This post begins a new segment- “The Tea SpotLight” where we put one of our premium loose leaf teas front and center for the month. We tell you why we love this tea, what it can do for you, along with the ideal way(s) to prepare and enjoy it. After years of waitressing at various restaurants, I appreciate the value in asking your server what their favorite dishes on the menu are. Servers know their menu inside and out, and because they usually eat the restaurants food during every shift, they know what’s really good. This is precisely our inspiration behind The Tea SpotLight segment of our blog… we’ll tell you what teas we love, and more importantly, why we love them. Perhaps this will inspire you to try something new, or make a current favorite that much better!

As The Tea Spots Customer Service Rep, I’m often asked what my favorite tea is. (As a side note: it is impossible to answer that question with just one tea. It’s like asking me to pick just one favorite flavor of ice cream, or one favorite pair of shoes. The joy is in the variety!) But, I do have flavored and unflavored favorites in each tea category, and am always more than happy to ‘break it down’ for anyone interested.

To start things off I’m going to delve right into my personal favorite flavored herbal tea: our Blood Orange Smoothie.

In my house, it has been affectionately dubbed “The Boss”, quite simply, because we think it’s the best. Blood Orange Smoothie is a caffeine-free red rooibos based tea from South Africa. We’ve loaded it up with all the goods- orange peel, apples, hibiscus, rosehips, safflowers, rose petals, and vanilla and citrus flavors. These ingredients combine to make a naturally sweet, refreshing cuppa that reminds many happy sippers of an orange creamsicle. “The Boss” is delicious hot, and is also incredibly refreshing when served over ice.

To make Blood Orange Smoothie, add 1 teaspoon of tea per 8 ounces of water, and steep for at least six minutes with boiling water. You cannot over-steep this delicious tea, the more steep time the better!

The health benefits associated with red Rooibos tea are numerous. Rooibos contains copper, iron, potassium, calcium, fluoride, zinc, manganese, alpha-hydroxy (for healthy skin) and magnesium (for the nervous system). It is naturally caffeine free, and as such, is perfect before bed and is a very popular choice among kids. According to studies conducted in South Africa and Japan, Rooibos has been shown to aid in health problems such as insomnia, irritability, headaches, nervous tension, and hypertension. In South Africa, Rooibos has been used to treat allergies such as hay fever, asthma and eczema very effectively. Rooibos contains antioxidants which can help slow the aging process and boost the immune system.*

I hope you’re ready to try Blood Orange Smoothie now! You can find it on our site here, in a sample size, ¼ pound, and 1 pound bags. Now if you’ll excuse me, all this talk about “The Boss” has made me thirsty…

Cheers!

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

As the newest member of the Tea Spot team, I’ve been given the opportunity to post some ‘behind the scenes’ information about what it’s like working at this unique loose leaf tea company located in Boulder, CO. My first month has been non-stop action, and I am excited to share some insider tips with you!

Some things you might not know about the Tea Spot: for starters, we literally sit around drinking tea all day long, on large bouncy exercise balls nonetheless! This familiarity with tea adds up to a whole slew of tea knowledge and experience among the staff. I have been trying one new tea per day and have discovered a few teas that have completely rocked my world (more to come on that later!). We also sample a tea each week during our team meetings and sit around talking about the tea itself, its tea family, tea history, and on and on. The first thing that becomes apparent as a new employee at the Tea Spot is just how knowledgeable and passionate these folks are about… you guessed it, tea!

Tea Time from our Tea 101

 Part of our new-employee training program includes studying up on our Tea 101 book, which we’ll include here just for you! This is a fantastic introduction to loose leaf tea, brewing guidelines, tea history, and tea types. You can check it out here:

Link to the Tea 101 book

While there is no shortage of things to learn about tea, I am happy to report that the whole process can be quite enjoyable if you incorporate tea tasting into the learning process. Recently a fellow employee, Joice Li and I tasted all of the teas mentioned in Tea 101 side-by-side. This list includes:

• Black Tea & Pu’erh: Bolder Breakfast and Mango Tango
• Green Tea: Green Roasted Mint (now Thin Mint Green) and Boulder Blues
• White Tea: Meditative Mind and Monkey-Picked White
• Herbal Tea: Red Rocks and Chamomile

From left to right, Katie, Teas from Tea 101, and Joice!

After this side-by-side taste test, we dedicated one day to each tea category and sampled the two teas listed there together. All these teas are so flavorful and unique, a must try for everyone from tea fanatics to newbie’s and everything in-between!  

My personal picks so far:

1)    For Earl Grey fans, ours is not to be missed!

