Happy Spring and I hope that everything continues to be well!
Please note that there are some upcoming shop closures and the schedule is posted below. The annual Women's Expo that I participate in every autumn is hosting a virtual spring event on Thursday, April 15th - be sure to save the date and the details are listed below. And Gong Fu Tea Service at the bar is back!! :)
Preparing a good-tasting cup of tea is not so simple a task and it is a blending of art and science. Of course, you always want to start with high quality, loose leaf tea leaves; however, there are other considerations that are equally important during the preparation of your tea. This month is the first of a two-part series about different factors that are important to consider when preparing your tea. First up is the focus on water quality and water temperature for steeping.
As a reminder, pre-orders of loose leaf teas are encouraged in order to streamline the preparation of your custom orders and reduce your wait time, especially if the shop is busy when you arrive. Orders also continue to be shipped nationwide and all (pre)orders can be placed in our online shop www.pleasuresoftea.com. Your order is not finalized until you pick up, so there is no need to input your credit card info. This allows flexibility to browse the shop, add more teas, a cup of tea, or some of our goodies to your order. In last month's newsletter, I announced that while the COVID policies and procedures remain in effect to ensure the best possible experience in the shop, I did relax some of them. For easy reference, all the details, except for the new update, can be found on the shop website www.infuseteabarny.com. The updated policy that was communicated last month has been provided below for your reference.
I appreciate your continued support of my small business and I wish you much health and great tasting cups of tea!
-- Kristine
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Updated Shop Schedule
Please note that the shop will be closed on the following days:
Sunday, April 4th for Easter
Sunday, May 9th for Mother's Day
Monday, June 7th through Wednesday, June 23rd
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Women's Expo Spring Edition
Mark your calendars...the Women's Expo is doing a spring event on Thursday, April 15th! As with the fall event last year, this one will also be virtual. I'll be exhibiting, along with 40+ talented, creative, and hard-working small women-owned businesses from LI. It's a great opportunity to shop for some gifts for Mother's Day or yourself. For details, check out their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/WomensEXPOLongIsland or register to attend at www.womensEXPOli.org.
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Gong Fu Tea Service
Gong Fu Tea Service is back!! Beginning Thursday, April 8th you may once again enjoy Gong Fu Tea at the bar. This Chinese method of tea preparation means "done well" and it requires time and focus, delivering a more aromatic and flavorful infusion than those prepared using the more familiar western method of tea preparation. I am happy to again be able to incorporate this cultural aspect of tea into the shop and guide you further through your own tea journey.
This is an appointment only service and, at the moment, is limited to two appointments at a time. Three may be accommodated if from the same household/group. Each session lasts 1-1/2 hours and costs $30, including the tax, paid upon booking. It includes multiple infusions of the tea that you select from the Gong Fu Tea menu and there are 3-7 infusions, depending on the tea selected and as time allows. It also includes a Gong Fu lesson, if you like, so that you may incorporate this method into your own tea ritual at home.
The menu will be crafted and rotated seasonally and will be curated from the larger origin tea offering available in the shop. Our spring menu is now available and the following teas are being prepared Gong Fu:
- Pre-Qing Ming Premium Longjing Organic China Green Tea
- Arakai Estate Pan-Roasted Australian Green Tea
- Ya Bao China White Tea
- Vietnam Imperial Wulong Tea
- Luye Charcoal Roast Organic Formosa Wulong Tea
- Jin Xuan Organic Thai Black Tea
- Shizuoka Organic Japanese Dark Tea
Gong Fu Tea appointments are available:
Thursdays & Fridays - 11:30 through 3:00
Sundays - 11:30 through 2:00
Please note that there are no appointments on Saturdays.
If you would like to make an appointment for this unique experience, please email kristine@infuseteabarny.com or reply to this email. I look forward to preparing tea for you! :)
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The Importance of Water in Tea Preparation
I sometimes hear that customers love the teas we prepare in the shop, but they taste different when they are prepared at home. In the majority of cases, we can attribute this difference to the water that is being used. I know this may sound strange, as many of us think that all water is the same; however, this is not at all the case. First of all, it is extremely important to understand that prepared tea is mostly water. As a result, it is crucial to ensure that the freshest and most balanced water as possible is used when preparing tea. You can buy the highest grade of tea (and spend a lot of money on it), but the full aromas and flavors of the tea will not be expressed fully without good quality water. In fact, poor quality water can impart undesirable flavors and aromas in your favorite tea.
Chinese Tea Masters from hundreds of years ago touted the water from certain springs as being the only water suitable for making tea. As we do not have access to such water, we will need to "settle" for second best. Lucky for us, the water here on Long Island has the ideal mineral composition that is suitable for making a good cup of tea. The one downside to our water is the chlorine content, which can easily be corrected by being filtered with products such as Brita, Pur, or other filtration systems.
There are a few characteristics of water that are preferable for making tea. The first is a pH of 7, which is neutral, but a very slight acidity is preferred to brighten and enhance the aromas of the tea. The second is to have water that is softer with a low mineral content, as opposed to high-mineral hard water. Small amounts of some minerals will bring a liveliness to the cup, but others may interact with the compounds in the tea to create clouding, yield an unattractive color, or impart a metallic taste or other off-flavors.
