Tea

Drinking tea is a game changer, it helps you stay hydrated, it affordably creates fun drinks, and it doesn’t require all the fuss and equipment that coffee does. Now, growing up, we always drank tea, and today, I want to tell you some of my favorite products that I still use today to drink tea daily.

One of the first components of good tea is buying…good tea, which will usually be loose leaf. A lot of people have a lot of opinions on the best tea, but as of this writing, my most consistent favorite has been Harney & sons tea. Hands down. They have good prices, are somewhat available in stores, and I haven’t had a tea I didn’t like from them, yet.

In particular, I really love their Paris Tea as a year round caffeinated drink, their Hot Cinnamon Spice which is a great cold weather tea, their apricot tea which is similar to Paris for it’s year round appeal, their peppermint tea which should require no explanation, and one of the only green teas I’ve enjoyed: their blueberry green tea.

One of the fun, and most dangerous parts, of buying tea online is having every option available, so I tend to start adding everything into my cart. But then I can’t decide which ones need to go, so I just don’t buy anything. Instead, whenever I’m running low, I like to head to World market which has been one of the most consistent store I’ve found that stocks Harney & Sons loose leaf.

Now, I don’t just buy Harney & Sons, I really love Wild Sweet Orange by Tazo, Hibiscus Herbal by FabulaTea which is somehow always out of stock, and Whispering Wildflowers and Cranberry Apple by Bigelow. I’m a person to go to Tea faires and try teas at farmers markets, and I’m almost always disappointed. So let me know your favorites!

Now onto the tools of tea.

For Teapots, i have a great ceramic teapot that I thrifted and a glass one by art of tea that I was recently gifted. Both are great, the ceramic one is larger and fantastic for multiple cups, or guests, while the smaller glass one is great for 1-2 cups. Right now, one important consideration for me when picking up a teapot, is that they don’t have spouts because spouts both take up more space and are more likely to break during moving. When I find someplace to settle down in, with a large kitchen, I imagine I’ll have a wall of teapots that slowly grows.

For tea strainers, I’ve tried a few: bamboo tea strainer (great for single cups), metal strainers (functional but boring) but the ones I reach for most often when making a cup or teapot of tea are ball infusers because the tea leaves are submerged and it’s easy to clean. I really like ball infusers for pitchers of tea that I make overnight. However, they are some of the hardest to clean, so if I had to recommend a strainer to someone, I might actually recommend the bamboo one, because it’s both deep enough to submerge the tea leaves and easy to clean.

I love a hot cup of tea, during the few months of the year it’s cold, but the rest of the year, I prefer to drink cold tea, and I can do this by making a version of sun tea. Sun tea is tea made with luke warm or cold water, and the tea is left out on the counter to gently infuse over the day, it really does taste great. However, I often don’t have time for sun tea, instead, I prefer to make cold-brew tea. I start with warm water, and leave the tea in the fridge and in a few hours, or overnight, and it’s ready to go.

However, the most important part of cold brewing tea, is having the right container. Mason jars are great except the lids rust, and if you buy a cold brew adaptor, they’re great, except they take up a lot of space. But they are a classic for a reason. Personally, however, my favorite way to cold brew tea is to use the Kaffe cold brew bottle. Its primarily made of glass, plastic is kept to a minimum, the silicone top doesn’t leak, it holds double what similar products hold, and it’s very easy to wash in the dishwasher. I’ve had mine for years.

Anyways, drink your beverages your way, but if you are inspired, I hope you try out a new tea the next time you’re wandering a store or checking into a hotel. You might become a convert. Also, drink tea your way, I brew mine in containers intended for coffee so find a way that makes it work for you.