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)

 

The Mighty Elderberry

I am sure that most of you have heard that elderberries are top notch at beefing up your immune system.  This mighty berry, known also as Sambucus or Elder, isn’t a new discovery.  It has a very long and rich history in the medicinal world.  The Elderberry is dark purple and comes from the European or black elder tree.  You will find it growing in the warm parts of Europe, North American, Asia, and Northern Africa.  This plant is grown either as a deciduous shrub or a small tree.  At Cup of Tea we have one wellness tea and three herbal teas that have elderberries as one of the ingredients.  Yep, we think Elderberries are awesome, so come along with us as we dive deep into the world of this berry!

Elderberries have been used as immune supporters for centuries.  Hippocrates the “father of medicine” described the elderberry as a “medicine chest” that could treat a variety of illnesses.  The Roman emperor Charlemagne declared that elder trees were to be planted throughout his realm as if to create a readily available pharmaceutical cabinet.  Indigenous North Americans were known to leave offerings for the plant when picking part of it for their own use.  There’s a massive amount of history surrounding the elder tree.  The berries and flowers are packed with antioxidants and vitamins.  Tests on the berry show high levels of polyphenols that increase white blood cells.  It is reported to reduce the time you are sick with a cold or flu.  Also, it is said to help with inflammation, chronic fatigue, constipation and even cancer.  Just one cup of elderberry has the following:

• 116 grams of water 
• 1 gram of protein
• 0.7 grams of fat
• 27 grams of carbohydrates
• 10 grams of fiber
• 55 grams of calcium
• 2 grams of iron
• 7.3 grams of magnesium
• 52 grams of vitamin C
• 406 grams of potassium
• 44 grams of vitamin A

We are just beginning to see scientific studies that look at the medicinal strength of the elderberries. Here’s a few examples…

In 2016, a study was orchestrated to investigate the potential respiratory and mental health benefits of consuming elderberry.  Between April 2013 and December 2014, 312 passengers traveling by plane from Australia to an overseas destination, were given either a placebo or an elderberry extract capsule.  Each flier was asked to report common cold symptoms in a diary to help the researchers follow along with how they were feeling. Those who were part of the placebos group and experience cold symptoms were sicker for significantly longer than those who ingested the elderberry capsule.

Additionally, there have been studies that showed elderberries have antimicrobial properties, as well!  They found that elderberry liquid extract is active against human-spread bacterias and influenza viruses, which could explain the many cases of elderberries helping people recover from being sick.

While this is exciting to see, there is still a need for more research to be done in the future.  One word of caution though:  Elderberries should always be cooked before you consume them.  Certain parts of the plant contain a poison called cyanogenic glycoside.  So don’t go eating these berries straight from the bush.  

Want to experience the remarkable benefits of elderberries for yourself? Check out our elderberry teas!  Starting with our wellness tea Elderberry Mix, a sweet and mildly spicy concoction perfect for building your immune system. I f you want to take a closer look at this tea, there is a blog written by the creator Sally Keasler. We also have two herbal teas that contain elderberries. Both Raspberry Beret and Currant Affair are some berrylicious, sweet, and tart teas that are both refreshing and energy boosting!  Then, to round it out, we have Black Wolf!  A pu-erh tea that boosts your digestive health in an incredibly aromatic and lightly sweet way.  You can also get pure elderberries from us if you want to add them to your own teas!

Enjoy your elderberry tea and cheers to your strong immune system!

 

Bedtime Ritual

Have you ever considered that the missing piece to your wellness practice might be as simple as a cup of tea? Not only do teas and herbal tisanes have unending health benefits, but brewing a cup can also be a very therapeutic process. Brewing tea is not a rushed event. It provides an opportunity for us to stop, breathe in the aroma, feel the heat from the water, and watch the tea leaves unfold. 

We want to encourage you to add a cup of tea to your nighttime routine. Don’t have a nighttime routine yet? Now is the perfect time to start! Developing a nighttime routine can be very effective in calming yourself in preparation for sleep, improving the quality of your sleep, as well as helping your mind stay centered throughout the following day. Our Relax tea sets the stage by calming you down after your long day. It doesn’t have a sedative effect, the skullcap and catnip calm your tension while hops, peppermint and red raspberry leaf exude calmness and lessen anxiety. Hibiscus flower is believed to aid lower blood pressure.  If you have issues with sleep, drink a cup of REM Time an hour before you go to sleep.  This is a masterful combination of herbs that relax the mind and body, in order to calm you down and provide insomnia fighting elements so you can get the sleep you need.

