Jen's Tea House

In 19th century England, a hot cup of tea was the promise of a soothing beverage whenever needed, but tea was also popular for its medicinal benefits.

A brew of small-particle leaves, for example, was found to relieve indigestion — and indeed, Britain’s best-known brand name, Typhoo, means in part, the Chinese word for doctor.

“The nutritive value of tea has been the focus in countless studies,” says Alan Hargreaves, known as the Typhoo Master Tea Blender. “Tea is thought to be one of the most relaxing hot beverages and researchers are comparing notes to know why. At the same time, a cup of tea is also revitalizing, perhaps signalling the reason for its popularity in the workplace. With a single teabag it is quicker and easier to make than a pot of coffee—and now that decaf tea is vastly improved in flavour, there’s no reason at all to limit what it brings.”

Indeed, taking a break for good taste may be the best reason of all.

“Your decaf tea should taste as good as regular tea,” Hargreaves insists, “and the secret to this is both quality and quantity. Typhoo research and development teams insisted on the decision to pack as much tea into the teabags as possible. By comparison with other decafs in Canada, this is up from the average 2 grams per teabag, to ours at 3.12 grams.”

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