4 Tips Help Choose The Right Teacups To Improve Your Tea Experiences

Teacups play an essential role in the relationship between drinkers and tea. No matter just make tea bags with a mug simply or make tea follow the traditional tea ceremony, in the end, you need a teacup for the tasting.

Even though you only need dozens of seconds to finish drinking, but in such a short time, different teacups can bring you different experiences because they took a significant influence on the tea in them.

Choose the right cups to improvise your tea experience

How Teacups Influence The Tea Quality

Temperature

The temperature always the most significant factor that influences the tea quality, except for the tea beverage in Starbucks or cold-brew tea. Most of the time, I prefer hot tea. Hot tea(or warm tea) can maximize the fragrance of the tea. After the tea cools down, the scent will lose, and the taste will go bad due to the tea polyphenol oxidation.

Teacups influence the tea temperature in 3 aspects:

• Opening size. Teacups usually without lids, the size of the opening determines the contact area between the tea and the air. The bigger the opening, the temperature of tea will cool down faster.

• Material. When beginning to make tea, teaware has to been pre-heat. Teacups made from different materials have different retention times of heat after pre-heating. The cup with poor insulation performance will speed up the cooling speed of tea.

• Capacity. The teacup with large size, the tea temperature will cool down slower, a simple physical knowledge. An English teacup or a mug can keep the tea warm in a long time; in the small Chinese teacups case, tea cool down faster, the design prefers to let people finish drinking quickly.

Fragrance

The bigger the teacup opening size, not only makes the tea cool down faster, but the fragrance of tea loses quicker. In the Chinese tea ceremony, there is a long tube small cup, special used to appreciate the scent of tea, called the Fragrance-smelling Cup. The opening of it is narrow, focus the smell and keep the tea warm, which suitable for the oolong tea tasting.

Special Chinese cups for smelling the tea fragrance

Concentration

The bigger the teacup, the more tea it fill(of course you can fill little), the higher concentration of the infusion. Personally, I prefer the high concentration of Pu-erh tea, it tastes more mellow, swig feeling good, so I choose a teacup which more than 200ml. But in the green tea case, the high concentration will make the taste getting bitter, once you do not finish it in a short time, the taste getting worse.

Teacups Style

Tea culture originated in China, after the continuous development and dissemination, all countries have formed a special tea consume habits, and the teaware also becomes unique.

Chinese Teacups

As the birthplace of tea culture, Chinese teawares are various and exquisite. Teacups can be classified into dozen types according to the different usage scenarios. All of them have one same characteristic, with no handle. And most of them also made from porcelain and ceramic.

All the Chinese teacups are small, about 30ml. In the Chinese tea ceremony view, tea is for tasting, solving thirst is secondary. When having tea, only use fingers to hold the teacups’ edge and bottom, which makes the action looks more grace. Because of the small size, the tea will not make the surface of cups getting too hot, which avoids burning fingers in the no handle case.

Chinese style small teacups

Japanese Teacups

Japanese teacups are similar to the Chinese ones, but most of them made from porcelain, the small amount made from wooden or rock. Different from Chinese teacups, they usually bigger, and the wall is thicker. When drinking matcha, the Japanese even use a tea bowl instead of the cup.

Green tea is the primary type of consumption in Japan so that the water temperature for brewing will not be too hot. Even hold the cup with two hands would not getting burn.

What attracted me a lot is that Japanese teacups have a pretty appearance. The saturation of the color glaze on the surface is high, with the pattern formed naturally during firing, which likeness the nature rock but with a little abstractionism feeling, and each one is unique.

What worthing notice, some Japanese teacups although made from the glazed porcelain, but the surface will get a frosted feeling, not smooth, which is due to the unique special process.

The design of Japanese teacups is full of aesthetic

English Teacups

Teawares were introduced into England with tea and developed into English style. The British love black tea much, during the Victorian era, afternoon tea is the primary social way for the aristocracy.

The high-grade English teacups are made from bone China porcelain, the forging master adding the animal bone dush into the clay when firing, to make the porcelain get harder and better light transmittance. But the yield is low in this processing method and the price growth. Until now, the pattern design of English teawares is still dominated by the style of 18ths British royal family and idyllic scenery. Except for making tea, English teawares also good collections and decorations.

Different from the Chinese and Japanese ones, English teacups got a handle and equipped with a saucer. Many people will hold the cups with their fingers through the handle, that is wrong. The traditional using way of English teacup is holding the saucer with one hand, use the thumb, forefinger, and mid finger of the other hand to pinch the handle to hold the cup, the little finger is responsible for the balance. That’s the elegant aristocratic way.

The English teacup with royal family style design

Modern Style Teacups

With the development of the times, teacups design comes to modern style and high-technology. One that impressed me most was a small teacup with double-layer hollow design, which allows for a more unobstructed view of the tea color, and never burns your hand. And some modern style teacup spent much on the appearance design, made it widely different from the traditional ones. Some of them, the color can even switch follow the tea temperature.

Type of Teacups

Just like the teapots, different materials made teacups various performances. In general, tea lovers choose the cup according to the types of tea they are going to have.

Porcelain Teacup

Porcelain is a great invention of China, and the word “China” also has the meaning of porcelain. No matter what style, most of the teacups made from porcelain. Except for the excellent heat resistance, the most attractive is their glazes, and the artistic style of glaze also determines the classification of cups. The smooth surface is also easy to clean.

