Your mother has put up with so much. The least you could do is get her a gift basket.
This has to be the easiest win in the history of “perfect” sons and daughters everywhere.
Match the woman to the brew and you’re set.
Strong-Willed Woman
If your mom loves the smoky flavors of barbeque and Islay scotch, consider Lapsang Souchong. Reviewer Stan Wolson called it “The ‘Single Malt Scotch’ of Teas”.
Flower Lover
To activate this bouquet, just add hot water! Our flavored teas give you a lot of flowers to choose from, including Jasmine Pearls and Lavender Lady.
Our Tiramisu Rooibos features chocolate, caramel bits and (gasp!) whole coffee beans.
Sweet Woman with a Sweet Tooth
Your mom may feel guilty about forcing you to learn piano, even though you hated lessons. Give her a guilt-free after-dinner dessert with flavored teas like Tiramisu Rooibos or Almond Biscotti.
Quiet and Calm
Maybe your mother avoids caffeine because it interrupts her oasis of calm. Or maybe she strives to find that oasis. Either way, herbal infusions are ideal. Raspberry Mint Medley makes a great iced tea; Chamomile is perfect for a before-bed ritual.
Towering Beauty features green tea tied around chrysanthemum and amaranth blooms.
Fancy Lady
One of the most impressive styles of tea in our collection is flowering tea, sometimes known as display tea. Flowers are carefully wrapped in tea leaves and dried. Once hot water is added, the pods “bloom” into beautiful scenes. Glass vessels are best to watch the flower gracefully unfold.
After you drink the tea, you can add cold water and showcase the flower in a glass bowl. Add floating votives for a centerpiece like no other.
If you can’t decide, or want to have us personalize your selection, give us a call at 1-877-330-7033. We’re happy to help!
There’s an App for everything these days, and that includes Tea. Here’s a look at some of the apps* that no tea lover’s Smartphone should be without:
Tea App
With a name likeTea App, this one is a no-brainer. With this app, you can keep a running catalog of all the teas you try. The streamlined design helps you keep track of different flavors and types in an easy and organized way. You also have the option of writing down Tasting Notes for all of your teas, so you can make great recommendations to friends or just keep more detailed descriptions of teas you’ve tested on file. Brew Settings allow you to know exactly how to get the best out of a particular tea, including steeping times and ideal brewing temperature. It even comes with a helpful chime to remind you when your tea has steeped long enough! An Inventory Tracker helps you stay on top of how many brews you have left.
Tea Remedy If you’re interested in holistic uses for tea, theTea Remedy app is a great tool to have. You can find recommendations for the best kinds of tea to help you lose weight, fall asleep at night, improve your memory, or help you stay more alert during the day.
Tea Time! This is similar to the Tea App, but without all the bells and whistles. The Tea Time app focuses on steeping times to make sure you get the best brew out of your favorite tea. All you have to do is pick a tea and preferred strength, and the app will recommend the best steeping time and temperature for brewing. This app also lets you save settings, so once you’ve locked in on the best conditions, you can easily reference them for future brews.
* The Apps listed above are not a product of the Tea Smith, nor are they connected to the Tea Smith in any way. The Remedy App considers “herbal infusions” as tea. The Tea Smith does not recommend any health regimens or specific use of either tea or herbal infusions to treat ailments. The apps above are meant for your own personal entertainment and enjoyment.
Tomorrow we’re celebrating Earth Day, so it’s a great time to look at some unique and interesting ways that tea can intersect with issues of sustainability.
One really easy thing to do with old tea leaves is use old dregs as compost. Even discarded tea leaves carry a substantial amount of nutrients that can help give a needed, healthy boost to your favorite potted plant or that fickle rose bush in the garden. Think of it as do-it-yourself fertilizer that doesn’t take any extra effort on your part. You can also think of it as one more thing that won’t end up taking space in a landfill somewhere! Leftover water from brewing doesn’t have to go straight back down the drain. Instead, use it to water plants around the house or outside. It’s a small but easy way to get more use out of the water you use for tea.
When you’re not drinking tea yourself, why not brew a cup ofCompost “Tea” for Mother Earth herself? This is a special “drink” intended especially as a gardening and farming tool. Just 1/4 teaspoon of good Compost Tea has been shown to contain over a billion bacteria as well as several strands of fungi that are beneficial to plant growth. Good bacteria out-compete other harmful organisms and also improve the water-holding capacity of soil. Fungi help decompose old plant material and retain nutrients. It’s easy to make and the main ingredient is your very own heap of compost collected at home, which can be made up of many things, including old tea leaves. If your garden or your houseplants are looking particularly sad,give it a try! For a truly creative use of spent tea leaves, look no further than theseLego bricks made out of tea leaves and coffee beans. Here’s an idea that could really change the way we play and build! It’s a great example of looking at an already existing product and finding a way to build it in a more sustainable way that reuses old materials instead of discarding them. The best part? The Lego pieces are fully functional and interlock in the same way as regular plastic blocks do.
