Jessica Shearer is known as the “tea lady” at the office.
She has an energizing lemon tea in the morning, maybe a green tea with almond and marigold later in the day, and a superfruit herbal tea in the afternoon. Until January, Shearer, 29, who works at an educational non-profit, was a coffee lover but she decided to cut back in the new year. Now she keeps a desk drawer full of tea options, and a two-cups-a-day coffee habit has become a four-or-five-cups-a-day tea habit.
“In the last few years, since I discovered that tea had more variety and flavour, I started a collection and it’s taken off from there,” Shearer said.
If she only consumed her favourite tea, a blend of white tea, green tea, jasmine pearls and white hibiscus blossom, it would cost about $5 per day, a little more than she was spending on coffee, though still cheaper by the cup.
Fancy tea can be expensive. Paying $20 or more for 100 grams of tea is normal at specialty shops. That could be why the past few months have seen the burgeoning tea trend enter the “TIY” market, with the release of books with titles such as Healing Herbal Teas: Learn to Blend 101 Specially Formulated Teas; World Atlas of Tea: From the Leaf to the Cup, the World’s Teas Explored and Enjoyed; and Cleanse, Nurture, Restore with Herbal Tea. All include recipes or tips for blending at home.
The upcoming Toronto Coffee and Tea Expo, held for the first time this April, will include a chance to experiment with TIY by providing a range of ingredients attendees can blend together, christen with a name and serve to judges as part of a fun competition.
“I know a lot of people are getting into do-it-yourself and do-it-at-home things across the board,” said Luke Woods, one of the Expo’s organizers. “It’s like canning your own pickles and growing your own tomatoes. There’s a resurgence of all of it.”
Tea is the number one beverage around the world after water, and consumption continues to grow in Canada. Montreal-based DavidsTea has undergone a massive expansion, starting in 2008 with one store on Queen St. W. and since expanding to 225 locations in Canada and the U.S. Its biggest competitor is Teavana, which is owned by Starbucks — a coffee company. And over the past decade, more local tea boutiques have opened shop, selling loose-leaf tea at premium prices.
In North America, tea used to be black and steeped in a pot, the way the Brits like it. Today, fancy blends might invoke the flavours of raspberry cream pie or cardamom French toast, or include the pungent Chinese tea variety pu’erh, which is made from dried, rolled and fermented tea leaves.
In January, tea sommelier Raelene Gannon hosted the first “TIY” blending workshop at the Toronto Tea Festival, now in its fifth year. About 50 participants filled a room at the Toronto Reference Library, she said.
As for the increase in interest, which has led her to develop a make-your-own-chai-tea kit for sale online, she said two forces are at work.
“I think it’s a combination of tea becoming more popular and people trying to take control of their own health,” including experimenting with different plants and herbs, she said.
Canada’s national tea industry association rebranded last fall to include “herbal” in order to reflect that those spices, flowers and botanicals can also be steeped in hot water to create what’s actually known as a tisane, a brew that isn’t made with Camellia sinensis, the plant from which all black and green tea leaves are grown and which does have caffeine.
There’s a growing interest in the potential health properties of tea, which have been linked to protection against cardiovascular disease and cancer, and may have immune-boosting effects. The sentiment is especially pronounced among millennials, said Tea and Herbal Association of Canada president Louise Roberge.
In 2015, the association commissioned a Nielsen consumer survey of 900 Canadians. Among them, 400 were tea drinkers. Women, millennials and Ontarians were more likely to drink at least one cup of tea per week. Millennial tea drinkers were more likely to link tea with potential specific benefits like weight management, anxiety relief, immune strength, fighting colds, and to associate tea with being an “all natural” drink.
It’s easy to make your own blend, said Shabnam Weber, founder of The Tea Emporium boutique and author of the Tea and Herbal Association of Canada’s Tea Sommelier course.
Many botanicals can be hard to source — where will you find something like tangerine flavouring or cornflower petals to go with your red rooibos tea — but others can be bought at the nearest bulk or health food store.
Weber recommends becoming familiar with the taste of any ingredient you want to incorporate and decide what flavour you want to be dominant. For example, before blending a few different black teas, steep and taste them separately to find the right balance. Similarly, if you think you like star anise or aren’t sure how strong your dried peppermint is, steep some on its own so one flavour doesn’t overpower.
