The "Tea Lady" explains what she has learned about the beverage over the past 10 years.
Who: Nicole Schön
Age: 33
Experience: For more than 10 years, she has been importing premium loose leaf tea from all over the world; she is the owner of tnik, an online tea emporium company and is known as the “Tea Lady” around town; she sells tea to the public, restaurants and retailers including Rouge, Caffe Rosso and Bite Groceteria; she used to manage several Good Earth coffee house locations in Calgary; she regularly hosts educational tea parties and public speaking engagements; she is planning on writing a book about tea.
- “Tea is the second most-drunk beverage, second only to water, in the world. Why, in North America, we consume so much coffee is beyond me.”
- “Tea is older than currency and was even a form of currency in Asia. They actually pressed tea into coin shapes and used it like currency.
It was also pressed into bricks so it was easier
to pack."
- “One of the reasons I got into tea is that it isn’t a quick thing. Tea really forces you to pause because it’s not a fast process."
- “My family have always been tea drinkers, but more of your Tetley kind of teas. Despite having a daughter who is an importer of tea, my parents will still instinctually grab that stuff from the grocery stores. I’ll go to my parents’ house and see a brand-new box of [Celestial Seasonings] Sleepytime. Seriously. It’s embarrassing. Consequently, I’d never do a tea party
at their house."
- “There are teas, and then there are tisanes. Teas are made by one plant and one plant only: camellia sinensis. From this plant, you get four types of teas: green, black, white and oolong. Everything else is a tisane. Herbal and rooibos teas are tisanes.”
- “Oolong is a half-fermented tea — the halfway point between black and green. It’s sort of the tea of indecision.”
- “The optimal hot water temperature is
175?F for black tea, and it goes down from there for oolong, green and then white. Lower temperatures help bathe the leaves rather than shock them.”
- “It’s best if you brew black tea in a cast-iron teapot; it will continue to steep because of the high heat. Do green teas in a porcelain or even glass teapot to get a lower temperature that brings out the flavour.”
- “Tea is now being used as a culinary ingredient, not just in pastries, but in rubs, cold beverages and cocktails. You’ve got bars now making matcha-tinis. Or lemongrass tea that can make lemongrass ginger chicken. Lapsang souchong is a smoked tea, so when you use it on a rub on game or beef, it makes the meat smoky.”
- “One of the flavours I make is a bubble gum tea. It tastes like grape Hubba Bubba.”
- “People say green tea has the most antioxidants and I giggle a little. All tea has antioxidants, and the same amount because they come from the same plant. Through the process of drying, ripping and roasting, different kinds of antioxidants come out of the leaf.”
- “The shelf life of teabags in a box from when you open it is on average about two months because all the artificial flavours, preservatives and colours. The shelf life of loose tea is more than two years."
- “I’m a tea snob now and everyone I talk to is now a tea snob. It’s great; we’re just gonna take over the world, slowly.”
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