It’s going to be a particularly warm Spring this year, so why wait until Summer to try out some iced tea cocktails? Start experimenting now and you can be a certified mixologist by the time Junes comes around!
Whiskey Spiked Peach Iced Tea:
For this recipe, we recommend a basic black tea–nothing too fruity or flavored since you’ll be adding peach nectar. You might want to try the Blacksmith Blend, a full bodied black tea that’s actually a mix of Chinese and Indian teas.
1 quart cold water
4 teaspoons black tea
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups peach nectar
Your favorite whiskey
Fresh peach slices, for garnish
Mint sprigs, for garnish
Instructions:
Brew your tea separately first, then dissolve the sugar into it while the water is still hot. Don’t add the sugar after you’ve chilled the tea, since it’ll make dissolving more difficult.
Pour the steeped tea into a pitcher and add the peach nectar.
Refrigerate the pitcher for at least an hour, to allow the flavors to combine and the tea to reach its ideal temperature.
Pour the cool tea over ice, leaving a little bit of room at the top of the glass for the whiskey. Mix well, garnish it to your liking (a slice of peach is a nice touch) and enjoy!
Southern Kick
Here’s an even simpler way of adding a punch to your favorite iced tea. The Southern Comfort adds a layer of sweet with a bit of spice, so a simple no-frills black tea is a good base for this cocktail. However, feel free to explore with fruitier varieties, too, like our current featured tea, Green Flower Rooibos which brings together strawberries, peaches and orange in a refreshing blend.
1/2 oz whiskey
1/2 oz Southern Comfort
Iced tea
For an authentic Southern feel, serve it in a mason jar! It’s a nice touch, and you can put those old jars to good use instead of tossing them away.
Spring is in full swing and that means that the kinds of teas we drink, and how we drink them, are ready for a refreshing change. It’s shaping up to be a particularly warm Spring in most places of the United States, so it’s time to hit the patio deck with a pitcher of cold iced tea and enjoy the chance to be back outside with friends and family. Here are some springtime essentials straight from the Tea Smith.
As the temperature starts to climb, fruity and floral teas make for a refreshing way to stay cool. The Flowering Tea Gift Box is a great starter kit for ringing in Spring. This gift box also make for a great Easter gift. It contains eight individually tied tea blossoms: two Golden Magic in Water, two One-thousand Days Jasmine, and one each Butterfly Loves Flowers, Towering Beauty, Double Happiness and Floating Beauty. It’s beautifully packaged and the handcrafted details make it a personal and thoughtful present.
For a great fruity tea with a bold taste, try our Pomegranate Tea. It combines all the taste of a Sencha green tea with the sweetness of pomegranate. Our Subtle Strawberry White Tea is sure to satisfy any sweet tooth, and, even better, it’s a guilt-free treat that let’s you enjoy all the benefits of delicious dessert without the calorie-filled repercussions! Another great sweet and fruity choice is our Strawberry Fields Roobois, a mix of fruits that includes kiwi and strawberry that is a perfect uncaffeinated option for Spring.
These sweet, floral, fruity teas all make for excellent iced teas. For practical brewing and pouring, look no further than the Flash Chill Iced Tea Maker, which lets you steep and chill your tea (bags or loose leaf) all in the same place. Its airtight lid ensures the utmost freshness and lets you store the pitcher on its side without having to worry about spilling, so you can easily take it with you on the road. Serve up your iced tea in these Pavina glasses. They’re double-blown to ensure that your iced tea stays chilled for longer.
Sure, you can drink it hot or iced, mix it up in a delicious cocktail blend, or even read your fortune in its dregs, but tea can inspire you do to much more! Diehard tea aficionados know that it’s not just a drink, it’s a way of life. Here are three clever (and very different) ideas that can take your enjoyment of tea in fun and unexpected directions.
Make your own Tea cozies
Granny’s teapot may be durable and functional, but let’s face it–when it comes to personal flair, it can come up a little short. For the tea-connoisseur with a bit of time and a lot of knitting-knowhow, tea cozies are the ideal project. Not only do they dress up your teapot in a quirky and unique way, but they also help your tea stay warm longer. We suggest the bumblebee pattern as a conversation piece for a springtime garden tea party.
