Tea is second only to water when it comes to the most consumed beverages worldwide. The new trend is to serve imported teas, also known as gourmet teas, to your visitors. It is clear that coffee will continue to be loved by everyone, but these teas have been gaining more followers each day, especially in large cities.
This habit, in part, comes from the East and Europe, where consumption is much more common than in Brazil, for example. England is famous for traditional tea with milk, and the country consumes approximately 165 million cups of tea a day, something like at least three cups for every inhabitant.
Here in Brazil, however, until then, tea was known as a drink with a medicinal character, but this has been decreasing more and more, causing the consumption to intensify. Although there are still no statistical calculations, it is estimated that tea consumption has doubled in the last five years, but that it is increasing thanks to the gourmet tea fashion.
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What is gourmet tea?
Gourmet tea must be prepared with quality herbs, usually imported and adequate preparation, without customization to maintain the original flavor of the plant. It is made for the most demanding and knowledgeable palates, made with the best ingredients, transforming tea into a liquid as desired as wines and craft beer, for example.
How to consume?
It is essential to follow the instructions on the package. Although it seems something simple, the preparation of teas is not always so, as each herb has a right way to prepare it and, certainly, the makers researched this.
It is common, however, to personalize teas with the so-called poetic freedom. You can, after knowing the flavor of the tea, customize it with the brewing time, amount of herb for cups of water and even the addition of other ingredients can bring a very peculiar flavor to your tea.
One must be aware, however, that adding honey to a Darjeeling tea, for example, will take away all the flavor characteristics of the tea. To understand it better, it would be something like adding honey to white wine.
Initially, enjoy the true flavor of the tea and then make the customizations. This will give, in addition to creativity and freedom, knowledge about appreciation and will let you know the right ingredients to add to tea.
