The Gentler Things In Life
- 21 hours ago
- 4 min read
By Bianca Rose
Book Notions
Health and well-being doesn’t have to be physical, vitamin infused and a constant list of to-do items to check off to make you feel accomplished and healthy.
Some vitality secrets from more gentile days can calm an anxious mind, make those lists seem more doable and slow your roll. A perfect time to embrace your grandmother’s calming secret is in the month of April. Why? This lovely spring month celebrates TEA!
The celebration began in the United Kingdom, where April 21st is a national holiday. Here in the USA, the entire month of April is National Afternoon Tea Month.
Afternoon tea began as a Victorian tradition, carried over to the states from the UK. During that time, breakfast was served early, and dinner wasn’t usually service until 8 or 9 in the evening. That left everyone hungry in the afternoon. Enter the afternoon tea. Served in lovely teacups, the choices were usually Earl Grey or English Breakfast tea, then slowly pouring into the cup came varieties like Darjeeling and Oolong. Served with biscuits, crumpets (UK) and small cucumber sandwiches, this became a welcome ritual.
Obviously, in today’s world afternoon tea isn’t usually possible. A summer lunch break, or a weekend retreat to the porch, makes more sense in the modern age.
Just one afternoon tea can help soothe the soul. Harkening to days gone by when life was simpler and not quickly microwaved into submission.
For your personal afternoon tea, select the tea you prefer. There are no rules here. Well, there are, but it concerns the preparation of the tea, especially if it’s an herbal tea. Countless herbalists will tell you to never, ever microwave your tea water. The microwave depletes any beneficial minerals in your water. They suggest you either boil the water the old-fashioned way in a teakettle on the stovetop or with an electric kettle. Next, don’t get the water too hot - this is where the electric kettle may be preferable as you can set the temperature on most. Your water should be 212°F/100°C for herbal tea.
If youre making black, white, green, or Oolong, the water should be slightly cooler at 200°F/93°C, or you’re going to get a bitter taste. Not throw away bitter, but not the pleasant taste your body needs to release stress.
Also, the tea should be organic, loose-leaf, and put into a steeping ball. This is important, as some commercially packaged tea bags have been found with nasty chemicals. One pleasure is to let the tea steep in the water slowly, enjoying watching the water turn into a lovely shade of amber (color is tea dependent).
Never sweeten with sugar. That refined white stuff is the bane of tea aficionados. Sweeten if necessary with honey, agave, or stevia, which you can buy in organic leaf form and add right to the tea ball. You can also add cream to the cup. Ensure it’s real cream, not the 2% stuff of every day.
Sit in a comfy chair, wrap the snuggest fleece blanket around you, or if you are really dedicated to your afternoon tea, wear a beautiful vintage dress, throw on all that radical jewelry you’ve been storing in the dresser, drink with your pinky extended from a vintage cup. Smile. Enjoy the moment of calm and joy. It will restore that missing vitality in ways exercise and vitamins could never hope to.
Were you aware that you can also cook with tea? Tea brownies anyone? Add some exotic spices like cardamom, cinnamon, whatever our taste buds prefer.
If you’d really like to experience a true Victorian-era afternoon tea, read the leaves at the bottom of your cup. To do this, forgo the tea ball, which could lead to something green or brown stuck between your teeth, but the dregs could be worth it as they will give you a glimpse into the future.
Use your loose-leaf tea the same way, only omit the tea ball. It’s said that as you sip, swirl the tea and hold the cup, your subconscious is sending messages through the tea that will reside in the bottom of your cup.
There are specifics for reading these leaves. Leave just a smidgen of liquid in the cup, swirl it around and stare at the symbols left in the bottom. If you’ve ever squinted to see things in the smoke of a campfire, or remember days as a kid staring into the sky as clouds and finding a random elephant, you’ll know how to look.
Reading the leaves was quite the pastime in the Victorian era. It was a bit of a parlor game for afternoon tea serving and later in the day for after-dinner conversations.
Some conversations were probably best left in the parlor, as dark leaves could surround the edges of the teacup.
Researching my cozy mystery, Mystery in the Leaves, Lilly, owner of the Aquarius Moon mobile tea truck, is a tea leaf reader, and that research taught me a lot about tea. Its joys are many; the calm is easy; the gift of herbs is incredible, and those slow, gentile moments can be the biggest benefit to our health.
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