October 2023 Newsletter

Hello all and Happy Autumn!

Seasonal teas and goodies have arrived and are available in the shop and online shop. See the New at the Shop section below for the list of returning customer favorites:)

I get a lot of questions about different kinds or styles of tea and what makes them distinct. In prior newsletters, I have discussed the six types of "true" teas and tisanes. A few months ago I discussed some of the more popular breakfast blends, Earl Grey, and chai. I have never discussed scented, blended and flavored teas, so that is what we're going to dive into this month.

Gong Fu Tea Service continues and our autumn menu is now available! Appointments for this seated service are being accepted and I look forward to preparing tea for you during this relaxing and culturally enriching experience. Please note that the last day for Gong Fu Service will be Friday 11/10, as this service is discontinued during the holiday season. Please see details for this service and the current menu below :)

There is some great news regarding online orders that are to be shipped. The Post Office has come out with a new, lower-cost shipping option, which is now available for online orders. It is a ground service and the orders will take a little extra time to get to you, but you will now have the option between two shipping services and can select whichever best meets your needs. Please note that the estimated times given for each service are the times for the order to get to you once it is shipped. I try to get all orders shipped within a day or two of receipt; however, please note that orders placed after 5:00PM on Sundays through Wednesdays generally cannot be filled until I have the opportunity to get back to the shop on Thursdays for shipping on Friday or Saturday.

I've been organizing the "warehouse" as times allows over the past few months and continue to find a lot of cool pieces of teaware that I forgot I had in inventory. All are one-off pieces that are defective in some way - designs are a little off, minor chips, missing parts, etc. - but all are perfectly functional as teaware or can be used creatively as planters or bird feeders/houses. They'll be offered in the shop at discounted prices for very minor cosmetic issues and clearance prices for everything else. Be sure to check them out during your next visit and see if there are any treasures that you can use before they are all gone.

As always, I appreciate your continued support of my small business!

-- Kristine, FDN-P



Blended up fresh batches of Lemongrass Spearmint Organic Green Tea, Cold & Flu Blend Organic Herbal Tisane, Tulsi Leaf Blend Organic Herbal Tisane, Tulsi Chai Organic Herbal Tisane, and Chai Spice Blend Organic Herbal Tisane! :)

Gong Fu Tea Service

This Chinese method of tea preparation means "done well" and it requires time and focus, delivering a more aromatic and flavorful infusion than those prepared using the more familiar western method of tea preparation. I am happy to be able to offer this cultural aspect of tea and guide you further through your own tea journey.

This is an appointment only, seated service and, at the moment, is limited to four appointments at a time. Each session lasts approximately 1-1/2 hours (allow 2 hours in case it runs long) and costs $30 paid upon booking. It includes multiple infusions of the tea that you select from the Gong Fu Tea menu and there are 4-7 infusions, depending on the tea selected and as time allows. It also includes a Gong Fu lesson, if you like, so that you may incorporate this method into your own tea ritual at home.

The menu is crafted and rotated seasonally and curated from the larger origin tea offering available in the shop. The summer menu is now available:

• Xinyang Mao Jian Green Tea - Henan, China
• Joongjak Organic Green Tea - South Korea
• Tanzanian Silver Needle White Tea - Tanzania
• Satemwa Estate Zomba Pearls White Tea - Malawi
• Green Dragon Jade Formosa Wulong Tea - Nantou, Taiwan
• Oriental Beauty Wulong Tea - Hsinchu, Taiwan
• Neelamalai Estate Frost Black Tea - Nilgiri, India
• Zhu Ye Qi Black Tea - Hunan, China

Gong Fu Tea appointments are available:

Thursdays & Fridays - 11:30 through 3:00

Sundays - 11:30 through 2:00

Please note that there are no appointments on Saturdays.

