Thursday, November 11, 2010

Kansas City Food Artisans


TeaMoka Joins Kansas City Foods Artisans

The Kansas City Food Artisans (KCFA) association is comprised of small-batch food entrepreneurs, including shelf-stable, refrigerated and frozen products, baked goods, and packaged farm, ranch and dairy products, all from the Kansas City area.

Some of the artisan members include Tall Grass Toffee Company, Dodge City Beef, Valomilk Candy Company and many other great companies. Several of the members will be doing product samplings in this month and on into December. Check out the website http://www.kcfoodartisans.com/ for dates and locations of the events and support your local food artisans!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

TeaMoka Local Sampling Event!

Happy Fall!

TeaMoka will be sampling teas at a local craft show on November 19th and 20th at Ascension Catholic Church. Feel free to stop by to sip some new teas and do some early holiday shopping! There will be a lot of unique vendors participating in this event, so you will have the opportunity to find some great gifts (or just shop for yourself!).

Ascension Catholic Church is located at 9510 West 127th St. in Overland Park, KS (127th and Antioch).

Ascension Marketplace
Ladies Night on Friday, November 19th from 7:00pm-10:00pm
Saturday, November 20th from 8:00am-3:00pm

Hope to see you there!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

How to Make Great Iced Tea



Summer time is a great opportunity to get the recommended daily healthy intake of 3-4 cups of tea per day, by making refreshing iced tea at home. Any category of loose tea can be made into iced tea, whether it is a black Indian Assam, to a Chinese green or white tea--and of course herbal tea (tisanes) also make great iced teas. Personal flavor choice and preference should be the driver of what type of tea you choose to use for preparing your iced tea.

Some tea friends I know love to make iced tea with TeaMoka's British Blue Mountain Earl Grey, whereas I typically prefer to use a green or white tea. "To each his own"--especially when it comes to tea! As far as how much loose tea to use when making iced tea actually depends on the process you are using to steep your tea. In general, you want to use enough tea to make it concentrated (i.e. more than what you would use when steeping hot tea), because you will then add ice which will dilute the liquid. If you are steeping tea on the stove, you can bring a little bit of fresh cold water(about a cup) to a boil (for a black tea), add 2-3 teaspoons of loose tea, and then steep for about 5 minutes. Once this liquid cools, add fresh cold water, and then pour over ice to make several glasses of fresh tea.

If, on the other hand, you use an automatic tea brewer like I'm currently using, then you simply fill the inner container with fresh cold water, add ice to the pitcher, then add about 2 tablespoons of loose tea in the top of the brewer and press start. Tea brewers make it so fast and easy to prepare iced tea and then you can just place the pitcher in the refrigerator and enjoy tea all day long.

The way I grew up of making "sun tea", where you place a jar of tap water and tea bags out on your deck and let the summer sun heat the tea, is now being frowned upon as a way of making iced tea due to the chance of bacteria growing in the jar (because the water is never brought up to a boil or near boil). Somehow I survived childhood enjoying tea this way, but I have to admit that making tea in an automatic brewer is so much easier and faster...and I guess there is extra piece of mind knowing that it's bacteria-free!

To me, iced tea is just one of those few simple little pleasures of life that I enjoy so much. So the most important thing to remember is to just savor your tea this summer--any way you like it!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Upcoming Event

You're invited to join TeaMoka Specialty Tea at the women-only shopping event of the year!

Haute Market Shopping Party
DATE: Thursday, July 16th
TIME: 4:30pm-9:00pm
LOCATION: Ritz Charles, Overland Park, KS
EVENT: Shop from over 30 trendy boutiques and enter for a chance to win a trip to New York City during fashion week!

Tickets for this event are $10 in advance available at www.HauteMarket.com. The first 4 women to respond to this post can purchase tickets directly from TeaMoka for
$5 each! Plus, for anyone that attends this event you'll receive 25% off any one TeaMoka tea or teaware item!

Friday, May 15, 2009

White Tea





One tea category that was all a buzz at this year's World Tea Expo was White Tea. Alot of conflicting information abounds about the differences in green tea vs. white tea, how white tea is produced, and whether a tea can technically be categorized as white or not.

I started drinking white tea many years ago and have always enjoyed the subtle elegance of this type of tea. If you've never tried it, give it a chance and you might find it to be a truly sensory experience. In the meantime, here's a bit of basic information to get you started on understanding white tea.

Production: White teas are generally harvested in early spring and are carefully sun-dried for several days to remove moisture. White tea is the least processed of all teas, in that it does not undergo much processing like black teas and even some green teas. The buds (or tender shoots) of the Camellia sinesis plant are plucked from the top of the tea plant and these buds often display a downy white fuzz, thus giving the tea its name of White Tea.

Infusion: The infused liquor is very pale in color and is often very mellow, fragrant, and slightly sweet. Most white teas are often steeped best at water that is just steaming (not boiling) as the leaves are tender and you should avoid scorching them. I've found that usually 2-3 minutes is the optimal steeping time for most white teas, but always steep to your personal preference.

Caffeine: Most information available usually states that white tea is lower in caffeine than even green tea; however the latest scientific esearch indicates that white tea can actually have slightly more caffeine than green tea. This is due to the younger tea shoots from which white tea is plucked containing more caffeine in the leaves than older, "more mature" leaves. Caffeine in the tea plant is nature's self-defense against plant disease and insects. Isn't nature amazing? So unless your body is sensitive to caffeine, don't use caffeine as an indicator of whether to choose green or white tea.

Just drink what you enjoy!