Café Casa doesn’t just provide luxury coffee. Any enticing drinks menu needs what is still regarded as the nations’ favourite beverage: tea. Whether you’re shopping for the home, workplace, or just looking to add to your coffee shop offering, our hand-blended tea bags are exactly what you need.
Those who are following our social media channels will know we’re very proud of our single-serve tea, which is crafted with care and attention here in the UK. We’re not quite ready to move on from our new arrival, so we thought we’d put together a little article containing some fun facts about tea.
There are around 3000 different types of tea.
Whilst we ask or prepare for just a cup of tea, it’s technically not quite as simple as that. Tea is very much like wine in that the flavour depends on where it is grown around the world. There are different varieties of tea plants that will deliver a different taste and many types of tea are made up of a variety of sorts blended together.
Technically, there is no such thing as mint or fruit tea.
There may be different varieties of tea plants, but tea still derives from the same type of plant: the Camellia Sinensis. This means that whilst variations of tea such as mint and fruit have become more popular over the years, they’re not technically tea. They’re simply an infusion, which means an additional ingredient is added to it.
Tea contains more caffeine than coffee…
Before you gasp in utter horror, it’s not quite as simple as it sounds. Weight for weight, tea does indeed contain more caffeine than coffee, but you use more coffee to make a cup of coffee and use less tea to make a cup of tea. For example, a cup of black tea contains up to 70mg of caffeine, whilst a cup of coffee features up to 200mg. Are you still with us?
Tea used to be kept in a locked chest, which we now call a tea caddy.
When tea was introduced into Europe in the last 17th century, it was an extremely valuable commodity. It was kept securely in what was a very elegant, locked box. Back then they were known as tea chests, though today they’re more commonly referred to as tea caddies. Sure enough, they had multiple departments where you could place different varieties of tea, though we use them now for sugar and other ancillaries.
Tea bags were invented in the early 1900’s.
Tea wasn’t always as we know it today. Little over 100 years ago did the first tea bag appear, which isn’t all that long ago when you stop and think about it. The first patent was filed in 1901 from a couple in Milwaukee and there is since record of an American businessman called Thomas Sullivan shipping samples of tea in fine silk pouches in 1908.
Have you explored our hand-blended tea bags here at Café Casa?
You shouldn’t use boiling water for tea.
Talking of tea bags, so many of us probably prepare our tea wrong by adding boiling water. Adding boiling water to your mug will burn the tea leaf, which can hamper the quality and taste. If you’re buying tea bags for the workplace or home, it is best to wait for your kettle to cool slightly before adding the water.
