Monday, April 28, 2008

My tea rituals

It's time for another week of Gracious Hospitality's Blog-a-Thon! We're to share our favorite teas and how we prepare them. I'm looking forward to reading more about new teas I haven't tried. Check her blog for the Mr. Linkys (when technical problems are over). :)

These are my two "go to" teapots which I use most days. The smaller one is when I'm making tea just for me. Sometimes I'll use it and then make my husband's tea in a large mug as guy's don't mind "taking tea" in mugs. Shudder... can you imagine? I use the large teapot when making tea for the three of us. It was a great thrift store find a few years ago.

I run the water at the faucet until it is very hot and fill the teapot with hot water. I put fresh water from our filtered water at the sink (a must for where we live, the well water is awful) into my whistling tea pot and let it come to a boil. For green tea, I let the water sit for about thirty seconds before using.

I pour the hot water out of the teapot, place my tea in the pot and pour the boiling water over it. I like most of my teas to only steep for a two or three minutes. Of course, my herbal teas steep for the full time asked for on the package. I pour mine into...

My favorite teacup...

These are my two favorite evening teas. I'm hoarding my box of Candy Cane Lane since it is only sold at Christmas... LOVE IT! The box on the left is hard to read, it is my latest find and it is delicious.

I hadn't tried any of the Lipton Pyramid Tea Bags until I begin to see them as favorites on other tea blogs. Target had a big sale on them a couple months ago so I tried Bedtime Story (chamomile and spearmint)... oh my goodness. How delicious!

These are our favorite "go to" teas we drink most often. They are Bigelow's Earl Grey Green (my favorite) and Green Tea with Lemon (hubby's favorite). They don't taste like a "grocery store tea" at all and they are perfect for "stocking up" when they are on sale.

The sealed packages helps them last a long time. I once found a box that had somehow found itself in the back of my kitchen shelves, could have been there a couple of years... tasted great.

These are our favorite "cold and flu season" teas. I like to keep them on hand all the time, although they are stored in the bathroom medicine cabinet.

I also enjoy HT Teas (Harney & Sons) and I love to try new teas if they are not expensive. I also have peppermint leaves sent to me by a dear friend which I use whole and strain into a cup.

I find all of the above taste great when using tea bags but through the years, there have been others I prefer in their whole leaf form... just don't own any right now.

Now, I must get ready for work. I just had to get these posted this morning, though. Sorry if I didn't catch typos! :)

18 comments:

Anita said...

My husband and I used to drink tea everyday while we watched the 6:00news. Then the busyness of life caught us, having four teenagers and a younger son, and we stopped. Now well retired, I think it's time to take up that delightful habit again!

Ceekay-THINKIN of HOME said...

Your tea post was great! I will have to find those tea pyramids. I totally understand about hoarding the peppermint tea....we all must have a good hiding spot just for things like that!

Anonymous said...

What a great tea post. I have never tasted Peppermint tea but I will now try it. I love your tea cup and saucer. It's beautiful. I know what you mean about those guys and their mugs lol

Anonymous said...

We share some of the same favorites!
I really enjoyed this post, as always Brenda, but yesterdays post spoke to my heart because we are in very similar positions.

Niki said...

I love Candy Cane tea!!! It's my very favourite, next Christmas I will buy several boxes!

Vee said...

Some interesting tea selections there and a lot of variety, which is always a good thing. Have you found a tea that actually calms as chamomile is said to do? Does it?

Love your "go to" tea pots, too.

Vee said...

Oh I meant to tell you that your playlist was my choice yesterday afternoon while I sewed...just wonderful! Thanks for gathering such great songs together.

La Tea Dah said...

Hi Brenda,

Just letting you know that Mr. Linky is finally working on Gracious Hospitality. Thanks for your patience!

LaTeaDah

La Tea Dah said...

I enjoyed your post. You obvious love for 'tea, the beverage' shines through! Thank you for sharing about your favorite teas. I love your little tea tray with it's two little teapots. What a perfect fit!

Thanks for sharing!
LaTeaDah

Anonymous said...

I can see I'm going to learn a lot about tea this week :)
I've enjoyed getting back into the tea swing...
Thanks for all your great photos and showing all these varieties...

Carrot Top said...

My love for tea has basically been the iced kind. I can tell that I'm going to have to branch out more and try some herbal ones. This is such a fun post, thanks!

Kathy said...

What an interesting post! Thanks for all the info.!!
Kathy@ Mimi's Garden

Bonita said...

I learned so much from your post. I see those health-related teas at the health food store, but I don't know why it didn't occur to me to get them for the winter season. Duh! That Bedtime Story sounds like something I need to get my hands on too. Thanks for the info and cool pictures!

Kathy said...

On Monday nights, my friend serves tea at our Bible Study group. She has the Candy Cane Lane tea and I drink it every week. What a treat! Thanks for sharing. ~Kathy

Simply Authentic said...

I love the Traditional Medicinals too! Never fails to work wonders on easing the symptoms of a cold.

Just A Girl said...

Hi, thanks for the fun post. I discovered Candy Cane Lane two years ago and didn't realize it was only sold at Christmas time. Very depressing realization so I started hoarding. I even try hiding it from my husband... isn't that terrible? Did you know that you can buy it online? Just go to the Celestial Seasonings website. I haven't tried purchasing any online as I have a huge stock pile but it's worth a try.
Happy sipping!

Grace said...

Love Candy Cane lane too--what a great post, so much to learn!

Steph said...

I think I have that same white, sturdy teapot! It's seen me through many cups of tea and goes with everything.