The famous Chinese blue and white porcelain teawares

Pros

• Reasonable Price
• Tea lovers prefer to the white porcelain teacups, which suitable for tea color viewing
• Easy to clean and no taste left

Cons

• Fragile
• Easy to burn hands if held in the wrong way

Clay Teacup

The purple sand teacup is the most famous in the clay teacups, also called Yixing teacup, often use with the Yixing teapot. The surface of it is full of tiny pores, with frosted touch feeling. And these small pores make the purple sand teacups an excellent insulation performance, not only keep the tea warm but also avoid burning hands.

The purple sand teacups got a simple appearance

Pros

• Slower the speed of tea cold down
• Prevent the hands get burnt

Cons

• Single color
• Relative expensive price
• Easy to accumulate tea stain, hard to clean
• The tea taste will be left behind, usually use for a single type of tea

Enamel Teacup

Enamel is a kind of processing technology, the base of it is iron, with a glazed surface. Enamel teacups have both the advantages of metal and porcelain, beautiful and firm. Most of the enamel teacups are tubular, which fits to make tea bags, also can use as a mug for making coffee.

Enamel cups are in a modern style

Pros

• Low price
• Firm
• Would not rust
• Smooth surface easy to clean

Cons

• The surface easy to peel off if inferior products
• Not suitable for use in the tea ceremony

Glass Teacup

The glass teaware is always beautiful and at a reasonable price. The outstanding plasticity makes it in various shapes and sizes. A big glass teacup can use for making tea directly, especially for herbal tea. And the small one also suitable for use in the tea ceremony because it is transparent, making it possible to observe the tea color clearly to judge the tea quality, so the tea lovers love it. A kind of small glass teacups is popular now, which with double-layer hollow design, excellent in the insulation performance, would never burn your hands.

Double-layer hollow design glass teacups

Pros

• Beautiful appearance
• The transparent body helps observe the tea color
• Reasonable price
• Easy to clean and no taste left

Cons

• Fragile
• May broke when suddenly heating

Plastic Teacup

The plastic teacup is unpopular in tea lovers. Because of the plastic will give off an unpleasant smell when heated, and affect the tea quality a lot. These smell even may com from some harmful chemicals. Some inferior products may use transparent plastic to pretend to be the glass teacups for sale, take care when buying.

How To Pick The Right Teacup

Since we know the significance of the teacups, it seems worth to spend time on choosing the right ones. When you are tangle what kind of cups to buy, here are 4 tips for you.

1. Size. It is the factor you should always consider first. Choosing the teacup size according to the type of tea you are going to make. Green tea and white tea should finish drinking in a short time, that the small size at about 50-80ml is fit. And for herbal tea, the bigger size may be better, because most of the herbal tea will not lose the scent or turns bad taste under oxidation, even the cooler, the better.
2. Thickness. If you are going to pick Chinese or Japanese teacups, the thicker wall may be more friendly to the newbie, because of all of them without a handle. The thick wall brings better insulation performance, avoid to burn hands.
3. Top and bottom. The opening of the teacups influences the tea cool down speed and the fragrance losing rate. In Chinese teacups, some of them even classified according to the opening size, choose a suitable one. Except that, you should check the top whether it is flat, upside-down the cup and shakes with your finger on the bottom, to see whether it is waggle, then check the bottom in the same way.
4. Quality. Except for the enamel teacups, all the others are fragile. Check it carefully whether there are cracks on the body when buying. If there are some small cracks on the porcelain and glass cups, it will break when pouring the hot tea in, and also some ugly tea stain will be left in it. Even in the enamel cups case, once it got some cracks, the glaze may peel off and make the iron inside rust.

Tibetan Butter Tea, A Bulletproof Beverage With 1000 Years History

Have you ever try to put a big tab butter into a cup of tea? In the Himalayan region, this is the most common way to consume tea, and the local folks called it Po Cha, also known as Tibetan butter tea. The beverage with high calories gives the necessary energy for the living who lives in such a cold climate.

What Is Butter Tea

Scholars speculate that butter tea origin in Tibet, China. In a political marriage between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo Dynasty(Tibetan regime in ancient China) 1300 years ago, Princess Wencheng brought the tea and tea culture into Tibet. Tibetan was nomads at that time, milk and meat were their staple food, the bad natural environment, and the nomadism lifestyle make them lack of fresh vegetables and fruits. While tea can supply the nutrition facts they lack in their diet, it also helps digestion, which becomes the optimal beverage of Tibetan.

But at that time, tea still scarce. By the development of the Ancient Tea Horse Road, more tea, and Han Chinese inflow Tibet, tea became popular. At first, only green tea traded, which has a short shelf life, easy went bad in the far transportation. It is said that dark tea was invented by accident in the travel, which got a long shelf life, so it instead of the green tea and became the primary type of tea in Tibet.

Due to the bad environment, all the survival supplies were precious, so folks prefer to switch the milk and meat into a state that can be stored for a long time. Different from the typical tea brewing way, in Tibet, people making tea with butter, salt, and milk combine, that’s how butter tea comes. With high calorie, fat, and protein, butter provides enough energy for people labor, and against the cold.

Tibetan butter tea is the necessity of the Himalayan people for living

How Traditional Way To Prepare Butter Tea

It is very complicated to make butter tea in the traditional Tibetan way. Herdsmen had to switch the milk into butter first. They heat the yak milk, then pour them into a high-big bucket called Chandong, a wooden churning device, churning the milk up and down with a stick for thousands of times. The lipid and water in milk separate gradually, lipid floats on the top. Then scoop up the yellow fat, put them into a leather bag for cooling down, make it became the butter. Nowadays, the electronic blender took the place of the Chandong, makes the job easier.

