I always carry a huge lime green bag with my portable tea can or big Thermos with Pu-erh everywhere. My friends always laugh at me whenever I take out my big Thermos and pull myself a cup of teas. It’s kind of funny, but a nice cup of tea could lighten up the food especially the grease Chinese food. Do you know the Chinese dim sum restaurant would waive your tea beverage surcharge if you bring your own tea leaves? You could ask the waiter to brew it for you; or you could simply ask for an empty tea pot and some hot water and you could brew it yourself.
In case you already upgrade yourself from drinking low quality of tea bags to premium teas, and you don’t want to waste the unwanted teas in your cabin, here are the things you could do to make use of them:
Tea is a great absorbent and it could naturally absorb any smell. If you have a stinky refrigerator, you could put the tea bags and several slice of lemon peels on a small dishes and let it sit inside your refrigerator for several days. The smell would be gone and replaced by refreshing lemon teas smell.
Got a tired, achy or puffy eyes? You could soak tea bags into warm water and place it over your eyes for 10 minutes. It has a very soothing effect and it take out the tiredness.
Your plants enjoy tea too. When you water the plants with tea, the nutrients from the tea will be released into the soil, spurring growth. most plants love the tannic acid that occurs naturally in tea. Please remember don’t over fertilize it.
Heal rash. Simply dip a towel into the tea and place it over rash area for a while.
Say goodbye to your athlete’s foot (Hong Kong Foot). Just take a daily tea bath and soak your foot in strongly brewed tea for 20 minutes a day and say good-bye to offensive odors.
Speaking of the athlete’s foot, so don’t forget to put a couple of tea bags inside the shoes and take the smell out.
Heal pollen allergy. Simply dip a cotton ball into the tea, dab it on nostrils area and let it dry. Repeat as needed. My mother and I both have a allergy, and we both agree the Lu On tea has a better effect. So I take some out and use it while consuming it.
Make tea eggs and it’s a great and cheap party snack. http://www.recipezaar.com/127310
David and I went to watch “All in This Tea” at Roxie in SF this Sunday. It’s a documentary by Les Blank and Gina Leibrecht about American tea importer David Lee Hoffman who traveled to tea plantations in China and imported organic tea from local farmers to US directly. I was not impressed honestly when I watched the trailer at the beginning because I did not think it is a big deal for an American to import teas to United State.
But Mr. Hoffman seems like a cool guy and he could smells the chemical treated teas out without using laboratory testing . Speaking of the old days, coloring the teas are fairly common tactic used among those dishonest tea farms, so my parents often teach customers to identify these chemical treated teas is by putting dry leaves into the cold water. If you see the color coming out from the cold water, this is a sure thing of chemical treated teas. Don’t drink it.
Anyway, I want to check out this movie and see how many tea lovers are out there in bay area. I want to blog about it later and pass around to my readers if I learn any valuable knowledge from this movie. It’s a beautiful made movie and it revealed the artisan tea making process from picking teas in misty early morning, withering, pan frying teas and etc.
The director did a phenomenal job capturing the simple life of local farmers and tea factory workers. We are living in such a rich materialistic society, but our spirit is much poorer than the those farmers in China. Considering their minimal and scarcely living condition, their innocent smile and unpretentious bluntly attitude make me wonder if we need so much luxury things in our life.
Although, I do not get to learn Mr. Hoffman’s magic skill of smelling chemical treated teas after watching movie, I am touched by his passion toward teas and his courage of trying to break through existing rigorous tea export system in China. He also raised a very good environmental concern that the excessive used chemical fertilizer could damage the environment and our health. We all need to learn how to love our earth and we should act ASAP. It’s a very sincere movie and I highly recommend tea lovers to watch it.
I become a regular customer of post office since I launched just4tea.com. I was at the post office last Thursday afternoon and put my tea samples on the counter. The post office staff looked at the sender address with www.just4tea.com on the packages and smiled to me and asked if there are teas inside. I smiled back proudly and told him that those are tea samples for my favorite tea bloggers.
I love to read food and tea blogs especially the ones with review and recommendation on it. Tea bloggers are very passionate about the teas and they often hunt for the goodie and give out a very honest and independent review. I am so happy that my favorite bloggers Alex from http://anotherteablog.blogspot.com and Marty from http://www.martea.com agreed to be the first reviewers to try out my teas. If you read their blogs, they shared a lot of cool tea information and I bet you will enjoy.
