24 February 2012

Loose leaf tea made easy for the office

Now there's no excuse not to drink loose leaf tea at work! Check out this great little teapot which brews tea leaves in the strainer at the top. Once you've steeped for the right amount of time, a simple push of the read button on the top lid releases the brewed tea into the bottom - making it easy to pour straight into your cup! Perfect for all of those tea addicts who want to enjoy a quality cuppa at their desk throughout the day! Currently on sale at My Tea House, Neutral Bay.


02 February 2012

Caffeine levels in tea


I've met quite a few people recently who are committed to starting the New Year by cutting caffeine for awhile. And many are unsure of just how much caffeine is in tea and how it compares to coffee. I found this great chart recently at Sanctuary T which I think explains it pretty well.

It's also important to note that caffeine levels in tea decrease with each successive steeping. So for instance, if you are brewing loose leaf oolong tea, the first steeping will have the most caffeine. So you can either throw this away or simply drink less. Oolong is a great choice if you want to use the same tea leaves for multiple steepings. On average, 1 tablespoon of high-quality oolong tea leaves should yield about 5 standard cups of tea (measured at about 1 standard cup per steeping in your teapot) . Enough for you to decide if you want to just drink the last few cups, which of course should have less caffeine!