Try this for a week and see how this practice can begin to change your outlook on the days passing by, and start to create an overall feeling of gratefulness. Then while you enjoy your cup of tea, you can put away the screens and stresses from the day, and open a book, or journal, or pick up some knitting outain needles. Do some light stretching, or practice meditation.  What to learn about the negative effects of  sleep issue: rhttps://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/related-illnesses/sleep-disorders

Here at your local tea house, we have a whole line of wellness teas. These teas are specially blended  locally to target specific health needs you may want to address. We have everything from a tea blend to help with tension headaches, to a tea blend for allergy relief. 

 

Welcome to the world of Japanese tea:

Japan was first introduced to tea in the 8th century by monks who had spent time in China studying Buddhism.  Japan showed interest in the drink but it didn’t really evolve into anything more than a stimulant that was imported from China for monks to use to stay awake during meditation.  It wasn’t until the end of the 12th century that monks, returning from a pilgrimage to China, brought tea seeds with them and planted them in the Shiga Prefecture in central Japan on the main island of Honshu.  The tea was originally cultivated by the monks for its medicinal properties.  The most interesting part of Japanese tea history was between 1641 and 1853.  During this time Japan decided to isolate itself from the rest of the world, known as Sakoku.  This meant that tea procedures worked hard to cultivate and perfect their own methods of tea production that hold true to this very day. 

The one thing that really sets Japanese teas apart from other tea cultures is the use of steam.  We can thank Soen Nagatani for inventing the use of steam to dry the leaves and for creating a tea that was very different from Chinese teas.  The simplest explanation of tea processing goes like this: Steam is used to stop the freshly plucked tea leaves from oxidation.  After steaming the leaves, they are cooled down to remove any excess water.  Then they are rolled and dried using hot air.  Lastly they are pressed and rolled with more heat until they are the shape of a thin needle.

At Cup of Tea, we have three types of Japanese green teas.  Four types if you include matcha, but matcha has its own blog. 

Let us begin with Sencha.  The cultivation process of Sencha has remained the same since the very beginning.  Sencha is the most popular tea in Japan and literally means “infused tea”.  Sencha makes up 80% of green tea consumption in Japan and it’s the base of a lot of other green teas, for example, add toasted rice, you get Genmaicha!  Our sencha is from Shizuoka Prefecture, the home of the mighty Mt. Fuji.  This first flush tea is sweet, refreshing, and grassy.  The highest grade of sencha is Gyokuro.  This tea is from the district of Wakayama where it is covered for 2-3 weeks before it is harvested in the early spring.  Shading the leaves from the sun activates the plant to create more amino acids, alkaloids, catechins and chlorophyll.  Thus what we have is one healthy tea.  This tea is delicate, grassy with a sweet flavor and a strong umami component.  We have two other senchas that will blow your mind, sakura sencha and peach sencha.  A must try when you really want to spoil yourself. The last type of tea we have is Hojicha.  Hojicha is the roasted version of Bancha tea.  This tea primarily comes from the leaves left over from the processing and sorting of the teas to sell or the second flush of the season.  In order to not waste any of the tea plant, the leftovers are roasted.  The charcoal roasting process that Hojicha goes through replaces the grassy flavor present in teas like Sencha, with a comforting smoothness that is both refreshing and rich at the same time.

I hope you enjoyed my little overview of the Japanese green teas we carry at Cup of Tea.  Hopefully one day you can come into the tea house and try them all out in a tea flight! 

Susie

You’ve Met Your Match-a

Welcome to the world of ground tea leaves.  Matcha is the most popular form of ground tea and has a very long history that started in China.  Get your whisks ready, it is time to meet your Match-a.

