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Make yourself a perfect cup of tea and put your feet up. Shopping from home is the best! Here are some 2021 holiday gift deals for tea lovers on your list (or yourself) that Tea Deviant has actually experienced. Some are Christmas focused where others work as gifts for all faiths and celebrations. Award Winning Japanese Green Tea (& Coffee) Japanese Green Tea gave Tea Deviant a 20% off coupon code for Black Friday through to Cyber Monday: teadeviantbfcm2021 This code is good from 2021/11/25 11:00PM PST to 2021/11/29 11:59PM PST and it works on both Japanese Green Tea Co. and Japanese Coffee Co., covering both tea and coffee lovers on your holiday list! I am proud to be an affiliate for this company. A Global Tea Championship Winner three years in a row, this company has exceptional Japanese green teas on offer - beautiful gyokuro, matcha, sencha.  One of my favorites is the powdered Green Tea with Japanese Orange (Mikan). This tea was created when the Arahataen Tea Farm, where Japanese green Tea Co. sources their teas, partnered with Japanese high school students for a year. They taught the students farming and in turn learned about their taste preferences. Japanese Green Tea Co. then created teas that suited the young Japanese palate. Shipping rates: JapaneseGreenTeaIn.com – Free Shipping within USA only; international depends on location Japanese CoffeeCo.com – Free Shipping for orders above $100 (worldwide) They have a specific site for customers in India also: https://www.japanesegreentea.in/ Christmas Themed Tea to Fandom Tea to Fine Single Origin TeaIt’s more than just one days of sales over at Adagio Teas. They’re having a Black Friday week! They have a wide variety of teas to please a wide variety of palates. Get $5.00 off for entering your email, free shipping on orders over $25 and free gifts for certain order thresholds. Their holiday offerings include the 12 Teas of Christmas gift. The box has one metal ornament for each of the twelve days each with a different tea. Give the whole box as a gift or top your presents with an ornament each. Their Christmas Advent Calendar is a way to enjoy a new tea every day December 1st to the 25th. Get one for yourself and a friend and use it as a way to connect. If they’re far away you can plan video calls with them discovering a new tea together. They have holiday themed teaware and individual teas. If you love Terry’s Chocolate Orange you’ll love Puerh Chorange. Reindeer Fuel is a limited edition energy packed blend that includes black tea and mate along with mint and cacao. The blend is well balanced and makes a delicious tis-the-season latte. I am not an affiliate for Adagio, but I have tried many of their teas and they are a solid brand. Celebrate the Holidays in Japan Without Leaving Home I know we’re all tired of the pandemic, but some innovations have evolved from it that we may not otherwise have had. Arigato Japan, a foodie tour company in the country, developed live virtual tours in answer to the travel restrictions that ensued. I attended one of their online tea experiences early this year. It felt good to have something new to engage in connecting with other tea lovers from all over the world in the midst of such limited pandemic contact. They are having a Christmas and New Year in Japan experience online available now through January 5th 2022. It is a historical and cultural dive into the holidays in Japan with a local virtual guide that lasts one hour and fifteen minutes. This is a family friendly tour. In anticipation of the return to travel to Japan, Arigato are also offering a 15% discount on their in-person tours with the coupon code BF2021AJ at checkout from November 26th to November 29th, 2021. It is good on all tours in 2022 except for the Ultimate Ramen in Tokyo. I am not an affiliate of Arigato Japan though I have enjoyed one of their virtual experiences and think it is a smart, innovative way to keep connecting with the country. 11/24/2020 Adagio Teas Christmas Gifts for Tea FansHey tea lovers! I have a couple of very cool tea focused Christmas gift ideas to share with you from Adagio Teas. They sent me their 2020 Tea Advent Calendar and 12 Days of Christmas tea ornaments gift to check out. The video above gives you a sneak peak of what’s inside. Don’t worry, it’s not a spoiler alert. I only show one tea in the Advent Calendar so you can still be surprised with a new tea every day. The 12 Days of Christmas comes with a tea list though, and I do reveal that. The advent calendar is available in tea bag or loose tea format. Note, the teas for the loose version are different than for the bagged one. So get both! (I like ‘and’ in this case more than ‘or’.)  I have already dug into these teas and want to share notes on a couple. The black Cream Tea, which is in the 12 Days... as Eight Maids a Milking Cream Tea, tastes as good as it smells. I don’t buy a lot of flavored teas but sometimes they just hit the right note. The leaves have a scent of sweet cream. Brewed it is creamy and slightly sweet on its own, but I think the taste is brought out best with honey and a bit of milk. This tea is also available in a sample size, 3 oz., 16 oz. and a 15 bag box. The tea base is Ceylon and there is no sugar or dairy in it, just natural flavoring.  