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Steep in the Love

September 6, 2007

Michelle is one individual who understands the power of packaging. She’s been working with Art of Tea for some time, helping with packaging and design. Michelle is also about to get married, which, as anyone who’s recently been through the process can attest to, can be a particularly expensive time. For my wedding a couple of years ago, I remember being at a complete loss when it came to favors. It seemed appropriate that there be something sitting on the tables for our guests, but what? In the end, I succumbed to buying individual chocolates. By that point my creative energies were zapped (I put off favors until two days before the wedding, and paid for it) and I was looking for a quick fix.

Fortunately, Michelle did not make the same procrastination-based mistake that I did. Instead she let her inner Martha Stewart come out (and really, don’t we all have just a little of the Martha waiting to burst forth). In fact, the idea was based on a suggestion from our lady of all things elegant. Using Art of Tea’s loose-leaf tea, Michelle created unique individual tea bags for her wedding guests.

The process is fun, simple and even something a soon-to-be-husband could help with. Here are Michelle’s steps:

1. Get yourself some tea bags. She used bags by T-sac purchased online from Paper Street Teas. These are perfectly sized for one serving and require a single teaspoon of loose-leaf tea each.

2. The tea’s the thing! She used Organic Breakfast, because they’re having a brunch wedding, and Amore – for the love! But you could use any tea that speaks to you.

3. How much tea? Each tea is a little different when it comes to the weight per teaspoon. For example, Organic Breakfast is composed of small back leaves that pack a punch, whereas fuller white leaves and rosebuds comprise Amore.

The folks here at Art of Tea can help you figure out just how much you’ll need based on how many bags you’d like to make.

4. Additional Supplies: you’ve got the bags and tea, so now it’s time to get really creative. Michelle used chocolate and white baker’s twine, which she bought online from Broadway Paper.

5. Make those tags! If you’re computer literate like Michelle (she is a graphic designer after all) you can use a computer program like Adobe InDesign, or if you’re a little more comfortable in the analogue world – nice handwriting or calligraphy will also be lovely. Either way, her tags were printed to be 1 inch by 2 inches when cut out, and 1×1 when folded in half.

6. Assemble: Using a teaspoon, load 1 teaspoon of tea into each bag. Trim excess paper from tea bag with Scallop or Ric Rac scissors. Using the baker’s twine, tie the bag closed. Fold tag in half, and using a glue stick or hot glue gun, adhere baker’s twine to tag.

That’s it! See how easy it is? And even better, you can match the colors of your twine and tag to the colors of your wedding.

Of course, you’ll want to make these tea bags as close to the event as time allows so that the tea remains fresh. Michelle made hers two months ahead of time and stored them in a dark airtight container. Just make sure you don’t get tempted to use these delicious samples before the big day!

What’s so Dynamic About Biodynamic Tea?

September 1, 2007

It’s a fun word: Biodynamic. Break it down and it seems to mean life force or life energy, and in a way it definitely does. Biodynamic is a word that’s been popping up a lot lately around those in the know (people who recognize the importance of eating organically), and some are calling biodynamic “beyond organic” when it comes to how our food, or in this case tea, is grown.

It all goes back to this fellow named Rudolf Steiner, who in 1924, gave a series of lectures to local farmers in Poland who were frustrated that their soil quality was declining along with the health of their crops and livestock. Steiner recognized the interrelated nature of a farm. There is a fundamental link between soil, plants and livestock and when in balance, this closed circuit does not need the aid of fertilizers and chemicals. Sounds like organic right? No pesticides, no chemical fertilizers, none of that bad stuff that’s been proven to harm us at the end of the food chain.

This is where Steiner took the ideas a step further. His practice of biodynamic agriculture includes a certain degree of spirituality and mysticism. Seeds are planted at certain lunar phases, for example, because not only is the cycle between soil, plant and animal important, so too is the link between growth and the life force of the moon and sun. Biodynamic is a sort of stepping back to see the whole forest, rather than felling the whole forest to save a tree (which is kind of what contemporary standard agricultural practices look like from that distance).

On a biodynamic farm or estate, all of the fertilizer is made organically on the farm itself. Old bullhorns and vermiculite are added to the compost in a series of recipes cooked up by Steiner. One way to describe it is as a closed circuit of input and output. Sustainable, is another, perhaps more trendy, way to put it. Either way, it’s good for the land and good for the crops.

Biodynamic agriculture is about healing the earth. And healing is the one thing this planet and its inhabitants are in desperate need of. We at Art of Tea like to think that we’re saving the planet, one cup of Biodynamic Bai Mu Dan, First Flush Darjeeling and Biodynamic Breakfast Tea at a time.

Iron Goddess of Mercy – Ti Kuan Yin

July 25, 2007

Iron Goddess of Mercy is grown on China’s high hilltops amongst fresh streams and cool, crisp air. ITt is an Oolong, yet Green tea. Tender leaves are gently basket tossed immediately after harvesting to rupture the cells for semi-fermentation. Increased steeping time and temperature will draw distinctive flavor with each brewing.