Category Archives: Freestylin’

Tea Love

Some serious tea love is being felt around The Tea Spot office this Monday morning!

Original tea art love by The Tea Spot

My Fragrant Cup of Tea
When I am tired of work or play,
And all my nerves are raw
With things I did, and things I said
And things I merely saw,
I hasten home and donning mules
And flowing negligee,
Get out the spirit lamp and make
A fragrant cup of tea.

I pour the steaming amber drink
In china thin and fine,
Gold banded, bordered daintily
With wild rose flower and vine,
Add cream and sugar or condensed,
And sipping slowly see
A film of far off scenes unroll,
The drama of the tea.

By Minna Irving (1920)

Wishing you, yours, and your cuppa a fantastic week!

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Celebrate Mom with a Mother Lode of Goods this Mother’s Day

Moms are the absolute best! While they come in all forms (some biological, some adopted, and some unofficially adopted), they have more love for you than you can ever imagine. As a new mom, I can attest to the fact that you are instantly filled with more love for your babe than you ever knew possible – and it just keeps growing from there! Motherhood takes unconditional love to a new level of ooey gooey gaga! And from the looks of it, becoming “grandma”, or “mimi” as my mom prefers, might be the next best thing.

Yes, my mom and I apparently both love stripes.

To celebrate all the super moms in our lives, The Tea Spot has partnered with Fresh Produce, a fellow Boulder company, to create a stellar Mother’s Day Giveaway. Now through May 11th, you can enter to win a mother lode of new clothing and loose leaf teas! Specifically, two randomly selected winners will receive a $250 Gift Certificate to shop the vibrant clothing and accessories at Fresh Produce online, plus a Signature Tea Collection and Steeping Mug from The Tea Spot. And if your mom is anything like mine – she would love to share in this bounty!

This celebration made us want to share special memories about our mums, so we’re giving a second entry to everyone who shares a story with us – be it sweet, serious, or silly. Simply add your favorite story about your mom to the comments here. Fair warning… the stories already posted are incredibly touching, so grab a tissue. They totally brought out my mushy side and made me tear up.

We’re big fans of Fresh Produce over here at The Tea Spot – with their love of bright colors, their stylish effortless accessories, and their easy-breezy attitude. Even their motto of “Live life. Enjoy color.” seems to go hand in hand with our “Thirst for life!” philosophy. Fresh Produce has been designing clothing for nearly three decades, and is primarily made in the USA! The founders Mary Ellen & Thom Vernon are committed to helping women feel beautiful and confident through vibrant clothing. Here’s a bit more about what we love about their brand:

The heart of the Fresh Produce is rooted in the positive impact of color. We love color and want our customers to light up the room in our clothes. From casual tops and feminine dresses to decorative scarves and stylish pants, Fresh Produce is dedicated to creating feel-good clothes women want to wear every day… The comfortable fabrics, fit and style reflect carefree ease.

We hope you’ll visit freshproduceclothes.com to see what’s new in women’s fashion for the season. When you do, you’ll receive $20 off your $100 purchase* by using code: TEASPOT at checkout. Clothing, scarves, and jewelry also make a great gift for Mom, too!

From The Tea Spot & Fresh Produce, we hope your Mother’s Day is Tea-riffic! <3

*Purchase must be $100 or more. Valid online only at freshproduceclothes.com. Enter code at checkout to redeem offer. May not be combined with other offers or used toward previous purchases. Not valid on cash or gift cards. Code expires May 12, 2014.

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How We Built Custom Standing Desks for under $50

By now, most people have heard all about how terrible sitting all day is for our bodies. We’ve heard that “sitting is the new smoking”, that “he who sits the most dies the soonest”, and we’ve seen endless infographics depicting sitting’s negative toll on the body. According to the Mayo Clinic, “researchers have linked sitting for long periods of time with a number of health concerns, including obesity and metabolic syndrome — a cluster of conditions that includes increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol levels. Too much sitting also seems to increase the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer.”*

The more we read, the more we felt the need to make a change, and fast!

