The Little Book

of Tea
With 45 Great and Ingenious Uses for a Tea Bag

Wendy Churchill

Published by Oxfordshire Press © 2007

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 “Tea is a cup of life.”
(Anon)

And a little history of tea...

I have always been a lover of tea. Who, indeed, in this country isn’t?

I cannot imagine, for example, having to get up every morning without my early morning
cuppa. Or how could I possibly get past the four o’clock slump?

Tea is not just a drink. It is essential to life. It is good for our health. Good for our heart.
Good for our happiness.

As Gladstone said in 1865, “If you are cold, tea will warm you. If you are too heated, it will
cool you. If you are depressed, it will cheer you. If you are excited, it will calm you.”

Or as T'ien Yiheng says in another of my favourite quotes about tea,

“Tea is drunk to forget the din of the world.”

But how, I wondered, did tea first come about?

Well, as legend has it, the Chinese emperor, Shen Nung was sitting beneath a tree when some
leaves fell in some water that his servant was boiling for him to drink. An ardent herbalist,
Shen Nung decided to give the infusion a try and found it very palatable indeed.

Whether this tale is true or not, the Chinese were certainly drinking tea from at least two
hundred years BC and it had become the national drink by the time of the Tang dynasty that
began in the early 7th Century.

And then shortly after, of course, it was taken on by the Brits? Well, actually no. In fact, I was
surprised to discover that the Dutch and Portuguese were actually drinking tea before us and
it was only after the the marriage of Charles II to Catherine of Braganza that tea actually
became popular in Britain. A Portuguese princess and self-confessed addict of tea, it was her
love of the drink that established tea as a fashionable drink first at court, and then among the
wealthy classes as a whole.

From 1664 when the first shipment of tea was imported into England, the British have been
an ardent tea-drinking nation. By the 18th Century, most people in Britain wanted to drink tea

Published by Oxfordshire Press © 2007

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but it was still heavily taxed and out of the reach of many pockets.

After the Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger, slashed the tax from 119% to 12.5% in
1784, tea finally became a lot more affordable for everyone. It also put an end to the millions
of pounds of tea that were being smuggled in illegally.

Around the corner, however, was another threat to tea drinkers in the form of wealthy
philanthropists who were worried that excessive tea drinking among the working classes
might lead to weakness and melancholy.

They did not, of course, worry about its effects on the wealthy classes who did no strenuous
labour to worry about. Then, with the rise of medical and scientific research, it has
fortunately since been proven that drinking tea is actually good for you.

Indeed, as you are about to discover in this little book of tea, drinking tea is a great way to
both detoxify your body and build up its immunity against disease. You can even use it
externally on the body to treat sun burn, cure acne, heal shaving cuts and more.

In fact, you are about to discover 45 amazing different ways in which you can use tea in your
life - apart from drinking it.

From weightloss and beauty treatments to polishing your mirrors and fertilising your roses...
prepare to be amazed by what a humble cup of tea or tea bag can do for you.

And just in case you lose sight of it’s MOST IMPORTANT role in life of all, here are two
more of my favourite quotes about tea to remind you...

“Strange how a teapot can represent at the same time the comforts of solitude and the
pleasures of company.” Author Unknown

“Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves -
slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.” Thich Nat Hahn

Wendy Churchill

Published by Oxfordshire Press © 2007

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 How to make the Perfect Cup of Tea
(From the United Kingdom Tea Council)

 Use a good quality loose leaf or bagged tea

 This must be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature

 Always use freshly drawn boiling water

 In order to draw the best flavour out of the tea the water must contain oxygen, this is
reduced if the water is boiled more than once.

 Measure the tea carefully

 Use 1 tea bag or 1 rounded teaspoon of loose tea for each cup to be served

 Allow the tea to brew for the recommended time before pouring

 Brewing tea from a bag in a mug? Milk in last is best

Published by Oxfordshire Press © 2007

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 BEAUTY AND WEIGHTLOSS
“Tea's proper use is to amuse the idle, and relax the studious, and dilute the full
meals of those who cannot use exercise, and will not use abstinence.”

Samuel Johnson

Better than expensive face creams - ALL for the cost of a tea bag. EGCG, the major
polyphenol contained in tea, works brilliantly at reactivating dying skin cells. The vitamin B2
also contained in tea has a stimulating effect on skin as well - making it brighter and more
resilient. Make a tonic from a brew of cooled strong green tea. Dab over your face and leave
for a few minutes before rinsing.

