Tuesday

Favorite Teas


The White, Green, Black, and Herb of Tea

Tell about your favorite tea. How do you prepare it and serve it? Milk and sugar? . Plain? What are some of your best memories of serving or sipping on this tea? Tell the health benefits of the tea(s) you prefer. Where do you purchase your tea? Is there someplace you enjoying purchasing tea from? Who from and where?

It’s hard to select a favorite tea, but I do prefer black teas. I didn’t grow up drinking hot tea, as a teenager I drank coffee for breakfast, but when I was age 22 and pregnant with my first child, I got sick on coffee, and to this day I do not like coffee!! I can’t drink a gourmet type flavored tea for breakfast I just drink plain ole Lipton’s tea (decaf) every morning. Other times I enjoy black tea blends, and purchase them often, when we travel I always look for unique tea blends. I also prefer loose teas over tea bags.

The above teas were purchased when we were vacationing. L to R: Orange Spice Tea from the Gryphon Tea Room, in Savannah, GA. Vanilla Tea, from Hawaii. My husband bought the licorice flavored tea from Taste Tea Room in Williamsburg, VA, he loves it!

I don’t use milk or cream in my tea, (I don’t drink any milk!) I prefer lemon in plain tea, but not in a flavored tea! Sugar is a must! If you don’t like tea, it may be because you don’t add sugar! Lately I have started using stevia to sweeten and like it as well. I also don’t care for strong tea, I never brew it more than three minutes.

I don’t care for green teas, but have been trying to get used to them because of health reasons. I don’t really care for herb “teas” that much, because they are not really tea! And the real kicker – I don’t like chamomile tea at all! Most people love it!

I have tried White Teas and they are okay, but the clear look makes me think I’m just drinking hot water! They are fun loose teas, especially the blends, like the White Christmas blend below:

Above: White Christmas Blend from The Tea Room in Savannah, GA. Emperor's Bride loose tea is in the tin, it is one of my favorites!

For tea parties and tea rooms I want things to be extra-special, and homemade! I want things to be different, not just a usual lunch! I like a variety of teas offered, and sugar lumps and/or natural sugar offered! I guess I can be a tea snob about this! LOL!

I’m not supposed to have caffeine so I have to decafeinate teas I have that have caffeine. To be honest I do prefer regular tea over decaf!


I have tried many brands, one of my very favorites is Harney and Sons: Queen Catherine, Paris Blend, Hot Cinnamon, Holiday, Wedding, any of their teas are delicious!


Teavana is a good brand. This store is found in some malls. Casablanca is a favorite, it has chocolate and tiny cardamom pods in it! I think they have discontinued this one :-(


Last week I mentioned Magnolia and Ivy Tea Room, Sandestin, FL. Their blends were wonderful, I bought several of them. See below:

All of the flavors are very nice, definitely some of my favorites!


Some teas I have received as gifts. Some of my friends bring tea to me when they travel:

Top left, Special Blend from Harrod's in London. Top, right - from Paris. Bottom left, Monks Blend, from Nova Scotia. Bottom right: Rose Congou Loose Tea from Butchart Gardens, Victoria, Canada.

For those of you who did not see it before, here's a photo of my collection of teas on the inside of the pantry door:

Katherine

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Look at all your tea Katherine! I love all the neat containers that it comes in. How fun to buy tea from places you've visited. That door caddy for your tea is a great idea...

Bonita said...

Wow! That's what I call an impressive tea collection! I'd never heard of a lot of those brands. I'm learning so much through this blog-a-thon!

Alice said...

What a wonderful collection of teas. I don't go for herb teas either and agree completely about white teas. I am curious about your husband's favorite licorice flavored tea. I've never tasted any like that. The licorice must be very subtle, I think. I'll be on the lookout for that tea.

Linda said...

Katherine , you have a wonderful collection of teas and I love seeeing them all arranged on your pantry door.
I'm a great fan of licorice tea too. Have a nice evening. Linda

Vee said...

Wow! You are tea rich! I enjoyed reading about all of your teas and must say that the one I'd most like to try after reading the descriptions is the White Christmas tea. Now that you mention it, I even have sugar cubes and I didn't display them! Shoot! :D

Kathy said...

Oh, my goodness Katherine, that is an impressive tea collection and a great posting! I loved reading about all your teas and where they came from. Thank you for sharing it all - it was wonderful!
Kathy

Kelli said...

What a wonderful tea collection, Katherine! I wish I could stop by and sample some of them! I like black tea with a little milk and definitely sugar. Lady Grey is a favorite. I don't care for chamomile either! I can't do any kind of mint, and there seems to be a slight mint taste to it.
~Kelli

Mary said...

Katherine,

You do have a vast collection of teas in your pantry.

I prefer black tea made from tea grounds. That is what we drank when I was growing up. Dad always used black tea and when it wasn't available, Orange Pekoe. I drink Tetley Tea when I can't find black tea. I buy my tea at the health food store and do enjoy other kinds of tea, especially green tea.

I can drink black tea or tea with a bit of milk in it, never cream. Actually tea with nothing in it is most relaxing.

I drink coffee for breakfast - black and then the rest of the day I drink tea if I want a refreshing drink. Winter and summer, it is hot tea. We were raised that coffee was for breakfast and tea was for other meals. I don't know why I stick to this other than it is habit.

Thanks for another interesting post about tea. I wish you a great week.

Blessings,
Mary

La Tea Dah said...

Great post, Katherine! You have a wonderful collection of teas! I love the pretty wrappers and labels and designs of each one. Like you, I sweeten my tea with stevia. I actually like it better than sugar for sweetening, as it allows the true flavor of the tea to shine through. I am very picky about the 'brand' of stevia I use, though, as I don't want the taste to interfere with the tea. And I drink non-caffeine teas as well. Have you ever decaffeinated your regular loose teas? It's pretty easy and gets 98% of the caffeine out. Would the 2% remaining bother you? I think store-bought decaf has only 1% in it, so it might be more decaffed. . .but I think it has a 'different' flavor than when you decaff yourself.

Thanks for sharing! Your post is very interesting!

LaTeaDah

Cathy said...

Katherine, what a collection of tea you have! I have been drinking Earl Grey decaf with honey and lemon for breakfast. I think it is almost as good as the regular tea. If you think of another good decaf tea, let me know, as I am not supposed to have caffeine either.

Simply Authentic said...

Wow-what a collection! What a vast variety of tea. It's great to read about someone who likes a fairly "pure" cup! Enjoy!

Susan said...

Hi Katherine, I've been "out of pocket" and just now playing catch up with the blogs I read. Very nice and through tea post.
Susan

Millie said...

That is quite a collection of tea! I have not heard of some of them, but will watch for them. Love your tins too!
Millie

Millie said...

That is quite a collection of tea! I have not heard of some of them, but will watch for them. Love your tins too!
Millie

Just A Girl said...

Hi Katherine,
So many teas. How do you keep track of them? I love Queen Katherine's tea and drink it without sugar or milk. It's wonderful just the way it is. Great post!

Debbie said...

Oh my! I have missed so much!
I agree with you about the green teas. These are my least favorite also. I also prefer the loose tea. I thought I had a pretty good stash of tea UNTIL I seen yours! lol

I am so glad you are going to get to wear your black dress and on Your birthday! How great is that?!!

Grace said...

what a totally awesome collection of teas!