Use a mesh infuser or tea ball, which are available at kitchen and department stores. If your ingredients are very fine you can try paper filters, available at specialty tea shops such as Weber’s store. You can buy reusable cloth tea bags, which can be found at specialty shops such as the Herbal Clinic and Dispensary on Roncesvalles Ave., a store that stocks countless botanicals for tea blends.
Blends to make at home
Here are three simple blends you can work with at home. Gannon suggests using dry ingredients, not fresh, especially if you’re going to store the blend and make sure you have food-grade ingredients — “not the stuff you’d make candles with.” Some might be hard to source, but Gannon recently added sales of hibiscus, sweet orange and other ingredients to her online store Tea and All Its Splendour, due to popular demand.
Mint Tea
Shabnam Weber uses gunpowder green, a Chinese tea in which the leaves are rolled into small beads, and either spearmint or peppermint. I bought Chinese green tea and dried peppermint leaves at Bulk Barn.
1/4 cup (60 mL) green tea
1/4 cup (60 mL) dried peppermint
Mix tea and mint together. Infuse 1 rounded teaspoon in 1 cup near-boiling water. Steep 5 minutes. Store remaining tea in an airtight container.
Herbal “Sleepytime” Tea
Raelene Gannon suggests a simple blend of camomile flowers, rose petals and lavender. I bought these at the Herbal Clinic and Dispensary. You could also experiment with lemongrass, elderflower, rosehips or lemon balm. I added star anise and orange peel, both from Bulk Barn, to give the blend some oomph.
1 tbsp (15 mL) rose petals
2 tbsp (30 mL) camomile flowers
1 tbsp (15 mL) lavender buds
1-1/2 tsp (7 mL) orange peel
1tsp (5 mL) star anise, ground
Mix rose petals, camomile, lavender, orange peel and star anise together. Infuse 1 rounded teaspoon in 1 cup near-boiling water. Steep 5 minutes. Store remaining tea in an airtight container.
Turmeric Latte (adapted from GOOP)
Oscar winner-turned-celebrity holistic guru Gwyneth Paltrow says you can use fresh or dry turmeric but a taste test suggests otherwise. The dry stuff makes a savoury, soupy (goop-y?) latte. The raw stuff makes for a peppery but bright drink you won’t confuse for a curry. Try to find fresh turmeric — lots of big grocery stores and smaller neighbourhood shops now carry it — but beware of wearing white because it stains like crazy, even your skin. I reduced the original amount of coconut sugar and added cayenne pepper and some grapefruit juice for a bit of a kick. You could try black pepper or lemon juice as well.
1 cup (250 mL) almond milk
2 tsp (10 mL) peeled and chopped fresh turmeric
1 tsp (5 mL) peeled and chopped ginger
1/2 tbsp (7 mL) coconut sugar
2 tsp (10 mL) coconut oil
Pinch cayenne pepper
Pinch sea salt
2 tbsp (30 mL) fresh grapefruit juice
In a small pot over medium heat, add almond milk. Bring to a simmer.
In a high-powered blender, add turmeric, ginger, coconut sugar, coconut oil, cayenne pepper and salt. Blitz until a paste forms. Add almond milk and grapefruit juice and blend until frothy. Serve immediately.
Makes 2 servings.
Simple Scones
If you’re making tea for friends, try serving it with scones. Most scones recipes are very similar — flour, a leavening agent, salt, fat and dairy. I chose one from Allrecipes.com, which has been made more than 1,000 times and has a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars. This recipe can be dressed up with spices, dried fruit or cheese. Add after mixing wet and dry ingredients but before kneading.
3 cups (750 mL) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (125 mL) white sugar
5 tsp (25 mL) baking powder
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
3/4 cup (185 mL) cold butter, cubed
1 egg, beaten
1 cup (250 mL) milk
1/2 tsp (2 mL) oil or cooking spray, for baking sheet
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using two knives or a pastry cutter, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.
In a small bowl, mix egg and milk. Make well in centre of mixture; add liquid. Using fork, stir dough until it just comes together. Turn out onto a floured surface and gently knead, about 2 minutes. With a rolling pin, roll into a round 1 centimetre thick.
On a baking sheet, spread oil or cooking spray. Carefully transfer dough to baking sheet. Cut into eight equal wedges. Bake in preheated oven at 400 F (205 C) for 15 minutes or until top is light golden brown.
Makes 8 servings.
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