kick itself into high defense mode. Viruses aren’t even alive as such, they are inert and miniscule pathogens which need to first attach and then attack into your cells to replicate. That makes us and others believe that immune tea is good at any time, nurturing your system in order to constantly gift it natures abundant comfort and healthy benefits.

All Mama-te-a teas are carefully hand blended and our final ingredient within all teas is a Mama Hug. Passionate, caring and positive vibes are infused into every drink, which I believe is such a vital ingredient in any wellness tea! 

Cheers to good health,  

Sally Keasler (owner of Mama-te-a)