Brews N News

Earl Grey , a Flavored Tea

Earl Grey the most commonly consumed tea, is by most considered a black tea. It is in fact a flavored blended black tea. Its flavor comes from the Bergamot Fruit, which is in the citrus family. It is the essential oil of this fruit that is used to flavor the blend of black teas to make it into an Eral Grey.

It is blended by several different black teas and infused with Bergamot to make the distict taste of an Earl Grey Tea. Different distributors have their own blend. The most famous is Twinings Earl Grey and Lady Gray wich is a blend with additional seville orange and lemon flavor .

The Earl Grey Name:
Popular legend tells that the Earl Grey discovered the delights of this blend when passed the recipe by a Chinese friend. Charles Grey was an Earl, a member of the British Aristocracy and also British Prime Minister between 1830 and 1834.

However, it was more likely that a trader in herbs and spices simply combined the two flavors while experimenting in his London warehouse, and used the Earl's name in order to be associated with his popularity. Unsurprisingly, the tea has remained popular long after the Earl has been consigned to history.

Chocolate and Flavonoids

What are Flavonoids?

Flavonoids belong to a group of compounds that have antioxidant activity. Research shows that antioxidants may help cells reduce damage caused by free radicals. The presence of flavonoids in plants is dependent upon several factors including the degree of ripeness, processing and storage.

Flavonoids in Chocolate

There are two types of procyanidins present in cocoa; monomeric and oligomeric. Cocoa and chocolate are abundant in the higher oligomeric procyanidins.

Flavonoids’ Potential Health Effects

Some studies suggest that high intakes of flavonoids are associated with the maintenance of cardiovascular health.

Other studies have shown that cocoa flavonoids and certain chocolates may increase low-density-lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation as well as modulate platelet activation, which may positively affect the balance between certain hormones. 

Coffee Review: Finesso Espresso

Organic Planet Coffee & Tea	Finesso Espresso
Las Vegas, Nevada	Reviewed: September 2005
Overall Rating: 90 points Aroma: 7 Body: 8 Flavor: 8 Aftertaste: 8 With Milk: 9 Roast (Agtron): Dark (40/48)
Origin: Not Disclosed Notes: All of the components of this blend are certified organically grown. Organic Planet Coffee & Tea is a small-batch coffee roaster and tea merchant specializing exclusively in organic and sustainable products. Its motto is "Only the best the planet has to offer." Visit www.organicplanetonline.com or call 707-396-2370 for more information. Blind Assessment: A full-bodied espresso with exotic aromatics. Floral and fruit tones throughout the profile, with pungent notes that read as herbal for co-taster Ted Lingle (90) and licorice-like and smoky for Ken Davids (89). For Ken the full body and heavy mouthfeel seemed partly to stifle flavor in the small cup, but for both Ken and Ted this blend came into its own in milk, where it rounded and sweetened richly without losing power or nuance. Nominated by Kemp LaMunyon of Las Vegas. Who should drink it: Those who prefer Verdi to Mozart.

To read more Coffee Reviews by Ken Davids Please click here.

The Cocoa Tree

Did you know that in the wild, the cocoa tree can grow up to 50 feet tall as an "understory" tree in the shade of towering 200 foot tall hardwoods and other trees?

Cocoa trees are very picky about where they live. They require constant warmth and rainfall to thrive. The ideal climate for growing cocoa trees is a temperature of 65 degrees Fahrenheit, lots of shade, high humidity, and at least 80 inches of rain. A shade-grown cocoa tree can produce fruit for 75 to 100 years or more!

Click here to learn more facts about the cocoa tree.

Yerba Maté

When you're in South America, the drink of choice is Yerba Maté (pronounced YER-ba MA-tay). It's a very popular form of herbal tea that is commonly seen in countries like Argentina and Paraguay. Yerba Maté comes from the Yerba Maté tree (Ilex paraguarensis), asmall tree native to the subtropical highlands of Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina.

This evergreen member of the Holly family was introduced to colonizing and modern civilizations by the Guarani Indians of Paraguay and Uruguay. The drink is brewed from the dried leaves and stemlets of this perennial tree. Yerba Mate is known as the national drink of these countries, and is consumed by millions of South Americans as a healthful alternative to coffee. This stimulating herbal beverage has the unique ability to wake up the mind without the nervousness and jitters associated with coffee.

There are 196 volatile (or active) chemical compounds found in the Yerba Mate plant. Of those, 144 are also found in green tea.
Each infusion of Mate contains: Vitamins: A, C, E, B1, B2, Niacin (B3), B5, B Complex
Minerals: Calcium, Manganese, Iron, Selenium, Potassium, Magnesium, Phosphorus.

