With July 4th weekend virtually upon us, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to reflect upon how tea has effected, both directly and indirectly, American History.

Probably the most obvious event in American History in which tea helped bring about change was in Boston Harbor in 1773.  Americans were at their boiling point with all the unfair taxes being bestowed upon them, but when the crown issued a tax on their beloved beverage, tea, they went crazy.  How crazy, you may ask?  Crazy enough that they dressed up like Native Americans, stormed a cargo ship and tossed the contents overboard.

Our nation’s first president, George Washington, was known to enjoy three cups of tea every morning for breakfast. After his swearing in to office, tea became the beverage of choice to be served during all state functions and occasions.

But tea’s beginnings In America date back quite a bit further: around the year 1650 Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant brought the first tea to America to the colonists in the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam (later re-named New York by the English), which they voraciously enjoyed. Indeed, on acquiring the colony, the English found that the small settlement consumed more tea at that time then all of England!

Also credited to tea-lovin’ Americans was the distinct honor of the invention of not only iced tea, but also the tea bag!

So to celebrate the good ol’ U.S. of A. on its 234th birthday, I have created, just for my wonderful readers, a very patriotic discount on all teas between now and the 4th of July: simply enter promo code JULY4 and receive 17.76% (the year of American independence) off your entire tea order!

Celebrate the 4th of July the American way - drink some tea!

Today’s tea video comes to us thanks to the ever-vigilant eye of my friend Bill over at Tea Guy Speaks, and shows the lengths (and heights!) some folks will go to to show their love of tea!

Many of the recipes on the Voice of Tea, you may have noticed, tend to revolve around either booze or dessert, with the occasional meat dish thrown in for good taste (well, really good taste, actually).

However, a quick glance at the good ol’ fashioned food pyramid (which is, technically, a triangle, as any geometry fan will tell you) shows that this approach doesn’t take us very far from the uppermost regions.

That, however, is not a sign of tea’s lack of versatility, rather my shortcomings in recipe creativity.

That being said, I hope to change that - not only for myself, but for the health of my readers.   Not that I won’t be dishing out more amazing tea cocktail recipes, by any means (perish the thought!), but I also hope to target some healthier concoctions as well.

As a first step, I wanted to share a rather simple recipe that is super-easy to make (great for those of us who have to get-up-and-go in the morning), chock-full of those essential fruits we need to fuel our day, and (of course) infused with all that tea-goodness you’d expect from your friendly neighborhood Tea Sommelier.

Here goes:

Matcha Berry Smoothie

2 heaping tsp matcha
1/2 cup orange juice, chilled  / fresh-squeezed (if possible)
1/4 cup frozen strawberries
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
1/4 cup frozen raspberries
1/4 cup greek yogurt, plain
1 banana, sliced

Combine all ingredients and blend until mixture is smooth.

Enjoy!

With the World Cup in full swing (and Team USA kicking some major ball!), the Tavalon office is abuzz with soccer talk.

While we can’t agree on who’ll win - some say Brazil, some South Korea (my money’s on the good ol’ U. S. of A.!), there is one thing we can all consent to: what to drink.

Watching not just the matches but the background behind the stadiums, as well as the hosting country of South Africa as a whole, leaves us thirsty for one thing: Rooibos.

After all, all the Redbush tea in the world is produced out of this one country, grown mainly in the Cederberg region of South Africa.  And it is the country’s national beverage, undoubtedly being served to many of the elite soccer players from around the world as I write this!

So the next time the referee’s lousy call has you seeing red, reach for a cup of red tea to calm down -  after all, it is only a game, right?  (Tell that to this guy.)

If you are looking to lower your carbon footprint, the first place you may not think of is your teacup.

But, as it turns out, by preparing your favorite beverage in certain ways you can cut your footprint rather significantly!

When talking about climate change, footprint is a metaphor for the total impact that something has. And carbon is a shorthand for all the different greenhouse gases that contribue to global warming.

The term carbon footprint, therefore, is a shorthand to describe the best estimate that we can get of the full climate change impact of something. That something could be anything – an activity, an item, a lifestyle, a company, a country or even the whole world.

According to the Green Living Blog,  drinking four teacups per day for one year, boiling only as much water as you need each time, works out to the same as one 40-mile drive in an average car.

But if you boil more water than needed for each teacup, you are using more energy than is necessary, adding to your footprint.

However, that pales in comparison to adding milk - putting milk in your tea triples your footprint.  That’s a “latte!”  The main reason for this counter-intuitively large contribution is that milk comes from cows, which, as ruminant animals, belch a lot of methane into the air.

Also, as previously mentioned, adding milk to tea virtually negates all health benefits from the tea (it also coats your tongue so most of what you taste is milk, not tea!).

So tell your milk to moo-ve over - take it au naturale!

Today is the first full day of summer, and one thing is sure - the heat is on!

That being said, today is the perfect day to introduce a new tea cocktail!  One of my favorite cocktails to cool off comes from the sunny country of Brazil, literally translating from Portuguese as “little man from the country” - the Caipirinha.

My version presents all the classic ingredients (citrus, sugar and the sugar cane-based spirit cachaça) with a new, tea-infused twist.  As if that wasn’t cool enough, it actually deconstructs the classic Tavalon blend, Lemongreen.  Oh, yeah - and its delicious!

Enjoy!

LEMONGREEN CAIPIRINHA

2 tsp lemongrass-infused simple syrup (recipe follows)
4 Kaffir limes, halved and seeded, or 2 small, juicy limes, quartered
2 oz pure green-infused cachaça (recipe follows)

Muddle limes and lemongrass syrup in the mixing glass part of a Boston shaker until the lime juice is released. Pour an old-fashioned glassful of cracked ice into the mixing glass, add the green tea-infused cachaça, and shake to incorporate. Return all the contents to the old-fashioned glass.

lemongrass syrup
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons Sweet Lemongrass, dry

Combine both in a pot and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for 5 minutes to fully incorporate, then take off heat and add lemongrass leaves, steeping for 15 minutes. Strain and cool completely.

green tea cachaça
1 bottle cachaça (approx 1 Liter)
1/4 cup Pure Green, dry

Add green tea leaves into the bottle of cachaça, replace cap and shake vigorously to combine. Allow to “steep” for 45 minutes, then strain.

Many of my readers who were not able to make it to the World Tea Expo last weekend have been writing me to get the scoop on my Tea Cocktail seminar that took place on Saturday afternoon.

During the demonstration, we made several different cocktails, using tea as a mixer, spirit and an enhancer to a cocktail.

All the cocktails we made received rave reviews, however one in particular seemed to be the crowd favorite: Sweet Tea Vodka.

One of the primary reasons that Tea Cocktails have seen a resurgence in popularity,  I showed folks just how easy it is to make your own!

Here’s the recipe:

Homemade Sweet Tea Vodka

1 quart vodka (recommended: TRU)
1 1/2 cups simple syrup
1/4 cup NYC Breakfast, loose

Combine all ingredients in a sealed container and shake well to thoroughly mix.  Allow to “steep” for 45 minutes, shaking occasionally.  Strain.

Best served chilled.

This is good by itself, but also mixes well.  For example, a 1:1 ratio of tea-vodka to fresh-squeezed lemonade makes a mean Spiked Arnold (named after the golfer Arnold Palmer who created the non-alcoholic version).