Due to the high altitude of the Himalayas, the boiling point of water is relatively low, and the tea making way is not the same as the general, it requires a long time to boil tea to extract the taste, dark tea is the best for this making way. Herdsman breaks the brick tea, put them into the boiling water, keep cooking for about half an hour or more, till the tea infusion turns dark and without a bitter taste, then filter the tea leaves. The tea infusion will put into the Chandong with butter and salt, and churning again until they mix intensive into milky.

After all, pour the tea into a pot and heat again, add fresh milk, stir, the traditional Tibetan butter tea serves. Even the ingredients are similar to milk tea, but they taste not the same. Different from the milk tea, it’s not friendly to the people who first try, you can use “rude” to describe the taste of butter tea, but keep drinking, you may fall in love with the taste. The experience is similar to the difference between cigar and cigarette.

A folk is preparing the yak butter with a Chandong

Traditional Etiquette for Having Tibetan Yak Butter Tea

Tibetan life can’t live without butter tea, and their day begins with a bowl of butter tea, especially in traditional families, there is always a pot of tea heated on the fire. Butter tea in the Tibetan people’s mind is sacred, an essential thing of guesting and religious activities.

Guest in a Tibetan family, the host will serve butter tea, with a snack named Tsampa. Some local etiquettes may pay attention when enjoying butter tea.

The freshly made yak butter tea should be served to the Buddha niche first. Then the host will place a wooden bowl in front of you, serve the tea according to the age of guests, from old to young. You should not take the drink immediately, having a chat with the host for a while first. Until he stands in front of you with teapot again, that means the time begin to enjoy tea.

When having butter tea, never finish it at once. Blow a light breath on it and take a sip, then put the bowl back to the table. The host will refill it and never let it empty. That is it, having the butter tea, and Tsampa while chatting with the host, experience the ethnic customs of the roof of the world.

Once you want to stop drinking, just stop, and don’t think it will waste, because let the bowl empty and refuse to fill is not polite to the host. When you are ready to leave, take more sips, but left some behind, that means a benediction to the host, to bless them always have a surplus.

Host serving the butter tea to guest

What Is Butter Tea Good For

You may ever try the bulletproof coffee, that a kind of coffee with butter. The inventor, Dave Asprey, got the idea from butter tea when he took the meditation practice in Tibet. He called this high calorie, fat diet as a bulletproof diet and it’s benefits to health. The theory is similar to the keto diet, achieve the aim of weight loss through ketosis.

Of course, most of the dietician take opposition issue with this diet therapy, also am I, a balanced diet is always the best.

So what is butter tea good for us?

Provide Vast Energy

The folks who live in the Himalayan region, the purpose they were having butter tea is against the extremely cold climate. The ingredients of the Tibetan butter is milk production from the yak, a kind of cow only lives in Himalaya plateau, which produces the milk contains more protein, fat, and cholesterol. All of these nutrition facts are what we refuse too much intake at ordinary, but they are what the plateau people need to keep living. The fluid food can digested and absorbed by the human body faster, switch to the energy and heat for against cold and working.

Besides, after having butter tea, some lipids will be left on the lip, preventing chapped lips.

Due to the different living environments, the vast energy is to support the vast physical consumption, so the Himalayan people will not get fat from drinking yak butter tea long-tern. To us, best to just take it as a snack but not a staple food like Tibetan.

The finished Tibetan yak butter

Various Nutrition Facts Supplement

To nomadic people, fresh vegetables and fruits are very scarce. Eskimo, who lives in the polar region intake the vitamins and trace elements they need by eating raw meat, while the Tibetan through having butter tea.

Dark tea, which used to make butter tea, is a kind of post-fermentation tea. It is rich in tea polyphenols and various nutrients facts, such as vitamins and caffeine, as well as multiple probiotics produced by long time fermentation, to supplement the body’s needs.

Help Digestion

The tea polyphenols and caffeine in the true tea can stimulate the secretion of gastric, and the gastrointestinal peristalsis, to improve the digestive system, help digestion of food and absorption of nutrients better. And butter is full of fat, may lubricate your intestines, easier when poo-poo.

Weight Loss

The tea polyphenols and caffeine also help weight loss; that’s why people regarded tea as a healthy weight-loss beverage. But if you take the tea only, it will make you feel hungry soon because of the digestion helping benefits, which increase appetite.

But the tea with butter, the high calories make you feel satiety and not going to take more other food. The calories take the place of carbohydrates to provide human body energy, and less carbohydrate intake is help on weight loss. And that is the crucial view of ketogenic diet theory.

WARNING!

This is a highly controversial diet for losing weight in a short time, and it needs to control the nutrient intake precisely. Never try to make butter tea instead of the regular food without the guidance of dietitian, or it may cause irreversible harm to health otherwise.

The Tibetan traditional snack Tsampa

Butter Tea Side Effect

Due to the different living environments, we cannot consume much butter tea just like the Tibetan people. Occasional drinking would not cause any severe side effects. But to some people, who got the disease following, should avoid taken or few:

• Heart Disease
• Hypertensive
• Diabetics
• Obesity

Teapot Buying Guide – 9 Popular Types, Pros Vs. Cons

The teapot is a necessary teaware for tea. Whether you are going to have tea alone or enjoy with your friends, you need the right teapot to experience the real taste of tea.

Worthing to know, the teapot is different from the kettle, even most of the time, they named the same. Numerous kettle is electronic and mainly use for boil water; And the teapot only for brewing, they are not suitable hearting by the fire directly except the metal ones.

Of course, there are some cases making tea with the kettle. Personally, I prefer to put the tea bricks into the kettle with water, boiling it minutes, make the tea more aromatic.