At the end of the conversation, the staff smiled again and said ‘See you next time’. I guess he is right, I will definitely see him again.
I am planning to launch a campaign to give out free samples for tea bloggers. Stay tuned!
David and I met up my friend Gordon for Dim Sum at Saigon Seafood Restaurant to catch up old times. The dim sum is very authentic Hong Kong style, but you have to be there before 11:30am or after 1:00pm to get a table. I have not met Gordon for many years since he got married and he is still the nicest dupe ever. I was stunned after he told me about his high cholesterol. A couple of my friends asked me what type of tea could lower their cholesterol from the past and I pointed them some well known herbal teas. They tried it for a while, but they gave up on them afterwards because they are either very hard to prepare or very bitter. For instance, both bitter melon tea (苦瓜茶) and Gynostemma pentaphyllum (絞股藍茶) are primarily used to manage cholesterol level, but they are extremely bitter.
The cholesterol problem never run into my family even my parents are at retirement age now and their cholesterol are perfectly normal. Comparing to these bitter taste herbal teas, drinking tea regularly could also reduce blood cholesterol and it’s more enjoyable. Drinking pu-erh tea is purported to improve digestion and reduce blood cholesterol. It has been shown that rats experience reduction in body weight, blood triglycerides, and blood cholesterol following a diet containing Pu-Erh.
I enjoy life by drinking nice teas and wines, eating my home-cooking fresh food and go hiking, swimming and exercise regularly; I choose to live healthy by enjoying it.
In case you are not threaten by bitter taste of bitter melon, you might like Pan Fried Bitter Melon with Eggs :
Ingredients:
1. 1 medium size of bitter melon
2. 2 eggs
3. chopped minced garlic
4. salt and white pepper
Method:
1.Cut the bitter melon in half lengthwise, remove the seeds and slice each half crosswise in thin pieces.
2.Beat the eggs in a bowl with a dash of ground white pepper and salt.
3.Heat a wok until its surface begins to smoke. Swirl in the olive oil and let heat 10 to 15 seconds. Pan fried the bitter melon and minced garlic around 1-2 minutes until the melon becomes brownish and soften.
4.Spread the melon pieces thinly over the wok surface and pour the beaten eggs evenly over the melon pieces. Flip the mixture over to cook the other side. Cook until eggs are set and lightly browned.
Wish you all have a happy healthy life.
Being a careless person definitely needs to pay off your due eventually. I mentioned the red date ginger soup with you folks a few weeks ago and I made myself a pot of red date ginger soup in my favorite Pu-Erh Thermos the other day since the weather is so cold in San Francisco, CA. I thought it would be nice to drink this soup to warm me up especially my very cold feet. I forget to mention one thing on my previous blog that you should buy the red date with a seed inside it and it has a better herbal effect than seedless ones. The only hassle part is that you need to use scissor to prune the seed out. Many of my American friends asked me about the red date from emails, the red date is jujube indeed, a member of the Rhamnaceae - the buckthorn family. The jujube fruit, which originated in China more than 4,000 years ago, is believed to invigorate the body, increase metabolism, give strength to the heart and slow down the aging process. In China, it is considered a daily dietary must.
After making my caffeine free red date ginger soup, I made PuErh tea the following day and the ginger smell was still lingering in the pot. Well, you could image I am drinking the Ginger Pu-Erh tea a whole day.
The taste is not really that bad and my husband David even joked to me that I should encourage tea lovers to try it out. Anyway, I don’t think the ginger and Pu-erh go well together, but you could definitely try to mix the Pu-erh with chrysanthemum and it add a very light and fresh fragrance to the tea liquor. Many Chinese from older generation know this recipe and they like pair this tea with dim sum. If you go to Dim Sum restaurant next time, you could tell the waiter or waitress to prepare you a nice pot of Pu-erh with chrysanthemum or just simply say guk bou (菊普; pinyin: jú pǔ).
X’mas is coming soon and I will get a new Thermos from David. Hehee.
Instead of having a big juicy turkey dinner this year, I had Sashimi for Thanksgiving. David, Eric and I ordered Uni (Sea Urchin), Toro (Very fatty Tuna Belly), Hamachi (Yellow Tail), Hototegai (Jumbo Scallop), Monk Fish Liver, Sake(Salmon) and etc from http://www.catalinaop.com for 14 foodie friends. Sashimi was incredibly delicious and my top pick would be Uni, Hamachi and Hototegai and it’s around half price charged by top Japanese restaurants.
