Let’s Talk About Tea

Tea TimeThanks to all of you who commented giving me permission to totally geek out about tea! It's my current obsession. I've always liked it, but recently I've really started to LOVE it. Last year, Holly introduced me to David's Tea, and that's when my love for loose leaf began! Since David's is not available locally where I live, I've spent many nights carefully reading tea descriptions and ordering (maybe a few too many) different flavored teas. The list I am sharing with you now are my favorites and recommendations and what I love about them. Hope you enjoy! 

1. Forever Nuts: This is the first tea I tried, because Holly brought us some as a gift. It's amazing. It's creamy and smooth. It's also caffeine-free, so I drink it at night a lot. 2. Movie Night: This is, by far, the weirdest tea I've ever had. I love it. It tastes like buttered popcorn. It also smells just like popcorn, so my husband always makes fun of me when I'm drinking it. It's just fun! 3. Indian Summer: This is currently my favorite tea (although it's a close tie with #5). I love the rich, fruity flavor. 4. Alpine Punch: This is Emma's favorite tea. Emma doesn't even really like tea, but this converted her. It's delicious! 5. Jessie's Tea: My other favorite! I'm a lavender fan and love it even more with coconut! This tea is so good. It's what I drink to relax and wind down. 6. Birthday Cake: This tea was an impulse buy that became a favorite. It's my favorite treat tea. It's sweeter and smells just like cake! 7. Egyptian Chamomile: I've always been a big chamomile fan and recently discovered that it's even better when mixed with other teas. It mixes well with other floral and fruity flavors. 8. Glitter & Gold: I don't usually like black tea but this tea is special, because (a.) I used it to make this delicious chai and (b.) the gold sugar balls make the top of our tea sparkle a little. That's just cool.  9. Cocomint Cream: I love any type of mint tea but this combination with coconut is really delicious! I have been skipping my morning coffee and replacing it with this tea. πŸ™‚ Oh! And I can't forget to mention my two favorite holiday teas. I've been enjoying Santa's Secret (there are little bits of candy cane in it!) and Sleigh Ride (fruity and delicious!). 

Thanks for letting me geek out a little! I hope that you guys are inspired to try some new teas! If you know of any amazing flavors or brands that you think I should try, please let me know in the comments. xoxo. Elsie 

  • I’m a huge Chai fan, so I have various forms of Chai in my parents house at the moment. There have been some Make-your-own-Chai Concentrate wandering Pinterest as of late, and I use black tea as a wake-me-up in the morning with vanilla soy milk.

    Also, my mother uses CHamomille with this stuff that she grows in our back yard “Estafiate” is the term my mom and grandmother uses for it, have no clue what the heck it is in other languages, but the two together with Honey and lemon make a great Sick Tummy tea. I have terrible anxiety and this helps me enormously to keep my tummy and my nerves calm. I use it some mornings when my Morning anxiety is off the charts and I can’t calm my tummy down at all.

    Melinda

  • I tried David’s tea for the first time after you posted about it a while back AND I LOVE IT. I ordered Organic Chai, Pumpkin Chai, Jasmine, Rose Congou Green, and Jessie’s Tea and it’s all so delicious. I ordered so much that I won’t be needing tea for a longgggg time. πŸ™‚

  • Damn it Elsie, now I will go and buy the whole store. You destroyed me πŸ˜€ Well I am seeking for my next favorite caffeine free tea too, ’cause I am drinking too much cups of tea during the day(4-5) and I don;t like disturbing my sleep too (my other favorite thing apart from tea πŸ˜€ ). Thanks for the recommendations! πŸ™‚

    tsiou, from http://inwhirlofinspiration.blogspot.com

  • The Ozark Mountain Coffee Co. has really good loose leaf teas, if you haven’t tried them. Their blueberry is my favorite!

    They aren’t quite as good as David’s Tea, but it’s a really great local option.

  • I love David’s Tea and loose leaf in general! My three current favourites from them are Cream of Earl Grey (tastes like a london fog without all the milk!), toasted walnut (an amazing green tea!) and banana nut bread (it actually tastes like banana bread!). I’m excited to try the glitter & gold and cocomint cream now. πŸ™‚

  • Your excitement about these made me go and buy some for Christmas gifts… plus a few for myself πŸ™‚

  • That’s so crazy that you wrote this blog post because I just started obsessing over david’s teas yesterday!! It’s like you’re my soul mate! <333
    xoxo Nancy

  • My favorite is Cloud Catcher by Tin Roof Teas! It smells really tutti-frutti but actually tastes really light and smooth, almost like a fruit yogurt.