Various beautiful teapots

Functions of Teapot

You may ever feel that the tea taste is different between brewing with a teapot and a mug, and don’t know why the simple teapot can make the tea taste better. That’s because the design of it is full of wisdom.

Brewing

Brewing, no doubt is the primary function of a teapot. The same as Gaiwan, teapot also has a cover. The sealed interior space makes the tea heated better. But the difference is, the spout of teapot can flows some air, reduce the pressure, and keep the tea from braising yellow.

Some teapots have a detachable infuser inside, make the brewing and the clean job becomes more comfortable.

Temperature Controls

Even Though some cups with lids, why the tea they brewed taste not good? The problem comes from the temperature controls.

When we are going to make some teas, we will decide the brewing time according to the types of tea and pour all out when times up. The tea leaves left in the teapot will not further heating, and the fresh air flows in makes them cool down.

In the case of the cups, the tea leaves will be heated by the hot water until you finish drinking. The taste of the tea will change by continuous, excessive cooking. Especially the non-fermented green tea, the infusion color will get dark-yellow, tasting like the tea stain.

The material of the teapots also influences the temperature control performance. Such as metal, which has high thermal conductivity, they can make the tea cool down faster; And the ceramics and porcelain teapots with low thermal conductivity can keep the tea warm longer.

Filtration

Except for the detachable infuser, the traditional style teapots also got a certain filtration effect. Such as the English teapots, which got a long spout, so that the loose leaves can not flow out with the tea. And in some Chinese teapots, it has some tiny holes inside the teapot, which can filter the loose leaf teas.

Compared with the tea infuser, the tiny holes filter is easy to block by the tea leaves, then need a tea needle to dredge. But if you are going to make the splintery tea such as CTC black tea, better to pick a teapot with infuser.

The tiny holes inside the teapot for filtration

Improve Water Quality

The quality of water(hardness) also affects the taste of tea. Such as the cast iron teapot and the silver teapot, which will release a small amount of metal ion, reduce the hardness of water, and make it sweeter. And the metal ion also got a certain bactericidal performance.

Therefore, many people like to cook dark tea with metal teapots, which not only can heat by the fire directly, but help to destroy the bacteria in tea which growth by the long-term fermentation.

Types of Teapots

Teapots typically classified according to the different materials, and each type has its pros and cons.

Glass Teapot

The glass teapot is no doubt the most beautiful and fashionable one. Especially when you make some herbal teas, the dried flowers bloom in the water, release the colored extracting solution slowly, and you got all this from your eyes, though the glass teapot. Also, it cost less.

The glass teapot is the best for making herbal tea

Pros

• Attractive appearance
• Can appreciate the brewing process through the transparent body
• Reasonable price

Cons

• Fragile; It is liable to break up due to a collision, or a sudden increase in temperature

Read more about Glass Teapot

Cast Iron Teapot

In some Chinese traditional tea houses and food stalls, the shopkeeper uses a big iron teapot boiling tea for hosting, due to the massive traffic. Because the iron teapots can heat by the fire directly, and with a large capacity, make more tea in a short time. And in Japan, cast iron teapots, which named Tetsubin, are famous, but they only for boiling water but not for brewing tea.

Cast iron teapot named Tetsubin is popular in Japan

Pros

• Can heat by the fire directly
• Large capacity
• Reasonable price

Cons

• Easy rust
• Heavy

Read more about Cast Iron Teapot

Porcelain Teapot

Porcelain teaware was spread with tea from China to Europe, and with the continuous improvement into the English teaware with western characteristics. Whether the Chinese or English porcelain teapot, they both have a beautiful glaze, the famous one is blue and white porcelain teapot.

Porcelain teapot made from clay, just like the ceramic teapot, got various designs due to the high plasticity. But what is different from ceramic, porcelain teapot was glazed and got a high airtightness, not easy to gather tea stain and absorb the tea taste, also easy cleaning. And it has a low thermal conductivity, so it does well at heat preservation.

The glazed blue and white porcelain teapot

Pros

• Attractive appearance
• No effect on the taste of tea
• Easy to clean
• Can collect as art or decoration

Cons

• Fragile

Clay Teapot

Ceramic and porcelain are not the same, even they both made from clay. Clay teapot been sintering at different temperatures and without glazing, so it looks very simple and primal.

Even though it looks so lame, clay teapot got numerous fans. In most of the tea lovers’ minds, clay teapot got an aged appearance, match the feeling of tea, a primal forest style. Also, without glaze, lots of pores full on the body, make excellent breathability, and good at temperature controls, easy to extract real taste of tea.

The price range of clay teapot is wide, so as the quality. Low-quality clay teapots may come with deckle edges, while the high-quality ones are very smooth.

The aged style clay teapots

Pros

• Excellent temperature controls performance
• Extract the taste of tea adequately

Cons

• Simple appearance
• Hard to clean

Yixing Clay Teapot

Yixing clay teapot is a kind of clay teapot, but I think it worth discussing separately. Yixing teapot made from Yixing clay(purple sand), also known as Purple Clay Teapot, which originated in Yixing city, China. 

Purple sand is rarer than ordinary clay, and better performance, the pores on the body are more uniform and tiny.

These tiny pores make the clean job harder, easy to gather tea stain, but that is the primary reason loves by the tea lovers. Is that strange, right?

Each time brewing tea with Yixing clay teapot, the tea taste will leave behind in the tiny pores. After a long time, even though you brewing without tea leaf but water, the water also tastes like tea. Therefore, Yixing clay teapot lovers only use one teapot for one type of tea, so that the taste will not blend, or make the tea more flavoring.

