Oct 30, 2007

Tea 101


To a Tea… House in Singapore

Tea Chapter @ 9A Neil Road

Hediard Café Boutique @ 125 Tanglin Road

House @ 8D Dempsey Road

Royal Copenhagen Tea Lounge & Restaurant @ 2F Takashimaya

Essential Brew Tea Café & Restaurant @ 269 Holland Ave

Yixing Xuan Teahouse@ 30/32 Tg Pagar Rd

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Origin of Drinking Tea

Back in 2737BC, according to Chinese Mythology, Emperor Shen Nung was drinking a fun-filled cup of freshly boiled water when some dried leaves fell into the water from a nearby bush, creating the world’s first brew. Then it spread to Japan, Europe and other countries. The English started the tea gardens and the Americans came up with tea bags.

Connoisseur Tea

From China - Aged Puer(slimming tea), Silver Needle(exquisite tea plucked in spring before the buds open), Pre-Qing Ming Dragon Well(green teas), Imperial Golden Cassia (a lightly fermented oolong tea), Scarlet Robe(Espresso of Teas) &….

From Sri Lanka – Ceylon Breakfast

From Japan – Japanese Green Bancha Tea with Rice & Corn (rich in vitamin C & anti-cacinogenic properties)

From South Africa – Rooibos (Red Tea)

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Ingredient of a good Brew

To brew a perfect cuppa, you need to have the perfect temperature & quality of water, tea leaves and its infusion time.

The optimum infusion time for Japanese green tea is 20 seconds, and for oolong tea is 30 seconds.

People scald the teapot before making tea to moisturize the tea leaves in order to bring out the taste of the tea.

Bubbles in the teapot are undesirable because the bubbles contain air and hence diminish the amount of anti-oxidants in tea if present.

The proper way to store tea leaves are the put them in a special canister or air-tght Ziploc bag.

Tea leaves are better quality than tea bags because tea bags comprise of powdered tea.

Alternative uses of tea are, you can collect them and zip them up in a pillow case to make a tea pillow. You can also use expired tea leaves as fertilizer for your plants, Green tea absorb radiation and it’s advisable to have a cup of green tea besides the computer screen.


Cup of Tea 30-60 mg(in descending order of caffeine content are)
-black tea,
- oolong tea,
- green tea and
- white tea
(longer brewing time increases content)


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Tea and Henry V

The Battle of Agincourt took place on October 25, 1415, in France. Shakespeare wrote a play about it. Most versions now in existence have expunged the tea bits.

Henry, the fifth one, was King of England and a slice of France. He was continually excluded from tea parties in Paris. It was said, a fellow would dress up as a dolphin be most amusing at these gatherings. Henry liked a good tea party. He didn’t take kindly to not being invited. He was miffed.

Henry, the man of action, acts. He raises an army, and, as all the history books will tell you, he marches his troops across the English Channel. Exactly how he does this is lost in the mists of time.

He arrives in France very wet. This doesn’t improve his mood. He lays siege to several castles, and then yells some stirring words about getting into his breeches. Henry is keen to wear his new pants at the tea party.

The sieges are terrible. The thirsty, tea-drinking rabble teems over castle walls, across drawbridges and make for castle kitchens. There, the battle-mad invaders brew up pots of tea. They devilishly force conquered French maidens to bring them biscuits and cakes. The victorious rabble soon becomes indolent under effects of French tea and cake. In no time, they are learning the French words for please and thank you.

Henry won’t let his men idle long. His thoughts are on Paris, elegant salons, cups of tea, dainty cakes, and the chance to dress up as a dolphin, too.

It’s been raining for days, and it’s raining now. He’s pushing his troops forward. Then, just outside the town of Agincourt, he sees some 30,000 French on the hill. They taunt the English by holding up giant teacups on the tops of their umbrellas. This is strictly against the rules of chivalry.

If the sight is not enough to terrify and madden the soggy English, the French now cry, in one well-rehearsed sing-songy voice, “You’re not coming to our party.” They do this of course in French, so its devastating effect is lost on the English, except for a few noblemen who had been privately educated. These cleverly put their fingers in their ears.

Henry has only 5000 thirsty archers and 900 other fellows who could get in a very nasty mood if they don’t get their tea. But Henry and his army are vastly outnumbered. His troops become dispirited. He unrolls his almanac and notices that it is Saint Crispin’s day. Then, he has a fit of supreme eloquence. He galvanizes his troops in true Shakespearean form:

“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers,
For he today that drinks tea with milk and no sugar,
Shall be my brother: be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition.
And gentlemen of England, now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here:
And hold their manhoods cheap, whiles any speaks
That drank tea with us upon Saint Crispin’s day!”

With that, a loud hurrah! and off they go to win a decisive victory. Henry gets to go to the tea party, where he meets a nice French girl. He slips her a few cups of broken orange pekoe and, under the influence, she consents to be his girlfriend. Now formally admitted to the sumptuous Paris tea party, Henry also takes to the habit of dressing up as a dolphin.

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CHAMOMILE TEA

Nutritional Values
-Anti-stress & Calming Herbal Tea
-Comforting benefits like relieving morning sickness and PMS
-Hyperactivity Breaker,Ulcer Protection
-Good for Sound Sleep & Sweet Dream, sooths Sport Aches & Pain
-Cure for diarrhea, gastritis, indigestion, loss of appetite and liver disorders

WINE 101



Singaporeans adore good food and wines and are happy to pay ay price that they can afford. Life is too short to drink bad wine and eat bad food. Wine types encompass sparkling wine, whites, red, sweet wines and many more. For a larger collection, a wine fridge is de rigeur where you can keep the wine at 12 degrees Celsius and 75 percent humidity. If you’re a wealthy wine connoisseur, you can build your own wine cellar and have them double up as bomb shelter.


White vs Red:
Although red is perceived as having health benefits and is trendier, more people are moving beyond the traditionally popular red to white. Whine white such as ‘cult’ wines like Cloudy Bay from New Zealand are being consumed more here.

Countries of origin:
While Australian and French wines still rule, wines from other countries are giving them a run for their money. Top contenders are Chile, South Africa and New Zealand. For a small collection, a fridge is best. Wyndam Estate Bin 888 from Australia are usually sold out during CNY in Singapore because of its lucky number. France is popular for high-end premium wines.

Sparkling wines:
Champagne are becoming more widespread. Champagnes like James Bond’s “Bollinger Grand Annee 1997 Champagne” while Italy’s Bistol’s Proseco di Valdobbiadene.

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