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Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Tea Me Please

I tried really hard to not drug myself in order to get through my day.  Long story short, driving an hour home after being on your feet since 7AM is just a bad idea without any kind of a pick me up.  


So, I have turned to tea.  And in the past few weeks I have become quite the tea drinker.  A tea freak, even.  I have at least 4 cups a day.  It helps too that my mentor teacher is a tea drinker, so I’m just surrounded by it all day.  Just to be clear, I am no connoisseur, no loose tea here, I like the convenience of the little mesh bags.  


I’m sure you know there are a bunch of different kinds of tea:  black, green, red, white, etc.  It gets more specific and more specialized, but I’m just your average tea drinker.  I try to get a variety!


My first tea requirement though:    



No, not that there are 20 bags in the package, that there is CAFFEINE!  Surprisingly, this isn’t always easy to find.  I think the idea is that some people drink tea instead of coffee because they don’t want the caffeine.  Not the case here!  No decaf tea, and even better is tea that specifies that it is caffeinated.  You’ll find some boxes marked “Revive”, or “Awake”, and those undoubtedly will give you a little perk.  


When embarking on my tea adventure, I turned first to Yogi Tea, which I have seen at every grocery store I have been in recently, and more extended collections at some natural food stores.  I went for their “Uplift” line, and there were a few options.  One of my favorite things about the Yogi tea is that they listed on the side of the box how much caffeine was in it.  So I got the box with the most caffeine:  Lemon Ginger Green Tea.

  

In my desk drawer (yes, I brought my camera to school today).


My first thought was:  grass.  It smelled like grass.  It kind of tastes a little grassy too, but not in an overpowering way.  I’ve been keeping this box at school, and its been quite effective at getting me past my drive home slump.  


So, I had my school tea, but I desperately needed something to have on my way to school in the morning.  I perused the aisles of my local Shop-Rite (they have a pretty nice natural food section), and found this “Energizing” Passionfruit-Mango Green Tea.  



I have to say, this was one of the best teas I have ever bought.  Most of the time, I think fruity teas are too light, or too “flowery”, or don’t taste like much, but this just tastes so nice and tropical, and you can still taste the green tea.  Its really awesome, just a little sweet:  Passionfruit Mango Green Tea by Teakanne. 

 


Now that the tea ball was rolling, I just couldn't stop...especially when there was a sale.  Leftover teas, marketed for Valentine's Day, with an additional coupon if I bought two boxes.  How could I say no?  


First was a black tea, this was the V-day one:  Celestial Seasoning's Vanilla Strawberry Rose Ceylon Black Tea.  



Vanilla?  Awesome.  Strawberry?  More awesome.  Rose?  Um..not so sure.  I spent way to much time in the tea aisle debating this one, but I am so so so so glad I did.  It is just fantastic.  You can't really taste the strawberry, but the hints of vanilla and rose, combined with cinnamon and spices, is completely perfect.  


Lastly, I got a white tea.  I was on the fence with this one:  Perfectly Pear White Tea.  



I've only had iced white tea before, and I never liked it, I find it too light tasting.  Luckily, this tea made me a white tea convert.  It is really great, and you can really taste the pear flavor.  


Anyone else a big tea drinker?  I see this becoming a very bad habit.  And by bad, I mean I'll have more boxes of tea than space for boxes of tea.  


Are you a decaf drinker?  At one time, I too preferred to keep my tea free of caffeine.  At night I still have my absolute favorite:  Candy Cane Lane!  



Yes, you can only get it at the holidays...but I bought two boxes this year.  I don't know what it is about it, but I love it, the peppermint, the green tea....completely perfect.  


If anyone wants to share their favorite, I am completely and totally open to and looking for suggestions.  Like I said, I foresee a rapidly expanding tea collection in my future!!          

19 comments:

  1. i LOVE candy cane lane tea
    i get so depressed when it goes out of season :\

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  2. Oh my god, the candy cane lane is my absolute favorite too! I'm trying desperately to make my stock pile last...

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  3. i hear ya abt not drugging oneself...

    cute title...tea me please....tee hee

    i am not a tea drinker...wish i could recommend some to ya but haha it really looks like you're doing fine in that dept...all the tea u mentioned sounds good:D

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  4. i can't believe it!! i haven't heard of anyone else who has had the strawberry vanilla rose tea besides me!! it is the best caffeinated tea EVER!!! the flavors are amazing, and are even better with a little agave nectar. you should try yogi's tahitian vanilla hazelnut...it is my favorite caffeine-free tea, and is great with a splash of silk creamer! happy tea-ing!

