Afternoon tea may seem like a quiet affair, one enjoyed in the confines of a small café and sipped in between pages of Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice, but the actual process of creating its flavors is anything but. Think Amazon jungles and Egyptian deserts, or at least, that’s how it is with Stash Tea President and CEO Tom Lisicki. Flying in to Manila for a special tea appreciation event with Marketplace by Rustan’s, he passionately recounts how he came up with some of Stash Tea’s unique flavors. Just the names of some of his concoctions alone—Chocolate Mint Oolong, Dragon Phoenix Pearl, as well as the new Guayusa blends straight from Ecuador—are enough to pique our curiosity.
RSCI President and CEO Donnie Tantoco is likewise thrilled to have Tom over for the special occasion. “Stash Tea is known around the world for its premium quality blends and flavors, and we have no less than the company’s foremost expert with us to enjoy the art of appreciating tea,” he remarks. “It’s a great way for us and our shoppers to keep learning and educating our palates to savor great tastes and combinations.”
And learn about Stash Tea we did! Here, five things about it that will certainly make you think twice about your drink!
1. Philippine mangoes are the best!
When Tom was trying to come up with the perfect blend for his now popular Mango Passion Fruit tea 15 years ago, he had a hard time picking the right mango flavor. “I’ve always liked mango, but I couldn’t find the right one, until finally someone brought to me a mango flavor derived from Filipino mangoes, and that was finally the mango that I really liked!” he exclaims. Thus, the herbal tea was born.
2. The caffeine from the Guayusa blends can give you renewed and balanced energy.
“Guayusa is a plant that comes from the Amazon region in Ecuador of South America, an unusual plant in that it also has caffeine in it. Very few plants other than tea, coffee, have caffeine in it but the guayusa does have caffeine,” says Tom. “This is a product that the native people have been using for centuries to give themselves energy and it’s known as a balanced energy so even though it has caffeine, it’s a very slow-release caffeine so it doesn’t hit you and make you nervous or jittery. It actually gives you more of a physical body energy rather than mental strange energy.”
3. Two things can alter the quality of your tea.
Stash Tea’s premium teas are wrapped in foil, which keeps the tea in mint condition for two to three years. However, all teas in general, once they are exposed to air and moisture, can suffer from reduced quality and taste. Storage-wise, it’s a good idea to keep your tea in a dry and shaded space.
4. Teas change their colors literally and figuratively.
While all teas originally come from the plant species Camellia Sinensis, they differ in taste, color, and effect because they’re processed slightly differently. “[For green tea], the tea is plucked and before it has any time to react with oxygen, it is heated either by a pan firing, a roasting, or with steam. Japanese tea is steamed. Chinese tea is mostly heated. And that stops the enzymes from reacting with oxygen,” explains Tom. Leave the green tea exposed long enough, and it will turn brown, and eventually cause it to turn into black tea!
5. Some teas are more economical than others.
Three words: Reuse, reduce, recycle. Some teas, such as the English Breakfast, are best steeped only once. Pour more hot water over it, and the taste significantly reduces. However, green tea variants can usually be steeped more than once, depending on your individual taste.
Visit Marketplace by Rustan’s at Rockwell Powerplant Mall.