Looking a bit puffy eyed? Try this old-fashioned method still favoured by top fashion
models today. Lie back with a used tea bag over each closed eye lid for 15 minutes. When
you remove the tea bags your eyes will feel and look great and you’ll be able to face the
world without the need for concealer.

Freshen your breath with mint tea. Choose a mint tea bag after lunch for fresher breath.

Tea for weightloss. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, green tea is used to promote
weightloss as it is said to rid the body of excess fat that you eat in your meals.

Curb your chocolate or snack habit with a cuppa. Every time you feel a rumbly tum and
reach for a snack, pop the kettle on instead. Tea itself contains no calories. White tea made
with semi-skimmed milk contains only 10 to 15 calories. The tea will fill your stomach,
satisfy your craving and help you lose weight.

Highlights and lustrous shine for your hair. Rinse your hair in strong brewed tea to add
gentle and natural-looking highlights. Black tea adds golden highlights for brunettes -
chamomile tea is good for blondes.

Use tea as a temporary fake tan. Brew some strong tea and add it to your bath water. Soak
for twenty minutes.

For fresh-smelling feet, use a tea foot soak. Tea is a natural astringent and the tannic acid
helps kill odor-causing bacteria.

Published by Oxfordshire Press © 2007

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 YOUR HEALTH AND WELLBEING
“Drinking a daily cup of tea will surely starve the apothecary.”

Chinese Proverb

Tea is a rich source of health-protecting antioxidants. The antioxidants in tea are called
polyphenols and are even more powerful than vitamins C and E in helping protecting your
body against the damaging effects of free radicals - linked to diseases such as cancer, heart
diseases, cholesterol and many other conditions.

One study found that among people who'd had heart attacks, those who drank 14 or more
cups of tea a week were 44 percent less likely to die in the 3 1/2 years following their heart
attacks than those who didn't drink any tea. In another study people who drank about 1 1/2
cups of tea daily had roughly half the risk of heart attack of those who didn't drink tea.

Drink Green Tea For Super Immunity Against Disease. Green tea actually comes from
the same leaves as the black tea that most of us drink but is dried by a different process which
makes for a different flavour - but also a far higher content of those health-giving, life-
prolonging antioxidants.

In China where almost everybody drinks green tea, people make up a large jam jar full of
green tea in the morning, pop on the lid then carry it with them for the rest of the day.
Whenever they are in a room with a boiled water flask they’ll top up the jar but keep the
same leaves. In America it is often drunk in the form of iced tea.

Get rid of corns on your feet with used tea bags. Tape one on for half an hour each day
(while you’re reading a book or watching the telly) and the corn should be gone in a week or
two.

To soothe sunburn, make up some hot and strong tea and then let it cool. Dip a flannel in the
cooled tea and apply to the affected area. Repeat.

Bee stings and insect bites? Apply a cod wet tea bag to the site of the swelling.

After a tooth extraction, use a tea bag to stop bleeding. Dip the bag in boiling water,
squeeze out and allow to cool. Then pack the tea bag down into the tooth socket for 15 to 30
minutes.

Published by Oxfordshire Press © 2007

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For toothache, apply a warm, wet tea bag as a compress.

For shaving cuts and nicks, simply apply a cold tea bag.

Kid just had an injection? Soothe the site with a cool wet green tea bag.

Sore tired eyes? Enjoy a 15 minute break with some cooled used tea bags over your eyes and
rise feeling refreshed and ready to go again.

Use a tea bag to cure acne. Brew up a pint of tea then leave it to cool. Wash your face in it
to soothe irritation and get to the root of acne.

Drink green tea as part of a detoxification programme. It offers great support to your liver
in its role as your body’s central detoxifier.

Soothe a sore throat or laryngitis. Drink a cup of black tea with honey and lemon.

Help relieve diarrhoea. The tannin in tea is good for this condition while the liquid is also
essential to replace lost fluids.

Published by Oxfordshire Press © 2007

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 TIPS FOR AROUND THE HOUSE
“The mere chink of cups and saucers tunes the mind to happy repose.”

George Gissing, The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft

Keep your fridge smell-free - just by popping a few tea bags inside!

Use tea instead of fabric dye. People have been dying fabric with tea for centuries and it
was first used to hide stains on linens. Use black tea for soft browns and cream colours. Try
hibiscus herbal tea for a soft red.

Ward off fleas from your cat’s bed. Dry used tea leaves and sprinkle around his basket or
blanket.

Strengthen the pads of your dog’s feet with a soak in some strong tea.

