How to Make Good Tea Choices with Chris Cason at Le Train Bleu

Divya: Hi, I’m Divya Gugnani and I’m here at Le Train Bleu in Bloomingdales. Today we’re taking you Behind the Burner with America’s Tea Sommelier to share some insights that will steam up your ordinary tea time. Working on cover, the mysticism about tea, hear about the trends and taste some tempting teas. So join me for tea time with Tavalon.

So I’m here with our expert Tea Sommelier Chris Cason from Tavalon Tea. So Chris, take us back in time. Where did tea originate?

Chris: Well, it originates in China about four thousand five hundred years ago. So tea is one of the oldest beverages in the world.

Divya: And you know Chris, with so many different varieties, it’s confusing for the consumer on what tea to drink. Can you help us figure out?

Chris: Absolutely. Now there are four main types of tea. There’s black tea, like most people know in English breakfast or this one right here, our version we call the New York City Breakfast.

Divya: It’s kind of strong..

Chris: Yeah, definitely it’s got a little hardiness to it. Then there’s a green tea like this one right here. This one’s called lemon green. And green tea is a little bit lighter and it’s got plenty of antioxidants in it. There’s another classification of tea that’s not really tea. It’s called herbal tea. It doesn’t come from the tea plant. Now herbal tea is, can be anything from dried fruits like this one right here that we call crimson punch. Give that a smell.

Divya: Yeah and you know, the thing about these mixes is that you really get the tanginess of the fruit and the sweetness of the fruit and all kind, like it blends in together to give you a real’ nice punch of flavor. Chris, you grew up close to a tea plantation and you also have a book out so there could not be a better expert out there for us to show us how to drink loose leaf tea.

Chris: Sure. Now making loose leaf tea can be intimidating to some people because they see this stuff and they say what do I do, it couldn’t get any easier especially with this really cool tea pot. And with this tea pot, all you have to do, you have your boiling water here, and now for every cup of tea that you want, juts add one teaspoon of tea. So that’s one for you and one for me. Now, that’s actually why they call it a teaspoon because one cup makes one cup of tea.

Divya: Perfect. I didn’t know that. So Chris, while the hot tea is steeping, the hot tea of course, I would love to try your tea cocktail. Let’s check it up.

Chris: Sure, now this one is what do we call this martini. It’s a white tea, mint and Korean plums that we mix with vodka. Now, when you’re tasting this one, different parts of your tongue have different taste receptors, so you’re gonna notice, first you taste the sour, then the sweet, and then it fades into a nice mint.

Divya: It is just so refreshing! Are we ready for the hot teas now?

Chris: Looks like it’s just about ready. Now with this gravity tea pot, all you have to do is put it right on top of the cup and it does all the work for you. Couldn’t get any easier. Cheers!

Duvya: Cheers! Wow, the New York breakfast has an incredibly earthy taste. Well Chris, thank you so much for joining us. We learned a tremendous amount about tea.

Chris: I appreciate you having me on. Thank you.

Divya: Most welcome.

So thanks for joining us. To hear about the trends and tales behind steaming and shaking it up with all things tea, enjoy this exclusive offer from Tavalon. To purchase their tasty teas and put a twist into your daily tea time, stay tuned to “Behind the Burner” for the tips, tricks and techniques that are lighting the culinary world on fire.