E. Dwass

We love a party where guests get a gift. Tomorrow, that's what's happening at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. In honor of the company's 50th year, three 12 oz. specialty drinks will be sold for 50 cents: English Toffee Latte, English Toffee Ice Blended and Chai Tea Latte. The event will take place from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. at participating locations in California and Arizona.

Coffee Bean is kicking off a year-long celebration of their origins, by showcasing their "heritage" beverages. English Toffee, created in the 1960s, helped introduced the concept of specialty coffee drinks. Chai Tea Latte, one of the chain's most popular beverages, was first served in 1998.

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Flickr/Kanko

Green tea

Chemicals in green tea may help generate new brain cells, aiding memory and spatial learning, according to a new study.

The research of Professor Yun Bai and colleagues at the Third Military Medical University in China focused on the organic chemic EGCG (epigallocatechin-3 gallate), a key component of green tea, News Medical reports. While EGCG is a known antioxidant, the team believed it might also have a beneficial effect against age-related degenerative diseases.

"We proposed that EGCG can improve cognitive function by impacting the generation of neuron cells, a process known as neurogenesis," Bai told News Medical. "We focused our research on the hippocampus, the part of the brain which processes information from short-term to long-term memory."

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ThinkGeek.com

The Star Wars Death Star Tea Infuser

Over the weekend, folks of all stripes landed in Orlando, Florida for Star Wars Celebration VI, the ultimate Star Wars fan convention that undoubtedly was more fun than the Republican National Convention will be this week. Of course, where there are Star Wars geeks, there are ingenious Star Wars-themed kitchen gadgets. Case in point: A slick Death Star Tea Infuser sold by ThinkGeek during the event, and now available on its website.

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D. Gonzalez

Ready for National Iced Tea Month...

Food and drinks become associated with many things, one of which can be the sensation of sun hitting bare skin -- and the accompanying urge to grab a jug and a couple of tea bags. Which is maybe the reason June has been designated as National Iced Tea Month. Why not.

While really good iced coffee usually requires equipment and a skill level we happily leave to the experts, iced tea is well suited to making at home. And even though sun tea can be problematic, ice tea brewed indoors can taste as good if you follow a few steps. The hardest part of the whole endeavor may be selecting which tea to brew. Going through the selection at L.A.'s tea shops, we found the herbal, the fruit-based, the trendy and the traditional. Turn the page for our top 5 teas for making iced tea at home.

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The Langham Huntington, Pasadena

Afternoon Tea at the Langham

Back in June 1865, Americans were reeling from the end of the Civil War, Charles Dickens was recovering from a near-fatal train accident at Staplehurst, and in London, the Langham opened its doors. The Langham was Europe's first grand hotel to serve afternoon tea, a tradition, it says, that began in 1840 when Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, hit the 4 p.m. wall and served tea and snacks "to ward off hunger pangs in the long hours between lunch and dinner." Amen.

As it happens, this year is the 60th year of Queen Elizabeth II's reign, or the Diamond Jubilee. To mark both its founding and the Diamond Jubilee, the Langham Huntington in Pasadena will celebrate on June 10 with its Jubilee Anniversary Tea: 80 people will be chosen, via lottery, to attend an afternoon tea served at 1865 prices. That would be a mere shilling and sixpence, or 15 cents in 2012 U.S. dollars, which is considerably less than the Langham's present-day prices of $39 to $59 per person for the privilege.

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Christine Chiao

Flour + Tea breads and pastries

If Flour + Tea seems like a hybrid of better Taiwanese tea joints and bakeries around San Gabriel Valley, it has everything to do with co-owners (and cousins) Nancy Ou and Johnson Wang whose collective résumé reads like a tea industry road map. Sitting on the corner of Cordova and Arroyo Parkway, the space has a few downtown trappings de rigueur in L.A. real estate: high ceilings, concrete floors, proximity to the Metro (a block away is the Gold Line). Doors were quietly opened on April 2. In a soft-open phase until mid-May, they're still tinkering with recipes.

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Clarissa Wei

AU79 boba

Arcadia-based tea house AU 79 Tea House is expanding. The Taiwanese boba restaurant is set to open its Pasadena store on Friday, April 20. All drinks will be 50% off on opening day.

Named AU 79 Tea Express, the new shop is located just across the street from Pasadena City College. "We want to reach out to a different demographic," AU 79 spokesperson Megan Lee said.

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J. Thurman

"Large" Almond Milk Tea with boba and Honey Black Tea at Half & Half Tea Express in Pasadena

To call the tea bar scene in the San Gabriel Valley vibrant is a vast understatement. Dozens of perpetually crowded small cafés across the 626 serve teas and boba drinks while providing socializing and studying spots for those not old enough to drink alcohol or those not so inclined. It's precisely the kind of scene that creates discussions on the merits of one tea place over another.

Perhaps the greatest debate among tea house cognoscenti, aside from whose boba is best, is the one over cup size at Half & Half Tea House. Specifically, whether upgrading from the regular ("large") to the "supercup" is worth the extra cost amidst claims -- some would say common knowledge -- that both are roughly the same size. Referenced on SGV food blogs and in the "Colima Road" video by recent Squid Ink interviewees the Fung Brothers, this hot topic also has spawned no fewer than four YouTube videos doing comparison tests.

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jgarbee

New Teahouse At The Huntington

The Huntington Library's circa 1911 Japanese Garden reopened Wednesday after a nearly $7 million renovation, including the addition of a historic ceremonial teahouse built in Kyoto. The teahouse first arrived in the L.A. area in 1964, when it was installed at the Pasadena Buddhist Temple; In 2010 the house returned to Kyoto for restoration before settling into its new home at the Huntington.

While the Japanese House (photo after the jump) will remain open to the public during Huntington hours, the teahouse will be used only occasionally for ceremonies, including tonight's dedication performed by Soshitsu Sen, the iemoto (grand master) of Japan's Urasenke tradition of tea.

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Shannon Cottrell

Japanese tea ceremony

An annual weekend event formerly known as the Kulov Tea Festival is celebrating its 12th year, from May 4-27, with caffinated herbs, dainty cookies, sake tastings and the Royal/T shenanigans we've grown to love. The renamed Tea Lovers Festival will incorporate film screenings, tea studies, chef battles and more.

"It [the new name] was a gradual change for the past two years," said Kulov, the festival's founder. "I wanted a more universal name, without 'Kulov' being part of it, and one which reflects that it's no longer a small personal project."

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