The Standing Desk Concept

The ergonomics behind standing desks are extremely simple. However, if you look to buy a standing desk you can easily spend a couple hundred dollars on a well made option. This didn’t sit well with the DIY-er in me, so I found an affordable, easy concept online that can be customized perfectly for your height and needs. We love them! Check out our new work stations, the parts required, and assembly instructions here.

Jessica, our marketing extraordinaire:

Jessica’s standing desk!

A look at the underside of the shelf. Simple brackets (adjusted to your height) support your keyboard & mouse.

Elise, our fabulous sales director:

Elise's standing desk! Elise is tall, so we also set her up with a laptop-raiser

Elise’s standing desk, complete with a laptop-raiser to get the height just right.

Elise's namesake vintage Ridgway tea tins.

My favorite part of Elise’s office- her namesake vintage Ridgway tea tins!

Katie, customer service, aka… me!

My standing desk is a bit bigger, it uses an IKEA coffee table instead of their side table and a longer shelf

I like to spread out, so my standing desk is a bit longer. It uses an IKEA coffee table instead of their side table and a longer shelf.

Front view of my desk. Note the use of a vintage tea tin for a pencil holder, and upturned tin lids to hold nick-knacks like paper clips. Reuse baby!

What You Need:

A table. Jessica and Elise used the LACK side table in turquoise and red, while I went with the LACK coffee table for extra length and a shelf option.
A shelf. There are almost endless shelf options, just make sure you pick out something long enough to comfortably fit your keyboard, mouse, and anything else you like having easily accessible.
Two brackets. We picked up the Ekby Valter bracket.
Screws.
(Optional!) Anti-fatigue mat, to keep you on your feet all day!

I found this concept on Colin Nederkoorn’s Blog here and his great (simple!) assembly instructions here.

Do you have a standing desk at work? If you try this design, or any others, we’d love to see your results!

Remember, a body in motion, stays in motion!

*Mayo Clinic. What are the risks of sitting too much? By James A. Levine, M.D., Ph.D. Web. 16 Jun. 2012.

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Hugs, Kisses, and Tea!

Happy Valentine’s Day, tea lovers! Love is in the air and in our cup here at The Tea Spot! Valentine’s Day gets a bad rap for being a commercialized holiday, and while there aren’t any flowers floating around the office, we’re feeling cuddly and thankful for all of the delicious tea we adore. This year we came out with a new addition to the family just for the lovers, Love Potion No. 9! This decadent caramel black tea is spruced up with bits of toffee coated coconut. This tea is an improved rendition of our old staple, Creme Caramel, and is absolutely perfect for the loved one in your life… or treat yourself!

Tea and chocolate, does life get any better?

Maybe caramel and toffee aren’t your thing… how about flowers and chocolate? You can’t go wrong with our amazing Steeping mug paired with two cute tins of Jasmine Petals and Chocolate O. Whatever your preferences are, we’re sure that tea is the best gift around. Nothing says I love you like a hot cup of tea for warmth and comfort, and if you’re feeling creative, a haiku!

Big cuppa steaming
Love potion work your magic
Come here, good looking!

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Fireworks & Green Gunpowder Welcome the New Year of the Horse!

Have you ever been in a Chinese city, or in an American city’s Chinatown during a New Year’s celebration? The city literally bursts to life with firecrackers during the colorful and raucous multi-day party! Setting off excessive amounts of firecrackers and beating drums is a central tradition at Chinese New Year, and is intended to scare away all the evil spirits with the loud noises.

Gunpowder was first invented in China during the Tang Dynasty (628 – 905). During these ancient times, firecrackers (“Phow Chook” in Chinese) were just gunpowder wrapped in paper, lit with a paper or bamboo fuse. By the time of the Sung Dynasty (960-1279) fireworks had been invented in China, but firecrackers have remained the popular noisemaker of choice during the New Years celebration.

The leaves of gunpowder green tea are hand rolled into the shape of little pellets, and with their steely sheen, resemble gunpowder. Gunpowder tea leaves stay fresh longer than any other green tea leaves, thanks to their compressed state. For a green tea, Gunpowder tastes strong and hearty. As its leaves unfurl, they release a smoky oak aroma, and a subtle vegetal flavor, with a hint of a sweet finish.

