Tasty Teas Tuesday (in lieu of Coffee Day)

Photo of a coffee I had

Well! Since I missed International Coffee Day yesterday as I blogged about my recent award, I'll write about tea instead! Besides, it is my favourite drink!

Though I LUUUUVVVVVVV (that's "love") the smell of coffee just as much if not even more than the taste, I rarely drink it for various reasons: I seem to get acid reflux if I drink it, i.e., the "regular" coffee anyway (maybe not with espresso), and also it interferes with homeopathic remedies that I take. However, I occasionally treat myself to an espresso coffee, sometimes a tall, dark Americano ;) - couldn't resist that but true! - or a latte.

However, I would say my favourite drink would be tea. I find it amusing that I had actually been wanting to write about this and here is the perfect opportunity to do so.

Tea is calming, nurturing, grounding, and soothing for my soul and spirit. I sometimes remind one of my work colleagues that if I am ever upset in any way, then tell me to drink some tea. Better yet, serve it to me! ;) Tea just seems to have a way of settling me down. In terms of a feeling, I equate it in my imagination as being cocooned in a cozily-wrapped, warm blanket on a cool day...oh, while sipping hot tea of course! ;)

According to, my opinion, one of the supremacists of teas is David's Tea comparable to haute couture in the fashion world (http://www.davidstea.com/). Think of it like a royalty tea shop as there are eight types of tea with many flavours in each category. And here I thought that there were only white, green, herbal, and black teas. According to this shop, there are white, green, oolong, black, pu'erh (never heard of that one before!), mate, rooibus (I thought this was a type of herbal tea), and herbal teas.

Though unfortunately I dislike the taste of green tea - I will have it as part of an Asian meal, mainly Japanese though, I understand that it has a lot of major health benefits, including that of the heart.

Thus, I am "killing two birds with one stone" (an expression I do not like, but metaphorically means dealing with two things at the same time by blogging about Coffee Day as well as World Heart Day, well, both indirectly. ;)

People who drink green tea on a regular basis, may be less prone to developing heart disease as well as cancer. It can "improve some of the main risk factors for these diseases. This includes cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides." (http://authoritynutrition.com/top-10-evidence-based-health-benefits-of-green-tea/)

One of my favourite teas is Earl Grey tea - organic please as certain (non-organic) brands, even some of the most popular do not do it for me. In fact, they often leave a bitter aftertaste in my mouth. Cream of Earl Grey is delicious too!

Even more pleasant and tasty is a tea known as 'London Fog, a drink so called because it is - think London, England here folks - made of Earl Grey tea and steamed milk that creates a foamy 'fog.' Ok, that's my interpretation! Check out the real McCoy here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_fog) Delish! (short for delicious).

London Fog tea can also be known as 'London Fog Tea Latte' or 'Vanilla Tea Misto' or an 'Earl Grey Tea Latte.' Stash brand of tea has a wonderful double bergamot early grey tea bag, but there are others such as Mighty Leaf which make for some great-smelling and tasting tea.

Their 'Vanilla Bean Latte' is fabulous and you can make your own version of the drink using this tea. David's Tea also has 'Bombai Chai Tea' as well - a note for you Indian bloggers - though I haven't had this one for awhile.

And speaking of which, I also love chai tea; see picture near bottom of this post. I know there are many variations; however, as long as it's steamy, but not too spicy, I am on good terms with it.

Since I haven't drank regular milk in years, I usually prefer almond milk or the like with my teas. And though I used to drink tea with sugar in it, I no longer do so, except for chai which prefers a bit of sweetener. In that case, I may use some honey or raw cane sugar or stevia or the like.

In terms of herbal teas, I would say my favourites are Organic India's Tulsi Sweet Rose which I'm drinking during the writing of this post as well as Stash's Licorice tea. The latter appeals to me 'cause, after all, I'm Dutch! Dutch stores are often filled with tons of licorice from sweet to salty, even double salted: Yum! ;)

Licorice tea is good for digestion while the sweet rose tea, according to my naturopath, is good for self-love. Who knew!? ;)

And in the summer, I prefer iced teas with a wedge of lemon or not.

By the way, does anyone know of a tasty darjeeling tea? I drank a really great brand in my 20's; however, haven't come across one that I like yet, albeit I drink it rarely now.

After you read this post and hopefully comment below, go ahead and make yourself a wonderful cup of steamy tea in whichever form you like. You deserve it! Don't you?

Which types of tea do you prefer and why? Does it change your essence as you are smelling it, tasting it, hmmm? Hmmmm.... ;)

...STAY TUNED...I HAVE A BRIEF TRIBUTE TO ALL YOU ULTRA BLOGGERS ... a bit later this morning, my time (for good reason) ;)