How to Store Tea Used to Make Boba Tea Drinks

Drinking tea is one of the few affordable luxuries in life. In many cultures, drinking tea is an important ritual. It is no wonder that many bubble tea shops incorporate green tea or black tea to make bubble tea drinks.  It is therefore quite frustrating for tea lovers to discover that their stash of the treasured leaves has lost flavor and aroma because of improper handling and storage. When stale tea is used to make your favorite boba tea drink, the flavor isn’t as robust as you are used to.

Knowing the proper way of storing the tea leaves will help keep their full value for months or years to come. Tea lovers all over the world must keep in mind that tea leaves were meticulously picked by hand across the tea plantations in China, India and other tea producing countries, and then carefully process them to make sure that they are packed and sealed for the long journey from the plantation to the tea lovers’ cup. Storing the tea leaves properly is giving justice and recognition to the real people who made possible that we enjoy every sip of this wonderful brew.

Proper Storage of Tea

There are basic rules to follow in storing teas, regardless of their type and processing method, as follows:

• Store in a dry environment – All types of teas must be stored in dry storage area, free of excessive moisture. Humidity and dampness will reduce the lifespan of any type of tea. Moisture is highly detrimental to the tea leaves because like any organic matter, they begin to decay and mold when wet. It is therefore not recommended to store tea leaves in the refrigerator or freezer because of the changes in humidity whenever the doors are opened and closed.
• Store away from strong smells – The tea leaves absorb the scent of anything in the immediate vicinity. The kitchen cabinet therefore is not the proper place for storing you tea leaves because of the presence of food, spices, and condiments that may have strong scents or aromas. Storing tea leaves in the kitchen cabinet or pantry will result in a brew that reeks of different kind of aroma. Imagine your favorite jasmine tea smelling like left over roast beef because it was kept next to the kitchen oven. Cupboards in the living room or linen closets outside the bathrooms will be ideal places to store tea leaves.
• Store in organized manner – Keep your different types of tea organized to avoid mixing one type with another. Keep a separate container for each type of tea as each type has a different shelf life. Green and white teas have generally shorter shelf life and must not be mixed with black that has longer life span. Organizing your collection of tea makes identification easier.

Part of being organized is putting notes on the harvest season of each stash of tea that you keep. This will give you the idea of how much time is left before a particular batch of tea loses flavor and aroma.

• Store away from sunlight – Store tea leaves in an airtight container that blocks out light. Because sunlight damages tea leaves, they must be kept in a cool, dark place. High temperature will gradually change the flavor of the tea.
• Vacuum sealed storage – The flavor and aroma of tea leaves can be preserved for the longest time if they kept in vacuum sealed containers. When using a zip bag, make sure that there is little air as possible before closing it.

Keep your tea in the best storage that will prolong its shelf life but the best option is to drink and enjoy your tea.

 

 

 

 

Benefits of Green Tea 

 

Bubble Tea drinks are often made with green tea or black tea. Green tea is used more than black tea though because of the health benefits associated with it. Now you can enjoy your favorite bubble tea drinks and feel good because green tea can do a body good! Green tea with bubble tea, please!

Green tea is made from the leaves of the plant species Camellia sinensis. It originated in China but is associated with many cultures throughout Asia. Green tea is now widely accepted in the West that traditionally consumed black tea.

Green tea and black tea both originate from the same exact species Camellia sinensis but the variety of the tea plant and how the leaves are processed differentiate the green from the black. Green tea comes from the smaller-leafed variety native to China – Camellia sinensis sinensis – that thrives in sunny regions with dry, cool climates. The variety has high tolerance for cold and thrives in mountainous regions.

Green Tea Processing

In order to produce green tea, the tea leaves from the Camellia sinensis plants are harvested and quickly heated, by fan firing or steaming, and dried to prevent the occurrence of too much oxidation that would turn the green leaves brown and change the fresh-picked flavor that is characteristic of green tea.

Brewed green tea is typically green, yellow, or light brown in color. The flavor profile of green tea ranges from grass-like when toasted to vegetal, sweet, and seaweed-like when steamed. Green tea is typically light in color and mildly astringent.

