Chinese Embroidery Art Exhibit

Tea Chapter is more than a place for tea appreciation.
Tea Chapter is a hub where the Chinese tradition culture is kept alive.
Hence, recently, Tea Chapter held a Chinese Embroidery Art Exhibit.

Chinese embroidery refers to embroidery created by any of the cultures located in the area that makes up modern China. It is some of the oldest extant needlework. The four major regional styles of Chinese embroidery are Suzhou embroidery (Su Xiu), Hunan embroidery (Xiang Xiu), Guangdong embroidery (Yue Xiu) and Sichuan embroidery (Shu Xiu). All of them are nominated as ChineseIntangible Cultural Heritage.
-wikipedia

What is so special about Chinese Embroidery is that it involves a technique in which stitching takes place on both sides of a single transparent silk fabric. The design shows on both sides (front and reverse). The embroidery artists skillfully hide all the loose threads and knots. Such a piece is normally mounted on a wooden frame as a screen. One really can't tell which side is the front or the back. 

Do drop by 9 Neil Road, Singapore 088808 soon for some tea =)

cheers! 

more reasons to drink tea (yahoo news)

A new study supports prior evidence that tea can not only reduce blood pressure but calm anxiety, despite its caffeine content.

Japanese researchers tested two compounds found in tea -- L-theanine, the amino acid contained in tea leaves, and caffeine -- and their effect in the body when under stress. They enlisted 14 subjects who underwent three separate trials, in which they took L-theanine and a placebo, caffeine and a placebo, or a placebo only. The subjects were then asked to complete mental activities under varying degrees of stress, such as solving arithmetic questions with their non-dominant hand submerged in a bucket of ice water.

Ai Yoto and her team from the University of Shizuoka found that L-theanine significantly inhibited the blood-pressure increases in a high-response group, which consisted of subjects whose blood pressure rose more than average while performing a mental task after taking a placebo. Caffeine also had an effect on blood pressure, but to a lesser degree than L-theanine. In addition, the L-theanine was shown to reduce tension-anxiety scores on mood tests.

The study was published this week in the Journal of Physiological Anthropology.

In a separate study published this January in the Archives of Internal Medicine, Australian researchers found that people who drank three cups of tea a day lowered their blood pressure levels by an average of two to three points.

Meanwhile, flavonoids in tea are thought to improve the blood vessels' tone and reduce body weight and abdominal fat. A Dutch population study also found that high tea consumption is associated with a reduced risk of death from heart disease.

-yahoo news

Poland ambassador visit

recently, the Poland ambassadors paid a visit to tea chapter!

It was our pleasure and honour to have them as our honourable guest.

our guests were seated at our famous "queen seat".

our in-house tea mster shared the art of tea appreciation with our guest.

always good to know we are the preferred tea house for such important guests!

here is a picture of the gift we recieved from our guests ;)

hope you'll turn up at tea chapter soon and allow us to play host to you! :)

Location:9 neil road singapore

Biological benefits of Chinese Black Tea

Many studies have shown various biological benefits of Chinese black tea. The antioxidant activities of Chinese black tea extract have been shown by in vitro assays (Duh et al., 2004; Jie et al., 2006; Gong et al., 2009). Wu et al. (2007) showed the antimutagenic activity of Chinese black tea using the Ames test. Moreover, some animal studies have revealed the antiatherosclerotic (Hou et al., 2009) and antiobesity (Cao et al., 2011; Kuo et al., 2005) effects of Chinese black tea. Previously we have also shown that Chinese black tea exerts an antihypercholesterolemic effect in rodents and humans (Fujita and Yamagami, 2008a, 2008b). Furthermore, many animal and human studies have also shown the beneficial effects of green tea, and that catechins, including epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), contribute to the physiological actions of green tea in- cluding its antiobesity effect (Koo and Noh. 2007).

a little background of chinese black tea

Chinese black tea (Pu-erh tea) is a well-known traditional beverage and is mainly produced in Yunnan Province, China. Chinese black tea is usually categor- ized as a post-fermented tea. Because of the dark brown colour of the infusion liquid, it is referred to as black tea in Chinese but is actually different from the Western ‘black tea’, which is fully oxidized tea. The raw material for Chinese black tea is parched green tea. Piled-up green tea leaves are fermented with microorganisms such as Aspergillus spp. for preparing Chinese black tea. Chinese black tea has been widely consumed not only in Southeast Asian countries (Singapore & Malaysia), including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan, but also in European Union countries, as a healthy beverage (Ku et al., 2010).

