Gift for tea lover

So Valentine’s Day is coming up.
About or less than 2 weeks!!!
So have you found something for your significant other yet, especially s/he is a tea lover?
Check this out! It is called Cozy Corset Cuff for tea.
It is quite a smart idea…
You know we have the cardboard that we put around the coffee cup, when we buy coffee…
so that cardboard thing would protect our hands.
But personally I don’t like it, coz it never fit and it always drop.
This Tea Cup Cozy thing is a great idea, plus it adds personal style in it

Check this out! Website There are 36 different ones.
Although it seems a little thing or the price of it is so cheap, but I think, if you bought it for your loved one, it shows that you care about them, in every single details and small things. Also, you can buy other stuff along with it.

I bet you can choose one for your loved one.

Here some examples

- For cat lovers; I Love Cats Cup Cozy

Sweet Hearts Cup Cozy

p.s. Etsy is a good website, lots of handmade stuff.

There are more, just take a look from the website.

Blueberry Green Tea

Hee hee…I finally have time to buy new flavour of tea.

I like this packaging, becaues I can choose how much tea I want to buy
Also, for first time, if I don’t know whether I like the tea or not,  so this package allows me to choose how much I want…may be enough for a cup or two.  If I don’t like it, I don’t have to throw the rest away.

That’s why I like this shop so much.
1st: Blueberry Green tea

   

It is a type of green tea and should brew for 2 mins.

Comment: Fresh, a light flavour taste of blueberry, but it is strong enough to stay in the mouth
I think best time drinking it probably in Spring or early Summer…when enjoying the sun and the breeze…

If I could have a piece of blueberry cheesecake, that would be great. (I don’t know.but just feel like to have a piece of American cheesecake only) I am not an expert of food pairing.

Herb/Herbal Tea 1

So, you may heard about Black tea, green tea, oolong tea…..etcetc, these different types of tea.
But Herb Tea may be you seldomly hear about it, unless you are Chinese or you know about Chinese medicine or unless you are tea lover.
The Herb Tea that I am talking about is the Chinese Herb Tea.

Picture of Herbal Tea shop

Herbal Tea actually orginiated from Canton (Guangdong) in China.
It has a history of 200 years. Herbal tea as been listed as National Intangible Cultural Heritage just recently.
Nowadays you either can get it from a Chinese Medicine shop or from the Herbal Tea shop.
This kind of tea are to help remove tonics in your body, to cleanse your body and enhance vitality.
Each of them has its own function and benefits to your body, for example, help you to recover from flu , dehydration, remove internal heat…etcetc.

Herbal Tea not only good for you body, they actually sometimes served as a cold drink to hot drink when you are enjoying having Hot Pot or BBQ.
So that you won’t have a sore throat the next day. I can tell you that these tea really helps from a personally experience, which I could still give a presentation next day without losing my voice from Hot Pot or BBQ!!!

Herbal Tea will become more popular after the Olympics 2008 @ Bejing as they are going to promote more and more to other people.
Another shocking news that I just read, just released from the press last year that Herbal Tea will become the top selling drink in the world, it beats Cokecola and Starbucks in 2010. Herbal Tea will be sold 60 million tons by 2010.

To know more about Herbal Tea (Chinese), check this website out:
http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/01423/

Finding the perfect one ~ 3

The more I am looking for the ideal cup, the harder the decision I ought to make.
So hard. I went to Starbuck to see do they have any new cups selling, so sad, their stuff is good, but I think now I am being more picky after I have seen so many designs…. So hard….

So I saw another two mugs online today…one of them is selling already, another one needs to pre-order!!
It won’t come out until Feb. this year.

1. On Off Mug

It looks so cool~ I like it….especially if I had this cup, I won’t “burn” my hands off…or my tongue…
coz I always burn tongue….half black half white color may indicate whetherI can drink now or is it aR good temperature to drink…so I won’t burn my tongue all the time or drink the tea in a hurry.

2. Radiator mug

This is the one that is on pre-sale now
Well, may be it doesn’t look attractive by its outlook, but wait until you know its function.
The fins on the cup would not burn your fingers when you hold a cup of hot drink.

They both sell @ US$ 25.
If a normal cup/mug sells about the same price from a certain big brand name company…
and it sells at such a high price just becoz of the name, why not buy something that with specialy design, function on it and the look of the cup is good or with special design…

The designer I think it is from Britain again.