The process for making Chinese green tea was developed during the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1628). Green tea is never allowed to wither and ferment – the oxidation is arrested as soon as possible, either by steaming, or firing in large pans or baskets. All the dampness is removed, and tea leaves harvested in the morning can be ready to be brewed the same night. The bypass of fermentation allows green tea to retain most of its natural (green) leaf color, antioxidants, V its min C, chlorophyll and minerals.

So to welcome this new year of the horse! We’re starting this year off with our own version of firecracker – Gunpowder green tea leaves bursting open in our cups! Many Healthy and Happy Returns to All :)

Below photos from Los Angeles Chinatown New Year of the Horse Parade, Saturday Feb 1, 2014

New Year of the Horse Parade

LA’s Chinese New Year celebration has a multicultural flavor!

Chinese New Year Lanterns

Colorful Firecracker Detritus

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A Different Kind of Rocky Mountain High

The Boulder media’s roaring with news tidbits surrounding the progressive marijuana policy in our mile-high state of Colorado. Food pairings, cooking with weed, herbal infusion blends – are all topics which you can find daily in the headlines of our local papers. As a tea company, it almost sounds all too familiar to us. You could substitute “premium tea” as an alternative in many of the headlines, and come up with something pertinent to loose leaf tea. Camellia sinensis, aka the tea plant, has long been known to help with mood and performance, as well as relaxation and concentration.

“Tea Drunk” is even a recognized term amongst tea fanatics, referring to a mildly ecstatic light-headed condition after drinking a new, or super high-end tea. In reality, this one may be something that’s brought on by plummeting blood sugar levels, when we drink too much caffeine on an empty stomach… something that’s easy to do when you’re faced with an amazing new tea!

Caffeine, which has even been referred to as the worlds most widely used psychoactive drug, has a host of benefits that contribute to its widespread use. Aside from the possibility of creating a mild drug dependence, medical studies, including one published in the February 2010 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, have shown that one of these benefits is mood elevation. Another study, by D. Scott et al., ”The effect of drinking tea at high altitude on hydration status and mood” published in the April, 2004 European Journal of Applied Physiology studied climbers at Everest Base camp. They concluded that the men and women who drank hot brewed tea as a major part of fluid intake at 18,000 ft showed no evidence of increased dehydration from drinking the caffeinated beverage. In addition, the climbers reported feeling less fatigued when tea was included in their diets. Score one for the tea lovers!

Theobromine, also naturally occurring in tea, remains in the blood stream much longer than caffeine and is sometimes used as a mild antidepressant and aphrodisiac. A timely study by Suzanne Einother and Vanessa Martens released in the December 2013 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, details the effects of “our” tea leaf, and its ingredients theanine and caffeine, on mood enhancement. Theanine, which occurs naturally only in the leaves of Camellia sinensis, is a mental and physical relaxant that does not induce drowsiness. Those of us who work will take that as a major benefit :) It is also is used for treating anxiety and high blood pressure.

So the next time you want to relax and let your imagination climb to new heights, there’s a new kind of “Rocky Mountain High” to get you soaring.

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We Gave Away Free Tea for a Year!

Gifting tea never felt so good! We recently ran a contest on Facebook that awarded one Tea Spot fan with Free Tea For a Year. We just announced the winner and are SO excited!

Congrats to Kim!

During this giveaway, there was a standard entry form on our Facebook contest page, along with the chance to win a double entry into the giveaway when you shared what your “biggest win” of the year was with us. We heard so many inspiring tales of big life changes, major health initiatives (and in many cases, major weight loss), just to name a few. If you ever find yourself in need of some inspiration, I’d highly recommend taking a few moments to read though the incredible wins that were shared with us here. We feel truly blessed to have such an incredible, open, loving communi-TEA! Cheers to all and warmest wishes for a Happy New Year!

