Tea Party Tips

Tea parties are so popular these days and we have a variety of teas that go well with food and are perfect for an afternoon cuppa with friends. Some of our favorite tea party teas are our English Breakfast, Lady Londonderry and China Green Strawberry & Vanilla.

Here are some great tea party tips from an article on Squidoo.

Tea Party Tips and Etiquette 

Tea Party tips and etiquette. Use your best china for a tea party. Teacups and saucers are preferable to heavy mugs. Invest in a small tea service (teapot, milk pitcher, sugar bowl, size teacups and saucers and six cake plates).

Use cloth napkins - cotton or linen at a tea party.

Present the food attractively at a tea party. Cover your tray or cart with a tray cloth, doilies or a pretty napkin. A single rose in a bud vase, or a basket of seasonal fruit adds warmth to the scene. Arrange food on a three tiered cake stand.

Atmosphere is important at a tea party. Instead of in the kitchen, serve tea by a crackling fire or in the garden. Decorate with fresh flowers and add the quiet, melodic background music of a harpist or pianist.

As hostess of a tea party, pour the tea, passing it to each guest in turn, adding sugar cubes if requested.

Your ladies might want to wear victorian hats and crocheted gloves at your tea party.

Give party favors at your tea party. Tea party favors vary and you can use your imagination and give according to your tea party theme.

Conversation should be light and fun-filled at a tea party, no gossip or deep subjects that can be disturbing to others.

Seven Unique Uses for Tea Bags

Clearly we think the best thing you can do with our tea bags is brew a lovely, warm cup of tea, though it turns out there are some unique uses for them after you finish drinking a cup. And chances are after some of the chores suggested, you'll want to relax again with another cuppa!

Buzzfeed brings us these seven random uses for used tea bags. Turns out you can empty the bag and sprinkle tea leaves around a rosebush as a natural fertilizer. And in case you rub up against the wrong kind of plant while gardening and get poison ivy, press a used tea bag against the itchy area for relief!

Tea also makes a great cleanser and conditioner for both your wood floor and your hair! Read about all the unique uses here.

These Folks Loved Our Tea ... You Will Too!

As relative newcomers to the United States tea market, we are always looking to send our tea out to reviewers to get their opinions. There are lots of great people out there who are knowledgeable about tea and really take their time to try it and write thorough reviews. We find it amazing how everyone tastes a little something different even though they are drinking the same tea.  Thanks to everyone who has reviewed our tea!

Teaviews.com has done a nice job of helping us distribute our tea to several tasters and they have written really positive reviews of our S.D. Bell's Natural Leaf Black Tea. Click the name of the reviewer before the quotes below to read their full reviews. If you are a tea blogger or reviewer, please contact us and we'll be happy to share some tea for you to try.

Melanie said:
"I found the milk nicely evened out the acidity of the Assam, but also masked some of the maltiness. It also brought out the fruity tones of the Ceylon. It has just the slightest background note of peaches or apricots. Prepared with my normal amount of milk and sugar, it was a really lovely cup of breakfast tea!

Shaiha's take: 
"What did I think? Well I really liked it. Lately I have really been leaning towards Darjeeling when I have been drinking black teas however this tea does make for a nice change. And as it makes a nice second pot of tea, I have added it to my list to pick up."

CJ is a fan:"To describe S.D. Bell's English Breakfast as a "good cup" is a bit of an understatement.   Black tea is probably my favorite consumable. ...  If a person had never tried black tea before, drinking Bell's English Breakfast would be a great way to introduce them to the concoction. ... In three to five minutes, you'll have tea that any Irish man or woman would be proud to serve and drink."

A Look at Our Roots

Good afternoon! Hope everyone has had a nice week and is looking forward to starting their weekend with a relaxing cuppa.

Today I thought I'd borrow from a blog over in Belfast to let our followers learn a bit more about where Best International Tea comes from. As you probably know, we are the North American importers of S.D. Bell Teas from Belfast, N. Ireland. Four generations of the Bell family have been crafting fine teas and coffees for 125 years over in Belfast. They also run a very popular cafe in town.

Take a look at this great post from the Hidden Belfast blog to read more about how our teas are served and enjoyed over in Northern Ireland.

Cheers!

A Cup of Tea is Good for Your Heart

We all know that a freshly-steeped cuppa can warm your heart and soul, but this recent study proves that black tea is literally good for your heart! Drinking black tea can help lower risk factors for heart disease, heart attack and stroke. From the article:

"In the study, published in the journal Preventive Medicine, drinking three cups of tea for 12 weeks (with no milk or sugar) led to highly significant reduction in blood sugar levels and triglycerides, which are unhealthy fats. Triglyceride levels fell by a whopping 39 percent in males and 29 percent in females.

In addition, drinking tea led to an increase in levels of HDL cholesterol, long considered to be the ‘good’ type of cholesterol."

Click here to read the rest and toast a cup of tea to your heart!

Keep Calm & Brew a Cuppa

Tea is not only a great individual soother, but also a relationship-builder.

A fun study out of Ireland shows that 80 percent of Irish people think tea is a source of comfort and 84 percent drink it when they are trying to relax and unwind. Because tea is so important to individuals, it also brings a deeper value to relationships when it is shared. The study also showed that 57 percent of people feel that someone truly knows them if they make them a cup of tea to their liking.

Dr Eddie Murphy, Clinical Psychologist said, “Small courtesies, warm smiles and making a cup of tea the way someone likes it, shows recognition and awareness - that you care about them.
“When people make tea for someone they’re making an emotional connection which in turn increases fondness and trust, thus enabling the relationship to grow and develop.”

So in addition to making you feel relaxed and calm yourself, a cup of tea might just strengthen a friendship too!
 

A Cup a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

We really enjoyed reading this article in Oprah magazine and it can also be found online here. It outlines the unique health benefits of specific kinds of tea. The following is courtesy of Oprah.com:

It can warm your soul or cool you off on a sweaty summer day—but did you know that tea can also prevent the formation of brain plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease? And that's not all: A potful of research is showing how various brews can ward off pathogens, hypertension, even cancer. Check out these four healing cups; we'll wait while you put the kettle on.

Darjeeling (Click here for Best Tea's version)
The Brew
This delicate infusion—considered by many to be the best tea in the world—is made from plants grown in the Himalayan foothills of India's Darjeeling region.
The Benefits
More than half the global population harbors a pathogen called H. pylori; 15 to 20 percent of those people develop ailments including ulcers, gastritis, and gastric cancer. But in a recent study, scientists found that various teas inhibit H. pylori—and that Darjeeling steeped for five minutes has the greatest effect. Just hold the milk; it can block the activity of compounds in the tea.

Oolong (Click here for Best Tea's version)
The Brew
The leaves of this elegant Chinese tea are semi-fermented—allowed to wither briefly, then bruised to spur oxidation, and dried before the enzymatic process is complete. Oolong's varieties range from light and sweet to thick and woody.
The Benefits
According to a study of more than 1,500 subjects, a half cup to two and a half cups daily of oolong tea or the more famous health star green tea can lower a person's risk of hypertension by 46 percent. Oolong and green tea are rich in antioxidants that help control an enzyme that raises blood pressure.

Black (Click here for Best Tea's version)
The Brew
When tea leaves are allowed to fully ferment, they develop the bold, tannic, earthy flavor of black tea. (Its color, though, is closer to red.)
The Benefits
Four antioxidant compounds (called theaflavins) found in black tea appear to protect the brain from disease in a very specific way. Last year a group of German researchers published findings stating that these compounds prevented the formation of senile plaques (likely by binding to amino acids that would have otherwise formed the plaques), which contribute to the development and progression of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.