Brewing and Baking
The right cookie or pastry with a hot cup of tea can hit the spot just right, but what about incorporating tea into your next baking experiment? This recipe calls for exactly that. Imagine the spongy, delicious texture of a cupcake with all the freshness of green tea baked right into it. Top it off with some green tea icing and you’re in business. Brew up some of your favorite green tea to accompany your tasty treats and you’ve got yourself a matcha made in heaven.
Tea bag folding
Finally, there’s no need to discard those old tea bags. Instead, why not transform old garbage into something truly remarkable by learning the craft of tea bag folding? You can make all sorts of designs, patterns and constructions just using simple folding techniques. Send them as cards, make coasters or hang them up as decorations. It’s kind of like origami, expect with the benefit of enjoying some hot tea before, after or during.
Cherry blossom season is upon us! Between March and April, barren branches of cherry blossom trees explode into color, creating a beautiful sight to behold.
In Japan, where the tradition of celebrating the blooming of cherry blossom trees started, festivities will be in full swing, with families and friends gathering outdoors in parks to have picnics, drink sake and take in the view of dormant trees bursting into life. It’s such a significant event in the country that the weather bureau makes a yearly announcement of the blossom forecast, predicting when and where trees will be at their prime for everyone’s viewing pleasure. There are even websites that track hanami hotspots.
The tradition has caught on and spread far beyond Japan’s borders. Macon, Georgia’s International Cherry Blossom Festival is a huge festival with more than a few days worth of events. It’s no surprise since Macon is known as the cherry blossom capital of the world, with hundreds of thousands of trees that paint the town pink every year. Other notable celebrations in the United States include the National Cherry Blossom Festival in DC and the Sakura Mastsuri Cherry Blossom Festival at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden in New York.
There are a few different types of cherry blossom trees, each on producing their own distinctly shaped and colored blossoms. The Yoshino produces single white blossoms. From far away, a group of these trees can easily look like big fluffy white clouds rising up from the ground. Akenobo cherry trees give way to single, pastel-pink blossoms. Kwanzan and Fugenzo trees both produce pink double blossoms, although the flowers found on the latter tree are not as clear, and have a bit more rouge in their complexion. Shirofugen trees yield white flowers that later transition to pink while Sargent Cherries are known for a more saturated and intense pink. With so many varieties, it’s easy how you can make a full day of tracking down all different kinds of blossoms!
The Kwanzan grows primarily in East Potomac Park and comes into bloom two weeks after the Yoshino. It produces clusters of clear pink double blossoms. East Potomac Park also has Fugenzo, which produces rosy pink double blossoms, and Shirofugen, which produces white double blossoms that age to pink.[17][19]
To celebrate the advent of cherry blossoms, the Tea Smith is featuring our very own Cherry Blossom Tea. March and April are the best time to enjoy teas blended with fresh cherry blossoms in-season. It’s a Sencha tea punctuated with cherry bits that evokes the freshness and promise of spring. Happy Hanami!
Did you know the Girl Scouts are turning 100 years old this year? And they’re celebrating with, you guessed it, tea and cookies! Arguably, one of the most important part of the Scouts’ century-long history has been selling some of the most delicious cookies. A valuable service indeed, especially for tea drinkers looking for just the right treat to compliment a freshly brewed cup.
It’s hard to think of a tea that wouldn’t taste great coupled with any of the Scouts’ many-flavored cookies, especially if you take your tea creamy and smooth with milk. Here are some suggestions to try out.
Thin Mints
There’s a reason why these particular cookies rank high up on most people’s lists of GS Cookies. They’re just the right mixture of sweet and refreshing, packing a powerful punch of minty goodness in every bite. Toss them in the freezer to make them extra cold, and then dip them in a hot cup of Chocolate Mint Rooibos for a cookie-tea combination that will make sure you get the best out of your Thin Mints. For a nighttime treat, try Mint Chamomile, a sweet nightcap.
Tre foils
These are classic shortbread cookies that can go well with just about any kind of tea, but go especially well with a classic black tea. Couple it up with our Vanilla Tea, with Real Vanilla Pieces, a black tea rich in flavor and aroma and dressed up enough to make it a great choice for dessert. It’s also decaf, which makes it great post-meals or right before bed. For another black tea option with a more floral flourish, try your tre foils with our Rose Congou Black Tea.
Thank U Berry Munch
Bring out all the fruity flavors in these cookies with a tea like Summer Companion, filled with the flavors of strawberries, juniper berries, red and black currants and blackberry leaves. If you’re enjoying your cookies outdoors on a sunny day, try this tea as a refreshing iced tea blend. If not, you might want to opt for Boldly Blackberry, a black tea punctuated with strong notes of blackberry.