 

Matcha comes from the same tree as green, black, white, pu-erh and oolong teas, Camellia sinensis.  Before the practice of steeping tea leaves in a pot, 900 hundred years ago, Chinese monks would grind leaves from the tea trees into a powder and rehydrate them by adding water.  Over time the Chinese moved on to steeping the tea leaves in water instead of grinding them into a powder, but the Japanese continued the tradition of grinding leaves like we do today. 

How did matcha move from China to Japan?  A Japanese Zen priest, who was studying in the Chinese Buddhist monasteries, brought seeds from the Camellia Sinensis tree back to Japan in the 12th century.  The young priest, called Eisai, had spent time growing and drinking tea in China.  With all this new knowledge, Eisai developed a meditation ritual, which became a practice in his Japanese Buddhist monks community.  Eventually his ritual and knowledge spread throughout the rest of Japan.  As the word spread the Japanese samurai class were drawn to Eisai’s matcha meditation and adopted the practice.  The samurai class turned the mediation into a formal tea ceremony by adding hundreds of detailed steps to the practice, including specific hand movements, the proper design of the tea room, instructions for how to sit, and how it is to be prepared.  The tea ceremony was integral to samurai training, helping the warriors sharpen their focus, concentration, and patience in preparation for battle.  In time the Japanese tea ceremony adopted many of the same components of the samurai ceremony including the name, “the way of tea”.  Furthermore, the ceremony centers around the art of preparing and presenting in an almost meditative fashion with the spiritual principles of harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility that are at the center of the tea ceremony practiced today. 

So what is matcha?  High quality matcha comes from the tea leaves called tencha. Tencha is shade-grown in order to boost the chlorophyll, flavonols, antioxidants, theanine and caffeine levels in the leaves.  Let’s break down the meaning of tencha and matcha for fun… Ten means “mortar” and cha means “tea”.  This means tencha translates to “soon to be powdered tea”.  Ma translates to rubbed or ground, meaning matcha translates to “ground tea”.   There are different grades of matcha, even a culinary grade used for baking.  To reap the benefits of matcha, always use high quality matcha.

When it is time to harvest the leaves, only the new spring buds and three leaves are hand-plucked for matcha production.  Like most Japanese teas, the leaves are steamed within hours of plucking to halt the oxidation process and bring out the rich green color of the leaves.  The next step is different from other teas that are rolled, shaped, and then dried.  The tencha is laid flat to dry and then stripped of the stems and veins.  After that, the leaves are ground in a slow-turning stone mill.  The granite stone mill used to grind tencha into matcha is called a Konomi. 

How do you prepare matcha?  Traditional preparation of matcha involves a whisk-like tool called a chasen.  The key to a perfect cup is to start by sifting ½ tsp of power into your matcha bowl, which is called the chawan.  Begin by putting 2 tbsp of warm water into the chawan and sift the matcha into the warm water.  Water temperature should not be more than 175 degrees so that you don’t burn the matcha.  Add more hot water to the chawn and use the chasen to mix the matcha.  Continue adding more water to desired amount and whisk the matcha in a ‘W’ shape without touching the bottom of the chawan.  This will create a beautiful froth in time, patience is the key to a good froth.  Some people like to prepare their matcha as a “thick tea” called Koicha.  Koicha plays a key role in the Japanese tea ceremony where there is a desire to create a drink with a similar consistency to honey by using a larger quantity of matcha.  The strength and thickness is completely up to you.  You can even add milk or turn it into an iced drink.  The sky is the limit to the versatility of matcha.

Why drink matcha?  First off, matcha is delicious, the flavor and texture can be described as:  sweet, grassy, full-bodied, creamy, earthy and slightly nutty. ​​ On top of its lovely earthy flavor there are many health benefits to drinking matcha.  One amazing benefit to drinking matcha is the stress relieving chemical known as L-theanine.  Studies have shown that consuming L-theanine lowers the amount of adrenaline your body uses, which calms the body and makes it much easier to focus.  Have you ever gotten shaky hands from drinking too much coffee?  That won’t happen with tea because of L-theanine.  Another study was recently released on August 2, 2022.  This was the world’s first clinical trial on matcha consumption.  The trial was assessing whether matcha could have a positive effect on cognition and sleep for older adults showing a decline in cognitive function due to pre-stage dementia.  They provided 939 men and women diagnosed with either mild cognitive impairment or subjective cognitive decline 2 grams of matcha in capsules to take every day.  The catch being that only 99 of them were actually given matcha, the others were given placebos. With those 99 people, they found that they had an improved quality of sleep and demonstrated “a significant improvement in social cognition”. Learn more: https://www.itoen-global.com/news/pdf/2022/20220803.pdf

Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of the advent and use of matcha. If you have any questions, shoot me off an e-mail at hello@Cupoftea-oregon.com.