I wanted to prepare a nice pot of nutty refreshing dragon well tea for everyone to drink throughout the meal, but I was totally side track by all these lovely Uni and Toro. Traditionally, drinking green tea and eating Gari (pickle ginger) in between each piece of different sashimi could clean the palate and bring out original subtle favors of each fish; Interestingly nobody even noticed that they were missing their tea and I could completely indulging myself quietly with all these great food and conversation without running around to serve tea to everyone.
At the end of our dinner, Cathy picked the 2007 Spring Oolong as our first after meal tea and followed by Tie Guan Yin and Jasmine Pearl. The Spring Oolong bought out the sweet and flowery favor without overwhelming sashimi subtle favor. The more important is to help me to digest the meal faster for the coming dessert.
Many of our friends gave a 3-thumb up on the monk fish liver, here is the secret sauce Ben and I created:
Recipe:
1)Mix 3 tablespoons of soba sauce with 2-3 teaspoons of soy sauce
2)Cut a lime into half and squeeze out the juice.
3)Chop 1 green onion.
4)Put all the sauce on the monk fish liver and sprinkle the fresh chopped onion on top of it. Let it marinate for at least 15 minutes before serving. Feel free to add more lime juice or soy sauce as you like.
I received a lot of congratulation emails from friends and tea lovers after I launched my website. Hey Guys, thanks a lot for suggestions and support.
My friend Maria, a talented writer, asked me if I carry any caffeine-free teas on my online tea store; as a writer, she needs to work long hours, but drinking too much tea or coffee could affect sleeping because of the caffeine.
Speaking of caffeine, it is one of the most important elements in tea. It’s odorless and has an astringent taste and is highly soluble in hot water. It acts as a mild stimulant which could help you ward off drowsiness and increase activity of the digestive juices. Compared to coffee, tea has higher caffeine when measuring both in a dry form, but a cup of tea contains only about half as much caffeine per serving as coffee, depending on the strength of brewing process. All types of true tea contain caffeine, but in different quantities. White tea has the least caffeine among green, Oolong and black teas. According to a Department of Nutritional Services report, an average cup of:
White tea contains 6-25 mg
Green tea contains 8-30mg
Oolong tea contains 12-55 mg
Black tea contains 25-110mg
Coffee contains 40-170mg
There is one popular misconception that the fermentation time (oxidation time) of the tea-making process is highly correlated with caffeine level. For example, most people believe green tea has less caffeine compared with black tea because of less fermentation time. In fact, caffeine is affected by many factors. Here are general guidelines:
The type of tea plant
The small Chinese Camellia Sinensis brush tea plants tend to have lower caffeine levels than the large leaf Assam tea plant (Camellia Assamica).
The younger tea leaves, such as very fine tips of tea leaves, have more caffeine than mature leaves.
Time of withering process
The longer withering time will result in higher caffeine.
Amount and size of loose tea used:
The more tea leaves you prepare for your tea, the higher the caffeine. A smaller leaf tea or well-ground teas, including traditional orthodox CTC tea process, will release more caffeine. Since the ground teas expose more surface to the water, caffeine can be released more easily and quickly.
Water temperature and steeping time during brewing process:
As we mentioned, caffeine is a highly water soluble element and the higher water temperature will provoke the caffeine to release faster. The longer brewing time will give more room for caffeine to dissolve in water. The overall average caffeine released in the first through third brews were 69%, 23%, and 8%, respectively.
As all true teas have caffeine, I suggested to Maria a caffeine-free herbal tea instead:
Ingredients:
30g of dried goji berries (good for the eyes)
10 dried black dates (good for sleeping)
A few slice of ginger (improves blood circulation) Brewing/Cooking Method:
Put 4 cups of boiling water and all of the ingredients into a thermos and let it steep for 1 hour before you drink it.
Or put all of the ingredients with 4 cups of water in a pot, bring to a boil and simmer over medium heat for 45 minutes.
Note: In case you have a cold feet like me, you could replace the dried black dates to dried red dates to increase you blood circulation. You could also add some honey when you drink it and it’s very tasty.
The smallest one in the picture is gobi berry, the medium size one is dried red date and the biggest one is black date; thus don’t confuse with them.