  • Oh, I love tea! We just have good ole Teavana around here. This place looks fun! Ordering some for the hubby for Christmas! Thanks!

  • Lovely post, Elsie! Oh, how I love tea…

    My favorite-one-in-the-whole-wide-world is called “NoΓ«l en Alsace” (“Christmas in Alsace”). It’s a blend that can be found in a lot of French teashops. I drink it all year round. My local teashop only sells it during the Christmas period, so I always buy an ENTIRE box (you know, the huge ones they use to showcase their teas?).

    It’s a mix of two kinds of black teas, with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, orange peel and cornflower. Delicious! You’ve probably got an equivalent somewhere in the US, or even at David’s Tea.

    I also love almond in my tea, so I think I would LOVE the “Forever Nuts” one!

    My favorite brand is Le Palais des ThΓ©s. It’s a French (Parisian) brand, but they’ve got a US shop! http://us.palaisdesthes.com

    Oh well, I could talk about tea for days, so I’ll just stop now.

    Thanks again for the lovely post, I love your blog! πŸ™‚
    Have a nice day!

  • I loved this tea post :D!
    I am currently drinking the cocomint cream too!! Another one from david’s tea you might like is the chocolate chilli chai! Oh, the red velvet cake is to die for too!

    You should also check out http://www.teavana.com/ ..another amazing company with quality teas..I would recommend cactus fig..my all time fav!

    You’re awesome!

  • I’ve just started getting into tea too. I’ve never seen such flavors, how exciting!!

  • They’re probably going to be bombarded with orders now. You made them sound so good. I just ordered some of their tea samplers. The plan is to give some for gifts, but they sound so good, I will have to try a few myself (“one for me…one for you…one for me…”) LOL

  • WOW! You surely know A LOT about tea!!! I also like trying different flavors from time to time. Especially floral and fruity.

  • Thanks for sharing! I’m really excited to try some of these now. I’m a recent tea convert (now that coffee makes me ill) and have been looking for new flavours to try:)

  • A thousand thanks for speaking about tea in this post! Your tea options are so fancy! I love them, girls! πŸ˜€

  • We have a loose leaf tea shop (teavana) right across the street from our house…we spend a ridiculous amount of money there!

    Kim

    azulhome.com

  • Elsie, you totally need to get your butt over to England. We are totally down with our tea.

    My favourite’s include Pukka tea. At the moment I’m drinking the Lemongrass and Ginger to help me get motivated.

    I also love Yumchaa tea. They have a sweet tea shop in Soho, London that I always hang out in.

    Lahloo tea is pretty rad too.

    But the best of the best is a proper ‘brew’ as we call it. I love love love Yorkshire Tea. We sometimes call it builder’s tea. It’s black tea served with a drop of milk. It’s the best.

    *sigh* I could talk tea for hours.

    x

  • Tea. Ahh I’m loving this post. After your post yesterday I bought two of the David’s Teas! Can’t wait to try them. πŸ™‚

  • Tea is just yum. I can honestly say I lost track around 30 different teas (no I’m not kidding) since both me and my room mate love to drink tea (and have a tendency to buy whenever we get a chance). I have now a bunch of winter/christmas teas which I alternate between, there are around 10 of them.

  • You know what? I’m totally in love with tea as well. My passion started about a year ago, as well, when I had to stop drinking coffee for some time. Now, every time I have the chance, I try new flavours. It’s a pity we don’t have David’s tea here in Uruguay. Anyway, I’m going to the States in January so I’ll have to try them then!
    Lovely post, thank you!

  • ok this is making me want to be into tea!~!!!! I feel like it would be so much better than coffee for my body! Thanks for this

    xoRachel

  • I love tea and coffee. I mostly like coffee but when I’m feeling under the weather, nothing does it like tea and honey.

    Vintagehoneybee.blogspot.com

  • Elsie! You should really try Pom Power iced with a little agave – it tastes better than pomegranate juice. Also amazing: Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait. Also incredible: Vanilla Orchid (like if you took a beautiful oolong and dumped a scoop of vanilla ice cream in it). My personal favourite favourite favourite: Citron Oolong. Tastes even better than it smells, which is already heavenly.

  • I am really happy to hear that you like it since I just made a big order at David’s Tea last night for a few Christmas gifts for my family. I am excited to try the Creme Brulee tea I ordered for myself.

