A Spot of Tea

I don’t consider myself a tea drinker but I’ve always wanted to be one. I just feel like there’s something so healthy and clean about drinking tea.  I’ve tried to replace my daily coffee addiction with tea but I’ve failed every time. I just like the smell and taste of coffee. My mornings really are like a Folgers commercial: I smell that coffee brewing and it wakes me right up (except on most days when I’m the one making the coffee..hence I’m already up..boo).

I feel like we’re constantly hearing news on tea: how it’s full of antioxidants, aids in weight loss, clears your skin, saves the world, etc. Every now and then we hear things on coffee, but it’s usually referring to black coffe which is not how I drink it. I prefer mine to be as close to a milkshake as possible. Load me up on cream and sugar and I’m good to go.

Since starting this new job at the bakery, I’ve increased my caffeine intake. Normally, I only have a cup of coffee in the morning. Recently, I’ve pretty much been drinking it nonstop. I was thinking about this a few days ago and decided when I wanted coffee, I would drink tea or water instead.  It’s been a little tough, especially when I’m tired, but I’m slowly weening myself off the coffee fix.

I don’t know much about tea, so I usually grab the iced black tea which, in my opinion, is “fine.” Conveniently enough for me, I was recently contacted by a tea company called Village Tea. They wanted me to try a couple of their teas. Since I’m trying to push myself towards tea instead of coffee, I happily obliged.

First, I tried their black tea: Organic Earl Grey. I had this instead of coffee one morning and honestly didn’t notice a difference. Since Earl Gray has less caffeine than coffee (less than half the caffeine) I was a little concerned I’d get a headache (yes, I’m a caffeine addict. Just me and the rest of the country..no big deal). But I didn’t, I felt completely normal! I did sort of miss the smell of coffee, but overall, it wasn’t a big deal. I think it’s just the routine of having a hot drink in the morning, so turns out, tea works just as well as coffee!

This black tea was straight up Earl Grey; a standard in the tea world. I like black tea, but it’s not my favorite. To me, it’s a little boring. I tend to lean towards teas with a hint of fruit in them. If I’m drinking tea, I try to drink green since it’s relatively healthy for you and has caffeine.

Village Tea sent me a delicious green tea with hints of acai, peaches, ginger, orange, and chiles. Pretty interesting!

I love the name, “Sassy Green Tea.” I like my tea with a ‘tude.

I’m actually drinking this right now since I’m feeling tired today. I really like this tea, it’s definitely my favorite! The fruits in it are very subtle so it’s not overpowering at all.

I’m hoping it has enough caffeine to wake me up a bit without giving me the shakes.

Finally, they sent a rooibos tea which is caffeine free. I think this one would be great over ice since it has such powerful fruit flavors. Rooibos is also known as “red tea” and is naturally caffeine free. People have been showing more of an interest in red tea lately because like green tea, it’s also high in antioxidants.

I attempted some iced tea this morning but unfortunately, I don’t have a very good loose leaf tea steeper (?). I got a “tea ball” the other day at Target but the tea is definitely coming out of it so looks like I’ll have to try something else.

Ahh nothin’ like tea leaves stuck in your teeth. Besides that, the tea was very good! I didn’t have as much of a problem with the green tea I think because the leaves were bigger.

Anyway, a little bit about Village Tea: They’re a Dallas based company (the Big D!) and are actually a relatively young company started in 2009. They sell tea pouches as well as loose leaf teas ranging from Earl Grey, to Chamomile, to Chai. A lot of their teas are organic too so if that’s important to you, then there’s definitely a tea for you. They have such pretty packaging which is 100% recyclable and made from recycled paper. They also use non-bleach cotton filter bags which is great!

You can find Village Teas online or at Whole Foods, Vitamin Shoppe, Central Market, and a couple other grocery retails.

I’m definitely going to try and incorporate more tea into my diet, especially green tea. As much as I love coffee, I know drinking half coffee-half cream everyday is going to catch up to me at some point!

Are you a tea or coffee drinker?