Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

1. All tea is derived from the one plant known as Camellia Sinensis, which is an evergreen shrub.

2. The taste of a cup of tea, its aroma, strength, and color will vary depending on its variety, the location it’s grown, the time of year it is picked and processed, the specific farming techniques used to grow the crop, how the leaves are harvested, and how the leaves are turned into finished tea. That’s why Camellia sinensis grown in Darjeeling tastes noticeably different than Camellia sinensis grown in Sri Lanka.

3. The English word tea and its variations (e.g. tay, thé, tey) trace their roots back to the name for tea in the Chinese Amoy dialect: Te (pronounced “tay”). Cha —the Mandarin Chinese word for tea — gave birth to cha, chai, char and related names in use today.

4. You can brew more than 200 cups of tea from one pound of loose tea leaves. That works out to less than ten cents a cup, even adding in the cost of heating the hot water.

5. A cup of brewed tea typically contains less than half the caffeine of a cup of coffee.

6. Legend has it that a New York City tea importer named Thomas Sullivan became annoyed at the high cost of the tin boxes he used to send tea samples to customers. So in the early 19002 he switched to small cloth bags. One of the recipients brewed a pot of tea by simply pouring hot water over the bag — the rest is history.

7. It’s said iced tea was invented in 1904, at the St. Louis World’s Fair, by a British tea merchant named Richard Blechynden, however “tea punches” — alcoholic ancestors of the drink — were served decades earlier in the United States, and at least one late 19th century cookbook includes a recipe for iced tea. About 80 percent of the tea served in the United States today is iced tea.

8. Tea tasting, much like wine tasting, uses similar steps; visual, smell, taste and touch. You can tell a lot about a tea by examining the dry leaves. Gently press some dry leaves in the hand. Most new teas are a little springier and less likely to crumble than an older teas. Look for fibers, dust or stalks and note the leaf size.

9. Oolong and Green teas help speed calorie burning. Green tea has a high content of vitamins and minerals. Black and green teas are full of antioxidants. Tea helps fight cancer, heart disease and regulate cholesterol.

10. Store your tea in a cool, dry, dark place, preferably in an opaque tin or jar. Store no longer than a year to prevent spoilage, deterioration, or loss of flavor.

11. Use tea as a foot refresher by soaking your feet in tea.

12. Keep a tea bag in your first aid kit to soothe insect bites. Soothe a sunburn with a tea soaked compress.

13. Tea parties span generations and will be enjoyed by your most sophisticated friends or giggling little girls of your acquaintance. Other than teaspoons, no cutlery should be required at tea. All sandwiches and sweets should be dainty finger-food.

And in Shelley’s upcoming release news: Coming next week…

Lies and secrets have a way of returning to bite a girl in the butt…

Hayley Williams thought she was past the screwing-up stage of her life. These days, she wears her good girl persona well—except when she moonlights as a gypsy tea leaf reader in order to earn money to buy her own home. There’s something about Sam Norville, though, that prods her inner imp back to life. A chance meeting, a margarita…okay, two…a stolen kiss, and suddenly she’s back in hot water.

Sam, a successful businessman, doesn’t believe in love at first sight. Not anymore. For him, involvement with any woman means risking a run-in with the tabloid press. But his mysterious gypsy lover keeps him coming back, keeps him prodding her for more…like the truth. Of course it’s not love. No, sir. Sam only does lust.

Hayley knows she shouldn’t want Sam, especially since she lied to him. The right thing to do? Shove that naughty imp off her shoulder and come clean. But at pesky imp just won’t budge…

TEA FOR TWO – available at Samhain Publishing on 14 October 2008.

Are you a tea person? What is your favorite way to drink tea? Have you used tea as part of your first-aid kit before?

I was very excited to learn Fancy Free has been nominated as one of the best contemporary/suspense books over at Night Owl Romance. Here’s the link. There are lots of great books up for awards. Go over and vote – either for me or one of the other excellent books. I feel like a winner just being nominated!

A few years ago agent Donald Maass of the Donald Maass Literary Agency visited New Zealand to speak to us at our conference. He’s a wonderful speaker and I came away from his workshop feeling very inspired. At the moment he has a free download at his website of one of the books he’s written – The Career Novelist: A Literary Agent Offers Strategies for Success. I’ve already downloaded my copy. I like his book Writing the Breakout Novel. I have a copy, which I must read again because it’s full of excellent advice.

I’m about all things tea this week while I gear up for the 14 October release of Tea For Two, my first Samhain book. I noticed when I was over in the US recently that everyone drinks iced tea. We even had iced tea at the conference. I have to say it’s not something I enjoy drinking. Hot tea–yes, but not iced tea. Could someone tell me why they like iced tea because I can’t see the attraction.