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Black Friday Tips from Tea Drinking Experts

If Black Friday shopping is your cup of tea, we’ve got some Pro Tips to help you WIN!
NOTE: These tactics can be applied to other urban jungle excursions and crowded holiday traveling.

PRE-GAME:

Strategize & Prioritize.

Cozy up with a cup of Meditative Mind at the end of Thanksgiving Day to plan your attack. The L-theanine in white tea creates a calm yet alert state of mind so you can strategize and prioritize for tomorrow’s adventure. Then unwind and relish in the Q.T. you spent with family and friends earlier in the day.

GAME DAY:

Caffeinate early & often.

Start your morning off with a cup of Bolder Breakfast – our customers’ all time favorite tea – the numbers don’t lie. It’s highly caffeinated and packs a secret punch with pu’erh.

Stay hydrated.

Cold brewing on-the-go is definitely the way to go here. Steep & Go and Keep Fit Cold Infusions tea makes it easy with a steady green tea energy boost. Simply refill your bottle with more water throughout the day to cold brew more fresh tea.

Pack your good stuff with you.

Pack a few of your favorite teas and a Tuffy Steeper in your water-resistant Travel Zipper Pouch. You never know when a mug of hot water is going to jump out in front of you for a mid-day break. And life’s too short to settle for dusty bags.

Unwind & rest easy.

Back at home at the end of the day, kick your feet up and celebrate your top scores of the day with some Sweet Lullaby herbal tea. But first, get cozy in your pajamas because this valerian root hibiscus blend will have you counting sheep in no time. Congrats, you’re winning!

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G and TEA: A happy hour, indeed!

Fall is officially here. There is frost in the morning and more leaves are on the ground than on the trees. I must admit that as much as I love fall weather I dread the winter and find myself trying to cling to summer. Fortunately, we are blessed in Boulder with warm sunshine, and our fall days can be simply perfect. I decided to embrace the lovely fall weather by putting a tea-infused twist on my favorite summer cocktail, a gin and tonic.

I started off by making 3 types of tea: cold-brewed Sweet Melody, iced Ginger Peach, and iced Lady Lavender. For the gin I used Spring 44, from a local Boulder distillery. I also had some mixers to add, including soda water, lemonade, and ginger beer.

My beautiful collection of iced tea and gin.

Some different flavors to spice up our drinks!

I had two lovely testers to help me out and together we tried 6 or 7 different combinations. We all decided on 3 clear winners:

Sweet Melody Spritzer: The tangy hibiscus and sweet licorice went perfectly with the floral gin, and the lemon soda water added a nice bubbly sensation. Here is the recipe:

1.5 oz Gin
3 oz Sweet Melody Iced Tea
3 oz Lemon Soda Water
Ice

Gin-Ginger Arnold Palmer: We put a twist on the traditional iced tea and lemonade beverage by using Ginger Peach iced tea and making it a delicious cocktail… perfect for the golf course! Here’s how we made it:

1.5 oz Gin
3 oz Iced Ginger Peach
3 oz Lemonade
Ice

Lady Lavender Twist: At first we just tried mixing the iced Lady Lavender with the gin, but it seemed watered down and needed a little sweetener. We added a splash of lemonade, and voila! A delightful floral combination! The bergamot and lavender mixed perfectly with the gin, and the lemonade added just the right amount of sugar and a dash of citrus! We used:

1.5 oz Gin
4 oz Lady Lavender
2 oz Lemonade
Ice

These drinks hit the perfect spot between winter and summer, and we enjoyed them on the patio to soak up some of the last rays of golden sunshine!

Cheers to friends, Fall, and TEA!

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“Steep & Go” Action Shots

We recently launched a contest asking our tea friends to submit pictures of their cold infusing Steep & Go’s on-the-go. We had so much fun looking at these truly fantastic ”action shots” and wanted to share some of our favorite pics with you here. We hope you enjoy!

Put baby Della and baby Ollie together and you have yourself an incredible cold-brew cuppa! Della prefers her Steep & Go’s violet, and Ollie is a big fan of our new Keep Fit Cold Infusions. Or perhaps he prefers chewing on the box? Either way, these babes have great taste!