Friday Favorites: Tea

Right now, Ted and I are drinking a lot of tea, I mean more tea than we always drink in the cold months. Mostly because it’s cold outside, and inside. What’s that you say? Cold inside? Yes, it’s cold inside because Hurricane Irene took our downstairs heat pump and has not returned it. More on that later, today we’re going to focus on the glory of hot tea!

Our essentials: The hot pot, these are indispensable if you drink a lot of hot tea. It heats a cup of water in less than a minute, requires no maintenance, and is so easy to use. You can get one of these for $10 but I highly recommend getting one that has a detached base, which is around $40. This way, you can leave it plugged in, and freely move the carafe. My husband likes to bring it over to the living room for quick fill ups, or bring it upstairs to refill our mugs, ah sweet, it happens sometimes. ;)

The Heating Vessel

Big mugs, we love big, over-sized mugs. Less refilling, and more hot tea. 

One thing we miss about living in Northern Virginia is the abundant tea selection at Wegman’s. There is not a Wegman’s in the Richmond region which is a travesty. They are making their way south, so hopefully there will be one in the not too distant future. Although it has to be a big one like in Fairfax for the great tea selection, because the Ashburn one was is not as great!

I drink mostly decaf, here’s a picture of our tea shelf, filled with love! Below are some of my favorites!

Messy, but so loved!

Yogi Egyptian Licorice, I don’t like licorice, but I don’t think this tastes anything like licorice. It tastes warming and is oh so flavorful.

Tazo Wild Sweet Orange, I can’t stand berry flavored teas, but citrus I like.

 

 Eastern Shore Teas are available at Wegman’s and other shops—keep your eyes peeled for the little white bags! Jack Frost is a Mint and Redbush Mix, amazing. I’m probably going to look into ordering online if I don’t get to visit a Wegman’s soon! You can’t go wrong with their teas, they have a lot more caffeinated than non-caffeinated though.

Harney and Sons Green Tea with Coconut and Vanilla, OMG is this good! Available at the Barnes and Noble Café, so flavorful and fancy with their mesh pyramid bags and coarsely cut leaves. This an indulgence and at $10 for 30 sachets, it’s an affordable luxury!  No hinting about it, I’ll be some for my own stocking this year!

  What’s the difference between these teas and say, Celestial Seasonings? These teas are good even on the second and third refill, yet are not overwhelming on the first. So smooth.  Yes we have a lot of Celestial Seasonings too, and I think Saluda makes the best Green Tea. Surprisingly Wal-mart has a better tea selection than our grocery store, Kroger.

While I’m on topic of tea, it is mind blowing how few restaurants offer a tea selection. My husband orders tea almost every time we go out to eat in the cooler months. Many restaurants only have plain Lipton, they do not even have a decaf option. Some restaurants will have regular or decaf black tea. But, for a restaurant to have a decent selection on hand is rare, and what gets us is it would take such minimal overhead to do! Buy 5 boxes of tea at around $3-5 each and get a tea box at Bed Bath and Beyond and you’re set for probably a few months! If you go through more tea than that, than great! You’ve made some sales, buy some more, it’s so easy and has a shelf life! Why oh why don’t more restaurants serve tea!?!? At one restaurant a server was so confused by our request for hot tea he put iced sweet tea in the microwave. Oh boy! This is not a new concept people!

What are your favorites? Please share, I’m always up for trying different teas!

Have a wonderful, slow, tea-filled weekend.