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  5. Tea addict here. I have only tried one of the flavors you bought, but my current passions are:

    Yogi Ginger Tea (awesome price at TJ's)
    Good Earth White Tea Vanilla Blend (actually lemongrass with just a hint of vanilla; buy on Amazon)
    Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice
    Tazo Refresh (mint/peppermint)

    I love many more, but these are my daily addictions, yes, I have a big mug of all of them every day! Drink up and enjoy the world of teas. Keep reporting on your reviews of them too, it helps me pick out new ones :)

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  6. Oh gosh, good suggestions already!! Alisa, I recently got some "flavored" water (not with sucralose, just flavor extracts) that was lemongrass and vanilla, and it was SO good, it makes me want to try that tea so bad.

    And Laura, vanilla hazelnut? Sounds awesome! Definitely on my list of nighttime decaf to try!

    I'm glad to hear there are other candy cane lane fans out there! I commented on someone's blog about it near Christmastime, and they, surprisingly and very sadly, did not agree with my sentiment towards it.

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  7. I need that vanilla strawberry and white pear tea! They both sound PHENOMENAL!

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  8. Looking forward to trying that vanilla/ rose/ etc. stuff. I drink coffee in the morning, but I like to have a caffeinated tea around 10 or so to get me through until lunchtime. After school and during the evening, I usually drink some type of decaf green tea. The tea I'm MOST into right now is YOGI DETOX tea. I totally tox all weekend long and like anything that tells me its cleaning me out in some way. Anyway, I started drinking it two weeks ago and seriously thought I noticed my stomach getting a little flatter... I don't know if I had done extra crunches that week or perhaps found some super celebrity secret. Regardless, it tastes good (very spicy), and I now drink it every day. It's a little pricey though. (Great post, btw!)

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  9. love that lemon ginger yogi tea:) sorry i havent posted , but ill catch up in ur blogs:)

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  10. Hi! Great to see that you are enjoying tea. If you like a tea with quite a bit of zip, check out black teas from Yunnan, particularly those called "Golden Yunnan" or some variation. They tend to have a lot of tea buds (also called "tips") which are both naturally sweet and high in caffeine: Vroom, vroom!

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  11. I feel out of the tea loop! Caffeine makes me anxious so I'd have to get decaf. I'd SO want to try the candy cane lane one. I'll have to keep a lookout for it. :D

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  12. LOVING all the tea!

    I, too, am a tea freak and usually have 3-4 cups a day. Isn't it SO good!

    Two of my all time favorite teas is Stash's Goji Berry tea and Tazo Wild Sweet Orange (I have the Sweet Orange before bed since it's decaf).

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  13. i've always loved good 'ol sleepytime tee but now i want to try candy cane lane!

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  14. I wish I could make myself drink more tea. I like it, but it's often too watery for me. And too hot. I like coffee though, with a little creamy soymilk and turbinado.

    And I love iced sweet green tea! I drink that every morning. And I agree that caffeine is a must...

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  15. Loved your first tea requirement. :)

    My favorite tea is Celestial Seasonings Blueberry, and they make a cherry flavor I like as well...both caffeine free.

    I hear you could order the holiday flavors year-round from their website.

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  16. Andy and I are such big tea drinkers. And even bigger tea buyers. Whenever we see it on clearance we buy so many different kinds of herbal tea. My new favourite is black ceylon tea (caffeinated) with cinnamon. So yummy with soy milk! And for caffeine free I can't go past rooibos tea with vanilla or lemon myrtle flavouring.

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  17. I drink a ton of tea. I have a glass of Bigelow Plantation Mint tea over ice everyday. It is my pick-me-up in the afternoon. It's caffeinated and delicious. It's heavy on the peppermint, but really balanced. Any of the Bigelow teas are good.

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  18. Loves me some tea. But, I tell ya, Teavana.com is where it's at. Their vanilla rooibos is amaaazing.

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  19. Sorry i ran across your blog and LOVED your tea blog. I honestly thought that I was the ONLY person that was pretty much obsessed with tea! My bf is always saying that I'm just a compulsive 'Tea Buyer' lol but so not true I drink all of my teas lol...but anyway onto the real question do you sweeten your tea at all? and if so is it just raw sugar or something else?

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