Tea and Tea Blends: Not Just for Grandmas
January 10, 2013
Drink yo tea! Don’t want no jibba jabba, fool!
When water doesn’t quench your thirst and sugary drinks overwhelm taste buds, a warm cup of herbal tea might be, well, your cup o’ tea! Most people associate herbal tea with being old or English, or both. But with the rise in popularity of coffee houses, tea is also enjoying new life with revived classic teas, creative tea blends, and health benefits not found naturally in other drinks. Plus, most herbal teas contain a healthy dose of caffeine, so you get your jolt without the jitters. Drink to your health with the delicate flavors of herbal teas, loose leaf teas, and the best tea blends!
The most familiar tea to tea drinkers and non-tea drinkers alike is chai tea. Dry chai tea mix is all fine and good– if you like crud. If you’re looking for something that is easy and authentic try this Indian chai tea recipe, with bagged black tea, cardamom seeds, star anise, cinnamon, and hot milk. Smooth, exotic, a tad spicy: just like a fine chai tea should taste.
Green Tea Frappucino. So many jokes to make, so little space.
Another popular choice is green tea. Known mostly for its health benefits, sipping on green tea can fight high blood pressure and diseases like cancer (!) because of its abundant amount of antioxidants. Though you can purchase green tea already pre-blended and bagged from large tea brands, its versatility also lends itself to different green tea flavors and, well, interesting concoctions (see picture on the left).
Fun Fact: more than 80% of Russians drink tea daily.
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If you tend to lean towards sweeter drinks in general, this easy Russian Tea recipe might satisfy your sugary needs. Instant tea mix (huh? Yea, it exists) combine with Tang, lemonade, cinnamon, and cloves for a satisfying, tasty flavored tea.
Alas, we cannot ignore the potent flavor of loose leaf teas. Loose tea leaves come in many more varieties than their pre-bagged counterparts, but many people tend to gravitate towards the convenience of steeping sans measuring and tea infusers. Tsk, tsk. Having loose tea leaves provides you with the opportunity to customize tea blends. The experts over at Teavana have done some initial work for you by compiling some of their favorite tea blends using their signature loose leaf teas that feature luscious names like Wild Orange Blossom, Lavender Sage, and (my personal favorite) Peach Tranquility.
Teavana loose leaf teas are just as beautiful to look at as they taste, with real dried fruit, flower petals, tea leaves, and plenty more natural goodness.
An added perk of brewing loose leaf tea is the variety of fun, novelty tea infusers! Check out some of our favorites below!
A metal Monkey Tea Infuser hangs around just long enough for your perfect cup.
A Yellow Submarine Tea Infuser dives fearlessly into the deep tea until you pull its chain and relieve it of duty.
This Duckie Tea Infuser floats around the surface of your tea before finding a home in new waters.
An IngenuiTEA portable teapot brews loose leaf tea in the top cup and releases strained, brewed tea into a cup below. Genius!
Herbal tea and loose leaf tea have a light flavor that doesn’t require a delicate palette to appreciate, and something about drinking tea puts the soul at ease while pleasing your ego (after all, tea is better for you than any soda out there!). What’s your favorite type of tea or tea blend?
January 13, 2013 at 7:43 AM
As an American I’m more of a coffee person but have been drinking a bit of tea lately. I don’t know about the infusers and not familiar with them, is this something that is common among tea drinkers?
January 13, 2013 at 7:49 AM
Hi there! You would really only need a tea infuser if you have loose leaf tea. Bagged teas are fine as-is. Some people don’t use infusers because they like to eat the leaves (?!), but most loose leaf teas will come with instructions on steeping and brewing amount.
January 14, 2013 at 10:38 AM
I heard green tea is more healthy and also more efficient than coffee so I tried it and yes, green tea is indeed like I heard. I feel much better since I replaced coffee with green tea.
January 18, 2013 at 4:31 AM
I have the duckie tea infuser! It’s so adorable and it works great for my loose leaf tea. It’s also a good conversation starter at work.
Besides the health benefits of green tea, I also recommend matcha under the same umbrella. Matcha is used in the Japanese tea ceremony and it’s a more bitter, frothy, potent version of your basic green tea. It’s loaded with antioxidants and all sorts of good stuff for your body. When the weather is warm, I like to make my own low fat version of the frappucino and add in a lot of matcha powder to suit my taste.
January 20, 2013 at 7:49 AM
I am very intrigued. I’m on the lookout for it now; thanks for sharing!
January 19, 2013 at 9:25 AM
Oh I totally love Teavana’s flavors. The flavors are just so rich and refreshing, that I can never make do without it for my breakfast. I like the Lavender Sage tea the most though, and it goes perfectly with a Famous Amos cookie.
January 20, 2013 at 7:47 AM
That is the most unusual combination. But I’m curious enough to try it!