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Tea: Tonic for the Nineties By Nancy Backas

Now that coffee has saturated the market, it's time to take a pause and look at tea. It's hardly the same old beverage we knew. Iced tea is not just plain tea over ice any more and hot tea made from dunking a bag into hot water is all but passe'. Tea has come of age in America, a country where simple and plain is never enough and where flavored everything is the rage.

Most of the tea consumed in the U.S. is iced tea--80 percent of the tea consumed here is over ice. Americans drink 35 billion glasses of iced tea a year which comes to roughly 7 gallons per person, and that figure is growing. Away from home consumption of iced tea also continues to increase. In 1992, there was an 8.2% increase in away-from- home iced tea quaffing over the previous year.That figure is projected to soar, thanks to the popularity of bottled and flavored iced tea beverages.

Hot tea, too, is becoming a more popular beverage. Reformed coffee drinkers are turning more to tea for health reasons, and.an increasing sophistication of the American palate makes the market ripe for specialty tea . Specialty teas have been compared to regional wine and specialty coffee popularity. Black teas are now increasingly blended with spices, fruits, flowers, berries and nuts to create aromatic teas.

Interest in hot tea, in fact, has spawned the growth of a number of tea salons across the U.S., joining elegant afternoon teas served at restaurants and hotels. One such place, "T" in New York City is touted as a tea salon, cafe and emporium, selling tea accouterments and providing instruction in proper brewing. Even the trendsetter Starbuck's has added flavored specialty teas to its roster of beverages.

THE RIGHT WAY TO MAKE TEA Tea drinkers have complained for years that restaurants brew tea improperly. The quickness of restaurant service often makes restaurateurs reluctant to spend the time it takes to serve properly brewed tea, but if patrons are now willing to wait for espresso beverages, perhaps they will also be willing to wait for tea.

According to Bill Hall Jr., co-owner with Mack Fleming of the only tea plantation in the U.S. located just south of Charleston, South Carolina, properly brewed tea starts with fresh cold water. "Never take hot water from the tap. Cold water has more oxygen and the more oxygen, the better the flavor of the tea," Hall says. "The water should then be brought to a rolling boil and then poured over the tea leaves, never visa versa. When the tea is dry, the juices are sealed in and need a burst of hot water to open the leaf," he adds.

Hall says the fresher the tea, the less it needs to be brewed from loose tea. Tea absorbs the flavor of the paper if stored in the paper too long. The time of brewing is individual, though 3 to 5 minutes is the average. Most people don't brew tea long enough, he says, adding that warming the tea pot is a good idea, especially if porcelain is used, to both keep the water from cooling and to prevent cracking of the pot. Ceramic pots are better than metal. The push is also on to offer brewed iced tea either made with loose tea in a filter, or prepared using large 1- oz. filter bags that are steeped in boiling water for 5 minutes. Though more labor intensive with a chance for inconsistency from batch to batch, brewed iced tea makes a quality statement and can command a premium price for its perceived value.

THE NEWEST TEA RAGE The very newest tea sensation, chai, comes from India. Chai was developed over one thousand years ago by ancient sages in India. Today, it is a staple Indian beverage served every morning in households around the Far East. Chai is like a latte, only made with tea and is spicy, a beverage that may bridge the gap between coffee and tea drinkers. A loose black or herbal tea with combinations of spices such as cardamom, ginger, black pepper, cinnamon, fennel and cloves added, chai is made by adding the tea to hot milk and seducation. The beverage can be made with the aid of an espresso machine, or in a pan and needs to be strained. It can also be made with soy milk, almond milk or rice drink, and can be served over ice. Several companies now offer concentrated chai, and another located in Oregon where the trend began,offers loose tea-spice combinations.

TEA: THE NEW ELIXER Tea drinkers now have even more reason to laud their favorite beverage. The latest news is that tea may reduce the risk of cancer and heart attacks, though few researchers are willing to bet their mice on such benefits. The excitement centers on antioxidants, the compounds in many fruits and vegetables that tie up unstable oxygen molecules called "free radicals." These molecules tear away at healthy cells, promote cholesterol deposits in arteries and may attack DNA, which then could cause cancer. Tea contains these antioxidants called polyphenols, which also are found in spinach, grapes and peppers.

Most of the research in Japan, China and the Netherlands has been done on green tea, but experts believe that black tea will prove to have the same properties. This research is far from conclusive, however, and tea does contain caffeine as does coffee, though about half as much, depending on the amount of brewing.

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