Tea App presents a useful tea timer, with necessary measurement and temperature control, as well allowing the user to add their latest tasting notes. When done steeping, you’ll then get to share your last tea experience with your friends on Twitter & Facebook, which may be enough to persuade them with which tea they decide to try next. This is what helps tea companies gain more publicity in a natural way over time, within networks of friends. It’s great to see that an app can help progress the tea industry even more.

Enjoy the following video, as creator, Sam Iglesias, shares with us a short tour of Tea App:

Check out the official Tea App website for more details. There’s a current sale going on right now, with a special price at $2.99 – limited time.

Bonus: We’re giving away 2 free access codes to two of the first ten people to retweet this post. Once we have 10 retweeters, we’ll pick 2 winners at random, and send notification and new access code. Enjoy!

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I enjoy loose leaf tea; I have worked to learn about the best preparation methods for making my favorite loose leaf teas. At home I have all sorts of tea-specific kitchen gadgets. This is great for me when I am home, but I need to go to work, or a hotel, when traveling. How can I make the best cup of tea possible when I am not at home?

I took a look at each step on the tea making process and how I worked to get that resource while away from home, both at work and traveling. My solutions may not be best for you, but I hope they give you some ideas.

First I needed water. I decided to use tap water as my palate isn’t able to pick out the difference between that and filtered water. If you are concerned about the quality of water when traveling, there are many portable (camping) water filtration systems that are tiny that can purify tap water for you. Otherwise, you’ll need to find a local store to purchase filtered water.

Now that I have water, I need to heat it. I took a good look around to see what ways I could heat or get hot water. I found; a water fountain that also dispenses hot water, a coffee maker that offers hot water, and a microwave. Have you taken a good look around your office? Have you checked the hotel website to see what amenities there are (microwave)? If you cant find resources to provide heated water, or are not sure if they will be available, you’ll need to look into a device to heat water. There are nice electric kettles if space is not an issue, and if you need more portability there are very small travel immersion water heaters. I used a thermometer to check the temperature of the water to see what my maximum temperature was for the resource I found. You can always let the water cool a little first. I wanted to try to match the tea to the water temperature I had available.

At work I decided to use the instant hot water spigot on the water fountain, because electronic devices are not welcome. When traveling, I use a plastic hot pot since I am already a heavy packer, space is less of a concern than durability.

So now I know what temperature of water I can obtain, what types of tea will this temperature best suit? When traveling, my hot pot will get all the way to a boil so I can bring any tea I want, where at work the instant hot water is cooler so black tea isn’t brought to its full potential and an oolong would better. I am going to choose loose leaf oolong for work and loose leaf black for travel. You’ll want to pack the tea in a good container (I used a tin inside a plastic bag) so it does not get crushed during travel. There are some great pyramid tea bags with large leaf bits out there so I don’t totally ignore good quality teabags from being an option when I travel.

Now that I have chosen my tea, how am I going to prepare that tea? There are many ways to make tea, so I looked first at my limiting factors. When at work my constraining factor is that I have no easy way to clean up. When traveling, durability is my main constraint. I have chosen a cup with a removable mesh strainer on top for use at work. It’s small enough to keep at my desk and easy to empty the strainer into the trash when the tea is ready. I measure the tea with a plastic lunch spoon. When in the hotel I use the t-sac paper tea bags and a plastic lunch spoon to make little disposable teabags for myself.

Last, how do I enjoy the tea I just prepared? At work, I can drink out of the cup once I remove the strainer. When traveling, I bring a plastic double-walled travel mug, I rest the lid on the over-hang of the t-sac until it’s done steeping, then remove and trash the t-sac and screw the lid on before I adventure out.

I hope this helps you think through your options – there are ways to make good tea, it may not be ideal, but I think a good cup of tea beats the teabags and warm carafe water you get at work, meetings, or hotels by a mile.

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Nicole Schwartz is tea enthusiast who shares her insights and regularly writes on a great variety of teas as she tries and rates them on her site. While you’re at it, go ahead and follow her on Twitter.

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The following guest post, written by Bret Wingert, explores some of the in-depth details on caffeine and more specifically,  it’s influence with compounds specifically found in tea, and it’s effects on the human body.

