TheCleaners.net

I learned something today! I discovered that Herbal Teas are not actually tea at all, and most don't contain herbs, either. Hmmm. So what is in this beverage we drink hot or cold, with one lump or two, a splash of milk or a twist of lemon? (And what's an Oolong, anyway?)

This week, learn more about tea than you perhaps knew before, and enjoy indulging in something with no calories and plenty of varieties from which to choose (over 3000!) I'm sure there will be some nugget you can carry away and drop casually into conversation to make yourself look great.

And speaking of looking great, if a bit of that tea sloshes on the linens or your clothing, bring it to us. Tea is trickier to get out than you might imagine, but we do it all the time.

Gotta go now... my  Lotus (by Tazo) is ready!
Jim Nixon
www.thecleaners.net

A Cup full of Statistics

Half of all Americans drink tea -- 2.5 billion gallons of it.
80% of this consumption is in Iced Tea.
The remaining 20%, hot tea, represents
500 million gallons per year!

Live It Up with Linens Coupon

People who enjoy life don't wait for special occasions to use their nice things. And if you use table linens to make meals exciting, there are bound to be spills. Let us clean a table cloth, and we'll clean the napkins at no charge. (Maximum of six (6) napkins.)
Please Include first page of this newsletter and coupon with your order. Offer expires October 30, 2004 and cannot be combined with other offers.

Comfort to a "Tea"

Americans don't take their tea as seriously as they used to. After all, it was partly the revolt over exorbitant taxing of tea that lit the revolutionary fire under the founding fathers back in 1776. Today, though we consume tea by the billions of gallons, it's not the event that the English still make it each day.

For some people, the reluctance to drink tea comes from feeling awkward around a beverage that has as many varieties and subtleties as wine. So, let's put a few fears to rest with a bit of knowledge -- and then you can go forth and have a cuppa!

Types of Tea

There are four main types of tea grown today:

• Black Tea (Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Darjeeling are well-known varieties) produces a dark, rich tea because the leaves are exposed to the air and allowed to oxidize for a specific amount of time. This turns the leaves dark, hence the name.
• Green Tea (more common in China or Japan, where the famous tea ceremony uses exclusively Green teas) produces a lighter colored tea, with a milder taste. The tea is not allowed to oxidize, and retains its green coloration
• Ooling Teas (known as the "champagne of teas") often has a fruity or nutty flavor, and is a cross between black and green tea making methods (some oxidization, but not as much as black tea.)
• White Tea (very rare) is harvested earlier than the other teas and produces a pale, gently flavored tea that is most appreciated by connoisseurs.
• Flavored teas are actually one of the main three teas (black, green or Oolong) with dried fruits or spices or herbs.
• Herbal Teasare more correctly called "tisanes" or "infusions" since there is no tea included in them. Many are made from grasses (lemon grass is an example) or may include flowers, spices, berries, fruits or other plants. (chamomile and peppermint are two popular flavors.)

Tea is grown in bushes that can produce tea for 50 years. The bushesgrow to 90 feet high if left untrimmed, but are trained to grow to 3 feet tall for easy harvesting, since the top two leaves and the bud are plucked by hand from the tops of the bushes every 7 to 14 days. Like grape vines in the wine industry, individual bushes are cloned and nurtured so that reliable consistency of tea is possible.

• Read more about how tea is made.
• Learn more about tea types.
• Order teas or tea implements.
• Read articles about different kinds of tea.
• Excellent tea information from the Tea Council of Canada.

Tea Trivia

• Tea is nearly 5000 years old (legend has it that a Chinese emperor discovered it when some tea leaves blew into a boiling pot of water. Why he drank something that leaves had fallen into, we have no idea.)
• Iced tea was created in the South in the 1860s, and becamea hit at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis.
• Thomas Sullivan invented the tea bag in 1908.
• A pound of tea will produce about 180 cups of brewed tea.
• After each batch of tea is processed in a tea factory, the entire factory is scrubbed clean from top to bottom so the next batch will not be contaminated by the previous one.