Due to the low thermal conductivity, you can hold it in your hands and will not get scald, even though it is full of hot water. So people love to hold the body but not the handle when pouring tea. Time flows, under the friction from hands and water, the Yixing teapot will get a smooth and shiny surface, Chinese people called it “Baojiang” (wrapped slurry).

Tea lovers called the teapot Baojiang process raise teapot. To raise a satisfying Yixing clay teapot successfully is a matter of pride for tea lovers.

A Yixing teapot begins to form Baojiang

Pros

• Excellent temperature controls performance
• High collection value

Cons

• Hard to clean
• Hard to maintain
• Expensive

Copper Teapot

The copper teapots classify in two types, one just like the iron teapot, large capacity, for boiling water or cooking tea; Another is the ordinary Moroccan Teapots, which made from copper, only for brewing.

Compared with cast iron teapots, copper teapots have a brighter appearance and better thermal conductivity. Even though copper is metal and it will take oxidation, it only lays a protective film on the surface, the gloss may reduce, but it will not grows the ugly rust like an iron teapot. But it once contacts the sulfides in the air, and it will get the patina.

An aged copper teapot

Pros

• Attractive appearance
• Makes the tea cool down faster
• Reasonable price

Cons

• Heavy
• Hard to maintain

Silver Teapot

The silver teapot is popular in southern China and the European nobles. As a precious metal, silver has a considerable value itself. And due to the low hardness, silver is easy to carve out wonderful designs than copper or iron. 

The silver teapot will release some silver ion at a high temperature, which can exchange with calcium and magnesium carbonate compounds in the water, reduce the water hardness, and improve the quality. Also, it can kill the bacteria in tea.

But silver is a kind of active metal, easy to get a chemical reaction with the sulfur in the air, turns black, and broke the appearance.

The silver teapot with light oxidation

Pros

• A store of value
• Delicate appearance
• Certain sterilization and improve the water quality effect

Cons

• Hard to maintain
• Easy out of shape

Read more about Silver Teapot

Stainless Steel Teapot

Stainless steel teapot got a modern style, and most of them are with a tea infuser, famous for their low cost, convenience, and simple style. It is very suitable for matching the minimalism interior design, and most of the Moroccan teapots are made from stainless steel.

However, in terms of tea-making performance, the stainless steel teapot does not have any particular pros, the only one is that it can heat directly by the induction cooker. Therefore, the stainless steel teapot is not very popular among tea lovers.

The modern style stainless steel teapots

Pros

• Low cost
• Easy to maintain

Cons

• The overly modern appearance is incompatible with the tea culture.

Jade Teapot

The jade teapot is not a common teaware, because it cost a lot. It said that jade has the same effect as crystal, which can radiate energy and influence the magnetic field, beneficial to human bodies, but without any substantial evidence from science.

To as a teaware, I prefer to regard jade teapot as a kind of art, after all, it is too beautiful and too expensive.

The jade teapot cost expensive

Pros

• Excellent appearance
• High collection value

Cons

• Expensive

How To Pick A Right Teapot

Capacity

When you are going to buy a teapot, the capacity is always the first thing you should consider. Imagine you like to drink alone or prefer to share with your friends.

If more time you share the tea fun with your friends, the teapot in 150ml to 200ml is the best choice. One round brewing can serve about 3 people. And the over 500ml capacity teapots, are suitable for parties.

While if you prefer to enjoy tea alone, a teapot about 150ml is nice. In this way, the tea leaves would not cook in hot water for too long time. Especially the brewed green tea, should not be placed for too long, or taste goes bad and getting waste.

Types of Tea

Choose the teapot according to the types of tea you like. If you are a fan of herbal tea, a glass teapot is the best choice; Green tea and black tea are more suitable brewing in porcelain teapot; And for dark tea such as pu-erh tea, Yixing clay teapot is always the best.

Design

Teapots’ designs in various styles, the tea brewing performance of them also different. Take notice at the following points:

The glass teapot with a detachable infuser inside

• The shape of the body. Try placing the teapot flat on the table, push it gently to see if it will shake. Most of the teapot shape spherical, but there are some cube shapes are more stable. There is a potential scald danger if the teapot overturned due to unstable.

• The teapot opening. Check the opening, whether match the cover perfectly. The fragrance of tea may lose from the gap between the opening and cover, and the tea can not heat well.

• Spout. The design of spout influences a lot. Whether the spout is long or short, it should make the flow smooth, stable, and not drift. Tea flows out from a short spout is hard to control, easy to make the tea overflow off the cup; The tea flows out from long and thin spout flows slow, the temperature of tea may cool down, the time of tea leaves steeped in the teapot longer.

• Filter. Teapot filters the tea leaves in two ways. One is with a detachable infuser inside, and the other is with some small holes inside the teapot. No matter in which way, consider if it is easy to solve the block problem when brewing.

Jasmine Tea Isn’t Caffeine Free, But Worth A Try Due To 8 Reasons

Have you ever tried jasmine tea? If you are, you absolutely remember the powerful fragrance left in the mouth.

Many people may think, “what an amazing herbal tea! ” to describe the jasmine tea. Here is a little mistake, even jasmine tea has a floral scent, but it is not a herbal tea. In fact, jasmine tea is a unique scented tea.

Jasmine tea is loved by many people

What Is Jasmine Tea

Jasmine also knows as Jasminum, origin in Europe. It has two common types – Common Jasmine (Jasminum Officinale) and Arabian Jasmine (Jasminum Sambac), both in the olive family.

As the Buddhist holy flower, jasmine came to China with Buddhism. In the Ming Dynasty, Fujian Province people began to use jasmine to manufacture tea.

