Buy Japanese Hachiju-Hachiya Shincha Premium Green Tea Japanese teas provide memorable flavors along with powerful health benefits. While the chlorophyll and “umami” flavors seem unusual to some, we recommend this top-grade Japanese tea to anyone who is on a tasting adventure – you will never find anything else quite like it! Purchase now to get […]
Coffee & Tea Articles
Understanding the Differences Between Coffee and Espresso
Despite what many may think, espresso is a form of coffee. So the real question becomes, “what makes espresso different from all other brewed coffees?” Price immediately comes to mind when considering this question. Because of its higher cost, espresso has gained a reputation for being a fancier way to get your coffee fix. The […]
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What is Fair Trade Coffee & How it Differs From Direct Trade?
In the most recent annual forecast for 2020/21, the International Coffee Organization estimates over 10.5 million tons of coffee beans will be produced worldwide. A small proportion of these coffee beans will be grown and harvested adhering to fair trade standards. This coffee is known as fair trade coffee. When you go to purchase coffee […]
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Spotlight on the Colombian Coffee Region
The Colombian Coffee Region has a long history of producing some of the best coffee in the world. Its geographical location gives it a strong advantage in growing high-quality Arabica beans using traditional methods. Where is the Colombian Coffee Region Located? Colombia is located in the northwest of South America, close to the equator and […]
How Decaf Coffee is Made: Processing and Roasting
It’s helpful for decaffeinated coffee drinkers (and those considering becoming one) to understand how decaf coffee is made. When we raise this question, it is regarding the decaffeination process and not how to brew a cup of decaf coffee. There are different processing methods used to extract the caffeine from harvested green coffee beans. First […]
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Flavored Coffee Beans: 6 Things to Consider Before Purchasing
Nowadays roasted coffee beans come in a dizzying array of flavors. In this case, we aren’t referring to the flavor profiles developed during the growing, processing, and roasting of coffee beans. Flavored coffee beans are created when flavoring oils are added to roasted coffee beans. Interestingly, the history of flavored coffee goes back hundreds of […]
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Degassing Coffee: Definition, Importance, & Factors to Consider
Have you discovered and tasted the rewards of home roasting coffee beans yet? Remember, identifying and developing your preferred coffee flavor profile takes time and patience. An important step in this process is degassing your coffee beans. When you purchase roasted coffee beans from your local cafe or grocery store, the bag usually has a […]
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Identifying Coffee Roasting Defects & Understanding the Causes
Creating an ideal coffee roast profile includes quite a bit of experimentation. This is particularly the case if you are just starting your home coffee roasting journey. Developing a coffee roast profile ensures the flavors and best attributes of a particular coffee bean are drawn out. Outlined below are coffee roasting defects you may encounter. […]
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How to Clean a Coffee Grinder – Blade and Burr Grinders
As a coffee aficionado, you may not think twice about splurging on your coffee-making paraphernalia. That’s because a flavorful cup of brewed coffee is just that important to you. Your coffee-making arsenal may include a high-quality blade or burr grinder. Many believe coffee grinders are the most important tool for brewing great-tasting coffee. If you […]
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Coffee Storage Container Selection: Protect Your Coffee Beans
Many coffee aficionados devote a great deal of time and effort to selecting their preferred coffee beans. Some have also invested in equipment to roast their favorite coffee beans at home. Whether they are green or already roasted coffee beans, proper storage is important. We have compiled some information to help you select the right […]
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Loose Leaf Tea vs. Conventional Teabags
Teabags have been around since the early 1900s. They were initially invented to offer a convenient way to brew a single cup of tea. Using teabags would allow tea drinkers to avoid the perceived mess of loose leaf teas, and were a convenient way to completely remove tea leaves from the water all at once. […]
8 Gifts for Coffee Lovers
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in 2019 and has been updated to include more coffee gift ideas for the upcoming holidays. The holidays may look a bit different for us this year. Although we may not be able to gather with many of our friends and family, we can still send out our […]
Explore our selection of fine Japanese teas
The rich Japanese tea culture has experimented and innovated for hundreds of years, and some of the most prized teas in the world come from this relatively small island nation. “Relatively” is an important qualifier – Japan is dwarfed by nearby China, yet it is almost as large as California and its population is a […]
Sunny Summer Tea Time – Fresh NEW Tea Offerings from BCT
SEE OUR FULL TEA LIST HERE! Many of us change our diets with the seasons, and we look forward to those winter-time baked goodies or spring wild mushrooms or summertime barbecues (or if you’re like me, you are really enjoying the overlap between this year’s bountiful oyster mushroom harvests and Wisconsin neighbor’s cheerful insistence on […]
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Try our FRESH NEW “Moroccan Mint” Green Tea Blend
We just revamped the recipe for our popular Moroccan Mint Green tea blend. The importer that formerly supplied that product no longer has it available, so now we are blending it in-house. We are very pleased with the results, and we are sure that you will be too! It goes on sale just in time […]
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Warm up with Smoky Grey BCT Blend
Dear Tea Lovers, Here in Wisconsin, we got so excited about melting snow and increasing sun… only to be hit with more bleak winter weather this week. The seasons are shifting, the first flowers are appearing, and we know that the worst of the cold is behind us; but even in the springtime, mornings are […]
How to Make a Matcha Latte
Matcha is used in numerous special drinks and baked goods – really you can add it to just about anything! If matcha is new to you, and whether you use Chinese Organic Matcha or Japanese Kansai Matcha powder, this simple yummy recipe is a great place to start. Matcha Latte Serves: 1 Ingredients: 1/4 Cup […]
Beyond Tea: Our Favorite Herbal Infusions
SEE OUR FULL TEA LIST HERE! Tasty and healthful drinks may be created from a wide variety of leaves and flowers other than those of the tea plant Camellia sinensis, and we are pleased to share a great collection of yummy herbal infusions. From ginger and mint to chamomile and lavender, from lemongrass and ginseng […]
How to Steep the Perfect Cup of Tea
SEE OUR FULL TEA LIST HERE! Begin with the perfect pot of water. In the ideal cup of tea, the water is almost as important as the leaves. If possible, use water which is clean, fresh, well-aerated, and with a good balance of minerals. Unfortunately, bottled water is generally mineral-free and not well-aerated, leaving it […]
How to make a Rooibos-Cider Hot Toddy
Try this delicious recipe for an extra-special rooibos-based winter warm-up: ROOIBOS-CIDER HOT TODDY Serves: 1 Ingredients: ½ Cup prepared rooibos infusion (will require approx 1 tsp rooibos leaves, or more to taste) ½ Cup natural apple cider (any apple juice will do, preferably sugar-free) ½ inch piece of ginger, or more to taste ½ inch […]