  • I am a HUGE fan of tea myself….you should try Sakurambo black tea by Lupicia…hands down one of my favorites, it’s a Japanese cherry flavor and it has pink peppercorns that look like teenie tiny cherries in it πŸ™‚

  • one million thanks for putting me on to this site! So many teas to try, and a great gift idea. You ladies are rockstars.

  • I used to work right down the street from a tea shop that specialized in creative loose leaf teas. I absolutely loved it. Then I moved and forgot about how much I love tea. Thanks for reminding me to try them again πŸ™‚

  • You need to drink tea the British way Elsie & Emma! When I say that I mean tea with milk and sugar. You don’t get any good ones in the states but I can send you some if you want…? Tea is SO important to us here in England – It’s a way of life!

  • I love David’s Tea! My sister-in-law got me hooked on it about a year ago. My favorites are Northern Lights and Goji Pop. Now I’m going to have to try some new flavors, Cocomint Cream sounds awesome!

  • Thank you so much for sharing! I can buy these locally (yay!) but I’ve been so overwhelmed with all the choices. Thank you so much for your recommendations — I can’t wait to try some of these out! πŸ™‚

  • We stumbled upon Davids Tea while we were in Victoria Canada and my oh my are we obsessed! They also host a wide variety of nifty tea accessory’s! I LOVE Glitter and Gold! The little gold flakes flitting around in my tea make me feel like royalty plus its super delicious! I’m so glad to have found another fan! OH! And how amazing they’ll send you up to 5 samples of tea with your purchase! I want to try them all!!!

    Ok I’m done now.

  • This is an English website but it is possible to order online (I don’t know about shipping, it might cost a bomb (okay, it’s Β£5 and the tea is Β£5.20 each but it’s so good, honestly)) but yumchaa tea is really good. Chelsea Chai is a green tea chai with mint. Very nice. Caramel Sweetheart is this amazing black tea that is really good with almond milk and cheers you up like nothing else. There is also this rooibos one with lemon/orange peel that I think is called Lemon Sherbet that tastes exactly like sherbet lemons, it’s awesome (and caffeine free!).
    http://www.yumchaa.com/
    Also, is you like jasmine tea, definitely try flowering tea! It is delicious AND it’s beautiful.

  • Thanks for sharing. Just discovered they have a store a few blocks from my bus stop so I’ll be stopping by before I head home tonight!

  • I love tea (and coffee actually) and would love to try some new blends! The names are super cute and combinations seem really unique. My mom is a huge lover of unique teas so I’ll be getting her some. Can’t wait to try!

  • thank you!! after your post the other day I’ve been drooling over the options!
    Definitely going to pick some up tomorrow!

  • I’m kind of a straight-laced tea drinking person, for me trying some herbal berry tea is going wild .. I’m not sure I would try these teas myself but they’re so pretty, definitely nicer looking than the average tea bag!

  • I actually work for David’s Tea, and it’s such a great company. Before I started working there, i was all about the fun flavours, but they also do some fantastic “straight” teas! I recommend trying the Quangzhou Milk Oolong and the Orange Pekoe. Also try to make some room in your cupboard for a tin of Read My Lips! It’s a black tea with chocolate, peppermint, and peppercorns, so it’s chocolatey, refreshing, and spicy all at once. A lot of customers tell me they think it tastes like a peppermint patty!

  • As a recent(ish) immigrant from the UK, I’m constantly on the hunt for good tea. I usually just prefer a breakfast blend or Lady Grey for everyday, but some of these flavours sound incredible – I might have to try them out!

  • Davids Tea orginated in Montreal where i’m from! Needless to say every store is JAMMED all the time. You NEED to try Pink Flamingo, Goji Pop,and Forever nuts. But MOST IMPORTANTLY You neeeeeeed to try Read My Lips. Your taste buds will thank you.

  • Thanks for all the tips! I live in Chicago and went up to our David’s Tea today, and I love all the smells. (I got the Mango Madness sort.) I also told them that I heard about them from you, and they were flattered and really excited! definitely have a new favorite tea shop!

  • love this post! i was trying to find a tea concoction last night and couldn’t. i just got some whole nutmeg i thought i would grind in but then i read that it makes you hallucinate.. not too great for a thursday night.

  • David’s Tea “Read my Lips” is my favourite tea! It’s mint chocolate flavoured. I also love “A Mid Summer Night’s Dream” iced in the summer months, sooo good!

