Three Reasons to drink green tea this winter from McHughTea

Coffee may have its place as a healthy beverage in small doses, but organic green tea is often touted as the miracle drink for your mug. That’s especially true with busy holiday schedules; here’s why you should drink the green stuff regularly this holiday season.

Weight-loss wonder: For many, the holiday season is the worst time for maintaining diet goals. During the season of indulgences, then, every little bit helps. Drinking green tea regularly has been shown to help suppress appetite and increase your metabolism — both of which can help you save or burn a few calories while you celebrate this season. At McHughTea, we have a choice of 9 organic green teas to chose from.

Sickness prevention: Nonstop shopping, traveling, and socializing can mean the combination of cold-inducing pathogens and a weakened immune system, so give yours a boost with green tea. Several studies have shown that green tea has antiviral properties; one study found that taking green tea catechin capsules helped prevent health-care workers from catching the flu, and another found that Japanese schoolchildren who drank green tea for six days a week or more were less likely to catch the flu. For guidance on which Tea is best for you, come along and speak with our Tea-Master, Kim McHugh

 Stress relief: Curling up with a warm beverage can be relaxing, especially when the rest of your day is hectic, but drinking too much caffeine has its downsides. Too much caffeine can lead to anxiety, stress, and trouble sleeping, so if you find yourself running out for a coffee break or having friends over for a cup several times a day, switch to green tea. Not only does green tea contain only half the amount of caffeine than a normal cup of coffee, but many people also say green tea’s fresh, grassy flavor helps them relax.

The History of Scones

Scones are delicate and soft biscuit-like pastries, often rolled into round shapes and cut into quarters, then baked, sometimes on a griddle. Scones can be savory or sweet and are usually eaten for breakfast, but are also served with tea and in coffeehouses.

History:
Scones got their start as a Scottish quick bread. Originally made with oats and griddle-baked, today’s version is more often made with flour and baked in the oven. As for the origin of the word “Skone”, some say it comes from the Dutch word schoonbrot, which means beautiful bread, while others argue it comes from Stone of Destiny, where the Kings of Scotland were crowned. According to Webster’s Dictionary, scones originated in Scotland in the early 1500s. As a Scot, I obviously believe that scones originally came from Scotland. (As a boy, I remember going home from school when the weather was awfully only to be greeted by my mother with warm scones, cream and jam..and of course a pot of strong Tea).

Scones gained popularity as an essential part of the fashionable ritual of taking tea in England when Anna, the Duchess of Bedford (1788 – 1861), one late afternoon, ordered the servants to bring tea and some sweet breads, which included scones. She was so delighted by this, that she ordered it every afternoon and what now has become an English tradition is the “Afternoon Tea Time” (precisely at 4:00 p.m.). They are still served daily with the traditional clotted cream topping in Britain.

Scones evolved over time in size, shape and flavor and in Scotland we lived off square, blueberry scones. In fact, this was a part of most meal times.

At McHughTea, we serve fresh baked scones every day and offer clotted cream and a choice of jams which make the scones even more mouth-watering.
Visit our website www.mchughtea.com and check out our Afternoon Tea special
or check out our gallery to see the wide selection of cakes, pies and organic teas

Looking for a location in Houston to host a baby shower?

You would think living in a city the size of Houston it would be easy to find a location to have a baby shower, but  it has it's challenges.

One would prefer to find a location that has a private room. A location that is not too rowdy or loud. A location that is comfortable for woman and children of all ages to attend. A location that does not have sports on 24hrs/day.

Baby showers are normally busy with friends and family stopping by to wish the mother-to-be good fortune and luck, so it has to be affordable.

At McHughTea, we offer our private function room where family & friends can get together without any worries. We offer a choice of teas, sandwiches, Cakes, pies and our famous pie shooters.

McHughTea is now "Houston premier Tea Room" and has a wide following of clientele who are taking advantage of our private function room which can be booked for baby showers, family parties, ladies nights or even business meetings. Our room comes equipped with a 47" flat screen which can be used for power point presentations, streaming photo's or home movies.

Visit the mchughtea website and contact us today so we can help ou plan your baby shower. 

Source: My Health Tips

Many people say that green tea is good for health and is believed that it helps in attaining weight loss. When taken regularly green tea also offers many other health benefits. This tasty beverage contains a potent nutrient called as EGCG or epigallocatechin gallate.

Why Green Tea?

