Tea FAQs

Simple Steps to the Perfect Pot of Tea:

• Always start with cold water
• Heat pot with hot water, discard water after heating one to two minutes.
• Add tea leaves and pour prepared water to into pot. Steep according to directions below.

Black Tea:

1. Bring your water to a full boil and remove from heat.
2. Add tea, one level teaspoon per cup. For iced teas add a semi-heaping teaspoon.
3. Allow tea to steep approximately 3 - 5 minutes and remove tealeaves. If you like a strong, pungent cup of tea add a bit more tea, we do not recommend that you steep any longer than 5 to 6 minutes or you will likely have a bitter cup.

Green and Pouchongs Teas:

1. Bring your water to a pre boil, when the little bubbles start to form on the bottom of the pot, remove from heat.
2. Add tea, one level teaspoon per cup.
3. Allow tea to steep 1 ½ - 2 minutes and remove leaves. Quality green tea can be steeped more than once. Save the leaves and re-steep, adding 1 minute for each additional brew.

Oolongs and White Teas:

1. Bring your water to a pre boil. When the little bubbles are coming to the surface (a bit hotter than you would need for green tea) remove from heat.
2. Add tea, one level teaspoon per cup.
3. Allow tea to steep 4 - 6 minutes and remove leaves. Oolongs can be re-steeped. Follow the same steps as with green teas, above.

Tisanes:

1. Bring your water to a full boil and remove from heat.
2. Add herbs, one heaping teaspoon per cup. For iced herbal infusions, add one level tablespoon.
3. Allow herbs to steep 5 - 7 minutes and then remove herbs. Herbs will generally not get bitter if you allow them to steep longer.

We encourage you to be diligent with steeping times.
It makes all the difference.

It depends on the tea, each tea has its own caffeine content.

Caffeine Facts:

Follow these tips to lessen the caffeine content in your cup.

• Wash your tea leaves by infusing them for approximately 1 minute and pouring off that brew, which contains the most caffeine, then steep tea as usual.
• Buy quality loose leaf tea. Tea bags impart more caffeine into your cup, because there is more open surface in bagged teas, more open surface allows more caffeine into your cup.

Here are the simple steps for brewing iced tea:

• Select what you are going to brew, an herbal infusion, Rooibos or any type of tea (white, black, green, oolong or Pu'erh) all can be served cold its all a matter your taste.
  
  Some of our favorites are:
  
  Herbal
  Raspberry Rose Petal, Hibiscus Punch, Organic Macadamia Nut Rooibos, Organic Lemon Honeybush all naturally caffeine free and delicious cold.
  
  Teas
  Orange Blossom Oolong, Passion Fruit black tea and Mandarin Orange green tea, all delightful over ice.
   
• Don't complicate it, brewing tea to ice is just like brewing tea to serve hot. You are only going to use slightly more tea leaves, a heaping teaspoon instead of a level teaspoon, and add ice to your glass.
• Heat your water, boiling for herbs, Rooibos and black tea under a boil for green and oolong tea - follow our directions on the back of each package - add tea leaves to your brewing vessel, pour hot water over top of the leaves and allow to brew - again following the instructions provided -
• Once the tea is brewed strain the leaves off and allow to cool. When the tea has reached room temperature pour over ice and serve. I would like to suggest that you try your freshly brewed tea without sugar or additives first. You may find, like so many other people that freshly brewed tea does not require the same doctoring up.

Yes you can have both coffee and tea in your recurring order. You can change your tea selection monthly, or set it up to change each month, or get your favorite tea at your door each month.

We keep our teas in an air-conditioned environment. Tea has a very long shelf life is kept properly. Optimal keeping of tea is in an airtight canister in a cool place. For best results buy smaller quantities more often.

Shop for canisters

For many years we have referred to all hot beverages, other than coffee or hot chocolate, as tea regardless to what is actually in them.

Tea; green, black, oolong, white and pu'erh, come from one plant camellia sinensus. While different from one another all of these are "tea" in the true sense of the word. It is the processing of the leaves that makes them differ from each other.

On the other hand herbs like peppermint, lemon grass and valerian come from a variety of plants, none of which are camellia sinensus. The herb category would also include dried flowers such as chamomile, lavender and hibiscus.

Also include in the herb category is Rooibos. Found only in South Africa Rooibos is naturally free of caffeine and has a variety of properties considered good for you.

Tea is grown in countries around the globe. The largest producers of tea are China and India which produce more than half of the world's teas. Teas are also produced in Sri Lanka, Kenya, Japan, Indonesia, Viet Nam and several other nations.

Most of tea growing regions specialize in particular tea types: Japan is known for its green teas while Taiwan is famous for its oolongs. China, on the other hand, produces all tea types including whites, greens, oolongs and blacks.