Alice Tea Cup

picture from flickr user: _dai_

I was looking for tea cup online and

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there was a result showed Alice’s Tea Cup.
It is actually a tea shop in NYC.
(MAN! So far away which I really should consider to make my trip to NYC happen in someday…)

I love traveling and I always look for tea shop when I travel in that country.

Alice’s Tea Cup…
I have never been to, but I guess worth it to take a look when I am in NYC.
I am a fan of children stories, I love reading them.
This tea house has all the features of Alice in the Wonderland.

It is not only for adults but it is a good place for children to go too.
When I look at the pictures, I love the Fairy Wings they have and you can wear it. Cute!
Inside, it really classic, with all the paintings on the wall and the furnitures, it makes you feel like you are really in the story as well.
~Oh~ I wish I could go there.

Here is the website, the pictures really make me wanna go to NYC so badly.

Green tea & Weight loss

Ok, so this month (January) for the US is the National Hot Tea Month,
becoz they did a study show that tea helped weight loss.

Hm…

Some people even suggested that, after having a meal, drink a cup of tea may increase your metabolic rate, which I guess it is true.

But don’t forget in previous entry, it actually didn’t do you good, becoz tea could reduce the absorption of iron & protein from the food that you just have. Totally not good for digestion.

Also, the FDA still hasn’t release or have any report on the number of dose of green tea we could have.
Therefore, there is still a potential risk if drinking too much green tea

Good things about green tea:

- preventing/treating cancer
- stop certain neurodegenerative disease; Alzhemier
- Prevent degradation of cell membrances, i.e free radical
- treat multiple sclerosis, arthristis
- Fight viral infection

So I guess, even though there are studies prove certain things and other studies against those studies…we should never over eating/drinking certain amount of stuff, i.e. orange juice is good for you, but if you drink too much, it is going to be harmful to your body.so…

Tea & Milk

Well, while everybody think that tea is good for you,if without milk
Tea can help prevent cancer and the catechins in the tea will protect you against heart disease
The recent study released this month said that the milk cancel out the benefit of the tea

However, if you add milk into the tea, the protein, caseins in the milk will cancel the catechins in the tea.

Sad….that means now I have to drink English Breakfast tea without milk…how can I eliminate this habit…
they said that real tea drinkers do not add milk…
and the British don’t really add milk into the tea…
Hm..I remembered that adding milk into the tea is what I learned when I lived in UK.

Finding the perfect one 2

Oh…i found another one…

So last time I introduced a new gadget or tea cup from UK, this time is from Tai Wan.
This cup is sooo cool!!!

Cool design…
1. The button on the cup – the function of it, is to hold the tea tag of the tea bag, so it won’t swing.

(really should check the website out, coz it actually shows how it works, cool website/demo too..) –>
 http://www.kedo.com.tw/how_tea.html
2. The cup has 2 layers, for insulation, so it won’t be too hot to hold your cup.

It is about US$27…
Hm…..hopefully, I can ask my friend from TaiWan to get it for me…and hopefully they sell cheaper in TaiWan…heee hee
anyway, I think it will good for me becoz I always lost my teatag for whatever reason….

who shouldn’t drink tea … part 2

picture from flickr user – bugandfishes

6. People who have constipation
                       - Catechu would  have a function of astriction or 
                         weaken the movement of your intestine or digestive system,
                        –  increase chances of constipation
7. People who are breast feeding 
                   - may cause the baby to have intestinal spasm and problems in sleeping
8. People who have heart disease – becoz of caffeine
9. Pregnant women

Recent study showed (it was on the NEWS Jan 21,08 that high chances of miscarriage for pregnant women who drink too much caffeine)

10. People who are drunk
                  – alcohol already affect the heart rate, therefore, with caffeine from the tea,
                     it causes  heart rate go faster

So there are still a lot of things to think when drinking tea…

I guess we should be caution of what we put into our mouths, that’s what all the mums always said, mums are always right… 

Who shouldn’t drink tea…Part 1

picture from flickr user – bugandfishes

People who shouldn’t drink tea:

1. People lack of iron
            – Tannic from tea affect the aborption of iron already,
               therefore, it cause more problem to people who are anemia

2. Nervous breakdown/ neurashthenia
              – Caffeine already makes people hyper and increase metabolic rate
                       –> leads problem in sleeping

3. People who have fastric (stomach) ulcer
             - Caffeine would gastric juices and cause more problem in recovery

4.People who have a calculus or stone
               – oxalic acid would increase the number of calculus or stone
5. Problems with liver
               – Caffeine break down in the liver, therefore,
              if you have problems with the liver, it just add more burden and damage to your liver

 

Soooo many things need to concern when drinking tea!!!

