Male: So welcome back to LeGourmet TV today again we’re going to talk about tea with Shabnam at the Tea Emporium in Toronto, and I think let’s just take away the intimidating factor of loose leaf tea. Let’s just blow it open so that everybody feels comfortable to come on in and explore this.

Shabnam: I think that there is couple of factors that makes this very intimidating for people. Number one, “Oh my God there’s so much selection where do I start?”

Male: Yes.

Shabnam: And what’s important there is go to stores where you’re going to get the help and the expertise of the sales people.

Male: Yes.

Shabnam: What I mean by that is anybody that’s standing behind the counter should be able to guide you, and don’t be afraid to use them that’s what they are there for.

Male: Okay.

Shabnam: So you can start with what you’re comfortable with what do you normally drink. If you are a tea drinker and you’re drinking tea bags and want to go into the loose leaf world that’s where you should start. Start with “what I'm currently drinking” if it’s earl gray try earl gray loose.

Male: Okay.

Shabnam: If it’s English breakfast try English breakfast loose, etc.

Male: And then build from there.

Shabnam; Exactly.

Male: And do a little bit of experimenting.

Shabnam: Absolutely. Number two, is well “I just don’t have time to bare loose leaf teas or well it’s loose what do I’ll do with it.” And that’s where brewing methods come in.

Male: Okay.

Shabnam: And there are so many options out there that make a life so easy that there’s no really excuse for brewing bag of tea. I say this all the time it takes me the same amount of time to brew a good cup of tea as it does for somebody else to brew a bad cup of tea, so sometimes it’s really as simple as tea balls.

Male: Tea balls.

Shabnam: Where the leaved go in that goes into your cup water goes on top and you’re set to go.

Male: Into your cup?

Shabnam: There’s nothing wrong with brewing inside of our cup yes, and these are the things that I think it’s so important to stress. I mean we’ve got so many different varieties here, so we’ve got this beautiful pot which is an old art deco designed from France you see it has the infuser built inside on if, or you’ve got this gorgeous caste iron Japanese hand made.

Male: It come with the infusion.

Shabnam: Exactly, with the infuser inside of it. We brewed our tea with a glass tea pot that had an infuser inside of it, and I mentioned before that you can get separate infusers you can purchase this separately that can fit into a teapot.

Male: And I see this everywhere now in North America. I remember two or three years ago I brought them back from Hong Kong.

Shabnam: Yes.

Male: Because I couldn’t find in here, but now you know even in the supermarket in the TIO with the tea there are decent infusers and just makes it so much very simple.

Shabnam: So much is simpler and they are readily available, but I think what’s important to stress here as well is that tea can still be a part of your life if it’s fasting on the go. So yes brewing a cup if that’s what you have time for then that’s the way that you should do it.

Male: Okay.

Shabnam: Paper filters are fantastic I travel with these all the time, so all you’re doing is your putting the leaves inside of the filter here that goes into your cup, water goes on top it has to set when you’re done. Or my absolute favorites I never leave home without it is my travel mug and this is designed for tea.

Male: It looks like a coffee press.

Shabnam: It does like a coffee press and essentially it’s the exact same principle.

Male: Okay.

Shabnam: So your leaves go in your water goes on top flange it up close and when your steeping is finish depending on how you like it. Push down your plunger your leaves are not at the bottom your teas up top and you’re set to go. So whether I am on the run out of the house whether I'm sitting in my office and just want an easy cup of tea without office clean up and massive mess afterwards, or if I'm at home and just want to make a ceremony out of it, it is so easy and simple to make a good cup of loose leaf tea without putting in the extra time. It can be a ceremony if you want it to be, but it is just have to be you can drink good tea all the time.

Male: I think that’s very important for people to understand.

Shabnam: Absolutely.

Male: Just dive in and an item like this is you know it’s not expensive.

Shabnam: Couple of dollars.

Male: So you know a couple of dollars for this and then a couple to experiment with some loosely find that you like, and you’ll never go back to bad tea again.

Shabnam: Well you can’t go backwards and we tell our customers when they come in is that “you know what once you had good tea you really can’t go backwards”.