Tea - Anyway You Like It…
67 views · Published 2 July 2016 · 7:03 · Indexed 28 September 2026
Channel: Life The Basic Manual · 2016 · Education
In this clip, Geoff Cole, describes the wide and wonderful world of tea. He is speaking from his award-winning teashop, Cemlyn, that overlooks the great grey stones of Harlech Castle that overlooks the Irish Sea. For Geoff and his wife Jan, co-proprietors of this special place, great food produced from the finest local ingredients, excellent service, and a spacious, comfortable environment have always been integral to what they have offered at Cemlyn. They’ve been in this place, in this business for over sixteen years, and in that time, they have honed their tea skills to the finest edge. But as Geoff is keen to say - with tea, there’s always more to learn. Despite the British love of tea, we often limit our choices. When Cemlyn first opened, the idea of having a range of teas available on the menu was a novel one, with only handful of teashops in the UK providing this kind of choice. so Geoff and Jan began by stocking seven teas - which back then was considered radical. Never being ones to do things by halves, the Coles immersed themselves in the history of tea, how it is produced, and began sampling the broad spectrum of tastes, flavours and variants produced around the world. They now offer a stunning fifty types of freshly-packed leaf teas sourced from around the world, both in the cafe and online. Geoff stresses that even with that much diversity, any tea shop can only hope to offer a glimpse to its customers of what’s available. China alone has over a thousand different types of green tea. Many tea drinkers are unfamiliar with the spectrum of teas available - from white through yellow, to green and red or black. The colour and strength and taste vary due to the process of production, growing conditions and type of tea. For instance, white teas are pretty much the leaf comes from the bush - while black teas (the basis of many mass-produced tea-bags on the supermarket shelves) are fully fermented and oxidised. There are also a myriad of ways to actually drink your tea - with or without milk, with or without lemon, swiftly-brewed and poured, or well-brewed. Each choice affects how the cup will actually taste, its strength, its acidity or alkalinity, and its content of tannin. But Geoff’s real message is that there is no right or wrong way to drink your tea - its all about how you like it. So rather than plumping for a one-size-fits-all philosophy of dunking a tea bag in a mug for a couple of minutes, why not live large and try and little more of the fantastic variety of teas out there? Find out more at http://www.cemlyntea.co.uk Twitter : http://twitter.com/CemlynTea Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CemlynTea