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There’s a lot of folklore and myths about caffeine and tea – All tea comes from the same plant and all teas contain some amount of caffeine.

So, How much is in my cup?

This is one of the most asked questions we get. The answer is: “It depends”. A variety of factors determine the caffeine content in the dry tea leaf and in the steeped leaf.

Since caffeine is a natural pesticide, the younger shoots and leaves have more caffeine than the more mature tea leaves. Like wine, the terroir (e.g., type of tea plant, soil texture, climate, and elevation) plays a role in how much caffeine the tea leaf produces.   For example, a Silver Needle white tea with only buds can approach the caffeine of black teas.

Figure 1 Ref. Dr. Paul Holmgren, PhD, www.Drpaulsupdates.org

Processing methods also matter when it comes to the caffeine content in your cup. Green and black teas undergo different processing and the oxidation step of black tea production changes the cellular structure of the leaf in such a way that caffeine is more readily available to dissolve in water.   The result is that green teas generally yield less caffeine in the cup than black teas.

Steeping time and water temperature have a great impact on the caffeine level in your cup as well. Caffeine is water-soluble and the longer it is exposed to water, the more caffeine molecules are released – in short, the longer and hotter you steep your tea, the more caffeine you’ll end up with. This explains, in part, why your green or white tea tends to have less caffeine than your black tea. The recommended steeping time for most green and white teas is 2-3 minutes in 175F water, whereas black tea is typically steeped between 3-5 minutes in boiling water.

How does tea compare with other sources of caffeine?

Due to the many factors contributing to the caffeine content, it is difficult to provide exact measurements. On average, however, an 8 oz cup of black tea has 85 mg caffeine and an 8 oz cup of green tea has 40-60mg of caffeine. In comparison, an 8 oz cup of drip coffee contains 135 mg, a 12oz can of Coke 34mg.

Why does tea give me a lift and not a jolt?

The caffeine in tea is called theine (tay-eene) and metabolizes differently in the body than the caffeine in coffee. Researchers found, for example, that the high content of antioxidants found in tea slows the absorption of caffeine, resulting in a gentler effect that seems to last longer and without the abrupt let-down often experienced with coffee.

Besides caffeine, tea also contains the amino acid L-theanine (L-tay ah neen). L-theanine is relaxing and counteracts the stimulating effects of caffeine by increasing those neurotransmitters in the brain whose overall effect is to quiet brain activity. Instead of getting the jitters, tea drinkers experience a sense of calm with improved brain function. Recent studies also show that L-theanine may help protect the liver, alleviate high blood pressure and improve immune system function.

Are decaffeinated teas better for me?

During the decaffeination process, the tea leaves are first moistened before the caffeine is extracted using a solvent. Ethyl acetate, methylene chloride, or highly pressurized carbon dioxide strips the caffeine from the leaves. To remove any solvent residues, the leaves are steamed and finally dried again. The decaffeination process greatly reduces the amount of caffeine, but won’t remove it completely. On average, a cup of decaffeinated tea still has 5mg caffeine.

Teas decaffeinated with the gentler CO2 method retain most of the health properties, but even here, some of the antioxidant properties may be lost.

Note: Some recommend steeping/rinsing tea for 30 seconds to “decaffeinate” tea.  Analysis shows that this does not workand removes a lot of flavor and “good stuff” as well.

Some practical suggestions:

- Want a lot of caffeine? Drink black tea or high-end white teas with lots of buds

- Want to go light on the caffeine – Green Teas (steeped properly) are a good choice.  Go for a Bancha to minimize the caffeine

- Want Zero Caffeine? Avoid Tea – consider herbals such as Rooibos that are caffeine free without the extra processing

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Bret Wingert is Founder & Vice President of Souvia Tea, a growing loose tea retail and wholesale provider with stores in Pheonix and Scottsdale. More of his insights and writing can be found at @souviatea or souviatea.com/blog .

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I’m not one to complain (really, I find complaining about such things as a waste of potential happiness), but I do share personal experiences on Twitter, especially about tea. This tea tasted like cardboard, and I let this be known publicly to all of my followers.