The best ever mirror polish for less than 1p! Instead of using expensive, chemical-laden
polish for your mirrors, use a cooled batch of strong tea instead. Buff dry afterwards with a
clean cloth.

Use tea to clean your varnished woodwork. Cold brewed tea makes an excellent cleanser
for any kind of wood.

Bring the colours back in your carpet - and smelling fresh as well. Mix tea with salt and
bicarbonate of soda and sprinkle all over your carpet. Leave for half an hour then hoover it all
up.

Published by Oxfordshire Press © 2007

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 COOKING WITH TEA
“Cooking with tea is as old as the history of tea itself. The ancient Chinese used
dried pungent oolong leaves to stuff fish before steaming it; they added tea
leaves to the fire source for smoking duck...”

Diana Rosen, from the Tea Muse website

Impress your dinner guests with wonderfully tender meat. The tannin in tea works as a
powerful tenderiser for meat. Make up some strong tea then use it to either marinate your
meat before you cook - or just add it to a stew along with the stock.

Make a smokey-flavoured marinade with a Lapsang Souchong tea. Excellent for poultry
and seafood.

Use tea-infused butter to make biscuits and shortbread taste aromatic. Add a sprinkle of
tea leaves to melted butter. Leave for a few minutes then strain and cool to solid again before
use.

Use it as a herb in your cooking. Yes! Just add the leaves or grind them first. A small pinch
will do to start. In stews, sauces, pasta dishes. Get experimenting!

Published by Oxfordshire Press © 2007

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 THE MANY USES OF TEA IN THE
GARDEN
“If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.”

Japanese Proverb

Use tea bags as tidy little seed starters. Simply make a hole in the middle, press the seed in
and keep moist until roots appear.

Tea leaves as mulch. Use old tea leaves around the top of a house plant for an effective and
fragrant mulch.

Give your house plants a boost. Use a cool cup of tea (no milk!) instead of water now and
again and watch your plants flourish and glow.

Give your roses a new lease of life in midsummer. Roses love the tannic acid in tea -
especially when they’re beginning to flag at the height of the summer. Simply sprinkle leaves
underneath the bushes.

Patch up holes in your lawn with a tea bag. Pop a wet bag in the hole and sprinkle with
grass seeds. The bag will keep moist and then slowly decompose as the grass becomes part of
your lawn.

Keep your potted plants moist. When potting up plants, add a few used tea bags above the
drainage layer before you add soil. The tea bags help retain moisture and add nutrients.

Published by Oxfordshire Press © 2007

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 YOU AND YOUR LIFE

“There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice

cup of tea.”

Bernard-Paul Heroux

Add an old-fashioned twist to spice up your social life. Invite somebody round for a
traditional spot of afternoon tea. A pot of tea. A couple of cucumber sandwiches and a slice of
cake and you could have a very nice half an hour.

Read your future in the tea leaves. Most of us are so busy just getting everything done in
our lives that we have to do that we push back most of the things that we WANT to do. Self-
divination is a great way of getting in touch with our inner needs and longings. Take a ten
minute break and brew yourself a pot of tea. Now pour yourself a cup making sure you get a
good number of tea leaves in there too. Relax while you drink your cup of tea, doing nothing
other than just sitting. When the drink is drained, take a look at the tea leaves left behind and
see what they tell you about your future.

Use a cup of tea to relax or meditate. Taking five minute breaks throughout the day is
crucial for both stress-reduction as well as working at optimum performance. Make that tea
and take a break with it - don’t gulp it down as you get on with your work.

Published by Oxfordshire Press © 2007

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 KEEPING THE KIDS BUSY
“It puzzles me how a child can see a dairy bar three miles away, but cannot see
a 4 by 6 rug that has scrunched up under his feet and has been dragged through
two rooms.”

Erma Bombeck, ‘If Life is a Bowl of Cherries - What am I Doing in the Pits?

Make wonderful ‘antique’ letters and treasure maps. You can create a really authentic
aged paper look by soaking some thick white paper in tea and then drying it out. Scrumple it
up a bit first and tear some of the edges to give an even older feel.

Tea pictures for toddlers to tens. Cheaper than glitter and even more fun. Get a child to
draw a picture with glue then give them a tea bag with a hole in it to sprinkle over the top.
They love the action - and the effect!

Make marbled hard-boiled eggs. Boil an egg in tea instead of water. Once they’re hard-
boiled, hook them out and cool enough to handle. Crack the shells all over and then pop back
in the water for ten minutes.

Published by Oxfordshire Press © 2007

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