All things Chinese tea, food and culture.
An authentic magazine about all things tea, food and Chinese culture.
If you are drinking some kind of cooling tea in China, most likely you will hear people ask you questions involving this term “Shang Huo”. Literally means “rising fire”, in Chinese Traditional Medicine, Shang Huo refers to “suffering from excessive internal heat” caused by the […]
As one of the four main Pu erh tea factories, Chinatea (Zhongcha), also known as China National Native Produce & Animal By-Products Import & Export Corporation (CNNP), has been through a series of significant changes. 1944 – The Yunnan Tea Corporation was founded on December 16. […]
Who wouldn’t want to have an orange for a healthy snack? Oranges are known to have plenty of health benefits together with their juicy, delicious taste. Usually, people eat the flesh of this fruit and just throw the peels away. To save these peels and not put them into waste, there are plenty of ways to use them. From air fresheners and hair conditioners to jams and teas, there are numerous ways to enjoy the benefits of orange peels.
Orange Peel Tea and Its Benefits
One of the easiest ways to enjoy the health benefits of orange peels is by making tea. Making orange peel tea is easy and anyone can do it at home. This healthy tea is simple, yet it can surprise one with the slew of health benefits it gives.
Things Needed in Making Orange Peel Tea
If you want to experience the natural goodness of homemade orange peel tea, here’s what you will need to prepare one:
How to Make Orange Peel Tea
Simple isn’t it? With these 8 steps, you can now enjoy the health benefits of orange peels in a cup.
Flavor Variations
If you like to give your taste buds a little bit of adventure, you must try these orange peel tea variations.
This variation is perfect if you want to have a more energetic tea drink. Just add a stick of cinnamon in your warm tea to have a taste.
You can try this by simply adding a slice of ginger to your prepared tea. It’s the perfect way to soothe an upset stomach.
Add a teaspoon or a teabag of green tea for a more relaxing version of orange peel tea.
Just add coriander seeds, pepper, star anise, or any spice of your choice to have a more fun tea experience.
Just add milk, black tea, cinnamon, and cardamom to the basic orange peel tea ingredients to have an exotic blend of orange tea and Indian milk tea.
Foods Best Paired with an Orange Peel Tea
Tea is a versatile drink and can be paired with almost any food. The important thing is that the flavors complement each other as you enjoy them.
Chocolate is best paired with orange peel tea as the rich flavor of chocolate complements the lightness of tea. You can also pair this tea with any dish as long as they have a rich, full flavor that contrasts with the tea’s mild taste.
Author’s Bio
Claire works in marketing team at Brillopak, a premium quality food packing machine and palletising machine manufactures in United Kingdom. In a former life, Claire worked as a content specialist and she loves writing, reading & cooking.
In China, purple tea refers to tea cultivars that is related to the mainstream Yunnan large leaf tea subspecies var.assamica, the cultivar used for producing pu erh. Purple Tea Is Not A Tea Category We all know about green tea and black tea, but is […]
Finding small bugs or even beetles in your tea is disgusting! Yet it might not be a big deal. Tea is a natural product. No matter what quality control a company has in place, there’s always a change that bugs get into the tea. At […]
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an ancient medical system formed over 2,500 years and has been evolved ever since. Practices of TCM include Chinese herbal medicines, acupuncture, therapeutic massage (tui na), tai chi, breathing exercises (qi gong) and dietary therapy. These practices have all been used to treat and prevent different kind of female health problems.
Check the following list for 5 therapeutic ingredients commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine that are most useful for women’s health.
In Chinese, Yi Mu Cao means “herb that is beneficial for mothers” – a perfect name for this plant. For over 2000 years, it has been used in many TCM prescriptions that help increase fertility. Yi Mu Cao is proven to have stimulative effects to the uterus, and it is usually paired with Xi Xian Cao, goji berries and jujubes. The other beneficial effects that Yi Mu Cao has include relieving period pain, regulating menstruation, and eliminating edema. With a natural herbal and bitter taste, Yi Mu Cao can be used to make tea or to cook with food; it can also be extracted and made into granular form that dissolves in water.
First mentioned in the ancient medical book “Shennong Bencaojing (Classic of Herbal Medicine)”, goji berries have been used in China for more than 2,000 years. These tiny red berries are dried, sweet in taste, and used in teas or eaten raw. Studies showed that the benefits of goji berries include boosting energy levels, fighting fatigue and anxiety, anti-aging, enhancing kidney and liver functions. It is the super fruit for women, because it’s low in calories and high in antioxidant, which helps keep the skin looking young and healthy and helps in maintaining a good figure.
Find out more about the all the benefits of goji berries.
The jujube plant has been cultivated in China for over 4,000 years. Traditionally, jujube fruits have been used as a good luck charm for fertility for the newlyweds. It is considered to be one of the most nourishing fruits, there’s a saying in China that goes “Having jujubes everyday will stop you from looking old”. Indeed, this sweet fruit is a natural multivitamin supplement. It contains 20 times more vitamin C than a citrus fruit, 18 essential amino acids that help in improving organ function and healing the wound. Jujube fruit is rich in folic acid – a superhero vitamin for pregnant women that helps prevent birth defects of the baby’s brain and spinal cord.
Read more about the other benefits of jujube tea.
In China, Dang Gui, or Dong Quai, has been used to treat reproductive problems and blood-related problems since the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589). Famous TCM practitioner and author of the Compendium of Materia Medica, Li Shi Zhen, emphasized that Dang Gui played an important role in women’s health, as it can nourish the blood, invigorate blood circulation, regulate menstruation, remove blood clots and relieve period pain. It is called “female ginseng” because of its numerous benefits for women’s wellness. Dang Gui is sweet and pungent in taste, usually is used in medicinal dishes, teas and tonics.
