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! :)