Scented tea was popular at that time. Chinese people love to combine the tea leaves and petals, infuse the aroma to the tea. In that way, the tea brewed with a delighting floral fragrance. And jasmine tea was the most loved one, due to its intoxicating scent and delicate taste.

Different from herbal teas, flowers or herbs are not the main components of scented jasmine teas, but loose leaves. Most of the basic-tea leaf is green tea and oolong tea, white tea is lesser, and black tea is least.

We know that in Western Countries, the popularity of the tea began with black tea. But historians found that Jasmine tea might comes into western earlier than black tea. 

Under some historical reasons, the quality of jasmine tea exported from China was declined, and it replaced by the favorite black tea of British. Even though it not as famous as other types of tea, it still has numerous fans all over the world.

How Jasmine Tea Made

Manufacturing jasmine tea it’s a difficult job for the tea master. To infuse the aroma to the loose tea maximize, timing control needs to be very precise. 

Jasmine only blooms in July and August, the hotter the climate, the more fragrant the jasmine. To make the best tea, that’s the best time.

• Picking. Jasmine for tea making must be flower-bud that has not yet bloomed, and the best time to pick it is 2 P.M., the aromatic oil content is highest at that moment. If it rains, picking work should put off until two days after the weather clean up.

• Air dry. The jasmine flower after picking should have air dry for hours to remove the herbaceous flavor away and keep them alive.

• Scenting. 0 A.M. coming, the jasmine blossom and the tea masters start to do the scenting job. They stacked jasmine flowers and loose green teas layer by layer. During this time, the flowers fragrant came to the highest-tier, and the dried green tea leaves begin to absorb the aroma. And this job should finish in a short time.

• Stir. After scenting for 4 or 5 hours, at about 5 A.M., tea masters need to stir the jasmine tea pile, to give more fresh air and let the temperature down, prevent quality damage by the high temperature.

• Baking. Till to 12. A.M, the first scenting job is done. The tea master will throw the jasmine petals away, and baking the green tea to dry the water it absorbs from the petals blooms, waiting for the next scenting.

Tea master laying the jasmine flowers on the green tea

Yes, the scenting job needs to repeat times, typically 7 times. The more times it did, the more fragrant it gets. Even though gets the help with the machine in the modern time, it still needs the tea master with lots of experiences to supervise all the process. One little mistake may do hard damage to the quality of jasmine tea.

Generally, jasmine tea only contains loose leaf. But some tea master, left some dried jasmine flowers in it, to make more fragrance when brewing.

How Much Caffeine Jasmine Tea Contented

The basic tea with jasmine tea is true tea(made from Camellia sinensis), so it contents caffeine naturally. Due to there are various types of basic tea, it is hard to say the exact amount of caffeine jasmine contains. From experience:

• Jasmine green tea is the primary type of jasmine tea. It contains about 35mg of caffeine per cup (typical size）

• Jasmine black tea contains about 50-90mg of caffeine per cup.

• Jasmine oolong tea contains the less, about 30mg.

• Jasmine white tea leaves at least contain about 6mg caffeine per cup.

Jasmine tea is caffeine contented may cause insomnia

The exact amount of caffeine in jasmine tea also depends on several factors, such as the tea processing way and the tea brewing way.

For example, tea bags usually contain more caffeine than whole leaves tea, because the fine tea in the tea bags has a faster dissolve rate. Also, a long steeping time can increase the caffeine amount of tea. If you mind the caffeine content, decaf jasmine tea on the market to choose.

For more information, read Factors Influence Caffeine In Tea.

Jasmine Tea Types

Jasmine teas classified into several types, and they got their own taste and appearance. Here are three most typically:

• Jasmine loose leaf tea. The most traditional and common type. It has both strong flavor, aroma, and a reasonable price.

The jasmine loose tea contains some dried petal

• Jasmine dragon pearls. The jasmine tea shaped like a pearl. When you are brewing it, the jasmine pearl tea will blossom in the water, just like flowers. At first brewing, the jasmine fragrance comes more, and less tea taste; keep brewing, the tea leaves stretch, and more tea flavor comes.

Jasmine dragon pearls

• Jasmine silver needle. Not the same as the silver needle in white tea, jasmine silver needle is not white tea but green tea. Due to the basic green tea made from tender buds have a needle appearance, so got the name. And we know the tenderer the tea, the higher grade is, so Jasmine silver needle is a high-quality jasmine tea. 

Jasmine silver needle tea

What Is Jasmine Tea Good For

Most of the jasmine tea health benefits are from the basic true teas, which contain a powerful ingredient called tea polyphenol. Some ingredients in tea polyphenol may different in different types of tea, but the benefits it brings are similar.

Skin Beauty

Tea polyphenol is a potent antioxidant, it against peroxy radicals and slow the skin from aging. And it also got an anti-inflammatory effect, reduce the risk of dermatitis. It may help skin repair the damage from UV.

Relax

What I experience, even though the caffeine will stimulate the nerve, the light jasmine tea just makes me sober up but not getting high.

With the fresh, delighting jasmine fragrance, make me feel close to nature. Drinking jasmine tea is the typical way I get rid of sleepiness and relaxation.

Weight Loss

We know that green tea is an effective weight-loss beverage, so as the jasmine tea.

Thanks to the synergy of EGCG and caffeine, jasmine tea can inhibit the activity of digestive enzymes in the gastrointestinal tract, and decrease the absorption of carbohydrates. They also boost lipid metabolism and reduce cholesterol content in blood and liver.

Daily jasmine tea drink may help your weight-loss aim if you don’t like the herbaceous taste of green tea.

