Tea makes a comeback in local shops, country

Tea Flower Tea drinking is becoming fashionable again for the first time since American revolutionaries boycotted the British East India product. But a lot has changed since Colonial times. For one thing, tea came only one way to the Boston Tea Party of 1773 – in chests full of mature, unadulterated tea leaves from India.Today, Mighty Leaf Tea boosts 17 varieties. Mighty Leaf combines ingredients from broad regions of the world. You might find a green tea infused with pineapple and guava or oolong tea with a pinch of coconut. Orange Dulce contains black tea both from Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and China, along with bergamot, orange, vanilla and jasmine blossoms. The tastes are more delicate and intriguing than the popular fruit teas you might have tried.Most everywhere else, coffee and tea exist in harmony. But our history determined that we would be either Tory tea sippers or patriot coffee swillers. Coffee seemingly powered not only the American Revolution, but also the nervous energy that spurred innovation and industrialization. Coffee was the drug that tamed the Wild West. (Did you ever see a campfire scene that had a teapot in it?)"One thing we've created in our society is fast, fast, fast, grow, grow, grow, money, money, money," says Charlie Woodruff, East Coast sales manager for Mighty Leaf Tea and a committed tea drinker. "Tea is being embraced as part of a lifestyle that includes organic sustainable foods. It's a little bit more about enjoying what you've created. Tea is a part of that. We're trying to connect to good experiences. A good cup of tea can be enjoyable as a good glass of wine can be extremely satisfying. Today, tea is being embraced not only as a better-for-you beverage, but an understanding of lifestyle."Mighty Leaf Tea "bags" are a loosely woven mesh made from a corn-derived fiber stitched together with cotton thread. The design has won an industry award for biodegradable packaging. The loose mesh exposes the leaves within to hot water for brewing.At The Seedling Cafe in Nashua, tea drinkers look hip, fashionable and well informed. They seem to have better secrets to tell and creative ideas to share as they lean in to talk to one another."You get so much more flavor when you buy the whole tea leaves," says Enright, who purchases whole leaf teas from A&E Custom Coffee Roastery in Amherst, which markets its own brand. "But straining the leaves from hot water is problematic." Enright's solution is to use an open paper filter bag with loose tea inside, which has a coffee stirrer through it that balances on the cup.White peony is the most popular overall, Enright says. "It's a young leaf that's very sweet and not fermented, so there's a pure, clean flavor."Issues of health, fair trade and caffeine levels are giving coffee "a bad rap," Enright says."Plus, we're ready for the next best thing," Woodruff says. "Coffee has just gone wild with all the Starbucks and coffee roasters and building a better bean and roasting a better cup. We bought into that premium coffee thing. The wave came across from west to east. That trajectory that coffee took needed to be followed by something because we are creatures of something new."And that something new is looking awfully 18th-century British."When you say 'afternoon tea' to someone, they envision a gracious time where there's small finger sandwiches and a pot of tea and friends, where the art of conversation is developed," Woodruff says.The recent history of herb tea – or to use a more precise industry term, herbal infusions – is one of counterculture. The result: Tea's fortunes have come full circle from a time in European history 500 years ago, when almost all tea was brewed from whatever convenient plants were available locally. Rosehips, mint and even pine needles found their way into medieval teacups.It was not until the 1700s when the Dutch and British East India companies started bringing large amounts of what most of us consider tea leaves from India, Indonesia and China that tea caught on with the masses. In the North American colonies, the honeymoon didn't last long. The colonists were annoyed enough about the British tax on tea to make it the centerpiece of rebellion.Tea drinkers in America now travel two paths – one road passes all the herb teas, while the other harkens back to Asia. But even Asian tea has evolved. No longer are tea leaves harvested exclusively from mature plants that produce orange and black teas. Japanese-style green tea has been enjoyed for health reasons, particularly for its anti-cancer properties. The leaves that make green tea are the same that make orange and black, just picked earlier. And now, white tea, made from leaves still younger, has developed a following.Herb teas are the most interesting in large part because they're more diverse. Herbs, of course, whether in tea or not, stimulate the senses in different ways. They also mix well with a wide variety of other ingredients. There is no record of colonists, taxed or not, going for something such as Mightly Leaf Tea's African Nector with rooibos, mango, vanilla and flower blooms. Nor did have to worry about the East India Co. coming up with a delight such as Rainforest Mate with licorice, rosehips and pineapple chunks.But alas, in most states other than New Hampshire, there's still a tax on tea.