Image © Barbara Radisavljevic |
Hot Tea Warms Me up During Every Season
I am a tea drinker. Although I tried, I could never learn to enjoy coffee. As I read my friend and fellow contributor Louanne's review on hot tea, I realized I had a few favorite hot teas, as well. The ones I drink on a daily basis are pictured above. You've probably seen them in the tea aisle when you shop -- unless they are missing. I've found I can't always rely on my local stores having them in stock when I need them. Here's what I do to make sure I always have the teas I drink daily on my shelf. And here's how I drink them.
I Break All the Rules
I'm a tea heretic. I make my tea a pot at a time and reheat cold tea in the microwave as needed. When the pot is empty, I make another one. I first boil a full kettle of water in my Cuisinart Aura Kettle. I bought it and wrote that review in July, 2018. It's still serving me well after 18 months, and I expect it will last forever.
While I'm watering for the water to boil, I prepare two of my five teapots by putting the bags in. I know I'm supposed to wait until the water boils and rinse out the pots with boiling water, but I don't. I still think the tea tastes good. I'm not a purist.
When the water boils, or slightly before for green or herbal teas, I pour it into my two prepared pots, one which makes about four cups and one which makes about two. If it's afternoon and my decaf teas are running low, I set up the larger pot with herbal and/or decaf bags. I make an herbal tea in the smaller pot, usually one my husband likes. If it's evening and my green tea is running low, I set up the large pot with my Honey Lemon Ginseng Green and the smaller pot with a decaf tea. I normally make four pots a day for the two of us to share.
Morning Tea
Image © Barbara Radisavljevic |
My preferred morning tea is Celestial Seasonings Honey Lemon Ginseng Green Teas with White Tea for Smooth Taste. The teabags come in pairs. I use four bags in my larger teapot. This tea has just enough caffeine to ease me into my day. I like its mild taste with just a touch of sweetness. I prefer my tea with no sweeteners or milk. As you can see, the teabags are not sealed from the air. They have no strings, tags, or staples, either. This is because Celestial Seasonings wants its products to be sustainable and not put anything unnecessary into the landfills. That being said, these bags are not as easy to remove from the pot as the less sustainable ones with strings and tags.
Since I drink a pot of this tea every day, it goes fast. Each package is almost a week's supply for me, and I don't like to run out of it. So I order it in 6-packs from Amazon and use their Subscribe and Save plan so that I will get an even lower price and will be sure I won't run out.
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Celestial Seasonings Green Tea Honey Lemon Ginseng with White Tea
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Late Afternoon and Evening Tea
My preferred teas for late in the day are pictured in the image at the top. Again, I break the rules. I mix the two. I've always liked the mild orange-spice Constant Comment from Bigelow. It used to be the only tea I drank for several years after a friend told me about it. I sometimes also drank Bigelow's Lemon Lift, another great black tea. But I know I should avoid caffeine late in the day.
Now I use the decaf version of Constant Comment late in the afternoon and evening and mix it with the Celestial Seasonings Honey Vanilla Chamomile. I mix two bags of each in the large teapot. As you can see, Bigelow does seal their tea bags, and they do have tags and strings.
The Celestial Seasonings Honey Vanilla Chamomile is often out of stock where I shop, so to be sure I have it when I want it, I order it through Amazon's Subscribe and Save program, too. The chamomile helps relax me before bed and the delicate honey and vanilla flavor blends well with the orange and spices in the Constant Comment. Have you experimented with mixing tea flavors yet?
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Celestial Seasonings Honey Vanilla Chamomile
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Constant Comment is popular enough that I can usually find it where I shop, but sometimes they don't carry the decaffeinated version. Not everyone carries the Constant Comment Green Tea, either. That's why I also use Subscribe and Save to get those. It usually saves money, as well.
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Constant Comment Green Tea *
Whenever and however you enjoy your tea, you may want to try one or more of the teas above that have become my favorites. And if you're not feeling up to par, you may also want to try a medicinal Life Style Awareness Tea. Learn more about all kinds of tea from Cynthia Sylvestermouse, who started this blog so that all of our contributors could share their reviews in one place.
Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
Although my hot drink of choice is coffee, I do like a cup of tea late afternoon and always when I am feeling under the weather, very tired or chilled. Tea is somehow calming and comforting all at once.
ReplyDeleteI agree hot tea is comforting. I love having so many to choose from.
DeleteBarbara you really are a tea junkie! I read this with great interest as I am trying to wean myself off of my coffee addiction. I had never thought to combine two different teas to change the flavor. What a great idea! I do drink fruit teas and will try mixing them up a bit. There is nothing like learning things late in life. Thank you for this wonderful compilation of how to make and drink teas in all their glory.
ReplyDeleteI confess to being tea junkie. I only started mixing teas a few years ago.
DeleteI do love a good cup of tea, but I think you have me beat on how often it is consumed. I only drink about 1 or 2 cups of tea per day depending on how cold it is or how much work I plan to do online that day and I make it one cup at a time. I keep a cup of something hot next to me when I am working. You told me something I did not know. I had no idea Constant Comment was available in decaf! How awesome is that!!! That is my husband's favorite tea but he doesn't drink it as often now due to the caffeine. I am definitely going to surprise him with a box of the decaf.
ReplyDeleteConstant Comment was our favorite tea for many years. A friend from church told us about it a few years after we go married. I discovered Lemon Life a bit later. Lemon Lift is a tea I don't mix with anything. It's wonderful as is. It also comes in a decaf version.
DeleteYes I've mixed teas together! We have a shop called T2 over here in Australia and I got a box of loose tea from them a couple of years ago which I thought sounded really nice but I couldn't drink it - probably the only one I've ever had of theirs that (to my mind) was undrinkable. Luckily two of my nieces had brought me a selection of their teas so I decided to mix it with another one and it created a delicious blend!
ReplyDeleteNow that's serendipity! I don't like messing with loose tea. I guess I like convenience.
DeleteI'm a fan of various teas as well. Never thought to mix them together though? Good one. I've been a bit boring lately craving regular tea (which is odd), with cinnamon, and a sweetener, yum. Chai tea too, yum! Thanks for the intro to additional tea ideas.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad we aren't limited to just one kind of tea. I'm glad some of the restaurants are beginning to wake up now and offer more tea choices that just plain black tea.
DeleteWell, I'm a tea drinker, too though I drink plain old orange pekoe for my main cuppa and have a flavored tea -- like Davidstea for a treat.
ReplyDeleteI drink plain black teas when there's nothing else available. My biggest problem is keeping 16 boxes of tea in my cupboard in three stacks without having something fall on my head when I'm setting up my pots.
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