Obsessed with tea

(I found this great photo at netcharles.com)


I love tea. I'm not talking about the tea bags that you get at Kroger or sweet tea at McDonalds (although who can resist a large sweet tea with their double cheeseburger?!). No, I'll admit that I am a bit of a tea snob. Since I have experienced the joys of loose tea leaves, I will never again be satisfied with your regular grocery store tea selection.

Now, if you live in Southern Indiana and would like to try some tea the old-fashioned kind of way, the best place to go is Jewel's House of Tea on Eastern Blvd in Clarksville, IN. They do keep some strange hours that vary from day to day, so if you do want to venture there, check out their hours first:

jewelshouseoftea.com

On their website they also have their list of teas, which they update whenever they get in new flavors or take anything off on their website. The people who own and run the store are a really nice couple and they will be very patient with you while you try to decide what you want.

Another great perk: you get a repeat customer card that they stamp every time you buy a bag of tea or other accessories. 10 stamps and you get a free bag of tea of your choice! Not many places still do this kind of thing.

Now when you first look at the menu of teas and their prices, your initial reaction might be that they are too expensive. This was what I thought at first too. But not only are you getting a higher quality of product with a MUCH wider selection, the tea lasts forever. Seriously. You could probably make 20 POTS of tea (yes pots, not cups) with one bag. And they are delicious.

So what all have I tried?

almond cookie
coconut
ginger peach
summer breeze
sweet cranberry
winter blend
earl gray creme
pumpkin
chocolate strawberry (Valentine's Day exclusive! Yummy!)
after dark (A must-have for night time decaf drinkers)
lavender sunset
spearmint
spring cherry
white monkey (plain green tea, funky name!)
rainbow roobias
immunity booster (I don't think they carry this one anymore)

These are all the ones that I own and drink at home so far. There is not one that I dislike. I am almost positive that you can find something that would strike your fancy. They've got black, white, green, herbal, decaf... - and if you need help selecting what's best to fit your needs they will help you.

So what do you need in order to enjoy loose leaf tea? First, you need a tea kettle. Any kind will do. I have an electric one from Target. It's red and shiny and one of my favorite gifts from my wedding registry. You fill it up with water, plug it in, flip the switch and in less than 5 minutes you have boiling water. AND it automatically shuts off once it boils.

Now, you can put your tea leaves directly into the kettle as long as it has some kind of filter so that you don't pour the leaves right back out into your cup. I use a different pot because I don't want my nice kettle to get stained with tea. I got a small ceramic one at Old Time Pottery for $2. It doesn't have a wire mesh filter (probably the best kind) but it does have small holes covering the spout to prevent too much coming out.

Warning: when dealing with loose tea leaves, I think it is impossible to get a 100% clear cup of tea. Tiny pieces will more than likely go into your cup. But if you give it a moment, they will sink down to the bottom and shouldn't bother you. If the thought of a few stay pieces of tea floating in your cup is unbearable to you, there are accessories to prevent this and/or get the leaves out. Just peruse a google search and you'll surely find something that will work for you.

If you don't have a proper tea pot, you can still use loose tea leaves. You can go to the grocery store and buy a tea ball - it's a little metal ball that opens in half for you to put your tea leaves in. Then you close it and hang the metal string over your cup and pour the water over it. Also at Jewels or online, you can find all kinds of neat gadgets and cups. They can be on the pricey side, and my method works for me, so it's no big deal.

I love to make a pot of tea every day. Sometimes I add sugar, milk or honey, but often times I drink the tea straight because they have such great flavors anyway. My husband didn't like tea at all until I made him try some of these. Now he loves it. Granted, he adds quite a bit of sugar, but that's ok! Everyone has his or her own tastes. His favorite is the coconut tea. He also likes when I mix the coconut and almond cookie together. I couldn't tell you what my favorite is. I guess that depends on the time of the year and the time of day. In December, I loved the winter blend, pumpkin and almond cookie. If it's night time, I want something decaf, like the after dark, lavender or spearmint. In the morning I love sweet cranberry, ginger peach and chocolate strawberry. You really can't go wrong.

It's such a treat for me to be able to make a trip to Jewels and pick out a few new teas. I love it. When people come over to my house, they tend to make fun of my tea collection sitting on the kitchen counter. Then again, they also get excited when they get to pick out what kind of tea they want to try. It's almost like I have a mini store in my house. Maybe I should start charging by the cup...

I've also started to experiment with which tea flavors work well for iced tea. My husband's mother gave me a tea maker for Christmas and I want to put it to good use. It seems a bit superfluous though, seeing as how I could achieve the same outcome using a coffee maker. Also, the first time I used it I made a HUGE mess because I didn't believe the markings on the pitcher that only wanted me to put in a little bit of water. "That's not enough!" I thought. I was wrong. Apparently there are holes on the front and the back of the maker to ensure that you do not put too much water in. Oh well. We learn from our mistakes and hope that not too many people witnessed them. I tried Earl Gray (or is it grey?) but for some reason, this tea just does not have the same effect when cold. The whole time I was drinking my iced earl, I just kept thinking that it should be hot. They told me at Jewels that peach ginger, cranberry and summer breeze are particularly good iced. I haven't tried them yet, but I trust their taste. Once it gets warm enough outside to take my dog for a proper walk without freezing my tush off and I'll start trying to find the perfect iced tea for summer. I'll still probably drink hot tea all year though. I love it too much to take a leave from it when the weather turns hot.

Sitting down to a nice cup of hot tea in my favorite polar bear and penguin mug makes even the crappiest day a bit better for me. And we all need that. I'd much rather be obsessed with tea than addicted to something else! Now I'd better get to work finding a spring/summer mug or I'll be drinking out of my favorite winter mug all year. Anyone know where I can find one with animals?