If you would like to make an appointment for this unique experience, please email kristine@infuseteabarny.com or reply to this email and put "Gong Fu" as the subject. I look forward to preparing tea for you! :)

Pre-order Reminder

As a reminder, pre-orders of loose leaf teas are encouraged in order to streamline the preparation of your custom orders and reduce your wait time, especially if the shop is busy when you arrive. Orders also continue to be shipped nationwide and all (pre)orders can be placed in our online shop pleasuresoftea.com.

• Please place orders at least 24-hours ahead of desired pick up time, if possible, to ensure that it will be seen in the portal and there is enough time to pull it together in time for your arrival.
• Indicating the approximate date and time of pick up in the Comments section in the Cart helps ensure that your order will be ready for you upon arrival. Pick-ups can only be done during shop hours.
• If you plan to browse at the shop or grab a cup of tea, then please do not pay online - select the Pay at pick-up option. You will receive an emailed notification once your order is ready for pick-up.
• DO NOT send orders to my email or leave on voicemail - they will be lost and most likely will not be seen until weeks after you are looking for them.

Thank you for your continued assistance in helping to serve you in the most efficient and expeditious manner possible! :)

Styles of Tea

The diversity of tea is astounding. There is, what seems to be, an endless selection of different styles and aromatic and taste profiles. You may choose from an origin tea, a tisane, a blended tea or tisane, a scented tea, or a flavored tea or tisane. But what is the difference between these options? Well that is what we are going to discuss.

I have touched upon origin teas in many newsletters. An origin tea is a tea from a particular country or region within a country. Examples include Assam, India or Wuyi Mountains, Fujian, China. These are teas that have nothing added to them. They are pure, plain, unflavored teas, but are not to be thought of as having no flavor - basically they do not have any flavor or anything else added to them. Origin teas all come from the Camellia sinensis plant and are available in six distinct types - black, green, wulong, white, yellow and dark or Pu-er teas. Everything else is classified as a tisane. Examples of tisanes include chamomile, mints, tulsi, rooibos, yerba maté and all the other herbs. To read more in-depth information in past newsletters, please click here.

Blended teas and tisanes are combinations of tea leaves, herbs, fruit pieces, and/or other inclusions. A breakfast black tea is usually a blend of strong, full-bodied black teas. My Lemongrass Spearmint Organic Green Tea is a blend of green tea with lemongrass and spearmint. Blended tisanes are simply combinations of different herbs and sometimes they might include dried fruit or other ingredients. Blended teas and tisanes do not have any flavor added to them.

Scented teas have taken on the fragrance of whatever they have been scented with. Lapsang Souchong is a pine-smoked black tea that has a savory, smoky aroma. Jasmine is a popular floral scented tea, and other floral scented teas include rose, lotus, and osmanthus. These are not necessarily blended teas, as it is not the simple addition of flowers to the tea that provides the scent. In fact, scenting teas is a labor-intensive and time-consuming process that usually requires a fair amount of material during the process. Authentically scented teas will not have any flavor added to them, so be sure to check the ingredients to make sure. Some scented teas can be quite expensive because of the time, labor and materials needed to produce them. Cheaper Jasmine teas, as an example, may not have been crafted using traditional methods, but instead may actually be a flavored tea. The highest quality floral-scented teas usually contain very few flower petals in the final product.

Flavored teas and tisanes have flavor added to them. These teas and tisanes could also be blended with herbs, dried fruit and other ingredients; however, if a flavor is added to a tea or tisane, then it is classified as flavored. An example of a flavored tea is my Raspberry Ginger White Tea, which is a blend of white tea, green tea, ginger root, star anise, cardamom, raspberries, cloves, black peppercorns, and natural flavor. If the flavor wasn't added, then it would be a blended tea. Flavor is usually needed to be added to such teas in order for them to taste like raspberry, for example. So many raspberries would need to be added to the tea in order for it to taste like raspberry that there wouldn't be many tea leaves in the blend. So it is important to find the balance between the different components and get the desired flavor. Another example of a flavored tea is my Chocolate Cream Black Tea, which includes black tea, chocolate pieces, cacao pieces, and natural flavor. As with the Raspberry Ginger White Tea, flavor is added to this tea and the chocolate and cacao pieces are added more for visual effect. There are several flavoring options that can be used to flavor teas and tisanes. Artificial and natural flavors are the ones that are most often employed, but extracts and certain essential oils may also be used.

