JULY
Garden Party
INTRODUCTION Tea is a very important part of British culture, with around 165 million cups drunk per day. The 12 books that make up The Daily Brew come together to form a tea-lovers guide, full of facts, tips, stories and knowledge to tip the cup of life. With each book you are given a short piece to digest each day, whilst you sip away at your morning cuppa. So take the time to sit down and find out everything you can possibly know about tea, without taking too much time out of your busy lives. In July it’s time for the garden party!
1 I
If you’re feeling hot, a cup of tea will actually cool you. It simply raises the body temperature momentarily, which makes you perspire and the perspiration on your skin creates a cooling effect.
2 II
Although fruit and herbal teas are often described as tea, they actually cannot be classed as tea because they don’t derive from the tea plant. Instead, they’re an infusion of fruits, flowers and leaves, which are added to boiling water.
3 III
Iced tea can also be made by brewing the tea leaves at a lower temperature out in the sun. These teas are often called Sun Tea, and the tea itself will be brewed for an hour, as opposed to 5 minutes in boiling water.
4 IV
Iced tea became popular at the World’s Fair in St Louis, USA in 1904. At the time there was a heat wave, and people were looking for cold drinks rather than the hot tea that was being served.
5 V
Fresh green tea contains vitamin C, which works as a great antihistamine in summer to help with allergies.
6 VI
Bubble Tea originated in Taiwan in 1980 - Bubble drinks are usually cool, refreshing and a sweet drink with tapioca pearls sitting on the bottom. Sometimes the drink is made with fresh fruits, milk and crushed ice, along with a healthy tea.
7 VII
In 1730, the popular pleasure gardens of Ranelagh and Vauxhall in London began serving tea. An evening of dancing and watching fireworks would be concluded with the drinking of tea.
8
VIII
Although we’re not quite sure where cold tea first came from, a number of English and American cookbooks show us that it has been served since the early nineteenth century. Green tea was very popular when served as a punch that was heavily spiked with liquor.
9 IX
Up until the 1900s, green tea was the prefered choice for iced tea, but it then changed to black tea.
10 X
At a typical summer garden party at Buckingham Palace, around 27,000 cups of tea are served.
11 XI
Although iced tea is often made with black tea, it tastes great made with green tea too! Simply brew 4 tea bags in 500ml of hot water for 5 minutes then allow to cool. Add 3 teaspoons of lemon juice and 4 teaspoons of honey before topping the drink up with another 500ml of cold water. Simply chill the drink and add ice to serve.
12 XII
The Vitamin E that is typically found in green tea is thought to help reduce the severity of seasonal allergies.
13 XIII
As early as the eighteenth century, tea gardens would open all over the country on Saturdays and Sundays, with tea being served as the high point of the afternoon.
14 XIV
Any ice cream recipe can be flavoured with tea. Just heat the cream to brewing temperature and infuse the tea for 5 minutes. Leave it to cool and replace the cream in the recipe with the tea flavoured one.
15 XV
Iced tea is just as healthy as normal tea as it’s high in vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants. Just make sure you don’t overdo it when adding the sugar!
16 XVI
Good & Proper Tea There’s nothing better on a hot summers day than a cup of tea to cool you down. If you fancy a lovely cup of freshly brewed tea whilst you’re out and about in London, keep an eye out for the Good & Proper Tea van. Although it’s usually parked up at Kings Cross during the week and Brockley Market at weekends, it can move around. The tea’s that are served are a selection of specially selected loose leaf teas and the are all brewed to perfection. If you don’t want to miss it, it’s definitely worth keeping an eye out for it’s latest whereabouts through their website. Find out more at www.goodandpropertea.com
17 XVII
For something a little different you could always make an Earl Grey Shake. Just brew Earl Grey for 5 minutes, strain the tea and add two scoops of ice cream.
18 XVIII
Although iced tea is not as popular over in the UK, approximately 80% of tea drank in America is served cold.
19 XIX
It is often quite common to be dehydrated when it’s hot out, but if you don’t fancy drinking water to re-hydrate yourself, have a cup of green tea. Green tea has been found to have similar re-hydration effects to water.
20 XX
Although iced tea is often made with black or green tea, a herbal or fruit tea that is served cold is also considered to be an iced tea, even though it’s not technically made with tea.
21 XXI
For a cooler way to drink green tea, just turn it into a smoothie. You could blend banana, melon, strongly brewed green tea and almond milk for a super tasty summer smoothie.
22 XXII
Green tea contains vitamin E, which has antioxidant benefits that help protect the skin from UV damage.
23 XXIII
Iced tea is a healthier alternative to other hydrating cold drinks, as most fizzy drinks are full of sugar and additives.
24 XXIV
If you fancy more of a refreshing summer taste, go for a fruit tea blend. There are plenty of summer themed blends out there, including revitalising berries and exhilarating citruses.
25 XXV
White tea has some great benefits when drank, but if you’ve managed to get sunburnt, if you relax it in a cool bath mixed with 6 to 8 litres of brewed white tea, the pain will be alleviated.
26 XXVI
Unsweetened iced tea is naturally calorie free, so it’s a tasty, yet ideal, drink for keeping that bikini body in great shape too.
27 XXVII
For a great summer cocktail, just mix gin with cold tea, and flavour with a little lemon rind.
28 XXVIII
Iced tea doesn’t have to be left plain. It is often flavoured with a fruit syrup, with lemon, cherry, peach and raspberry being some of the most popular options.
29 XXIX
Most Long Island Iced Tea recipes do not actually contain any tea, despite the name. It also wasn’t created in Long Island, New York either, like most people believe. It actually first surfaced in the 1920’s in a community called Long Island in Kingsport, Tennessee.
30 XXX
Although lemon is a very popular choice to be added to tea, for a summery treat, why not try adding a slice of orange instead.
31 XXXI
To add flavour to iced tea made with black tea, you could add some slices of lemon and orange and maybe even a few leaves of mint.
PHOTOGRAPHY Sophie Kean - 1-6, 8-9, 11-12, 15, 17-20, 22-24, 26, 28, 30-31 Helga Weber - 7 Dave King - 10 Kew Flickr - 13 Jason Bagley - 14 Wilkes McDermid - 16 Good & Proper Tea Co. - 16 Stu Spivack - 21 Akuppa John Wigham - 25 Jonas Lindgren - 27 Dennis Wilkinson - 29