Cupertino, Calif - November 11, 2007 — Lau Kee Tea Company, the leader of tea retailer and wholesaler in Hong Kong, has announced to expand its presence in US by opening its online division. Available immediately on www.just4tea.com, North America consumers can now enjoy the same quality of tea for a fraction of the price charged by local tea stores. Just4Tea is committed to educate the general public the benefit of tea and to make high quality tea accessible to the mass market at an affordable price.
In US, coffee and soda comprise of over 85% of beverage market and tea has less than 10% market share. However, industry watchers believe the trend will change in 5-10 years as people become more health conscious. Just4Tea is in a prime position to be the market leader not just in the tea market, but the greater beverage market. Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) has dropped more than 10% since the news of launching of Just4Tea leaked out one week ago. Starbucks is not available for comment on the threat of losing market share to Just4tea.
“We strongly believe that a tea drinking nation makes a healthy nation. The medical expenses keep rising is a clear testimony of the lack of healthy beverage in this country” said June Lau, CEO and founder of Just4Tea. “I personally feel compelled to give a choice to the American people. Coffee makes people anxious, soda makes people fat, but tea makes people refreshed and healthy”.
Hello, my name is June Lau and people call me Tea Lady or Tea Nazi! I am very please to announce this exciting news to everyone today that my dream of opening an online tea store, Just4Tea, finally comes true.
I am thirsty if I don’t drink tea a day. Being a blessed kid whom has a family tea business running over a decade, I always receive the best quality of tea from my parents no matter when I was studying aboard or living in US now. Some tea lovers search for their beloved teas around the world, but teas follow me everywhere I go.
My then fiancé David registered me the domain www.Just4Tea.com for my birthday last year to encourage me to expand my hobby of selling family tea to co-workers and friends into a bigger project. My parents and brother also think that would be a tremendous experience for me to pursue my own dream. I love it and it’s the best inspiring gift I have ever received.
My Slogan is “Live Healthy and Feel Refreshed Everyday - Starts with a Great Cup of Just4Tea”. To support my own motto, the money you pay for the best cup of Just4Tea shall be less than a cup of coffee. I strongly recommend my customer to spare a moment everyday to make a cup of tea with your friends or family from your hectic schedule. This ceremonial drinking style is meant to relax your mind and spirit in a friendly, shared experience. Paying close attention to the evolving taste, aroma and aftertaste of the tea from steep by steep, slowing to observe the dance of tea leaves against beautiful ceramic cups enhances your appreciation of both the tea and the moment.
My friends ask me why I sell these premium teas so cheap which are at least 25%-40% less comparing to other tea stores and my answers are as simple as they are:
1) Online store costs less comparing to those high rent retail stores. In addition, I do everything on my own including getting a license, finding a web hosting company, learning to build a website, taking pictures for teas, designing my own in-house labels and packaging, getting an interesting vanity phone number. My most amiably experience is to be able to meet so many talented tea lovers and friends who volunteered to contribute their idea and efforts to this website for FREE; thereby overhead cost is reduced significantly.
2) I imported tea from my parents from Hong Kong and Canada. Our family is a well established tea merchant over the decade and we received a very competitive pricing from highly regarded plantations; thus middleman layers are minimal as you could image.
At last, I want to specially thanks for my husband, family and friends. I met so many interesting and cool tea lovers who contribute so much efforts and ideas to this website and they are:
If you read their blogs, they shared a lot of cool tea information and I bet you will enjoy.
David and I met up my friend Gordon for Dim Sum at Saigon Seafood Restaurant to catch up old times. The dim sum is very authentic Hong Kong style, but you have to be there before 11:30am or after 1:00pm to get a table. I have not met Gordon for many years since he got married and he is still the nicest dupe ever. I was stunned after he told me about his high cholesterol. A couple of my friends asked me what type of tea could lower their cholesterol from the past and I pointed them some well known herbal teas. They tried it for a while, but they gave up on them afterwards because they are either very hard to prepare or very bitter. For instance, both bitter melon tea (苦瓜茶) and Gynostemma pentaphyllum (絞股藍茶) are primarily used to manage cholesterol level, but they are extremely bitter.
Being a careless person definitely needs to pay off your due eventually. I mentioned the red date ginger soup with you folks a few weeks ago and I made myself a pot of red date ginger soup in my favorite 
Hello, my name is June Lau and people call me Tea Lady or Tea Nazi! I am very please to announce this exciting news to everyone today that my dream of opening an online tea store, Just4Tea, finally comes true.