Samoas
Coconut and spice go hand in hand, so why not try these with a great chai tea? As far as flavors go, Samoas have always been one of the more adventurous GS cookies, so it makes sense to enjoy them with something equally exciting. Chai made from real spices is a real treat. With a mixture of cardamom, ginger and cinammon our Masala Chai is a bold and flavorful match for Samoas. If you’re looking to get a bit more of that coconut taste, go for the Coconut Chai.
Tagalongs
These chocolate-covered peanut butter delights are another big crowd-pleaser. We recommend our South of the Border Chocolate Tea, an homage to the Aztecs, who know that chocolate and chili powder are the perfect combination of sweet and spice. Bring peanut butter into the equation and you’ve got yourself a multilayer medley of great flavors. With our Carmelita Tea, you can swirl in hints of caramel and vanilla. The Chinese call this tea a meditative tea. Chances are you’ll be saying Mmmmmm instead of Ommmm.
Sometimes it’s actually easy to be green, especially when the potential health benefits are this great!
Green tea contains antioxidants, called catechins, which target free radicals. Free radicals can damage DNA and contribute to cancer, blood clots, and atherosclerosis. They can interrupt the regular function of cells or destroy them altogether. Green tea is particularly rich in catechins because of the way it’s crafted. Unlike black or oolong teas, which undergo a fermentation process, green tea is not heavily processed, which allows it to have a higher concentration of catechins.
Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is a catechin in green tea that has been shown to reduce prostate cancers in lab mice. Although not entirely conclusive, laboratory studies are pointing towards green tea having powerful benefits when it comes to boosting the body’s ability to cope with disease.
When it comes to coronary health, green tea may also be able to promote healthy cardiovascular function. The antioxidants in green tea also work as dilators, making blood vessels more pliable and less likely to clog.
Testing on small mammals in labs has led to some interesting clues about green tea’s role in human health. The problem with human studies is that outside of a lab, there are far more variables at play, including diet and lifestyle which can skew results. Still, it’s remarkable to see the how beneficial green tea might just be:
-In a study that involved 500 Japanese men and women, researchers found that drinking at least four cups of green tea every day may be related to the reduced severity of coronary heart disease among the male participants.
-Meanwhile, a Dutch study of more than 3,000 men and women found that the more tea consumed, the less severe the clogging of the heart’s blood vessels, especially in women.
- A recent analysis of 22 studies that probed the correlation between high tea consumption and reduced risk for lung cancer concluded that by increasing your daily intake of green (not black) tea by two cups may reduce the risk of developing lung cancer by 18%.
- In a Dutch study, participants who drank caffeinated green tea lost more weight, but even those who typically drank the decaf variety saw a decrease in their waistlines and body weight. Researchers speculated that the caffeine helps with fat oxidation.
- A study conducted in Japan that involved nearly 500 Japanese women with Stage I and Stage II breast cancer, found that increased green tea consumption before and after surgery was associated with lower recurrence of the cancers.
Of course, green tea can’t possibly do all the heavy lifting on its own. It’s important to note that without good eating habits and an active lifestyle, the benefits of green tea won’t be as significant. Think of it as a dietary compliment to round out a healthy approach to life!
Here is a really amazing work of art that speaks to the effect that sharing a cup of tea with someone can have. It’s called the ripple effect tea table and it was created by artist Jeonghwa Seos as part of a project called “The Geography of Objects” presented at Eindhoven Academy. The concept and execution are really simple and elegant, and illuminate why the tradition of taking tea is still so significant today.
The piece is your basic rectangular table with one key difference, it’s surface is made up of a thin layer of water that is disturbed every time someone puts down a cup of tea on the table. As one person sets down their cup, it sets off a series of ripples that extends all the way across, affecting the entire surface through concentric rings of movement.
It’s a really beautiful way of showing how when you share tea with someone, you’re sharing so much more. In a digital age where personal contact is becoming a rarity instead of the norm, talking over a cup of tea remains one of the most important interactions we can have with someone. It springs from our basic instinct for sharing and interacting. The design of this table also prompts us to consider the fact that, for better or worse, we have an ability to affect each other in meaningful ways every day, even through what seems like a small or casual social interaction.
We love having The Tea Smith as a place for people to gather and share time with each other. Taking tea with someone is a great way to slow down, catch up, have a meaningful one-on-one, and create ripples that extend far beyond the time it takes to sip a cup of tea.
Towering Beauty features green tea tied around chrysanthemum and amaranth blooms.
As the temperature starts to climb, fruity and floral teas make for a refreshing way to stay cool. 
Cherry blossom season is upon us! Between March and April, barren branches of cherry blossom trees explode into color, creating a beautiful sight to behold.