The ornaments hide gifts of tea in Adagio Teas' 12 Days of Christmas Another holiday inspired tea is the Pu-erh Chorange, available loose and in bags. It smells and tastes like the classic Terry’s Chocolate Orange candy! (Now I want one.) I liked this tea naked (The tea, not me. Though I have nothing against naked tea drinking. Drink your tea wearing what you want!) It’s also great with a bit of honey to bring out the sweetness. The puerh is gently earthy, round and smooth creating a great base for the balancing act of the chocolate and orange. On the caffeine-free end I tried the Rooibos Nutcracker. The hazelnut and chestnut notes were what really grabbed my attention in this blend. It also includes apple, cocoa nibs and caramel flavor. I folded some homemade whipped cream in this tea and it was like Christmas dessert in a cup. This is a good one if you want to roll around in the season without getting a caffeine high. It’s an unusual holiday season for many. I realize I am appreciating every moment of beauty, fun and kindness more than ever. Wishing you some of the joy of the holidays in your cup. Note: Though Adagio did provide teas I am not an affiliate and these are just links to products mentioned for ease. Enjoy! The unboxing video above shows you an overview of what was in the BRUU tea subscription box. Now let’s talk a bit about the teas. It is my understanding that the types of tea change each month. When you join the service you indicate your tea preferences and they create boxes for you around them. BRUU sent me a box to review, so I did not indicate my preference. This time there were 2 CTC (crush tear curl) black teas, a flavored green tea and one herbal tisane. Let's get our tea on!  Somerset Pekoe Tea from BRUU Somerset Pekoe The first black tea in the BRUU box was an orange pekoe named Somerset Pekoe. This was a very broken leaf tea that gives flavor over very quickly. It has a fruity nose, floral notes and a briskness taking milk and sweetener well. This orange pekoe tea is from Sri Lanka (aka Ceylon). The card that came with this tea indicates it was grown in a cooler region on the Talawakelle tea estate. That information is interesting because temperature is one of the factors that affects the antioxidants (and flavor) in tea. (Note that polyphenols are a type of antioxidant and catechins are a type of polyphenol. Ugh. That’s it for the science lesson for now. We’ll come back to that in another post.) For those who aren’t aware, orange pekoe (abbreviated OP) is the name of a grade of tea and has nothing to do with the flavor. There is no orange in it. This one is a broken leaf orange pekoe which is usually without golden tips.  Surianalle Black Tea Surianalle black tea, from Munnar This was the "discover' tea in the box and came with a special large information card. From the town of Munnar in the state of Kerala, India this is a high elevation tea - listed as 1532m above sea level. Both from what I've experienced and what I've been taught tea grown at higher elevations tends to have a more complex flavor profile. One reason is there is greater carbohydrate content in the leaf which lends a sweeter flavor. This happens because the conditions are so difficult that to grow a plant needs to put more carbohydrates in the leaves. Other details listed include the soil: sandy loam; season: December-February; and average temperature: 19℃. This is another very broken CTC tea. I found it to be softer, rounder than the OP, and less brisk but fuller bodied. It would also take milk and sweetener well and be a good morning cuppa in the British fashion.  Turkish Apple Tea from BRUU Turkish Apple A simple, but pleasing mix of 3 ingredients: apple, pineapple and lemongrass. The fruit and herbaceous notes work well together. They have a pleasant party (without any actual turkey, though it's a funny little image on the package there.) The card on this herbal tisane said it is a famous tea. If Turkish apple is a famous tea, I must live under a rock. Not surprising as I'm more of an underground, cult favorite kind of person anyway. I am more familiar with the traditional black tea in Turkish culture, made in a samovar as a concentrate with hot water added to obtain the desired strength. Per my research Turkish apple tea was introduced as a tea for tourists a while back because traditional Turkish tea, just like their coffee, is very strong and most western tourists weren't into it. So a no tea, caffeine free, herbal version was created of which there are many variations. Some use flavorings as opposed to actual pieces of fruit. It looks like this is a variation on that tourist aimed tea. Very Berry This is a flavored sencha tea, a Japanese green from Shizuoka. It has everything in it: flavoring, mallow blossoms, rose petals, freeze-dried strawberries, blackberries and raspberries and freeze-dried yogurt granules (that’s a new one for me). It is very berry indeed, and the sugar in it means no sweetener is required. The tea took a back seat in my opinion, but I think that was the point. If you like the benefits of green tea but prefer fruity tasting tea this would be a good blend for you. There are different types of tea subscription services for different types of tea drinkers. BRUU’s subscription box is a low cost introduction to a variety of teas for a tea lover looking to expand their knowledge and experience the fun of getting tea delivered to their door every month. The information cards are a fun addition, though a bit hard to read (but that’s why cell phones have magnifiers). They use responsible packaging from recycled sources too with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) symbol on their box. Yes, they deliver to the US. This tea subscription service would be good for the tea drinker who is:
Thanks to BRUU for supplying the box for this tea adventure.
