SAN FRANCISCO -- In a city saturated with
coffeehouses, a state awash in lattes and a nation deeply in
love with a cup of joe, they have come for tea.
With
their heads bent over stainless steel tins of leaves at the
Lupicia Fresh Tea boutique here, they sniff chocolate mint
black and inhale blueberry-raspberry green. They come for tea
because of beneficial flavonoids, exotic flavors and the
elegance of an Asian ceramic teapot. They are top-of-the-line
tea drinkers, and in a Starbucks world, their numbers are
increasing.
A coffee man in the morning, accountant Roy
Wong wants nothing but green tea in the afternoon, and when it
comes to green tea, he wants nothing but the best. Hence his
pilgrimage to the Japanese-owned Lupicia, which offers 200
varieties of black, green, oolong and white teas.
"I've
read that green tea helps prevent Alzheimer's and helps with
digestion, so why not?" Wong said.
Tea in America once
meant a bag of Lipton floating in a cup. Green tea was a
fringe product and white tea unheard of. All of this has
changed, including the shape of the lowly tea bag, as U.S. tea
sales are expected to grow to $10 billion by 2010 from $6
billion in 2005, according to the World Tea Expo, a trade
show.
Driven by reports that tea has less caffeine than
coffee, is loaded with antioxidants and may even help prevent
tooth decay and Alzheimer's disease, Americans are guzzling
ever-increasing quantities of chilled, bottled tea. Premium
loose-leaf teas also are surging in popularity, packaged in
bulk or in silken, oversized tea pouches, which enable the
leaves to unfurl.
Nationally, the number of tea cafes
has boomed to 2,000 from 200 in the past decade, according to
the Tea Association of the USA. California has the most, with
the coffee-loving Midwest trailing. "The Midwest has always
been a laggard when it comes to tea consumption," said Joe
Simrany, president of the Tea Association of the
USA.
The TeaGuide, which maintains a list of tearooms
worldwide in conjunction with the Cat-Tea Corner Web site,
catteacorner.com, reports that there are 33 tea cafes in
Chicago and 18 in the suburbs.
What's in your
tea bag
Just as wine, coffee and chocolate transformed
from foodstuffs into gourmet pursuits, tea drinking has become
a province of connoisseurs.
Education is at the core of
the transformation. The idea is that once you've tasted
high-end single-estate-grown Assam black tea, that cup of
Tetley won't be as appealing.
Take this bit of
education from Kalvin Louis, co-owner of the Samovar Tea
Lounge, a San Francisco Asian-themed food and tea salon.
Traditional tea bags, Louis said, contain nothing more than
discarded tea leftovers known as fannings, dust, soot or
shake. As tea is processed, whole leaves are shaken in a mesh
basket. What falls through is bagged.
"They color it
and flavor it," said Louis disdainfully as he sipped a cup of
Ancient Tree hand-picked green tea.
The tea experience
comes in two forms. In sync with the pace of American culture
are bottled chilled teas, tea smoothies, sparkling tea mixed
with fruit juice and bubble tea drinks--a Taiwanese specialty
characterized by pearls of gummy tapioca at the bottom of the
cup that are sucked up through a wide straw.
On the hot
side, loose-leaf sellers such as L'Amyx Tea Bar in Oakland are
selling the idea that pausing to steep a pot of tea is a
calming respite from a hectic world. To this end, L'Amyx
doesn't sell take-out cups of tea.
But do Americans
want to slow down?
"It's an uphill battle with American
culture," said Marcia Lam, chief financial officer at L'Amyx,
as she stood behind the bar, pouring tea made from delicate
white buds. Just as yoga and spas have emerged as a way to
find balance, so too has tea, she said.
Making
the switch
In Chicago, even the pressure of law school
can't make Chrystina Zelaskiewicz, 26, drink a cup of coffee.
On winter nights, she favors Fruit Blast herbal tea at Argo
Tea on Rush Street.
"It's hot, it tastes good and it
doesn't have caffeine," she said. Herbal teas aren't
technically teas because they aren't from the Camellia plant
that is the source of all teas, but they're steeped like tea
and also are growing in popularity.
"I like the
flavored teas," said Chicago medical school student Bonnie
Hoel, 25, who recently sipped a cup of Ginger Peach black at
Argo Tea. When she's at home, she's partial to the milky
cinnamon sweetness of chai black, which she pairs with
homemade banana chocolate chip bread. She's also acquired a
taste for green tea. "It's a little bitter, but I've heard
about the health benefits of it," she said.
Behind most
tea drinkers is a conversion experience--the day they put down
their java and picked up some oolong.
"I just realized
how much better I felt when I drank tea," said Dominic
Martello, 55, a waiter who once drank four or five cups of
coffee a day. "It's easier on the stomach," he said, sipping
Jasmine Pearl green tea. Just as relaxing as drinking tea: the
slow-paced tea house ambiance, he said.
"It's a place
to think about what I want to think about."