Green tea has originated in China and it is being used as a medicine ever since. This flavorsome beverage is extensively used all over Asia. It benefits of this beverage ranges right from lowering your (BP) blood pressure to cancer prevention. Since the fermentation process is avoided in the green tea, it provides more health benefits compared to black tea, thus retaining high amount of poly-phenols and antioxidants and other useful substances.

Let’s look a little deeper into the benefits green tea and reasons to start drinking green tea

11 amazing benefits of green tea that you are not aware of are listed below:

Weight Loss:

Green tea helps you lose weight by increasing the metabolism.  High amounts of poly-phenols present in green tea increases fat oxidation levels and also intensify the rate of burning food into calories.

Diabetes:

After your meal, green tea slows your blood sugar by regulating glucose levels. This beverage prevents high insulin levels and the resulting fat deposits.

Heart Disease:

Green tea helps you stay relaxed and also helps you withstand the blood pleasure changes and works on the lining your blood vessels. It prevents clots formation, which is the main cause of heart strokes / attacks.

Esophageal Cancer:

Green tea apparently kills cancer causing cells without damaging healthy tissues that are surrounding the cancer cells and reduces the risk of esophageal cancer.

Cholesterol:

Green tea aids in improving the ratio of good to bad cholesterol. It also helps in reducing bad cholesterol in the blood

Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s:

It helps in delaying the deterioration caused by Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. It also protects brain cells from dying and restores brain cells that are damaged.

Tooth Decay:

The antioxidants like “catechin” present in green tea, destroys viruses and bacteria that cause infections in throat, dental caries and other tooth conditions.

Blood Pressure:

Consuming green tea on a regular basis will diminish the risk of high BP or blood pressure.

Depression:

Amino acids such as “Theanine”, which is present green tea leaves, provides a soothing and relaxing effect and helps you, get rid of stress or depression.

Anti-viral and Anti-bacterial:

Strong antiviral and antibacterial agents present in green tea are an efficient treatment for many health conditions ranging from common flu to cancer. It also slows down the spread of various diseases.

Skincare:

Green tea protects you skin and prevents it from various signs of aging including wrinkles. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties help you in achieving skin care. When applied topically, it helps in reducing the damage caused by sun.

Visit Houston's premier tea room and speak with our Tea Master on the best green tea for you.

Organic White Tea from McHughTea in Houston, Texas.

Like all teas, white tea comes from the Camellia sinensis plant. The leaves are picked and harvested before the leaves open fully, when the buds are still covered by fine white hair. This gives the tea its name.. White tea is scarcer than the other traditional teas, but many tea drinkers prefer white tea over all others.

The leaves are steamed or fried to inactivate oxidation, and then dried. White tea therefore retains the high concentrations of catechins which are present in fresh tea leaves. The buds may also be shielded from sunlight during growth to reduce formation of chlorophyll. White tea is a specialty of the Chinese province Fujian in Southern China.

White tea is similar to green tea, in that it has undergone very little processing and no oxidation. But there is a very noticeable difference in taste. The flavor is described as light, sweet and sometimes smoky.

The best way to infuse white tea is to use a high quality tea pot or infuser and then steep white tea in purified water that is below the boiling point. Use of high quality purified, oxygenated water will add to the flavor of the tea.

White tea is excellent for your health. White tea is full of anti-oxidants that help ensure a healthy lifestyle. There is also much less caffeine in white tea than in other teas. (15mg per serving, compared to 40mg for black tea, and 20mg for green). Studies have also shown that white tea contains more active cancer-fighting antioxidants than even green tea.

A 2004 study at Pace University determined that white tea can help the body’s immune system fight off viruses and dangerous infection-causing bacteria. The same study concluded that fluoride-rich white tea helps prevent the growth of dental plaque, the chief cause of tooth decay.

McHughTea sell a variety of organic white tea, with beautiful and descriptive names such as: white Pina Colada and White Rose and white mango pear are all extremely popular in our Houston Tea Room. White teas are produced mainly in China and Japan, but the Darjeeling region of India (noted for its high quality Black Teas) also produces fine white teas.

White tea has a long history in China. In hard or troubled times, very poor Chinese people would serve guests boiled water if they could not afford tea. Host and guest would refer to the water as "white tea" and act as if the tradition of serving guests tea had been carried out as usual. (This usage is related to plain boiled water being called "white boiled water" in Chinese.)

