Tea for You, Tea for Me

Hello, my name is Ashley and I’ve been coffee free for three weeks and three days.

*Applause*

While it’s been a struggle and I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been a tad more unpleasant in the mornings, I’m getting used to my first hit of caffeine being a lovely cup of tea. I’ve become somewhat obsessed with tea, exploring different options I didn’t know were available. Loose leaf tea, bagged tea, sun tea, iced tea – tea for everyone!! My daycare provider has recently become a Steeped Tea consultant and let me tell you, she will make a killing off my new passion.

The thing about tea is that it is a more calming drink than coffee. Coffee for me has always been a way to get a quick jolt of caffeine in the mornings, or a pick me up in the witching hour before the end of the work day. These days, a cup of tea is savored (as much as possible) whether it is while Miss Thing is playing the morning before work, at my desk at work (when the time allows of course!) and that wonderful cup (or pot depending on the day…) after the child has gone to bed, the chores are done and dinner has been cleaned up. I use my wedding china tea cups and saucer and just feel so fancy. I’ve found that a cup of tea can be calming enough to help me fall asleep faster so that I’m not reading a book in bed until I drop it on my face.

I’m so fancy….

As your tea connoisseur, I give you my top teas of the moment:

1. Irish Breakfast – a lovely strong black tea that is excellent as a morning cup to get you going for the day!
2. Earl Grey de la Creme – the MOST soothing cup of tea I’ve had. I’m not sure why, but the smooth creamy taste with just a little milk and a touch of sugar/sweetener is amazing. I love to have a cup of this tea at night!
3. Kiwi-Melon – this is a fruit tea which I’ve been obsessed with as an iced tea. I used to make a pot of coffee, let it get to room temperature and put it in the fridge for iced coffee for the day. Well here is my tea substitute and it is amazing. I put a hint (like 1/2 tsp) of sugar in an entire pot of this and put it in the fridge over night. It is AMAZING and so refreshing!
4. Green Tea Matcha – this is THE coffee substitute for tea drinkers. This wonderful tea comes in powder form as it is the entire green tea leaf, dried and hand ground into a smooth powder. It is used in traditional Japanese tea ceremonies and can be drunk on it’s own by whisking it with hot water – HOWEVER, you can also get the matcha flavoured. Vanilla, Pineapple the choices are….well not endless but there are definitely choices! I’ve only had the plain green tea matcha and let me tell you, they didn’t lie. I didn’t crash a couple of hours after drinking it like I used to with coffee, it’s MUCH better on my stomach and the taste was good. I’m sure the flavoured matchas would be tastier (for me) and adding them into a smoothie or juice (or iced tea!) could be magical.

*sigh*

Can you tell how much I have fallen in love with tea? Silly I know, but it’s the simple things in life that make me happy…..Here’s where I’m going to plug my Steeped Tea Consultant! She’s great, the product is great and one taste and you’ll be hooked!

Oh one last recommendation? Sun Tea. You literally stick orange pekoe tea (or whatever you want – the possibilities are endless!) with a couple of lemons, peaches, herbs and put it in a jar in the sun. A couple of hours later? A delicious treat, sweetened only if you prefer and tastes real.

On the left is after one hour, one the right is after two. I left mine out for about 3.5 hours and it was amazing! The tea was strong, with a great lemon flavour. There’s no picture because I drank the whole thing on the way to Strawberry picking (you’ll read all about that later) but even my picky Hubs said it was good. I’ve got some that I had sitting out this afternoon with peaches in it – I’m REALLY excited about it.

How do you take your tea?