  • I LOVE David’s tea! Some of my faves are Read my lips (also minty πŸ™‚ Peppermint Amour, Love tea #7, chocolate chilli chai and two you’ve mentioned already, Cocomint cream and Glitter an Gold.
    Have you tried them iced yet? Organic Razzmatazz and Luscious watermelon great iced!

  • Ohh! This tea looks so cool! Definitely a little different from what I’ve seen at the health food store! My favorite tea is Sweet Desert Delight from zhi tea. They are an Austin based business, with the cutest little store front/tea house! I am completely hooked on their sweet desert delight tea!

    http://www.zhitea.com

  • David’s Teas are the best ! I am totally addicted to the Chili ChaΓ― Chocolate, you shoud try it too πŸ˜‰ By the way, I made ebelsivers for the first time this week, it was really fun and a very good idea for the appetizers contest we are doing at my office. I hope these could make me win !

  • In my opinion Tealish Teas (also from Canada) is even better than David’s Tea. They use less flavoring and were around first, so they have an even bigger menu and teas that pack a lot of punch. I got all my friends addicted – trust me, try it and you’re not going to look back! Bonus: they sell wholesale, so you could carry it in your shop!

    (I double promise that I’m not affiliated with them… I’m just completely nuts about their teas and carry with me even when I travel!!)

  • After being a coffee girl for most of my life I have now developed a deep love for loose leaf tea too. I actually had Glitter & Gold yesterday and am drinking forever nuts right now! If you are looking for a spectacular travel mug for loose leaf tea try one of the libre ones. You can find them at libretea.com. They have a filter to keep the tea out of your mouth, a glass core and a BPA free rim and lid. I am obsessed with mine.

    -Emily
    http://from-small-beginnings.blogspot.ca/

  • I love this post! I’ve been studying abroad in London which has produced a new found love of tea. Theirs a tea shop in Barnes, London called Orange Pekoe that has the best tea I’ve ever had (Citrus Grey and Sweet Orange are my fav and so flavorful). They don’t have an online shop yet, but their currently working on setting one up. If you ever find yourself in London, you should stop there.

  • Mmm, this has me wanting a cup now πŸ™‚ Cocomint cream sounds delightful.

    My favorite tea is from Harney and Sons, called Paris Tea: http://www.harney.com/paris.html
    I know you say you don’t like black tea much, but you should try it! It’s so good, and smells lovely. Plus, it comes in a cute tin! I think they sell this brand at Williams Sonoma.

  • Oh Elsie! Such a happy post πŸ™‚
    You should definitely have a look at the Australian brand T2:
    http://t2tea.com/?v=1
    So many delicious teas! My absolute favourite is Melbourne Breakfast (a black tea) – and not just because it is from my home town, but because it is delicious and vanillary and it makes stressful days go away.

    Thanks for writing such a lovely blog – I’m going to go decorate my Christmas tree now x

  • Oh my these look delicious! I have a thing for collecting (and drinking) tea too. My old apartment kitchen was tiny, but it had a long blank wall. I ran 1×4 boards down the length and it became a set of super narrow shelves perfect for displaying canned goods, baking supplies and tea. I’m pretty sure I had more tea than anything else!

  • This makes me so happy! I’ve worked for DAVIDSTEA for 3 years, and watched it grow from 15 stores only in Canada, to over 100 stores! Finding this on your blog is absolutely the best.

  • I love me some tea, especially David’s!! My favorite at the moment is the honeybee tea. It tastes just as amazing as it smells πŸ™‚

  • A David’s literally started being constructed the same week that you posted about Birthday Cake tea a couple months ago! I am in love with them! They have a tea advent calendar for Christmas time too which is a super fun way to try out some other different teas πŸ™‚ I’m excited to try some of your favorites too.

  • Hurrah for tea!! My favorite place to get loose teas is called Adagio Tea. They have some of the best black teas I’ve ever tasted, as well as a section where you can purchase blends created by their customers, or create your own if you wish. A few of my current favorites are called Subterranean Homesick Brews (a nice earthy rich blend), Irish Romance (Irish Breakfast blended with cream and vanilla flavored teas), and The One Tea (as in to rule them all–a lot of the blends reference geeky things and I love it, but this one is a chocolate-hazelnut type tea.)

  • I love tea, especially since I don’t drink coffee. We have a David’s Tea in town, but I’ve never been there. I will definitely be making a visit now!

  • I love tea as well. This post is so exciting! πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ We just had a few DAVIDsTea locations open here in Chicago and I’m planning an excursion to one early next week. I can’t wait, I’ve heard such great things about them.

