“Honestly, if you’re given the choice between Armageddon or tea, you don’t say ‘what kind of tea?”

Neil Gaiman

“Arthur blinked at the screens and felt he was missing something important. Suddenly he realized what it was.

“Is there any tea on this spaceship?” he asked.”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

“When tea becomes ritual, it takes its place at the heart of our ability to see greatness in small things. Where is beauty to be found? In great things that, like everything else, are doomed to die, or in small things that aspire to nothing, yet know how to set a jewel of infinity in a single moment?”
― Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog

“There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.”
― Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

Here are some tips and hints for working in the garden. You can incorporate all your used tea to help maintain the pH in soil

For Flowers:

Sprinkle new or used tea leaves (from loose or tea bags) around your rosebushes and cover with mulch to give them a midsummer boost. When you water the plants, the nutrients from the tea will be released into the soil, spurring growth. Roses love the tannic acid that occurs naturally in tea.

Feed your ferns

Schedule an occasional teatime for your ferns and other acid-loving houseplants. Substitute brewed tea when watering the plants. Or work wet tea leaves into the soil around the plants to give them a lush, luxuriant look. Use a lukewarm tea, one that is brewed delicately–not too strong. Perfect for re-brewed tea.

Prepare planter for potting

For healthier potted plants, place a few used tea bags on top of the drainage layer at the bottom of the planter before potting. The tea bags will retain water and leach nutrients to the soil.

Enhance your compost pile

To speed up the decomposition process and enrich your compost, pour a few cups of strongly brewed tea into the heap. The liquid tea will hasten decomposition and draw acid-producing bacteria, creating desirable acid-rich compost. Black tea is best.

Sources: various

The newest kid on the block—Bubble tea comes from Taiwan and was first on the scene in the 1980’s. In Taiwan it’s known as Pearl Milk Tea, named for the little balls of tapioca added which sink to the bottom of the glass McCafe serves Bubble tea in Germany and Austria, so expect it to appear soon in popularity in the U.S.A.   It’s a very different experience, always served chilled with a vast variety of exotic flavors like lychee and coconut cream. It is made with any variety of tea, so the combinations are virtually limitless. The health benefits from the tea is what you would expect from any tea, however, it is often made with a lot of sugar and milk or cream, so it’s probably better to try as a dessert or special treat on occasion if you’re watching your diet.

Black Tea

All teas have their own health benefits, but black teas which are more hearty in flavor, and a little on the more robust side, has the unique distinction of possibly preventing strokes by raising your good cholesterol. Black tea blends can range from spicy to sweet. Chocolate, especially dark with fruit, is a favored accompaniment. You can either stir some dark chocolate shavings directly in your tea to melt or just nibble and take a sip of tea, letting it melt on your tongue. Delicious!

WARNING: If you have prostate cancer, be cautious using green tea.

A Superfood. It thins the blood. Helps you maintain a healthy weight. Lowers cholesterol. It has anti-aging properties. It helps diabetics with their insulin levels. The high levels of anti-oxidants can help thwart arthritis and aid patients with pain and inflammation. It also  helps the digestive track maintain the “good” bacteria.

Green tea has long been studied and taken for its medicinal qualities in the Eastern Cultures. Americans are just now coming around to understand its wonderful effects on the body, and its calming effects on the mind.   A cup of green tea contains half the caffeine of coffee.  And, if you have a cold, go ahead and indulge—word’s out on whether it’s as good as grandma’s chicken soup, but it doesn’t have any cholesterol, either.

DON”T get caught up in TEA-SPEAK.

Imagine yourself in a restaurant and the waiter or sommelier presents you with a wine list. You break out in a cold sweat.  There are hundreds of wines! Worse, they’re from all over the world, there’s more choices over what KIND of red than there are over kinds of cars, and you have no idea what “Finishes with an unctuous, yet confident, rather serious, cacophony that lasted 4 seconds.”  You decide to order water so you don’t look ignorant.

Some tea places are taking the same tack, making them the experts on ever tea. They have hundreds of overwhelming blends, and their descriptions are pretentious or so over the top you have no idea what they’re talking about.

YOU are your own expert. YOU know what you like. You don’t need a degree in tea-speak to figure it out.

And no two tea consumers are the same. You are like no one else, unique.

That’s why we don’t recommend a tea based on what we like. We recommend teas based on their personality, or yours. If you like the bolder blacker coffees, no sweetening, then black teas are probably more your style. If you’re a sweet tea fan, there’s plenty of offerings. And if you are a no-nonsense, health-benefits sort of consumer, the green teas are where to begin.

Follow your nose and your own instincts. You know what you like. Part of the fun is finding it!

That’s why we always include a sample with your order. And if you don’t like the sample, you can order another one. That way you’ll never be stuck ordering something you don’t care for. Tea samples are shipped out the next day, so you don’t have to wait and wait before you decide to order.

And if you decide to jump over the sample, and just order, and you hate it, we’ll give you credit for a new bag. Just tell us what you don’t like, and we’ll get you back on track. No fuss, no muss. No Tea Speak

Welcome to our website.  We look forward to serving you!