Time for tea
|
The events were sponsored by the church and the Lt. James Sheppard Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Regent Meredith Anne Higgs of DAR conducted the tea tasting which was attended by a number of local residents. Higgs, who is also the Mission Elder of First Presbyterian Church, has taken classes at the International Food and Wine Festival, which included classes with Stephen Twinings, a 13th generation master tea maker.
Attendees were treated to a number of interesting facts about the beverage and about Twinings that fit right in with Warren County?s celebration.
?Actually, Twinings is celebrating this year too,? Higgs said. ?Twinings in 2006 celebrated their 300th anniversary of having the same store on the Strand in London. That?s 300 years of continuous operation. So in honor of that, we?re using Twinings tea.?
Higgs injected a bit of humor by pointing out an unusual fact.
?This is a Daughters of the American Revolution co-sponsored event with the Presbyterian Church,? Higgs said. ?And I am not about to have tea from a company that was used in the Boston Tea Party. And Twinings actually had research done to prove that indeed it was not a Twinings shipment.?
?Tea is made from a certain type of plant, and there are several varieties of tea,? Higgs said, then added there is one tea that isn?t made from tea leaves. ?Red tea is the one kind of tea sold at Twinings that is not made from tea leaves. Red tea is actually a bush tea and is made from a root.?
Higgs also told the group that tea is the second most popular beverage, with water being the only drink more widely consumed. Attendees were also informed of the proper ways to brew and enjoy the beverage, and then sampled several varieties of Twinings tea, along with cookies, to round out the tea tasting event.