About
Who are we? We’re The Tea Emporium. We opened the doors of our first location in 2001 and haven’t stopped since. We love tea and all things tea. So, why a blog? Well, a business requires inspiration – and a business like tea is filled with inspiration. We decided that this was the perfect forum to share the things we don’t put on our website. Interesting tea stories, exhibits, tea tips, etc. And sometimes it’s not tea related – sometimes we simply share the things that inspire us in life – because that too affects what we do each and every day.
We hope you enjoy the ride as much as we are – and look forward to comments.
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White and green teas because of their mild flavors do best with their own pots, especially their own metal pot.
The black and other teas because of the way they are cured are more able to hold their own flavor against competing others. However, some dark teas are so powerful in their flavor that perhaps again they deserve to have their own pot, here espceially clay over more then a year’s use.
A good chemist might be able to add more insight into this for us, if one is out there reading our blog.
In addition, I know that in London it was once true that your neighborhood tea merchant would blend for you according to where you lived in the city, because of city water differences. Is there any value and information concerning the different water factor for us here in the greater Toronto area?
I use only my personally-distilled city water for all drinking purposes. But even so, the smell of the water, and of the ‘wastes’ distilled out from our city water does change in its intensity from time to time. Does anyone have any insights concerning this? For example: are there certain days in the month that are better than others? Should one especially seek or especially avoid using city water for delicate flavored teas the day of and/or the day after heavy rains?
You bring up some interesting points. The Chinese use different Yixing (clay) teapots for different types of teas. They are strong believers in ’seasoning’ the teapot to add to the flavours of the tea – they would never for example, use the same Yixing teapot for white tea as they would for an oolong. I personally love all different types of teapots – I use Japanese castiron often at home – but I also have a beautiful glass teapot which I use to brew some of the more delicate white teas or blooming teas – it provides a crisp clean flavour to my tea as the non-porous material does not absorb the tannin.
In regards to your comment about water – we recommend filtering your tap water when brewing tea. It is very important to start with freshly drawn water – that means throw away the water that’s in your kettle from the last time you boiled water for your tea. We are fairly lucky in Toronto that we have safe drinking water – here is a link to an article written about the subject: http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_07.06.00/news/water.php
Do you have a wholesaler in UK? If so who
Thank you very much
Pat Farrell
Hi Pat – I’m afraid we do not – our wholesale clients at the moment are focused in Canada – I think that shipping costs would probably become prohibitive for a business to ship tea from Canada to the UK – what did you have in mind?
Greetings, I have taken an interest in green tea and its health benefits and have heard that some green teas can equal a serving of vegetables. Is this true, and which green teas would apply?
Green tea is beautiful – it has such smooth delicate flavours. And to make it even better – it is full of fantastic health benefits. There are a lot of differnt claims on the amount of vitamins and minerals in tea – one such claim is that five (5)cups of green tea will provide you with 5-10% of your daily requirements of niacin, riboflavin, folic acid and pantothenic acid. It will also provide you with 5% of your daily requirements of magnesium, 25% of potassium and 45% of manganese. We always stress the importance of finding and drinking a tea that you enjoy. If you truly want to reap all of the benefits that tea has to offer – it must become a lifestyle – that means drinking it regularly – 4-5 cups a day – and over a long period of time.
I’m just coming through some cancer treatment. All looks good but my energy is down and nothing tastes like it’s supposed to. I know tea is good for me, but I’m having trouble enjoying it because everything tastes salty. Do you have any ideas about a mild tasting, but wholesome, tea that I could try?
Also, do you have any classes coming up?
Best wishes and thanks.
PS Congratulations on the Hazelton Store. Can’t wait to see it.
What is tea made of?
Hi Michael – I’m glad to hear that your treatment went well. Do all teas taste salt? I would suggest either trying a flavoured green tea – such as Sencha Kiwi Garden or Garden of Eden or a Rooibos blend. Both options are not heavy in flavour – so they’re delicate – and they’re filled with all the good stuff – antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, etc. You may also want to give Mate a try for energy. We have two really nice blends with Mate – Sunshine Mate with lemon myrtle and orange peel as well as one with chocolate. Mate is an energy booster as well as an immune system booster. Do let me know how you’re doing and if any of these options work for you.
Hi Ryan – the tea world should actually be divided into two distinct categories – tea and tisane. Tea is from the tea plant – camellia sinensis or camellia assamica. A tisane would be anything we brew like tea that doesn’t have the tea leaf in it – such as chamomile (a flower), peppermint (an herb), etc. The tea produced from the tea plant divides itself into five categories – white, green, oolong, black and pu-ehr. You can find more information on the processing of tea on our website at http://www.theteaemporium.com – or even better yet – come to one of our tea classes – you’ll find the schedule on our website as well.
Hi again Michael – I forgot to answer the question about classes – yes – we have them running until the beginning of December – at which time we take a break to focus on the stores. You can find the schedule on our website under School of Tea – hope to see you soon.