Tea Time

I love to prepare fresh tea using ingredients from my garden— chai, lemon verbena, mint. But when it’s too cold to run out the to garden (What? It can drop down to 50 here at night!) or I’m having a crazed mommy-on-the-run kind of day, I go to my tea stash in the kitchen to make a cup of liquid comfort.

My tea drawer selection ranges from the ordinary to extraordinary. Full disclosure: we reach for the ordinary way more than the extraordinary.

Here’s what we’re sipping these days:

Basics

Peppermint (Celestial Seasonings or Trader Joe’s)

Twinings Earl Grey and Green Tea

Bigelow Decaf English Breakfast

hand tied tea that opens into a flower... 

Something Special

Yogi Brand– Detox and Gingko, these have come in handy with my January health mission.

TJ’s Jasmine Pearls—the pearls come in sachets, which I love. Every time I drink a cup it conjures up memories of my honeymoon in Hong Kong.

Tea Fountain China White Tea— these are hand-tied tea balls that open into a flower, which is pretty fantastic.

Raw Green Bush Tea—this tastes like the pina colada of teas, which is kind of gross, but kind of great when I need a sweet fix and I am trying to step away from my licorice habit.

Harney and Sons, Paris Blend—perfect for rainy days, it comes in delicate silk sachets and the black tea smells like vanilla and dried mulberries.

One of my favorite additions when we did our kitchen remodel was adding an instant purified hot water source at my sink. It is one of my most often-used kitchen appliances. This little luxury means I can drink cups and cups of tea without ever having to put a kettle on the stove.