Our Farm Blog

Wednesday 10 July 2013

Tea is not just for drinking!


Here in the Williamson Tea office, we're rather partial to accompanying our cup of Traditional Afternoon with a slice of cake and after many trials (not that anyone was complaining!) we found this recipe hits just the spot;

Earl Grey and Lemon Cake

Ingredients
150g Plain flour with ⅛tsp Baking powder well sifted.
150g Butter, softened
130g Icing Sugar
½ tbsp Glucose
3 Medium Eggs
Two pinches of salt
5g Williamson Fine Teas' Earl Grey Tea from 2 tea bags
15g Ground almond
1 tbsp Fresh whole milk
Lemon zest from 1 large lemon

Instructions;
  • Preheat oven to 170C. Line a loaf tin with parchment paper.
  • Beat butter, icing sugar and glucose together until light and very fluffy. Gradually add eggs and beat well, then add salt, tea dust, ground almonds, lemon zest and milk. Mix well.
  • Add flour mixture and fold through completely using a spatula. The surface of the batter should be glossy and smooth.
  • Pour the batter into prepared loaf tin and bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. 
  • Whilst the cake is baking make the lemon syrup by adding 50g sugar to 100g of very hot water, stir well and add 2 tbsp lemon juice, mix well again and set aside.
  • When the cake is baked, remove it from the oven and place onto a wire rack and peeling away the parchment paper. 
  • To finish brush the cake with lemon syrup whilst still warm.

Thursday 4 July 2013

Tea Drinkers Have The Lowest Blood Pressure

"Tea and coffee drinkers have the lowest blood pressure" was the headline in the Daily Mail

Tea has long been heralded as a healthy drink and we were delighted to read in the national press that recent research by Bruno Pannier discovered that the flavonoids found in tea help to relax the blood vessels allowing blood to flow more easily throughout the body and lowering blood pressure. 

Described in the article as 'health boasting-plant compounds', flavonoids are naturally occurring in tea and are believed to be the secret behind the drinks healthy properties. 

Obviously we were also very pleased to also read that 'tea drinkers fared slightly better than coffee drinkers' in the research! We're off to get the kettle on!