While there are plenty of hotels and tea parlors where you can go out for tea, it s also fun to unwrap the china and throw a tea party at home, especially for a bridal or baby shower. The ideal time to serve tea and tea sandwiches is 3 or 4 in the afternoon, when your blood sugar and circadian rhythms take a dip. Or you can follow the bottom-line philosophy of the Mad Hatter in Alice s Adventures in Wonderland who insists maniacally that, It s always time for tea. From Grandma s Tummy Mint to Lapsang Souchong, there are a confusing number of teas from which to choose. The descriptors green, oolong, black and white refer to the way the leaves have been processed.
Green tea is unfermented, black tea is fermented, and oolong is semi-fermented.
Green tea leaves are steamed, rolled and fired, and have less caffeine than black tea and a fresh, almost grassy taste. They pack more caffeine than green tea, but less than black. Black tea is rolled, fully fermented and then fired. It has the most caffeine, but only about a quarter of that found in a cup of coffee. Tea Treasures 330 N. Santa Cruz Ave.