This was especially true in China during World War II and the Japanese Occupation as well as during the later Great Leap Forward (during which over 20 Million Chinese starved because of relocation) and the Cultural Revolution. But as soon as better times returned the Chinese saw real white tea reappear.

White tea is growing in popularity outside of Asia. Until recently white tea was virtually unknown in the United States. But recently the popularity of white tea has increased. Today, many tea drinkers from chefs to medical researchers are praising white tea’s delicate flavor and purported health benefits. Market researchers predict consumers will soon discover the tea, turning white tea into a very popular drink.

White tea has an exceptional taste that is smooth and silky with a hint of smokiness that has a remarkable effect on the tea drinker’s pallet.

One nice feature of white tea is its compatibility with other flavors and it is easily combined with memorable flavors like melon, licorice and ginger for truly exceptional drinks served hot or iced.

Houston Tea Room

When I first came over to the USA in May of 2000, I was often asked if living in the US was a culture shock and I would reply, not really. The US is very similar to the UK in many aspects.
However, after spending many months here I realized one of the biggest impacts on my life was the lack of good Tea. Sure, Americans have been drinking tea for a long time, but the quality was
really poor. Initially the only option seemed to be Lipton's which was scraping the barrel when it comes to tea.

All through Europe, you will find Cafe's and Tea Rooms which serve a variety of Teas and coffee's but most importantly, each Tea Room is unique by the food they sell and the ambiance of the restaurant. People congregate around Tea Rooms for both social and business reasons and during
the weekends, finding a table is a challenge.

When we opened McHughTea, we had a vision of having a place where people could meet in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility without being stuffy. We did not want a restaurant where mothers brought their unruly kids and allowed them to run around screaming ruining the experience for other diners. We also did not consider having a TV playing sports in the background which most restaurants in the US seem to do. Surely as a nation we can go out without having to keep one eye on the sports.

The lack of Tea Rooms in Houston  was an opportunity to offer a service that is lacking in the city.
If you search on Google, maybe 10 will show up and then you can start eliminating the ones that have no ambiance or lack of nice food, which leaves us with a few to meet the demands for a couple of million residents.

Another feature we wanted to include was the ability to have a private party or business meeting where people could gather in comfort, enjoy the food & tea while listening to their speaker.

The restaurant business can be risky, especially when there are approximately 7000 restaurants serving the city but finding a quality Houston Tea Room can be a real challenge.

Afternoon Tea, Houston Style

What is Afternoon Tea?

Afternoon Tea is a tea-related ritual, introduced in Britain in the early 1840s. It evolved as a mini meal to stem the hunger and anticipation of an evening meal at 8pm.
Afternoon Tea is a meal composed of sandwiches (usually cut delicately into 'fingers'), scones with clotted cream and jam, sweet pastries and cakes. Interestingly, scones were not a common feature of early Afternoon Tea and were only introduced in the twentieth century.


Afternoon Tea was initially developed as a private social event for ladies who climbed the echelons of society. It was only when Queen Victoria engaged in the Afternoon Tea ritual that it became a formal occasion on a larger scale, known as 'tea receptions'. These receptions could have as many as two hundred guests with an open 'at home' invitation to visit between 4pm and 7pm, during which they could come and go as they pleased; this was the genesis of the Afternoon Tea as we know it.


In Britain today Afternoon Tea is usually enjoyed as an occasional indulgence or to celebrate a special event such as a birthday, or a pre-wedding or baby shower party with a group of friends.

McHugh Family Having Afternoon Tea in London

As a European, I have had the pleasure and opportunity to experience afternoon tea in a few of London's top hotels and they have been outstanding. The photograph above was taken in October 2012. During our extravaganza we discussed how great it would be if we could find a place in Houston that would serve Afternoon Teas with scones, clotted cream and jams...and of course sandwiches. Having our own store was a dream at that point.

At the beginning of 2013, that dream started to become a reality. Kim was finalizing her "Master of Tea" course. Kim's Mum & Dad were on board with the idea of starting a restaurant but finding the right location was critical.

July, 2013 McHughTea opened and after several months of planning the menu, I was glad to see Afternoon Teas took a prominent spot. Afternoon Tea in my mind should be traditional British.
Cucumber sandwiches, and it must be on the right bread. Home made scones with clotted cream and a choice of jams. Most importantly,a good choice of organic teas.

For those wishing to sample traditonal afternoon tea in Houston, please call and reserve a table
or make a booking via our website. www.mchughtea.com