Check out this video about the making of a matcha whisk or chasen:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENlUbRObevg

Susie 

 

What’s in your cup?

Did you know that black tea makes up roughly half of all tea consumed in the United States? Whether it’s Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Assam, Tea-Juana Chai, or Lapsang Souchong, black tea is everywhere. So what exactly makes a tea a black tea? 

Like all tea, black tea comes from the Camellia Sinensis plant. What differentiates it from other categories of tea is the dark leaf color and the golden red liquid in your cup. The black color of the leaves comes from the leaves being completely oxidized. Other categories of teas, like green and white tea, are partially oxidized or not oxidized at all. Oxidation is a biochemical reaction also known as “enzymatic browning”. Like tea, it happens to foods like bananas, apples, and avocados when they’re exposed to air.

When tea leaves are crushed or curled, the interior of the leaf is exposed to air and just like a bruised apple, the tea leaf will get darker over time. If you want to stop the oxidation process, all you have to do is gently add heat. It is also oxidation that creates certain flavor variations from tea to tea. I’ll add a more detailed explanation of oxidation in a future blog!

Black tea is generally described as full bodied, malty, and somewhat astringent but smooth. However, there are many variations to black tea’s flavors depending on where the tea comes from and how the tea is dried. For example, Chinese Keemun has a mild sweetness with a hint of smokiness, Indian Assam has less astringency and a bright malty flavor, and Ceylon from Sri Lanka has a rich chocolate essence. 

Despite its differences when compared to other teas, black tea still shares the many health benefits found in drinking tea. A well rounded diet should include some form of antioxidants, something black tea is extremely high in. Antioxidants help combat free radicals, which are unstable molecules that can build up in our bodies and contribute to the development of disease. We need a variety of antioxidants and the tea plant has an array of different antioxidants depending on the type of tea you drink. There are also studies that found black tea to be a potential cancer deterrent. I suppose that the conclusion here is: drink tea, it can only help!

There are certain parts of the world where black tea is a daily ritual much like coffee is for other parts of the world. From China to England to the American South, you’ll find people drinking black tea just about everywhere. Black tea was spread from China to Europe, where most European countries fell head over heels for the little black leaves. America’s love of tea has remained steady even though it might feel like it’s only because of our love affair with coffee. Recent reports even show an increase in tea consumption in the US, which comes alongside studies showing that tea is a health asset and should be a part of our daily ritual as it is in other parts of the world. With so many varieties and health benefits, there’s always a black tea to help you with that craving for something warm and rich. From the fragrant Earl Grey to the smoky Lapsang Souchong, what are you craving?

 A Campfire Tale: 

I have a soft spot for this smokey black tea and its many tales about how it was created

 

One such tale states that Lapsang was created by accident in 1646, when the tea farmers were met with a challenge. They needed to get their tea processed for the arrival of the Dutch, but the weather was not cooperating. They had to figure out how to dry the leaves, so they hastily grabbed pinewood to burn for heat, which in turn created a bit of smoke. When tea was dry, the scent of smoke left on the tea, and they thought they had ruined the tea leaves. Nevertheless, they bagged it up and when the Dutch arrived for their next shipment, the farmers tossed the tea on their ship and sent it on their way. 100 or so days later they spotted the Dutch returning  and to the farmers’ surprise the Dutch had fallen in love with the tea and requested more. Who would’ve guessed that this wonderfully sweet and savory black tea was made by mistake?
I have discovered that the smoky scent and the malty sweetness of this tea makes it an ideal tea to use in cooking.  You  can use it in your soup stock, stews and sauces, or as a spice or seasoning. It is also perfect for anyone who misses their favorite campsites, so serve this tea up with a side of smores!