Each ingredient in a blended or flavored tea or tisane will comprise a certain percentage of the finished product with the total of all percentages equaling one hundred. It is important that each ingredient be in a ratio that provides overall balance in the aromas and taste of the finished product and the process to develop a final recipe can be very time-consuming.

Do you or someone you know need a personal health detective to address chronic wellness issues that can't seem to be resolved? If you haven't tried the FDN approach, then you haven't tried everything. Make 2023 your best year yet!

As a Certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition (FDN) Practitioner, I help clients get to the root of their health and wellness issues and reclaim the vitality that they very much deserve. I offer fully customized, programs that are unique to each client and that incorporate holistic protocols addressing body, mind, spirit and senses. This is an extension of my work in tea and herbalism for the past fifteen years, but I will now be able to help those of you who need it at a much deeper and personalized level than I can offer in the shop. In addition to the new tools in my toolbox, I will continue to draw from my experience in using tea for health, along with my herbalism training, during the development of the comprehensive protocols that will be specific to the bio-individualized needs of each client. I will educate and empower you to make the choices that are best for YOUR health so that you can be your own health advocate moving forward. I look forward to showing you what I can do to help you achieve your wellness goals and enjoy continued vitality well into the future!

To learn more, please visit https://vitalityholisticwellness.net. If you are ready to make the investment in your wellness, then I would be happy to discuss the potential opportunity with you. You may book a complimentary discovery call directly through the website so I can learn about your issues and you can learn more about how I work and how my approach is different from the conventional medicine and/or alternative approaches that you have already experienced. I also have an email address specific for Vitality Holistic Wellness business and I ask that all inquiries regarding these services be directed to kristine@vitalityholisticwellness.net.

The website also shares My Why - the reasons why I am so passionate about this approach to health and wellness. This is a very personal experience for me and I share my 32-year journey toward finding health and wellness and dealing with autoimmunity and a compromised immune system, among many other issues that you or someone you know may be experiencing. I hear from so many of you about your own chronic wellness issues and I share my story as a way to connect and open the door and show that there is hope…even after 32 years! If you would like to read my health story, please click here. It is long, so make sure you have a big mug of tea :)

I also email out a newsletter with health and wellness tips that do not fit within the scope of this newsletter. If you are interested in receiving the Vitality Newsletter, then feel free to sign up while you're at the website!

New at the Shop

Your favorite autumn blends are available! All of the following are returning: Apple Molasses Black Tea, Gingered Vanilla Toddy Black Tea, Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Black Tea, Pumpkin Pie Black Tea, Roasted Chestnut Black & Green Tea with Yerba Maté Blend, Maple Walnut Green Tea, Rooibos Maple Walnut Herbal Tisane, Rooibos Pumpkin Crème Herbal Tisane, Rooibos Pumpkin Spice Herbal Tisane and our house-blended Mulling Spices.

Pumpkin Pie and Chai Macarons and Apple Cranberry Walnut Povitica are also back in stock! And we are fully restocked on all scone mixes, including Pumpkin Spice and Maple :)

Infuse Tea Bar & The Pleasures of Tea

106 Main Street

West Sayville, NY 11796

www.infuseteabarny.com - shop

www.pleasuresoftea.com - online shop

**************************************

500+ Loose Leaf Teas, Herbal Tisanes & Functional/Medicinal Herbs

Certified - Tea Professional, Tea Sommelier & Tea Health Expert

Forever Student of the Art & Science of Herbalism

Certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner, MRC Healthy Gut Practitioner & Certified Terrain Advocate - Vitality Holistic Wellness