Benefits of Green Tea

Green Tea is regarded as one of the healthiest beverage on the planet. It is loaded with nutrients and antioxidants that have beneficial effects on the human body. Some benefits of green tea are as follows:

• It carries polyphenols such as flavonoids and catechins which significantly slow down the formation of free radicals in the body. These substances protect the cells and molecules from damages.
• Green tea has powerful medicinal properties because of the presence of the antioxidant Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG) which has been proven to be effective treatment to various illnesses.
• Green tea aids in weight loss. It is believed to increase the metabolic process. The polyphenol found in green tea works to increase the oxidation of fat and the rate the body burns calories.
• Green tea helps control the glucose levels among diabetic people. It helps slow down the rise of blood sugar after eating, preventing insulin spikes and fat storage.
• Green tea is believed by health professionals to keep the lining of the blood vessels relaxed and better able to withstand changes in blood pressure. It also helps protect against the formation of blood clots which are responsible for heart attacks. Regular consumption of green tea reduces the risk of high blood pressure.
• Green tea reduces the risk of esophageal cancer and other forms of cancer. It is believed that green tea helps kill cancer cells without posing any danger on the healthy tissues around them.
• Green tea has also been known to lower bad cholesterol as well as       improves the ratio of good cholesterol to bad cholesterol.
• Green tea is believed to delay the deterioration brought by Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. Studies involving mice showed that green tea prolonged the life of the brain cells and restored damaged brain cells.
• Green tea contains theanine, an amino acid that provides relaxing and tranquilizing effect. Regular consumption of green tea is believed to combat depression.

Drinking green tea has a host of other beneficial effects. People who regularly consume green tea live longer and healthier compared with non-green tea drinkers. Next time you order a bubble tea drink from your favorite shop, be sure to ask for green tea to be added in – ask for bubble tea with green tea!

 

Fun Facts about Boba Tea

First, there was the traditional way of drinking tea that has taken the form of ritual in many cultures. Then, there was ice tea, a simple tea drink with ice cubes and a splash of fruit juice or slices of fruit. The ice tea was invented in the World Exposition in St. Louis in 1904 as go-to refreshment during the hot days. There are other popular iterations of the world-famous tea drink such as the Thai tea and India’s Masala chai. The most recent addition to the tea family is the boba tea, a blend of brewed tea, milk, sugar, and tapioca pearls called boba. Here are some facts about Boba Tea!

Boba tea, also known as bubble tea, is a widely appreciated, but at times misunderstood, beverage that had captivated Southeast Asia and many parts of the West. Here are some fun facts about boba tea that many people probably are not aware of:

• Boba tea drink was developed in 1988 in Taiwan where tea houses are as common as coffee houses in the U.S. Lin Hsiu Hui, product manager of Shui Tang tea house playfully dumped her sweetened tapioca dessert into her ice tea during a staff meeting. The resulting beverage caught everybody’s attention and the playful action resulted to the tea concoction that made Lin Hsiu Hui more famous. The new concoction became one of the top sellers for the house and eventually, a top seller all over the world.
• Boba tea has been given different names in the different cities and countries where they become very popular but all the names refer to the same tea drink made from black or green tea, milk, sugar, and the tapioca balls, either big or small, made from cassava starch. The tapioca balls got their dark color from the brown sugar that was added in the cooking process.
• McDonald’s McCafe in Germany and Austria started offering boba tea in their stores in 2012 and the drink has widespread acceptance.
• Zhun zhu nai cha is the Chinese name for the boba milk tea. When the beverage was introduced in Hong Kong, the locals started calling it boba, a slang term for big breasts. It was in reference to the bigger tapioca pearls as differentiated from the small tapioca balls.
• The boba tea drink, while having tapioca balls as the main attraction, can come in different flavors including cantaloupe, lychee, avocado, jackfruit, almond, sesame, ginger, aloe vera, ice cream, different types of nuts, and other flavor.
• The tapioca balls, or boba, are chewy solids in the beverage could be choke hazards to small children. Parents must caution their children when they are drinking/eating boba tea.
• The calorie content of a boba tea drink depends on the brand of boba tea you drink or the tea shop that sells it. Each shop has its own way of preparing their beverage hence there is no set standard on the calorie count. One popular shop, Lollicup, claims that each glass of boba tea drink they sell contains 440 calories, with 216 of the calories derived from fat.