Looking for a perfect one- 1

Hm….
Recently I am looking for a good tea mug/cup for myself…
I love white color, because I like everything to be clean…all my utensils are in white color…..

But I am getting a bit bored with this cup now…
wanna to buy a new one…i don’t care it is a cheap or expensive cup…as long as I can enjoy my cup of tea, then it is a great cup…

The one that I have in my mind is : My Cuppa (from UK)

Check this out~ Click Here

Sadly, it is out of stock

Special thing about this cup is;

- there are 2 designs, one for tea and other for coffee
- the design inside the mug; there is a matching guide, 
it is like a guideline telling you whether the color of your tea matches what you want or the tea you try to brew.
- Only 10 pounds..worth it I think….wanna to buy one~~~ where I can get it??!!

Tea & Einstein??

Latest news I read online…
So…..you may wonder how Tea is related to Einstein…
Read the following article…..Click Here

It is about the “tea leaf paradox” that Einstein has proposed…;how come all the tea leaves stay at the centre of the cup…
This inspires scientists to move a step of creating a technology for the blood sample…

If this does happens that means we can get the results of the blood sample even quicker then..
so sad, this thing still need 5-10 years in order to accomplish O___O”‘

Still, you never know how tea can be that “powerful” that would inspire people to have new ideas…
Hm…I guess…
may be should observe life more deeply and carefully….then our generation or next can be more creative….
and probaly begin with a thought that everything has a function and everything is useful

Another gadgets – Teatool

In order to make a good cup of tea, you need:
1. Good Teapot
2. Good Tea cup
3. Good Teabag/tea leaves
4. Good Teastick which I mentioned in the last entry

and now I need to add another item on my “To Buy List” which is Teatool (Tea strainer) after the Teastick

I just realised,there are so many things have been invented to make our life easier just because we WANT to have A GOOD CUP OF TEA!!

Teatool, basically a tool allows us to
- handle the teabag easily,
- conveniently,
- don’t make a mess in your kitchen or wherever you are having the tea….

So… another gadget for tea and no excuse for me to say, Tea just for older generation…haa haa…

http://www.gizoo.co.uk/Products/HomeGarden/Bathroom/TeaTool.htm

New gadgets – The Teastick!!

I really don’t like to have tea leaves floating around in my cup of tea…so I mostly use the tea bags

People said there are differences between having a cup of tea that with tea bags or tea leaves…(Hm..does it taste differently? I don’t know…)
But I have found a solution that I don’t need to take tea bags anymore.

The Teastick!!!

 

from gamila

 from BLTD

Check this video out learn how to use it! –> Teastick demo

It seems that people are trying to promote the tea culture now. 
People may think that tea is only for old people, but no, look at the teastick, it looks so trendy, ‘fashionable’, well to me, at least I think it is cool, it is great!!!

I don’t like tea infuser or tea balls, because past experiences told me that it is not easy to clean or dump the tea leaves.
To me this teastick is much better when dealing with tea leaves
+  easy to use 
+ not expensive to buy one
+ not only works as a infuser but also can work as a stirrer
 
I am gonna order it now and have a try!!! coz there are more flavour or types of tea that are not selling in the form of tea bags…I really want to try them….so i ought to buy a teastick.

Alternative choice:

Disposable teastick

From petiti tea

You are not alone 1

Tea of today: Lemon Tea (a piece of lemon added into English Breakfast; good for cold)

I am sick today, and guess what, I want to find something to make me laugh so I can forget about sickness…
The best way to cure and not feeling sick is to smile or have hugs from people…
(This probably work best for women….I guess…men just want to be alone….)

As I tried to find something on the net to make myself happy.
I came across the following video clip…
I guess many people know about the Campaign about Free Hugs right?
not only the video really make me smile but someone’s comment make me smile, it says,

“a Daily Dose of Hugs a Day

Keeps me Going on all Day” by whadaphoc

Sure that there will be someone always there for you,
but i guess the first step is whether you are open to that person…
People now are so scare to find people for help or to approach others…
because they are afraid that people who approach them may have purpose or something not good at all…
or they are afraid that they would disturb others….

I like how the Free Hugs Campaign works, it is not just one hit thing, but it keeps on spreading and people keep checking it out. So we will never forget about it and never forget to care about the people around you and be open for other people to approach you.

“A Hug is All What We Need” Juan Mann
“If someone hug me, 5 people will smile.” Juan Mann