As a native plant in china, Huang Qi has been known as the best herbal medicine for tonifying qi (vital energy). In another word, it is considered a great immune system booster. For centuries, the root of Huang Qi has been used to protect the liver, strengthen the muscles, and promote longevity. It is loaded with antioxidants that fight free radicals in order to help prevent health problems associated with aging. It helps balance the hormone level and maintain a healthy production of progesterone which plays a significant role in pregnancy and menstruation.
During the end of 2012, Starbucks announced its acquisition of Teavana, a high-end retailer of loose leaf tea. The coffee chain dreamed big and announced in 2014 that it was ready to conquer the 90 billion dollar tea market. In 2016 the company also decided […]
There is a famous saying in China that says “People regard food as their prime necessity (民以食为天)”. Indeed, food is an important part of Chinese culture. Let’s look back through time and find out those fascinating food facts during Shang and Zhou dynasty (the Bronze […]
The term “Five Great Kilns” (Chinese: 五大名窑, wu da ming yao) was first mentioned in a book of imperial collections of the Ming dynasty. It referred to the five kilns that were famous for their production of Chinese ceramics during the Song dynasty (960–1279). They are respectively Ruyao, Junyao, Guanyao, Dingyao and Geyao.
The character 窑 (yao) means both ceramic kilns or wares. Before their existence, ceramics were made mostly for practical use. The Five Great Kilns started a new era of making ceramic wares that were practical and ornamental at the same time. The distinctive characteristics of the products of each kiln was highly esteemed and reproduced after. In this article we introduce and discuss of type of kiln.
Ruyao only existed for twenty years towards the end of Northern Song Dynasty. It was destroyed due to the war between the Northern Song and the Jin army. This made Ru wares so rare and valuable even in the following Dynasty – Southern Song Dynasty. To this day, there are no more than 70 authentic Ru wares left in the world from that period of time.
Same as Guanyao and Geyao, Ruyao was famous for its celadon vessels. Over the thick bright glaze of Ru wares, there are very fine crackles (decorative patterns of very fine cracks on the surface of the glaze that can be seen on products of other kilns too). The sleek glaze changes colours slightly with light, it was so admired that a verse compared it to the colour of the sky right after the rain. At the bottom of Ru wares, we can see burn marks of small studs that sometimes looked like sesame seeds. That’s because Ru wares were supported by those studs during the firing, so the bottom of the products could be glazed as well.
Junyao was built in the early Northern Song Dynasty, and the site was in Yuzhou, Henan Province.
Jun wares were covered with an opacified glaze that contained a small amount of copper. During the firing, the oxide of copper turned into the colouring agent, which was the secret of the renowned various colours of Jun wares.
Depending on the amount of copper used in the glaze, after the firing, the glaze colours would range from blue/bluish to violet, celadon, pale blue, etc. On the glaze, there were sometimes irregular thin lines, which was called “earthworm creeping in mud”.
“Guan”, meaning the government in Chinese, showed that Guanyao was the official kiln that only produced fine porcelains for the royal family and court.
Normally, Guan Wares were simple plain-coloured, at most with straight edges and string lines as decoration. There were tiny crackles in the light grey-blue glaze. Different patterns of the crackles had different names, such as “ice cracks”, “plum blossoms” and “crab claws”. With the upper rim of a purplish color while the lower rim with a dark iron color, there was a saying that “purple mouth and iron foot” was a characteristic of Guan wares.
In addition to the usual cups, plates and washing vessels, there were many Guan wares that imitated the styles of wares from Shang, Zhou, Qin and Han dynasties.
Started from Tang Dynasty, Ding kiln lasted for over six hundred years. Dingyao was best known for its white porcelains made of white clay and white glaze. It also produced wares of other colours like black and brown. Ding wares usually had the rims unglazed, called “mang kou”, meaning rough rims. The rims were later covered by metals like gold, silver and copper. Occasionally there was over-glazing that looked like tear marks on the surface of the products, counted as a distinguished feature of Ding ware.
There were a variety of decorative patterns on Ding wares, such as flowers, birds, lions, phoenix and dragons. The patterns were simple and symmetrical during Northern Song Dynasty, and got more and more complicated and exquisite towards Southern Song Dynasty. Carving with knives, printing and painting were three popular decoration methods.
Ge Kiln was established in Zhejiang Province by craftman Zhang Shengyi during Song Dynasty. However, the exact site of Ge Kiln has not been found.
The glaze of Geyao has a matte sheen with various colours, such as beige, gray-blue, ivory. There were often weblike crackles on the surface of the glaze. Cracking of the glaze was originally a defect in firing. Later on, craftmen mastered the cracking techniques and deliberately made crackles, created a unique sense of beauty. One of the typical patterns was thick black crackles intertwined with thin red/yellow crackles.
The most wonderful and the most overlooked feature of Ge wares is so-called “accumulation of beads”. It referred to the tiny bubbles that looked like little beads or water droplets formed inside of the thick glaze. Same as Guanyao, “purple mouth and iron foot” is a characteristic of Geyao as well.
“In June we launched a new jasmine soap. Now every day can sell 200-300 pieces.” says Chen Feng Jiao who’s a owner of a perfume factory. The demand is now picking up quickly in South Korea and the Middle East region. Feng Jiao’s company is located […]