Reduce Cancer Risk

Studies show that people who got tea consume habit have a low risk of cancer than those who do not. It may due to the benefits result of tea polyphenols. EGCG could effectively induce apoptosis, and cell cycle arrest, but not affect the healthy cells.

Even though it needs more proof, scientists thought tea has a potential hope on the cancer-curing.

Heart Health

Heart disease is one big problem, annoying people all over the world, and most of them cause by vascular aging.

The rich contented EGCG in jasmine tea can inhibit the activity of radicals, slow the aging of the vessel, and prevent atherosclerosis.

And the flavonoids in jasmine tea also the best blood vessel cleaner, which can prevent the oxidation of cholesterol in the blood and the clotting of platelets, thereby reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Manager Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes has a deep related to obesity, and the patients can not control blood sugar well.

Studies show that jasmine tea help manages diabetes, but not by control blood sugar level or increase insulin secretion directly. It may work by the function of regulates lipid metabolism to give a hand on diabetes adjuvant therapy.

Oral Health

The polyphenols in jasmine tea also have anti-inflammatory effects. When drinking jasmine tea, gargle with it to reduce or prevent various kinds of oral inflammation. Besides, the heady scent of jasmine will freshen your breath and get rid of the embarrassment of bad breath.

Improve Digestion

The caffeine in tea stimulates the stomach and increases the secretion of gastric juices, which help digest food and relax gastrointestinal smooth muscle.

The anti-inflammatory function of tea polyphenols can also reduce the occurrence of gastrointestinal inflammation. Besides, the research found that some microorganisms in tea can improve the digestive environment and further improve the digestive system of the human body.

Know more benefits of tea polyphenol. 

Jasmine tea fragrance comes from the fresh picking flowers

Jasmine Tea Side Effects

What disappointed is jasmine tea also with some side effects to the body, most of them came from the caffeine. Some people may experience some discomfort after drinking jasmine tea, even cause some severe side effects.

Stomach Upset

Having jasmine tea help with digestion, but too much consumption may take over-stimulate to the stomach, make a stomach upset. The typical symptoms are gastric acid reflux, stomachache, and diarrhea.

Insomnia

Insomniac patients should not have jasmine tea, especially before bed. Because the caffeine in tea will stimulate the nerve, keep the brain exciting, and it’s not good for sleep. And consuming too much caffeine beverages may cause a headache.

Constipation

People suffering from constipation should not drink jasmine tea because the tea polyphenols in jasmine tea have a contractile effect on the gastrointestinal mucosa, make the patient’s condition worse.

Abortion

The strong scent and stimulation of caffeine may cause UC (uterine contraction), lead to abortion, and there are abortion cases cause by the jasmine essential oil during the pregnancy aromatherapy. 

And the caffeine in jasmine tea may travel to the baby by bloodstream, a negative effect on baby growth. Pregnant women are not recommended to have jasmine tea. 

How To Make Jasmine Tea

To make jasmine tea, what I suggest is to use a Gaiwan, which can maximum the aroma retention when steeping. And the glass teaware also good, especially when you brewing the jasmine dragon pearls tea, you can enjoy the pearls slowly blooms in the water. The brewing way is simple:

1. Add 2-3g jasmine tea into the cup or Gaiwan.
2. Add 90℃ water in, and it’s best to use mineral water. Then close the cover from losing the aroma.
3. After steeping for about 2 mins, open a little slit first, let the aroma flow out, enjoy for a while.
4. Blowing a breath to make the tea cool down. Sipping slowly, you can stir your tongue and let the tea and aroma fill your mouth to experience the fascinating taste of jasmine tea.
5. You can also add some honey for flavoring.

Why Are Ginkgo Biloba Tea Not Recommended To Take Even It Has Lots Benefits?

Ginkgo Biloba The Living Fossil

Ginkgo biloba is origin in China, as know as the maidenhair tree, which is one of the most ancient plants. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the seed and leaves of ginkgo biloba will make into food or ginkgo biloba tea as a health food or treatment against diseases.

When dinosaurs ruled the earth 270 million years ago, ginkgo biloba already one of the most flourish plants in the world and still retains its most primitive appearance; therefore, we called it “living fossil” in history of biological evolution.

Ginkgo biloba leaves are bright green, with a small gap in the middle, the edge is irregular waves curved, looks like a fan, and beautiful. It rich in the unique ginkgolide, isoginkgetin, and quercetin, etc., and kinds of vitamins and catechins, all of them are beneficial nutrition to the human body.

The ginkgo biloba looks like a fan

But there are some toxic in the raw ginkgo biloba, and it’s not safe to take the fresh leaves. During production, it must be detoxicated.

In addition to being used as a kind of Traditional Chinese Medicine and for making ginkgo biloba tea, scientists also extract various active ingredients from ginkgo biloba leaves for research. The studies found that ginkgo biloba extract appears to have promising potential for treating brain-related diseases.

Ginkgo biloba is one kind of the oldest plants on the earth

Ginkgo Biloba Tea Benefits

Ginkgo biloba has been on the earth for such a long time and survived so many extinction crises. People believed that ginkgo biloba has magical power, and it can bring health to humans.

So there come various supplements with ginkgo biloba extract, and the processed ginkgo biloba tea on the market. Most of them are advertising with their “improved memory,” “improved brain health,” and “reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease” function.

Is ginkgo biloba really so magical, or just puffery?

It’s hard to discuss the ginkgo biloba supplement products, and they still got many other complicated ingredients. Then, what is the pure ginkgo biloba tea good for?