Tea chapter provides one of the best chinese tea appreciation experience for both locals and tourists. Do drop by our store for a visit. 

9 Neil Road. Singapore 088808

+65 6226 1175

does decaf coffee contains caffeine??

In the United States federal regulations require that in order to label coffee as "decaffeinated" that coffee must have had its caffeine level reduced by no less than 97.5 percent.

so for example, Panamanian coffee is about 1.36% caffeine by weight normally. This and many other arabica coffees are about 98.64% caffeine free even before anything is done to lower the caffeine content..

When 97% of the caffeine has been removed only .0408 % of the coffee weight is caffeine. About 4/100ths of 1%. At this level it is labeled "decaffeinated. How roasters label their products is another matter. Suppose two roasters roast Panama coffee that originally came from the same lot, and were decaffeinated together in the same vat. One roaster labels his decaf. "97.5% Caffeine Removed." The other says his is "99+% Caffeine Free." Which roaster is not telling the truth?

The answer is: They are both right. They are both essentially saying the same thing.

Decaf should range somewhere in the 2-4 milligrams of caffeine per cup range.

taken from http://coffeefaq.com/site/node/50

Mid Autumn Festival Stories

It's Mid-Autumn Festival once again! So let us spend some time to recapture our childhood stories of Mid-Autumn Festival! :)


Chang'e and Hou Yi

Long long ago, there were 10 suns in the sky. They burnt all the plants on the earth. People were dying.

One day, a hero whose name was Hou Yi used his bow and arrows to shoot down nine of them. All the people on the earth were saved.

One day, the queen of heaven gave Hou Yi a bottle elixir that could make Hou Yi become an immortal, but the elixir was only efficacious for one person. Hou Yi did want to become an immortal, but he wanted to stay with his beautiful wife Chang'e more, so he didn't drink the elixir and asked his wife Chang'e to keep it for him.

Hou Yi was becoming more and more famous after he shot down the nine suns and more and more men wanted Hou Yi to be their master. Most of them were accepted by Hou Yi.

Not every student of Hou Yi had good morality. Feng Meng, one of his students, wanted to seize his elixir. One day, Hou Yi went hunting with his students, but Feng Meng pretended to be ill and stay at home. When making sure Hou Yi had gone he went to Hou Yi's house and tried to force Chang'e to give him the elixir. Chang'e knew she couldn't defeat Feng Meng so she drank the elixir immediately. The elixir made her become an immortal and fly higher and higher. Finally, she stopped on the moon.

From then on, people often pray to Chang'e for fortune and safety. During the Mid-Autumn Festival they offer lots of foods to Chang'e.

Wu Gang and the Cherry Bay

Wu Gang was a woodchopper. He always wanted to become an immortal, but he never tried his best to learn the necessary theurgy. The Jade Emperor got angry with him because of his attitude. In order to punish him, the Jade Emperor planted a huge cherry bay, which was 1665 meters (5460 ft) high, on the moon and ordered Wu Gang to chop it down, then Wu Gang could become an immortal.

This time, Wu Gang was very serious, but he could never finish his work. The cherry bay healed every time that Wu Gang chopped it. Wu Gang wouldn’t give up. He tried time and time again.

On unclouded nights people can see some obvious shadows on the moon. They are made by the huge cherry bay.

The Jade Rabbit

One day, three immortals who were living in heaven came to the earth. They asked a fox, a monkey and a rabbit to find some food for them respectively. The fox and the monkey both found something for the three immortals while the rabbit got nothing. The rabbit felt very sorry for the three immortals. Finally, he jumped into the fire and said to the three immortals, "Eat me, please!" The three immortal were deeply moved by the rabbit. They decided to give the rabbit the title of "Jade Rabbit" and let him accompany Chang'e in the Moon Palace.