Luckily, one company made my day when they saw I was having a bad white tea experience. This was Thepuritea, a tea company that offers an extensive amount of loose tea and tisanes on their site, which just got a complete overhaul this week. They asked me what my favorite white tea was (Silver Needle), and then offered to send me some packages of it in the mail, along with a hand selected assortment of some of their other favorite teas. All of this came from simply sharing a bad tea moment as a tweet – this made my day.

This is definitely something we should all expect, not only in tea companies, but across all industries where such actions of appreciation are possible. Thepuritea should be seen as one of the innovative organizations who rules out the corporate side of business, and shows a true care towards like-minded tea enthusiasts across the social graph. Let it be known, I’m not writing this post for any reason other than out of pure gratitude and I felt it worthwhile to share their generosity. For more information on the Puri Tea, simply visit their site here.

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Still think you’re doing it wrong? Using the same type of cup, compare your steeped tea with plain water, to give yourself a visual perspective on the difference in color your tea is from clear water. Go ahead and smell the difference between the cups, and once you’ve done yourself that favor, go for a sip. Do this a few times with different teas, and do it often. This will help you distinguish the difference between water and tea with a kick-start, as it takes most individuals 1-2 weeks of daily tea drinking to build tea-sensitive taste-bud adaptation. After this 2 week trial, you should find that you’ve become keen on identifying the true essence in tea, as your taste has grown into being able to receive the real taste of tea through this training – developing your palette.

Make sure you’re putting enough tea leaves in when steeping – this makes a huge difference. I actually use a lot more than most people, as I like to get a strong cup, without having to steep longer than 2-3 minutes or so. When adding leaves, imagine the amount of tea used in a traditional teabag. Now, at least triple that amount and add water. This should be a minimum for obvious flavor and color infusion needed to satisfy any of you who aren’t too sure you’re steeping your loose leaf tea right. Keep an eye out for future posts we have prepared on Tea Hacker, dealing with tweaking your tea drinking and interesting steeping styles.

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The trick is to know when you’re most susceptible for an easy nap (best when done before 3pm).

Drink black tea or matcha tea right before you begin to rest and close your eyes then begin to drift off.

Make sure you’re sleep session is only 20-30 min long, as we only want to target your first and second stages of sleep, and awake as the caffeine gains full effect. You’ll obviously want to set an alarm, just to make sure.

When you wake up, you’ll feel like a new man (or woman), as your body begins reacting to the caffiene on top of the healing process involved with going through a quick revival from stage 1 & stage 2 sleep. Now you may seize the day!

This works perfectly fine with a shot or two of espresso, as well.

The revitalizing that comes with the first 2 stages of sleep can easily be explained. Stage 1 sleep is when you doze off, body movement declines, drifting thoughts & dreams occur, and tends to last for just the initial 10 minutes of sleep. Stage 2 sleep is like a transitional step that leads an individual deeper into sleep, as eye-movement completely stops and brainwaves become slower, lasting the next 20 minutes of sleep. During these stages of sleep, one is still easy to wake up, as you’ve not found your way into a ‘deep sleep’ quite yet.

Stage 1 sleep

• Blood flow to the brain is reduced
• Breathing becomes slow and even
• The heartbeat becomes regular
• Brain temperature decreases
• Blood pressure falls
• Little or no body movement

Stage 2 sleep

• Bodily functions slow down
• Larger brain waves & occasional quick bursts of activity.
• A sleeper can easily be awakened by sounds.
• The sleeper will not see anything even if the eyes are opened.
• Blood pressure, metabolism, secretions, and cardiac activity decrease.

This amount of rest is just enough to put your mind & body back into play, especially since your body is now feeling the effects of the caffeine, you’ll be experiencing a synergy of rest, plus the stimulating effects of tea when you wake up. This double-surge of energy will keep you going throughout your day with full energy. Give it a try, and leave a comment below, and let us how it worked out for you.

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Featuring all glass and investment-casted stainless steel, this modern style piece of equipment revolutionizes the age-old teapot. Join founder of Digg & Good Tea, Kevin Rose, as he invites the designer who envisioned & created the Sorapot, Joey Roth, over to share his story and experiences around the Sorapot and their takes on tea culture.