Bloodstream Health

Ginkgo biloba has a unique ingredient ginkgolide, and most of the benefits of ginkgo biloba are basic on it.

Ginkgo biloba tea mainly to keep the bloodstream healthy from two fields.

• Reduce the risk of thrombus

Ginkgolide can effectively inhibit the activity of platelets, reducing the risk of thrombosis, play a role in the prevention of atherosclerosis and heart disease.

• Vasodilation

Ginkgo biloba can also play a role in vasodilation, promote blood flow.

Studies have found that ginkgo biloba can significantly improve blood flow by vasodilation action. It’s helpful for Coronary Artery Disease(CAD) patients.

By dilating the blood vessels, more blood can be flow to all parts of the body, especially where there are only tiny blood vessels, such as the brain and eyes. Research on ginkgo biloba for stroke treatment also based on this.

Eye Health

In the post “Herbal Tea Recipes For Eyesight,” we mentioned the eye-protection benefits of ginkgo biloba tea.

Studies showed that ginkgo biloba extracts help diastole the tiny blood vessels behind the eyes, increase blood flow, and improve retinal sensitivity, concentration, and alertness.

Besides, the ingredients of ginkgo biloba tea can help fight oxidative, which also an affordable adjuvant treatment for glaucoma.

Tinnitus

The vasodilation effect of ginkgolide may be helpful for tinnitus. But the efficacy still needs more experimental support.

Although there is no clear evidence that ginkgo biloba tea helps with tinnitus, it is a troublesome condition that can deterioration or even cause deafness. So if there a little help with the disease by consuming ginkgo biloba tea, it’s worth having a try for the patients.

Anti-inflammatory

Ginkgo biloba extract (EGb) 761 is the main ingredient of many kinds of ginkgo biloba health products, mainly composed of terpenes, ginkgolides, and flavonoids.

Studies have shown that EGb 761 has an excellent anti-inflammatory function, can effectively reduce inflammation, hyperalgesia. It also with an analgesic effect for getting rid of the post-surgical pain.

There is no evidence that ginkgo biloba tea has the same anti-inflammatory properties. EGb 761 does not dissolve in water a lot by brewing.

But because ginkgo biloba tea also contains abundant flavonoids, for general inflammation such as gastroenteritis and pink eye disease may also play an active role. Traditional Chinese Medicine also tends to use ginkgo biloba tea as an anti-inflammatory based on experience.

Scientists want to find more active beneficial ingredients from ginkgo biloba extract

Antioxidant

Due to ginkgo biloba is so ancient, the Chinese believe it is a symbol of longevity, and in Traditional Chinese Medicine, consuming ginkgo biloba tea is also recommend to anti-aging.

Now scientific research has found that ginkgo biloba does have an anti-aging effect, thanks to its rich antioxidant content.

EGb 761 is also a powerful antioxidant. It has shown promising results in the treatment of degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as in the fight against skin aging, cancer, and diabetes.

Ginkgo Biloba Tea Side Effects

Even though ginkgo biloba tea has lots of benefits, it still may cause some side effects. Many people on the internet do not recommend to have ginkgo biloba tea.

Studies showed that ginkgo biloba extract causes cancer in laboratory animals, including liver cancer, thyroid cancer, and nasal tumors.

Of course, this only happens when laboratory animals took extremely high doses of ginkgo biloba extract. Ginkgo biloba tea does not contain a large number of active extracts on its own and, at conventional intake, does not cause cancer in humans.

Ginkgo biloba tea is safe for most people at conventional doses, but some people may experience the following side effects when taking ginkgo biloba tea:

• Headache
• Dizziness
• Constipation
• Tachycardia
• Allergy
• Stomach Upset
• Nausea

At present, there are few studies on ginkgo biloba, scientists are not clear about its medicinal principle, and there is not enough evidence to support its benefits. So ginkgo biloba products are not FDA approved as food and beverage, they can only sell as supplements. And the uses of EGb 761 has not yet been approved by the FDA in the United States but is available by prescription in European countries.

The ginkgo biloba tea which been detoxicated

Notes On Having Ginkgo Biloba Tea

Due to ginkgo biloba tea increases bloodstream speed, and inhibits the activity of platelets, and also has the effects on neuronal, so it is not appropriate to take it with other drugs, such as:

• People with blood circulation diseases and taking medications such as ibuprofen and aspirin should not have ginkgo biloba tea at the same time, which will increase the risk of bruising and bleeding.
• Ginkgo biloba tea can cause unstable effects on blood glucose and insulin in type 2 diabetes patients, should not have ginkgo biloba tea while taking diabetes medicine.
• Depression patient takes the ginkgo biloba tea and the SSRI antidepressant such as Fluoxetine at the same time may cause adverse reactions.

Should We Have Ginkgo Biloba Tea?

It seems that ginkgo biloba tea benefits are not unique, but with lots of side effects and dispute. Thus, should we still have ginkgo biloba tea?

First, “The dose makes the poison.” There is no evidence that the rational consumption of ginkgo biloba tea causes severe illness or any life-threatening conditions.

Ginkgo biloba tea has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for a long time

Ginkgo biloba tea has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for thousands of years, and although there is no scientific evidence to support it, it is still a beneficial and safe herbal tea.

Of course, ginkgo biloba tea does not recommend for long-term consumption, every time it is best just to take 5-6g for brewing. And it must brew with boiling water. The toxic of ginkgo biloba can be destroyed by high-temperature, to prevent the producer did the lazy job on detoxicate.

What worth noting, never rely on the anti-disease effect of ginkgo biloba tea. Go to the doctor is always the best choice when you got sick.

Finally, ginkgo biloba tea does not taste good.