TeaFrog – Quality Loose Leaf Tea

Rooibos Tea Braised Beef with Sweet Potatoes – New Recipe

OK, so some would argue semantics and tell me that Rooibos is not a “tea”, and they are correct, because Rooibos is not of the “Camellia Sinensis” family, it is properly considered a Tisane, or Herbal Infusion. However, for our purposes, we refer to it as a tea, because that is how our customers also refer to it.

With that out of the way, we have just posted a brand new recipe that uses a Rooibos infusion for stewing beef that has been braised in oil and flour. It is a fantastic tasting stew that includes cinnamon and ginger flavours, and is paired with sweet potatoes (want to really go wild? Try using one of our Flavoured Rooibos Teas instead of Rooibos Original!).

You can see this brand new recipe in the “tea culture” section of our website, under “Recipes” (or just click right through to it from here: Rooibos Tea Braised Beef with Sweet Potatoes).

Be sure to check out other recipes in our culture section, as well as a bevy of other useful tea related information!

Happy Steeping!

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Loose Leaf Tea Starter Sets

Beginning your journey into loose leaf tea can be daunting if you do not have the right tools and advice.

Loose leaf tea is continuing to grow in popularity all across North America. As a result, more people are searching for a way to get introduced to loose leaf tea, but become discouraged by the choice is out there. It can be daunting when you are faced with a selection of 10 different type of green tea, or a selection of estate black teas, but just don’t know where to make the plunge!

With that in mind, TeaFrog has introduced a starter set for new loose leaf tea drinkers. This starter set includes everything you need to start brewing good loose leaf tea, except the kettle and water! You get a BrewT™ Infuser, and a selection of good teas. You can choose from Green, Black, Rooibos or Tisane/Herbal sets. In each set you get a variety of 3 teas, each one specifically chosen to give you a variety of choices and flavours in that category.

Eliminate the fumbling to open a tea ball, not to mention the nightmare getting the loose leaf tea out of the mesh! The BrewT™ Infuser keeps the leaves where they belong, out of your cup. It is easy to clean, BPA free, and functions both as the infuser and the teapot in one.

There really is no easier way, or cost effective way to get introduced to loose leaf teas. Most stores force you to purchase large quantities of a tea, before you even taste it! This way, you get a small quantity of several teas, allowing you to determine, without a big investment, which ones you prefer.

This is also a great gift for a friend or relative that you want to introduce to loose leaf tea. They will appreciate the quality of the tea and the BrewT™ infuser, and it does not cost you an arm and a leg! Visit the TeaFrog store today, and see how easy it is to start drinking loose leaf tea!

Posted in Black Tea, Green Tea, Herbal Tea, Rooibos Tea, Tea Infusers | No Comments »

Introducing Flowering Teas

Flowering teas are becoming very popular in the mainstream tea category, and you can find them almost everywhere that you look now. These wrapped up delights are fairly new compared to the thousands of years tea as a whole has been around, but they have made quite a splash in the past few years.

Flowering teas are tea leaves, wrapped around a flower or flowers that appear as the leaves are infused and swell while absorbing the water they are in. These artisan products are each individually hand sewn, with each one taking anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes to create. It takes years of practice for an individual to truly master the art of creating blooming teas.

Produced almost entirely in China, there are of course, differing qualities of flowering teas on the market. The differences lie mainly in the quality of tea leaf that is used as the wrapping, and the actual quality of the sewing used to combine the leaves with the flowers. While there is no way to guarantee that each and every wrapped tea will open up perfectly, TeaFrog has spent a lot of time testing varying flowering teas to ensure that we select only the highest quality leaf combined with the highest percentage of success rate for the flowers to open.

As such, we are introducing 2 brand new flowering teas. First, “You Are My Sunshine Flowering Tea”. This display tea is wrapped using high quality white tip tea leaves, sewn around exquisite Jasmine Blossoms. As the leaves slowly unfurl, the Jasmine flowers appear as if they were the sun rising on a beautifu spring morning. The infusion has a light Jasmine flavour with notes of honey, and will stand up to multiple infusions.