The actual website where you can find the Sorapot can be found at Sorapot.com

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Over 300 chemical compounds are known to exist in tea, with Theobromine as one of the more intriguing of these, with it’s recent studies within todays science communities as well as even being recognized by the ancients as “The Food of the Gods”. This is of course a literal translation as we take a look at the word ‘theobromine’ and break it down into greek roots, ‘Theo’ (meaning ‘god(s)’), and ‘Brosi’ (concerning food). An alluring outlook towards theobromine may be obviously due to it’s ability to increase happiness, relaxation, resistance towards hunger, health, laughter, and most importantly as an aphrodisiac, sex.

More commonly found in cocao/chocolate, Theobromine is also consistent in tea to an effective level. For years, ingenious uses of theobromine have been directly centered towards therapeutic utilization, such as cough suppression. A 2004 study, published by Imperial College London, concluded that theobromine has an antitussive (cough-reducing) effect superior to codeine by suppressing vagus nerve activity. In the study, theobromine significantly increased the capsaicin concentration required to induce coughs when compared with a placebo. In addition, theobromine is helpful in treating asthma, since it relaxes the smooth muscles, including the ones found in the bronchi.

In modern medicine, theobromine is used as a vasodilator (a blood vessel widener), a diuretic (urination aid), and heart stimulant. In addition, the future use of theobromine in such fields as cancer prevention has been patented. As far as effecting your circulatory system, it increases heartbeat, yet it also dilates blood vessels, causing a reduced blood pressure. Also, its draining effect allows it to be used to treat cardiac failure.

Theobromine is connected towards creating an addiction to chocolate, which may very well be a reason some of us love our tea as much as we do as well, of course caffeine plays a bigger role when it comes to any sorts of the same addictive qualities. Yerba Mate tea is a huge source of theobromine compared to green and black teas, and is considered the primary of teas for a good dose of some ‘food of the gods’. Now that you’ve learned more on tea and what it contains, you have an even greater excuse to drink more of it. Anytime you want to improve your mind and body, control hunger, or increase libido, go for a cup of tea and work in some dark chocolate into your everyday life.

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Tea can effectively remove grease and grime on mirrors, floors and even linoleum, so why not use your old bags to make a cold brew, then use it as a cleaning solution? Mop your linoleum or wooden flooring with these. Clean your kitchen countertops with it as well. You can use this for unpainted wooden furniture. Just make sure you wipe it thoroughly, so it won’t stain. While you’re at it, don’t forget all that grime in your oven and microwave. The best thing about using tea around where you prep food is that you never have to worry about chemical contamination ever again!

Get creative. Pour your tea cleaner you’ve created into a spray bottle for accuracy. Use a mop bucket and mop your hardwood or tile for mass coverage. Hell, if you got some left over, pour the tea water into a vase of flowers in your kitchen to give a nice liquor color that makes the whole room smell like a freshly brewed pot of earl grey for bonus point! Plants get tired of always drinking water anyways.

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Why so expensive? Because of the nature of how white tea is harvested and processed, it’s simple – Just like the black and green teas, white tea comes from the same plant (camellia sinensis), but those who harvest the white tea are very selective on the very few leafs of the actual plant they allow themselves to pick (no bruised or damaged buds either). Often, only a few select top leaves and silver buds are plucked (always by hand).  There is no picking on rainy days or when frost is on the plant either. White tea is ONLY picked during few days each year, and this is typically done ceremoniously in early Spring, making it so rare.

The process of producing white tea does not include the rolling and fermentation stages. The delicate leaves are hardly processed at all in order to preserve the original refreshing taste of the tea plant. The leaves are plucked and simply dried in the sun for a few hours, which means when you start brewing your cup at home, your loose-leaf white tea is in the exact state as the very day it was harvested.

European royalty and Chinese emperors have always indulged in white tea during celebration and ceremony for centuries. They saw that white tea was a rarity as well as a luxury, meaning this tea of choice would always show for the best experience with family and friends.  One Song Emperor was renowned for his love of white tea. Hui Zong (1101-1125) became so obsessed with finding the perfect tea that he lost much of his empire. White tea has come a long way in its long history. It was largely unknown outside China and the Orient until recently. Now, with a renewed interest in fine tea and remarkable discoveries about its health benefits, white tea is being discovered and enjoyed around the world.

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