In South America, the morning and afternoon beverage of choice is Yerba Mate. In fact, mate bars are as prevelant in South American countries as coffee bars are here in the states. According to a survey conducted by IBOPE Argentina, yerba mate boasts a 92% household consumption rate in Argentina. Yerba Mate, like coffee, is available in different flavors and prepared in various ways.

Company Wins with Organic Chocolate

Former one-man operation has a staff of 30 and finds demand in U.S., overseas

BY GREG STILES
The Associated Press

September 20, 2005

ASHLAND -- In the three years since Frederick Schilling moved his fledgling organic-chocolate company to the Rogue Valley from Colorado, Dagoba Chocolate has snowballed into a thriving international business with distribution on four continents.

Schilling, 34, once hand-poured and hand-wrapped each chocolate bar. Now Dagoba is approaching 750,000 pounds of chocolate in its manufacturing and wholesaling operation annually.

Dagoba, which means a dome-shaped Buddhist monument, moved to a 3,000-foot Central Point facility from Colorado, then moved this summer into a 14,000-square-foot factory that now includes a retail area. Read the full story here...

Purchase Dagoba Chocolate from OrganicPlanetOnline.com

How to Make a Perfect Cuppa!

George Orwell and tea
Many people ask no more than their tea be "wet and warm", but in the hunt for perfection in a tea cup, a scientist has created a formula for optimal temperature, infusion and imbibation. Oh, and when to put the milk in. There are 11 rules for perfect tea making, rules from which nobody should dare depart, said George Orwell.

George Orwell's 11 tea rules
1. Use tea from India or Ceylon (Sri Lanka), not China
2. Use a teapot, preferably ceramic
3. Warm the pot over direct heat
4. Tea should be strong - six spoons of leaves per 1 litre
5. Let the leaves move around the pot - no bags or strainers
6. Take the pot to the boiling kettle
7. Stir or shake the pot
8. Drink out of a tall, mug-shaped tea cup
9. Don't add creamy milk
10. Add milk to the tea, not vice versa
11. No sugar!

The great critic of Hitler and Stalin, was not above a bit of teatime Totalitarianism himself, it seems. Orwell said that tea - one of the "mainstays of civilization" - is ruined by sweetening and that anyone flouting his diktat on shunning the sugar bowl could not be called "a true tealover". Read the full article here..

Chocolate Fun Facts

• Half of Americans choose what chocolate they eat by the shape of the piece.
• The average American eats about 10 pounds of chocolate a year.
• The Swiss average 20 pounds a year.
• It takes 400 cacao beans to make one pound of chocolate.
• Chocolate was once considered a temptation of the devil.
• Consumers spend more than $7 billion a year on chocolate.
• On his fourth voyage to the New World, in 1502, Christopher Columbus was the first European to taste chocolate.

Get more chocolate fun facts here.

Tidbits about Tea

• The British have been drinking tea for nearly 400 years
• Tea breaks are traditions that have been with us for approximately 200 years. Initially when workers commenced their day at around 5 or 6am, employers allowed a break in the morning when food and tea were served. Some employers repeated the break in the afternoon as well.
• There are 26 tea-growing nations. The principal ones are India, China, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Indonesia
• Over 50% of our tea comes from East Africa – Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe
• Tea is the second most popular beverage in the world, next to water
• Tea is the sixth most popular beverage in United States.
• Over 80% of the tea consumed within the United States is consumed as an iced beverage.
• In 1904, Thomas Sullivan an enterprising tea and coffee merchant in New York is credited with the accidental discovery of tea bags.
• The Irish consume more tea on a per capita basis than any other nationality.  The Irish consume 7.1 pounds of tea annually equivalent to 1,417 cups per year or nearly 4 per day.  By comparison, the British consume 5.74 pounds per person or 3.2 cups per day and in the U.S., .75 pounds equivalent to about one cup per day.

What's the Difference Between Dark and Milk Chocolate?

Different chocolate liquor-to-milk ratios produce sweet, semisweet, and bittersweet chocolate. Milk chocolate is made from fresh whole milk added to the liquor, and white chocolate -- which some say is not really chocolate -- is a mixture of cocoa butter, sugar, milk, and vanilla flavoring. Some chocolate manufacturers use artificial vanillin, rather than pure vanilla, as a flavoring and use milk solids rather than whole milk. Some dark chocolates also may contain milk products. Organic Planet Coffee and Tea offers award-winning Dagoba chocolates, which are made from the world's finest organic ingredients.

Click here to learn more chocolate facts.