Good morning, tea sippers! We have some good news for you; it's almost Friday! You just have today to get through, friends, so keep on chugging along! We are expecting nice weather all weekend with the potential for few a surprise showers sprinkled in, which brings me to our topic for today's blog post. We want to know, "What are you sprinkling into your teas?". In this post, we will detail some new ideas for you in reference to additions for your cup, talk about some things that we at the shop personally add to our own teas, and encourage you to let us know what you are already adding to your daily dose of tea and loving it!
You probably aren't surprised or phased when you hear that someone adds lemon to their tea. Neither are we. It's a wonderful addition that adds a refreshing tone to teas and in terms of some of our teas such as, Citron Green, it heightens the already present citrus notes. We love when we hear of this, too, as lemon is known for its antioxidant content as well as its properties that help your body to absorb iron. To learn more about adding lemon to your tea, check out this previous blog post that highlights exactly why you should start. This post also highlights some of our favorite brews to start with in adding lemon!
In staying with the fruit theme, another inclusion that we often hear of for our teas, especially in the summertime, proves the addition of berries. I love this one, especially in our iced teas. Not only do they enhance flavors, but they are also quite the visual accessory. What's even better about this little adornment, you ask? Berries are in season all summer long (Hello, cost savings!)! Each berries has a bit of a different high season, of course, but this only gives more reason to try different teas along with different berries as the summer progresses. As strawberry season is almost over close to us, we recommend you hightail it to the closest strawberry patch to you, grab a pint of strawberries, cut them up, and try them in some of our iced Strawberry Sunshine tea! Another great drink for your next pool party may be some of our Strawberry Kiwi tisane tea, with cut up strawberries. We find that kids love this one, and the visual component of the strawberries impresses parents as well!
If you are busy like me, and just can't get to the strawberry patch, don't worry, we have some other berries and fruits that were just in peak season and are lovely additions for our teas as well! In Upstate NY, July had been quite a month for harvest. Early July proves the optimal time for peaches, plums, and currants. I recommend adding these to the following teas, Decaf Peach, Take A Breath, and Black Currant (in that order). As July progressed, different berries found themselves at center stage. We found that raspberries and blueberries were in their high season and that they would be the perfect additive to teas such as our Decaf Raspberry, Berry Berry, Bingo Blueberry, and White Blueberry. I particularly love the visual component that the blueberries add to our White Blueberry especially. Being a white tea, the blueberries really add that summer touch in your iced tea glass. I highly recommend this for any upcoming bridal or baby shower you may have. People love it and it is light and flavorful at the same time!
Another great couple components that we regularly hear from customers are great in their favorite summer teas are herbal accents. Perhaps, you grow fresh mint in your garden. Scatter a few of these delicious and fresh leaves in your pitcher of Moroccan Mint green tea to boost the flavors. Another tea that mint really lends itself nicely too proves our Chocolate Mint black tea. Regularly, the chocolate notes monopolize this tea, but with the addition of your mint leaves, both flavors are represented equally. On a hot summer evening, drink this over ice after dinner as a substitution to your normal dessert. It is delicious, refreshing, and has zero calories! If you are worried about the caffeine content, we have a solution to this as well. Our Chocolate Mint Rooibos tea incorporates all of the flavors of our black tea without any caffeine whatsoever. Try this in the upcoming weeks and let us know what you think!
Should you have a sweet tooth like me, maybe you are looking for something like sugar or honey to add to your tea. As always, we have our amber sugar crystals, which I love for their slow melting qualities. This ensures that each sip is sweet and allows for you to enjoy your tea all the way up until the last gulp! I love adding a few of these to my favorite tea, Roasted Yerba Mate, and have recently been sipping this iced with a lemon wedge as well. I highly recommend it! Just like our previous blog post on adding lemon to your tea that is mentioned above, we also did a blog on adding sugar. If you have any interest in reading further on why sugar is added, the history behind it, or have any thoughts of your own, read the sugar post here and let us know your feedback!
We also always advocate for the addition of honey to your tea for that added sweetness. Honey is a natural and, oftentimes here, locally made product. We love it as it supports our local vendors (Check out the Canandaigua Farmers Market if you are close enough) and that it encourages the growth of the bee population. Honey is known for its antioxidant content, its antibacterial/anti-fungal properties, and its ability to help soothe a sore throat or upset stomach. Some specific teas that we find honey pairs particularly well with are our Ginger N Green, our Hip Hop Honey Licorice, and our Gentle Slumber. These teas all naturally have a honey-esque flavor already present, and with the addition of your own honey, you will "bee" pleasantly buzzing with delight!
Over the course of my years working at Good Life Tea, I have come to become less and less surprised when individuals present me with their personal favorites in what they choose to add to their tea. I have heard things like adding cinnamon, cardamom, salt, or pepper (if you can believe it). I have heard of different extracts (vanilla, almond, hazelnut, etc) being added. We always hear of the additions of cream, milk, sweet condensed milk, or other dairy alternatives (check out this blog post to read more on that). As of late, a recent trend I have been reading about involves adding seltzer water to your tea in hopes of making a carbonated tea, I suppose. In doing research for this post, the most peculiar additive to me proved the addition of butter to tea. In a practice native to Tibet, individuals add a tab of butter to their tea for creaminess and flavoring. It is not something that sounds appealing to my palette, but I can't say I have tried it either!
What we want to know is, "What do you personally add to your teas?". Does it vary depending on the season? Does it vary depending on which tea you choose? Have you found anything that you don't like at all? Let us know! We love your feedback as well as hearing from you! Shoot us an email at info@goodlifetea.com. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and that the summer weather continues for us all! Happy sipping! - Kaytea :)
For those who can’t or don’t use sugar…..Every morning I use monk fruit in the MOST WONDERFUL organic decaf green tea from Good Life Tea. Love it!
I don’t add anything, regardless what tea I’m drinking. That would be blasphemous.