The second flowering tea that we are introducing is “Dancing Angels Flowering Tea”. This treat for your senses consists of green tea leaves wrapped around an Amaranth flower, with an arch of Jasmine blossoms waving over it. This is an amazing display tea to watch, as well as being a delight to drink as well.

Flowering teas (or blossoming teas, or display teas as they are also known) are fun to experience by yourself, or with a group of friends. They are definitely a conversation piece when you bring them out at a party!

If you want to use the flower as a centerpiece, or display it on a shelf or in your kitchen, simply brew it as normal, leaving it to infuse for 10-12 minutes. Then replace the water with clear cold water, and add a bit of vinegar to preserve the flower and halt the infusion. The flowering tea should keep for 3-4 days for you to enjoy!

You can read more information about Teafrog’s flowering teas at our website:
learn more about flowering teas »

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Ceylon Orange Pekoe

At TeaFrog headquarters we are always adding new teas, and we are proud to introduce our first Ceylon Orange Pekoe tea to the lineup.

This Orange Pekoe tea is from the Mahagastota Estate in the region of Nuwara Eliya in Sri Lanka.  The estate is also known as Lovers Leap, after a well known story.  The story goes, that there was a daughter of a king who fell in love with a commoner.  This partnership was  forbidden, but she did not care, and ran away with her lover.  They ended up together at a high rock wall and jumped to their deaths to escape to an afterlife together.

This estate is one of the best estates in Sri Lanka.  It is known for it’s high quality Orange Pekoe teas, and this is no exception.  Graded FBOP (Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe), this tea is slightly astringent with lively flavor that is robust and tasteful.  

We recommend that this tea is taken without milk, to experience the full flavor it has to offer.  It can be consumed as a hot tea, and also makes an excellent iced tea.  You can enjoy this tea with dinner, or as an afternoon delight, tho it does hold up as a good tea for any time of the day.

You can purchase this Orange Pekoe tea from our website 24/7/365 for delivery direct to your door!

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Tea Glossary

The culture of tea is rife with terms that can be confusing to the layperson, especially when it comes to tasting terms such as “Biscuity” and “Dhool”. In this post there is a short glossary of some popular terms, while a more complete tea glossary can be found on our website. This glossary is by no means complete, and we are always adding to it and double-checking out definitions, so if there is something that you feel is wrong, or something that should be added to or expanded upon, do not hesitate to contact us!

Afternoon Tea – A British meal eaten in mid afternoon, consisting of sandwiches, scones,and pastries accompanied by tea.
Agony of the leaves – The unfurling of tea leaves during steeping.
Assam – A major tea growing region in India. These black teas are known for their strong malty flavor.
Biscuity – Tea taster’s expression, often used with Assam teas that have been fired well.
Brick Tea – Tea leaves that have been steamed and compressed into bricks. Pu-erh is a common brick tea.
Camellia sinensis – Botanical name of the tea bush.
Coppery – A term describing a reddish infusion, associated with black teas of high quality.
Dhool – A term describing the coppery, fermenting tea leaf.
Earl Grey – A Black Tea blend flavored with Bergamot Oil. -
Flush – Refers to the timing of the tea harvest. “first flush” is the early spring plucking of new shoots. “second flush” is harvested late spring through early summer, yielding more body and full flavor. Autumnal flush is the late season harvest.
High tea – A meal served late afternoon to early evening which is a mixture of afternoon tea and dinner.
Light – A term describing tea that produces a weak infusion.
Orange Pekoe – Referring to size of leaf, not quality or flavor, this term indicates a larger-size grade of whole leaf teas.
Orthodox – Traditional method for picking and processing teas in India without using CTC technology.
Pungent – A term describing highly astringent tea.
Smoky – A term describing teas fired over an open fire, resulting in exposure to wood smoke.
Tannin – A term referring to the astringent polyphenols of tea, producing a bitter flavor.
White Tea – Rare teas of fine quality. White teas are known for their high antioxidant content and subtle flavor.
Yixing – Pronounced Yee-shing, a region in China known for its purple clay, and the unglazed teapots produced from it.

These are just a few of the more than 130 terms that are defined in our tea glossary on our website. Be sure to visit it and increase your knowledge of tea culture!

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