2)    Favorite iced tea: Mango Tango

3)    Best nightcap tea: Red Rocks with delicious hints of vanilla and almond

The history of herbs and spices is far more ancient than that of tea. Herbal teas should not be called “teas” at all, as they are not made from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. They are, strictly speaking, herbal infusions, and naturally 100% caffeine-free. Many host a variety of health benefits, and some will offer a sensational gourmet experience in aromatherapy and taste. But, so many people refer to them as “herbal teas” in the states that we have jumped on that bandwagon and now do the same…

Red Rooibos Tea

Rooibos is one of today’s hottest trends in the tea industry. This faintly sweet red tea is unique because it contains health benefits while being naturally caffeine free and low in tannin, thus allowing iron absorption. Rooibos contains almost no tannins, but has many replenishing minerals including iron, potassium, copper, alpha-hydroxy and zinc. It is rich in antioxidants, the substances that combat free radicals in the body. It works as an anti-spasmodic, anti-inflammatory and anti-allergen. Rooibos tea has also been shown to soothe the body’s reaction to allergies and rashes. At an herbal store, you’ll probably find Rooibos under the name “Herbal Allergy tea” due to this natural allergy-fighting quality. Its anti-spasmodic agents can relieve stomach pains and cramps.

Rooibos tea not only acts as your personal helping hand in fighting allergies and ailments, it is also perfectly suited for growing babies, young children, active teenagers, parents and grandparents alike… My recommendation for children is to brew it hot, ice it, and blend with a bit of cranberry juice. You don’t need much cranberry juice. Being a good source of vitamins and minerals, it can be used as a natural supplement. It also makes a great thirst quencher iced.

And lastly, Rooibos is a most versatile and remarkable tea for pairing with meals. In particular for strong cuisines, such as Italian and Mexican, that don’t come from a traditional tea region, Rooibos pairs smoothly and deliciously, hot or iced. You can view the full selection of rooibos teas at our shop.

Just last week I submitted this recipe to About.com, and wanted to share it here with all our Tea Spot customers as well :)

Red Chai is a recipe which we at The Tea Spot hold dear. Our inspiration for this delectable Chai concoction comes from the roots of our company. Originally, The Tea Spot stood as a tea bar in downtown Boulder, Colorado, exposing us to a variety of customers. Along with their business, came a myriad of cultures, experiences, and passions. In our search for the perfect Chai recipe, we solicited recipes and methods from as many Indian cooking experts as we could find. Through patrons, personal, and business connections, we received great feedback and a host of Masala Chai recipes. During our testing and tasting process, we honed in on this particular method of Masala Chai preparation. Though the traditional Assam tea-based version was vastly popular, we adapted our process to green and herbal teas as well. The resulting caffeine-free organic Rooibos version became a signature cafe drink with the regulars. My personal favorite twist on this recipe is to make it with soy or almond milk.  Steep it up and drink to your health!

Masala Chai Spices at Indian market

Red Chai

Ingredients:

Spice mix: 8 g cloves (1.5 tsp); 8 g fresh cardamom (2 tsp, or 1 tsp if using ground cardamom); 18 g fresh ginger, chopped (1 heaping TBS); 1/2 bay leaf; 1 tsp fennel; 1 tsp peppercorns 1 stick cinnamon.

50 g (1/2 cup) Red Rooibos tea leaves

1/4 cup (4 oz) honey

2 cups milk (you may also use soy or almond milk)

Method:

1. Steep spice mix in 8 oz boiling water. Marinate overnight in fridge. Strain out spices from marinade.

2. Steep tea leaves in 2 cups boiling water for 6 minutes. Strain out Rooibos.

3. Add honey and strained spice mix marinade to Rooibos tea.

4. Heat milk to just below boil.  Combine with Rooibos tea and spice marinade, and serve immediately.

Original Masala Chai recipe from The downtown Boulder Tea Spot

Starting back in May Parallel Seventeen started serving The Tea Spot teas! Parallel 17 is a restaurant where quality, taste and style all coordinate well together in a Vietnamese cuisine.  The plates are not only delicious, where you want to savor every bite (and you do, I’ve eaten there and didn’t want dinner to end) but they’re gorgeous to boot, and not in that over the top pretentious way.  Therefore, it was the perfect fit for our gourmet loose leaf teas.

Image by Andrea Doenges

The server will present the table with four of our teas, Earl of Grey (black tea), Boulder Blues (green tea), Meditative Mind (white tea) and Red Rocks (herbal tea), in a simple and classy display.  Once the customer decides on what tea they’d like to drink, they are treated to a tasty finish to their meal, almost a subsitution for a dessert I daresay.  I highly recommend going to try this restaurant yourself, not only for their teas, though we wouldn’t mind if you did, but to have a fun and tasty experience in uptown Denver.

Parellel Seventeen is located at 1600 East 17th Avenue, Denver 80218
303-399-0988