What is a tea latte?

Tea with milk in it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Many tea drinkers feel that milk gives the tea a watery flavor, while others find that it is a creamier, richer drink. The best of all worlds comes in a tea latte.

A tea latte is not just tea with milk in it.  It’s extra strong tea with hot steamed milk added to it. Most I’ve had use a bit more tea than milk, although half and half provides a pretty good ratio, similar to  cafe au lait. Tea lattes made by using roughly twice as much tea as you would normally use for any particular size cup, so the tea has a strong – but not bitter – flavor that can stand up to the addition of all that milk.

Any kind of tea can be used to a tea latte – black teas, herbal teas, green teas – and so can any type of milk. Most coffee shops that offer these drinks serve them lightly sweetened. Vanilla complements a lot of teas, but just as you can use any type of tea, you can also use any flavor sweetener that will suit your tea.

Lipton Green Tea with Mandarin Orange

Lipton’s Green Tea with Mandarin Orange is not a new release, but the holidays really get me in the mood for citrusy flavors, so I couldn’t resist giving it a mention. This tea has a wonderful orange flavor to it, in fact, it is so orangy that you can’t really taste the flavor of the green tea base much at all. This may be a bad thing in some cases, but not here. The orange flavor is smooth and not too sweet on its own (if you add sugar to your tea, that’s a different story!). It doesn’t have the bitterness that is the result of overusing orange zest, and it also doesn’t taste artificial, even though the flavor is strong. I suppose that means there is something to be said for the use of “pieces of real fruit” in with the tea.

I like this tea as a light, orange flavored drink. I think it would be a huge hit with anyone who wants to try out green tea but isn’t a fan of the grassy flavor that can accompany the tea sometimes. I also want to applaud Lipton on their packaging. Their pyramidal nylon tea bags are packed neatly into a small box that doesn’t compress the tea leaves or waste space with a box that is excessively large, like the TJ’s Cranberry Green Tea I tried recently.

Squeezing tea bags into tea?

If you’ve ever used a tea bag, chances are that you’ve squeezed the last bit of liquid out of it and into your cup after the tea has finished steeping – and possibly burned your fingertips doing it if you don’t have some ind of tea bag strainer. You might also have heard that squeezing a tea bag, once brewed, into a cup of tea will turn the tea bitter and that you should never, under any circumstances, do this.

If you put this to the test, you’ll probably find that it’s true, to some extent. Tea, especially black tea, contains tannins, a plant polyphenol that is known to have a bitter, astringent taste to it. It is not the same as tannic acid, a chemical present in different types of wood (such as oak) that is, among other things, used to tan leather. This astringency is more noticeable when your tea is stronger, and often squeezing the bag after steeping will release an extra little burst of well-steeped liquid from within the tea bag – and this can add a slight bitterness to the tea. That being said, if you are steeping your tea for a reasonable amount of time, you’re not going to notice a huge change.

It’s worth noting that herbal teas, as well as white and green teas, contain little to no tannins depending on the makeup of each individual tea. Those tea bags can be squeezed to your hearts content without any worry about adding unwanted bitterness to an otherwise good cuppa.

Are triangular tea bags better?

Some high-end tea companies began to stray from the standard tea bag years ago, using pyramidal tea bags in place of flat, rectangular “pillow” bags. At first, it seemed as though this packaging was simply a way to stand out from the crowd and charge a bit more to consumers. Now, more and more tea companies are switching to this design. Is there a benefit beyond looks?

The advantage to a pyramidal tea bag is in its structured shape. The bags are typically made of nylon (although other materials from silk to biodegradable fibers can also be used), which can be sewn shut instead of stapled or chemically heat-sealed in some way. Tea leaves are not compressed inside the bag and, when the bag is submerged in hot water, the leaves can swell, float freely and infuse maximum flavor into the water. There is less breakage of the tea leaves in these bags, reducing or eliminating the presence of tea “dust” in the bottom of the cup. To many, this also means that tea makers are not really given the option to use broken or sub-par tea leaves (whether they typically do or not) because there is no way to conceal them inside the pyramid as there is in the bag, where leaves can break easily.

In short, you are going to get a good brew with a pyramidal bag and might want to opt for one when dealing with more delicate/more expensive teas. But the traditional pillow bag is still going to perform just as well as it always has and, with good quality tea to being with, you’re still going to get a good cuppa with them.

Zhena’s Gypsy Tea Caramel Apple Tea, reviewed

I love the smell of fresh tea and coffee – and, of course, it can also be a good indicator of flavor – but it’s difficult to get a good whiff when the package you’re looking at is wrapped up tightly. It doesn’t stop me from trying, however, and sometimes the effort pays off. The tiniest hint of scent of the Caramel Apple Tea from Zhena’s Gypsy Tea sold me immediately. The tea, which is sold in stores like Whole Foods and Cost Plus, as well as online, is a blend of rooibos and honeybush, flavored with apples, licorice, cloves and cinnamon. The apples, cinnamon and honey-caramel flavor are the three most dominant elements of this tea, but they’re not aggressive. It smells and tastes like a mild, sweet glass of hot apple cider – perfect for any cold winter night.