    I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time studying the DAVIDsTea website too, though, because usually I buy tea online. My favorite tea company is Harney & Sons. Their teas are high quality, but most are affordable. My favorites are Paris, Vanilla Comoro, Eight at the Fort, and Dragon Pearl Jasmine.

  • elsie i adore you!!!
    i love davids tea so much! i have the jessie’s tea and birthday cake one, i have to check out the rest of these. i love teas so much, thank you for this post beautiful!

  • Oh David’s Tea. Cream Of Earl Grey is a classic (we’ve tried blends of the same name at Teavana and Tea Desire and they don’t even come close), and I love me some pumpkin chai. My FI and I both LOVE Honey Bee, and normally he’s not a fan of anything that isn’t plain black, earl grey, or a chai blend. A personal favourite is Read My Lips, which is a fantastic chocolate mint tea and it has little lip-shaped sprinkles in it (they also have a chocolate mint rooibos blend for a caffeine-free option, which is also delicious). I’m not sure if it’s still available, but Blazing Strawberries is great (strawberry with a kick from pink peppercorns), and my favourite green tea blend is Some Velvet Morning. Lastly, try the Coffe Pu’erh. I can’t drink coffee, so it’s a favourite when I’m having a bit of a craving, and Emma might enjoy it.

  • I love love love tea! I’ll be making my own hand blended chai tea to gift this Christmas! Just waiting on my organic teas and spices to arrive from Mountain Rose Herbs!

  • Wow, this made me want some tea RIGHT NOW! Do you know what’s in it? I want to try to make some =D

  • This is an awesome post. I love tea too! It’s only in the last few years though that I’ve really gotten into it. And these teas (which sound delicious!) reminded me of a shop we have in Australia called T2, I could honestly buy their whole store! My favourite is their ‘Liquorice Legs’, it’s so naturally sweet, I could drink it all day http://t2tea.com/tea/herbal-fruit-tisanes/herbal/liquorice-legs/
    Thanks for sharing your tea geekiness πŸ˜‰ Enjoy all your tea!

  • Wow, you’ve totally inspired me to try some new teas!

    Will order some of these when I’m going to the US later in December.

    I can also recommend loose leaf teas from http://www.yumchaa.com/ – The Berry Berry Nice is my favourite! πŸ™‚

  • definitely ordering some of this today! thanks for the recommendations, i can’t wait to try it!

  • I went to the store and got one of the holiday gift packages! They’re tea is delicious. My friends and I had a little tea party bridal shower when I was getting married. We got a huge selection of David’s tea. It was so fun!

  • I have a SERIOUS OBSESSION TOO! Tevana is a wonderful tea company! I go in about once a month to restock. They also have DELICIOUS honey. It’s called Gold Honey and the thickness and sweetness mixes perfectly with chai. Yummy πŸ™‚

  • Oooh these all sound so good! I’ve never used loose tea before but I’ve been curious about it. I’d love to know your tips & tricks for brewing the perfect cup or your favorite tea accessories!

  • You have talked about DavidsTea before and I just had to check it out!
    I know I love green teas and wanted to try some others… branch out of my shell with teas, and when they started selling the 24 Days of Tea I thought it was a great way to try out multiples of tea… but I am on the fourth day of these teas and have yet to truly find one that I really like… Maybe I’m just taking the wrong approach at trying new teas…or I just need to stick with it until I find one I truly love!
    I suppose where I’m going with this is that I wanted to know, especially with black teas because those can be a little to strong for me, what you like to add to your teas to make them a little less strong.
    I have yet to try your chai but I will try it the next time I come across one of the black teas in this kit. ^-^
    And geek out as much as you want!!

  • Wow,they look all really yummy and I think I have to start making my tea with loose leaves…I`ve done it a few years ago but it appeared to me,that those tea`s never had any flavors at all!
    That`s what the modern comunitie made with my sense of taste..But I think after seeing all those delicious teas,I`m gonna give it another shot

    xoxo

  • I love this so much! My wife will love this, too, for sure! We both love teas for quite sometime now. Thanks for sharing this super fantastic post!

  • THANK YOU for sharing this site! I am caffeine free and I was tired of the grocery store’s caffeine free selection of tea years ago! I’m so happy they have such a selection for me πŸ˜€ Plus this is great for some Christmas gifts.

  • My partner and I have just recently started to become tea nerds (after reducing our coffee intake). Never was a big fan but I’m becoming one very quickly. In to chai mostly at the moment. Thanks for this post.

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