The Art of Tea Brewing

Like anything worth doing, it's worth brewing tea properly to enjoy it fully. Here are some guidelines to get you started.

• Run the water from the tap for a minute or two so it is fully aerated -- this will make the tea taste even better. Fill the kettle and put it on the stove to come to a nice, rolling boil on medium heat.
• Put hot water into the teapot to warm it up while you wait for the tea water to boil.
• Empty the teapot and put in 1 teaspoon of tea for each cup you want to make -- and "one for the pot", to make sure you have enough. Use loose leaves, since most tea bags have tea that has probably sat longer than it should and may be stale.
• As soon as the water boils, take it off the heat. Yes, you can "overcook" the water -- driving out all the nice air that is in the water and making the tea taste flat. Don't underboil it, either.
• Take the teapot to the kettle, to be sure the water is as nearly boiling as possible when you pour it in.
• Don't oversteep the tea. With the lid on, let small-leaved teas like English Breakfast steep for 3 minutes, medium leaves like Orange Pekoe steep 4-5 minutes, and large leaves (Earl Grey, Jasmine, Oolongs) steep 5-6 minutes.
• Remove leaves by pouring tea through a strainer into cups. If there is more tea left in the pot, pour it through a strainer into a fresh pot (warmed with hot water previously) so the tea does not continue to steep and become bitter.

Serve with milk (not cream, which is too heavy-tasting and will overwhelm the delicate tea) and sugar, or lemon. (Don't put both milk and lemon in or it will curdle the milk. Nasty!)

• Read more tips for great tea making, and ideas for a formal afternoon tea, or High Tea (which is actually meant to be a meal, and not as hoity-toity as afternoon tea.)

The Ooops! Factor

It's inevitable that you'll spill some tea on table linens, your clothing or other items. That's part of life, and part of the process of learning about this wonderful beverage. If you do spill, bring the garment or linens to us. Tea stains things easily due to the tanins it contains (turns things brown) and if the tea also had milk and/or sugar in it, there is the potential for oxidization of stains over time (generally this results in permanent damage.) With lemon, you may actually bleach color from fabric if it is not treated promptly. It's a complicated mixture, but we've been getting it out successfully for years, so don't worry.

And what about your teeth? Like coffee, wine and soda pop, tea can stain your teeth. Swishing your mouth with clear water after drinking tea will help, as will good dental hygiene. There are also lots of bleaching tooth pastes and other products around today.

• Read more about teeth stains and their removal.
• To remove stains from cups or pots, use baking soda with a little water to form a paste. Scrub the inside of the cup or pot with the paste, then rinse thoroughly and wash as usual.

You can also eat foods that will remove many stains naturally. Hard, somewhat abrasive foods like raw carrots, apples, spinach, broccoli, celery and lettuce can scrape your teeth clean -- some even create a film on your teeth to form a barrier against staining. So, now you've got another reason to "eat 5-A-Day" like your doctor told you!

Community Service Corner

Remember, October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Every year, the month of October is a time to remind women young and old that they need to take care of their health through regular breast self-examination and mammograms.  Breast cancer will strike on in ten women -- so the chances that you will not be touched by this disease in your circle of family and friends is slim.  Be proactive in your health!

What can you do to help?  Regardless of whether you are male or female, you can be struck by breast cancer.  You can also make a difference in the fight.  Join in efforts to promote awareness of this disease.  Buy postage stamps that feature the breast cancer message, and from which funds are donated to research.  Learn more about the disease -- and the reasons for hope.  Get involved in a Relay For Life or Race for the Cure event in your area.  You can help save lives.

• Purchase materials to promote Breast Cancer Awareness.
• Official site of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
• American Cancer Cociety  (Relay For Life) 
• Susan G. Komen Foundation (Race for the Cure)
  
  Don't forget to purchase postage stamps that help fund breast cancer research.