So one of the, uh, side effects of my son having been at horse riding (day) camp last week was that I spent four days driving back and forth past the little touristy shopping area in the suburb near us. Not only is it a great strip for Pokemon GO, if that’s your thing,* it also has one of the two best places for tea in my city. On Wednesday, on the way home from collecting son from horse riding, I caved and stopped by.
Really, all I was supposed to buy was some more lavender tea** and liquorice tea (the only one my husband drinks). Of COURSE we all know that I picked up some other things too O:) Namely, some decaf French Earl Grey (a new addition to the store), some Raspberry Sorbet (oolong-based), and some . Annnnd a couple of their gorgeous black tins (size large, for the liquorice and choc mint slice, a flavoured black tea, that we always have in stock) for storing tea.
I came home, rearranged the whole tea cupboard, and went back the next day for two small tins for other teas.
And I went back this week for another two small tins. Oops?
But anyway, rearranging the cupboard to get rid of the few teas in there that were over 8 years old, to put loose leafs into tins, and to sort it so that decaf and herbal are all on one side, and black and green are on the other, made me super happy, so I just felt like sharing.
I’ll end with links to some of my absolute favourite go-to teas, just in case anyone is interested 😀 Full warning, I drink my non-herbal teas with a GENEROUS slop of milk and no sugar.
Mint Slice – a black tea with mint leaves and chocolate flavouring. I’ve also added in some Crazy Good Cocoa (cocoa bean husks) to boost the chocolate flavour. This is my absolute go-to tea. If I’m going to make tea for breakfast,*** this is it.
Rooibos Chocolate Truffle – a caramel-and-chocolate, naturally caffeine-free red tea. I’ve also added Crazy Good Cocoa to it, and it’s a SUPERB after-dinner dessert tea.
Raspberry Sorbet – a new addition to my rota, this is a flavoured oolong tea with freeze-dried raspberries. Smells absolutely heavenly and is quite strongly-flavoured.
Strawberries & Cream (herbal) – my default at-work tea, this is actually a herbal tisane with freeze dried strawberries, hibiscus and dehydrated cream. It’s rich and full-flavoured and delicious. However…
Thirst Quencher (herbal) – this tea may replace Strawberries & Cream for me. It’s even stronger in flavour and has a deep, rich, raspberry finish. This one is INCREDIBLE as an iced tea too, and chilled with sugar basically tastes like an adult’s raspberry cordial.
Liquorice used to be a go-to as well, but although I like the brand we use now well enough, I’m still mourning the days of being able to get the Black Adder brand readily (though it looks like that site has it in stock again, whee hee!).
That’s it! What are your go-to teas? I LOVE finding new flavours, so feel free to make suggestions for me!
*Totally my thing. Not even sorry.
**Lavender tea made of 100% culinary lavender is GREAT for random culinary additions. Try adding it to potato-based soups with sage and salt; to anything with chocolate; and to a lot of dairy-based recipes. I powder it in the bullet blender first.
***I say breakfast, but I am NOT a morning person, so what this really means is that I brew it in my thermal flask that Spousal Person got for me at an architectural trade show last year while I get the kids to shoe up and put their lunches in their bags, and then by the time I’ve dropped them off and gotten myself to my desk, the tea is perfect drinking temp and I drink it at my desk at work 😉
All Assam all the time.
But as good assam is much harder to find here in Aus, I tend to go for Madura Premium loose leaf.
Before US shipping went crazy expensive a few years ago, I was drinking a lot of the Jane Austen Tea Series, from the Tea Temptress. Hand crafted blends to match book characters. Super high quality teas with herbal, floral, or fruit additions. Delicious and clever.
Oh, I’ll have to look into the Austen ones, that sounds amazing! I’m not experienced enough with drinking straight black teas to be sure I could taste the difference between them. I’ve assam is supposed to be one of the stronger-flavoured ones, is that right? One day I’ll convince myself to walk past all the flavoured teas and try some plain black ones :’D