The temperature of the water is one of the most important factors for making a good-tasting cup of tea. I have to admit that when I first discovered loose leaf green tea in the mid-1990's, I used boiling water on the leaves. The infusion was so bitter and unpalatable that I couldn't drink it and I couldn't figure out what the problem was - it was tea and tea is always prepared with boiling water, right? Little did I know then that different teas require preparation with a water temperature that is dependent upon the tea type. Over the years in this newsletter and in the shop, we have often talked about how the characteristics of the six types of true teas - those from the Camellia sinensis plant - differ based on how the leaves are processed after they are harvested. These differences in processing are not only important for determining the type of tea, but also for how the leaves should be prepared. If the water is too hot for the tea type, the polyphenols and caffeine in the leaves will undergo a quick extraction, creating a bitter infusion. If the water is too cool for the tea type, the essential oils and other compounds contained within the tea leaves will not be fully extracted and the infusion will be weak, thin and/or flavorless. Be sure to always follow the chart on the back of our pouches to find the appropriate temperature for the tea you are preparing.
In addition to the above, here are some tips to keep in mind when preparing water to make your tea:
- Use freshly drawn filtered tap water or bottled water that is very low in minerals and as close to a neutral pH as possible. Alkaline and distilled water are not recommended for tea. Bottled water is not our top pick, as it is "lifeless" and is not known how long it has been sitting.
- Do not boil the water excessively or use stale water, as this will result in a flat tasting tea.
- Do not use water that has been re-boiled.
Following these tips should greatly enhance your tea-drinking experience at home. Let me know how they work out for you! And next month, we'll take a look at the importance of the amount of tea leaves used and the steep time.
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COVID Procedures and Pre-Order Reminder
The COVID procedures remain in place, but one of the procedures is being revised. As a result of the latest information about COVID, I am slowly relaxing the policy on the number of people that can be in the shop at a time and drinking at the bar is now back (with some restrictions)!! I have been testing this relaxed policy for the past few weeks and it has been working well. This broader implementation will be a test to see how smoothly it works and any necessary adjustments will be made and communicated. Please also remember that I may need to make immediate adjustments to this policy during your visit, if conditions warrant it. There will still be some requirements with the relaxed policy:
- Due to constraints of space in the shop and lack of social distancing, no more than four will be allowed to drink at the bar (may be subject to change based on the traffic at the shop at a given time). This will also enable additional customers to come in for pick-ups and to browse. I may ask you to shuffle around or wait outside if the traffic at the shop picks up. I apologize up front for this inconvenience, but will always try to strike a balance in each unique situation.
- Time restrictions will be implemented so that the bar is available for all who would like to enjoy a cup in the shop again, i.e. no camping out at the bar. I ask that you please be respectful of other customers and be mindful of those who are waiting to drink at the bar, especially if you have been there for a while.
- Masks will continue to be required in the shop. Yes, I agree it's not ideal to be fussing with the mask while drinking your tea, but it is the only way to open the bar back up responsibly.
The shop is still not back to the full operations that we had prior to COVID, but some of the services have been added back like the preparation of the time-consuming specialty drinks - Thai Iced Teas, lattes, and tea lemonades.
As a reminder, mine is not an off-the-shelf shop; instead, I offer a customer-focused approach where everything is custom prepared to order and I offer the unique option of having any of my 500 teas prepared fresh for you either hot or iced. The benefit to this approach provides the greatest flexibility to personalize your experience and best meet your needs, but the downside is that everything takes time to prepare and there are no shortcuts. It is strongly recommended that you continue to pre-order your teas for pick-up in the online shop at www.pleasuresoftea.com, especially if you will be short on time or prefer to shorten your wait time. Pre-orders of one or two teas are no longer necessary, but appreciated. Larger orders are still requested to be pre-ordered. Any teas or herbs that are not currently on the website yet can always be added to your order at the shop, along with anything else you would like to add. I am not putting the pre-order tips in this newsletter because they have been included in the newsletters over the past six months. These newsletters are all available for reference by clicking here.
I continue to stay current on COVID-related information and will make adjustments to the remaining policies when I believe it is acceptable to do so. I will be sure to communicate any relevant changes in future newsletters, on our facebook page Infuse Tea Bar by The Pleasures of Tea, on the shop website www.infuseteabarny.com and the online shop website www.pleasuresoftea.com.
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New delivery of povitica has arrived! The seasonal Blueberry Lemon is now available for a limited time. This delicious swirled treat is part of my Croatian heritage and is also available in Traditional Walnut & Honey, Chocolate, Poppy Seed, and Apricot. |
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New teas will be arriving soon and will be announced in May's newsletter, so stay tuned! |
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106 Main Street
West Sayville, NY 11796
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500+ Loose Leaf Teas & Herbal Tisanes
Certified - Tea Professional, Tea Sommelier & Tea Health Expert
Student of the Art & Science of Herbalism
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