Tea time...

I have to admit that I am relatively sheltered when it comes to tea and the art of tea steeping, but its been a true joy to learn and experience! So let me share my favorites with you!

I've been experimenting with new websites and tea companies from around the country. Check out my "personal recommendations" and "sites" tabs to the left to see what I'm up to.

To get reviews and tea information, I have found this site extremely trustworthy and informative:

https://sororitea.wordpress.com/

TIP:  One key thing to know about steeping tea is that if you want a stronger flavor, you need to add leaves and not add time.  The added time makes the leaves bitter.  Adding more leaves helps to add to the flavor!  So keep that in mind when you're making tea!

This is my awesome new kettle I got at Christmas a couple years ago. It shows you when the temperature hits certain tea flavors! So now I don't have to watch to see if there are a few bubbles, no bubbles but steam, a rolling boil... this kettle does it for me!!! Makes my life SO much easier! It also has a timer on the top, but I currently need to change the batteries on mine!

Its the:

Presto Heat 'n Steep Electric Tea Kettle.

I LOOOOVE IT!

Be warned! Remember to NOT leave your steeped tea in the kettle. It’s extremely difficult to clean out afterwards. As I’m sure you can guess, I did this. It’s not been fun to clean out… I have stopped steeping all my teas in the kettle and now only use it for the kettle's handy temperature gauge. I then pour the water into another steeping agent.

This is the ultimate in tea making tools. If you don't have one, get one. Its a Timolino tea maker. Fantastic! Just steep & then set on top of your mug to pour the tea out from the bottom. How smart is that??? Eliminate the waste from pouring and it does the filtering for you. LOVE IT! Get it. It has a plastic base so nothing leaks out and it keeps your coutertop mess free after filtering.

As a note, this does not fit all my tea mugs. But a little fancy placement will get it to work without a hitch. Seriously, this is the best! I'm telling you, get it or you're missing out!

(my tea infuser)

With tea infusers, you have to be careful that the holes are not so big that you'll have a lot tea leaves slipping through. Though you'll have a little with just about any steeper, I really like this one! It works with some of my wider brimmed mugs and tall mugs when I want that little extra caffeine!

I just purchased this iced-tea maker from Craig's list for $5, and it is so worth it! My daughter now enjoys sharing tea with my son and I. Hopefully, we can slowly introduce her to hot tea this winter as she's an iced-tea girl right now. But I can't complain about being able to share my tea love with both kids!

Besides exploring more iced-tea options with this sweet device (as its perfect for loose leaf), I also enjoy offering my kids a healthier flavored drink other than juice or pop. It makes some great options in our home beverage selection. I would highly recommend this maker to one and all! Just remember to buy some coffee filters with it.

This is my new favorite book: The Taste"Tea" journal/aka Cupping Journal! Yep, I'm journaling my favorite teas. Its fun! Plus an easy way to impart your tea wisdom. The back cover gives you instructions on what and how to observe the qualities of your tea to help you journal successfully.

Is this a necessary item? No. But its fun and a unique item for the tea enthusiast (like yourself perhaps?). Love it! It'll be in my purse on all my adventures in case I stumble across tea nirvana and need to document the experience!

Comments

Discussion closed

Ashanti McGee (Sunday, September 02 12 10:15 am EDT)

You are awesome and I always love people who are nerdy about tea
weight loss (Wednesday, February 20 13 06:08 pm EST)

You ought to take part in a contest for one of the greatest
blogs online. I am going to highly recommend this website!
Laurence (Monday, May 18 15 08:29 am EDT)

For a great summer rfseerher I like to use a fresh brewed cup of tea (regular or herbal) in place of the cup of boiling water making lighter flavored Jell-O, like lemon or peach Jell-O. Then add a
cup of cold water and chill it to jel.
adtitan google plus android (Tuesday, September 22 15 06:39 pm EDT)

Outstanding post but I was wanting to know if you could write a litte more on this subject?
I'd be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit more.

Cheers!