 As a tea drinker I’m sure you can relate to this scenario: you and a friend go out for tea/coffee and a chat at the local coffee shop. Your friend orders a latte, you order a tea. You get handed a cup of whatever-temperature-they-have water with a bag floating in it, or worse, a cup of water with a metal spoon in it with a bag on the side. (Has everyone forgotten basic science?) Your friend gets a properly ground and brewed espresso shot, carefully foamed milk of their choice and a topping of latte art. Thankfully not all coffee businesses diss the tea drinker. There are some coffee companies that realize coffee drinkers sometimes drink tea or invite friends over who do. Amora is that kind of coffee company. Firstly, Amora is a specialty coffee company that understands the beauty in the details. From their website, they roast “on-demand” for their customers, giving the freshest experience, and they have a 9 part roasting process (they say the usual is 3) I have not had their coffee, but I did work for a roastery at one point and can tell you the fresher the roast the better the experience. Amora wisely recognized that there is a tea drinking market and that tea and coffee drinkers are social with each other. So in 2015 they “ added Amora Tea: "because tea drinkers deserve the same love.” (Yes. Yes we do.) Their tea offerings, like their coffee, are focused on a blend of quality and ease. Not all tea drinkers are into the more involved process of loose leaf tea selection and brewing. Amora uses bags which are very popular for the occasional tea drinker or those who want to have something to offer their tea drinking friends. Their bags are biodegradable and pyramid shaped which offers more room for the tea and water to mingle.
If you’re put off by the bag part, remember, not all bagged teas are alike. As you can see from this side by side comparison of Amora’s Green Cloud Mist tea and a well known, readily available green tea in a traditional paper bag (No. I'm not name-shaming.). You can see that the Amora green tea is larger pieces of leaf and deeper in color. In my experience pyramid bagged tea usually indicates a better quality than the tea in old fashioned paper bags. But the proof is in the taste. I gave my friend who is a frequent but casual green tea drinker one of the Amora bags and he noticed a marked difference in taste, saying that it was smoother and tasted better. The more broken the leaf the more quickly it loses flavor and the dust/fanning bagged teas release more tannins for a more bitter experience. Amora is offering a bridge between full loose leaf and extremely broken bagged tea with the convenience of a bag. So if you want to have tea on hand for your occasional tea mood, for your tea drinking friends or you just prefer a good standard tea with no fuss Amora teas hit the spot. Quick Look
English Breakfast The black tea for Amora’s English Breakfast is sourced from the Iyerpadi tea estate in India. I picked up a fruity, sweet, round taste with a body that can take cream and sugar but not so heavy the spoon will stand up in it. (That is as it should be. The spoon standing should be left to Irish Breakfast and Scottish Breakfast blends.) Teas often feel like experiences to me and this one is like walking through a forest picking wild berries. An interesting extra note for iced tea drinkers: the organic Iyerpadi Black BOP doesn’t get cloudy when cool. Earl GreyThe leaves for this tea are sourced from the first organic tea estate in the world (certified in 1989): Idulgashinna, bio-dynamic estate (since 1999) in Sri Lanka If you are an Earl Grey drinker you may be aware of the myriad of Earl Grey’s out there - some with double or triple bergamot, a lighter bodied tea as a base, or the addition of other elements like lavender or lemon. This is a straight up Earl Grey that I think would please most casual Earl Grey fans. Green Cloud MistThis is an organic Chinese tea called Yun Wu or Cloud Mist from remote Mount Putuo in the Zhejiang province. I found this to be a satisfying light bodied green with minerality, a touch of butter and leaving a pleasant dryness on the tongue. I liked it steeped for shorter time or in more than 6-8 oz. water. This one also reminded me of an experience: walking along a beach with the scent of the water rushing over the rocks. Ginger Lemongrass (herbal)This blend is 100% natural organic ginger root, lemongrass, licorice root, lemon peel and mint. The flavors all dance well together. Though very fresh smelling the ginger is not hot or overbearing. Also, for those unfamiliar, licorice root doesn’t taste like the candy. It lends a natural light sweetness to tea blends.
This is a great nighttime tea and good for any morning stomach upset as it is mild. Thanks to Amora for supplying the tea for this taste adventure. Like a great house wine, it is wonderful to have quality tea at the ready for guests or for yourself. Check out Amora’s other teas and coffee offerings shipped directly to you priority. Enjoy! Note: The links in this post are not affiliate links. All opinions are my own. |
AuthorCassandra Vincent  CategoriesAll Classic Tea Flavored And Funky For Love Of Tea Herbs Infusions Lifestyle And Health Matcha Meditative And ASMR Sessions Recipes And Uses Specialty Tea Brands Spices Tea Accessories Tea Adjacent Tea And... Tea And A Laugh Tea And Art Tea And Holidays Tea And Music Series Tea And TV Tea Around The World Tea Cocktails Tea Events Tea In Film Tea In History Tea Innovations Tea Pros Tea Shops/Shops With Tea Tea Types Teaware |
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