New Glass Tea Tumbler

We just received some of these great new glass tea tumblers - something customers have been asking about for some time.


They are dual-walled to keep your tea hot and your hands cool, and they're super easy to use. To make tea, remove the lid and strainer, add loose tea and hot water. Replace the lid and strainer, let steep for the appropriate amount of time, and remove the lid to drink right from the tumbler! The strainer holds back the tea leaves. The tumbler holds about 10 fluid ounces.

The tea tumblers are made of sturdy borosilicate glass, and are free of lead, cadmium and BPA.

Check them out in the shop and on our website.

Rubber Duck Tea Infuser

Sometimes we see a product in a catalog from one of our vendors and we say "We have gotta have that in the shop!"

Well, this is one of those times.

Isn't that just about the cutest darn tea infuser you've ever seen? Just unscrew the bottom, put in a teaspoon of loose tea, and float it in your cup to steep! It even comes with a little base to put it in to catch the drips when you're done steeping.

It makes a great gift, and a good way to introduce kids to loose tea. You can find it in our shop and on our website.

Steven Smith Teas

Ask just about anyone who's really into tea, "which is better, loose tea or teabags?", and the answer is invariably loose tea.

And, admittedly, that's true about 99% of the time. It's hard to get big, high quality tea leaves into a little paper sack, and even harder to get a decent infusion out of it. That's why most teabags are made with "fannings", very small bits of tea leaf that play nicely with teabagging machines, and infuse quickly in water.

In recent years, however, there have been many advances in the world of teabags, including pyramid-shaped sachets made of a silk-like mesh material that allows for better infusion.

So what is this all leading up to? Well, we think we may have found just about the best tea in teabags yet. Say hello to Steven Smith Teas, a line of teabags made with lovely high-quality tea leaves (no fannings or dust here!)

Those in the tea industry will recognize the name; Steven Smith started Stash teas, and subsequently Tazo, and sold both businesses. Now he's doing his own line of teas and herbal infusions, hand packed in small batches in Portland, Oregon.

One of the really neat things about these teas is that there's a label on the bottom of each box with a batch number, and if you go to his website you can enter the number and find out when the tea was packed and by whom, which tea garden tea came from and when it was harvested.

We have 12 different types to choose from:

Tisanes:

Red Nectar- South African Rooibos and Honeybush, with light fruit flavors.
Peppermint Leaves- The highest quality peppermint from Oregon.
Meadow- Chamomile and rooibos, with other floral herbs.
Big Hibiscus- A blend of Hibiscus, Sarsparilla, ginger, elderflowers and rose.

Black:

Lord Bergamot- Ceylon and Assam, with natural oil of bergamot.
Kandy- Named for a city in Sri Lanka, a blend of Dimbulla, Uva and Nuwara Eliya Ceylon teas.
Bungalow- A blend of high grown Indian Darjeeling first and second flush teas.
Brahmin's Choice- A blend of Indian Assam, Ceylon Dimbulla, Ceylon Uva and China Keemun.

White and Green:

White Petal- China white tea, Osmanthus, Chamomile and natural flavors.
Mao Feng Shui- Spring harvested Mao Feng green tea from Zhejiang China.
Jasmine Silver Tip- Fujian China green tea, scented with jasmine.
Fez- Mao Feng China green tea, Oregon spearmint and Australian lemon myrtle.

Each box contains 15 sachets. We have them in the shop and on the website.

Tea from Iran - Persian Gold

We try to get tea from as many different countries as we can, because each region has its own unique flavors. Soil conditions, climate, elevation, tea varietals; all these things work together to give each tea its particular taste.

So when a gentleman came into the shop recently with a sample of black tea from northern Iran, we couldn't pass up the chance. I didn't even know Iran produced any tea, so this was definitely a chance to try something we'd never had before. And oh man, I'm glad we did. I haven't been this enamored with a tea for a long time.


The leaves are large, dark and wiry, and you can tell that they're hand-processed. They infuse to a light golden color, with a rich aroma on par with the best Indian black teas.


The taste is heavenly. It's smooth as silk, with almost no bitterness even when steeped for several minutes. I'm drinking some in a gaiwan right now and after several infusions of varying length, I have yet to experience an unsatisfactory cup. There is a light, honey-like sweetness that lingers in the background, rounding out the flavor. We've been told that in Iran the tea is often mixed with saffron or native rose petals, but I can't imagine adding anything to this tea.

I really can't say enough good things about it! Try it yourself and see. We have it here in the shop and on the website. At $7.00 per ounce, it's not inexpensive, but it is absolutely worth it.

New Irish Products in the Shop

We have a couple of new arrivals from the Emerald Isle today.

First is Bushmills Irish Whiskey Marmalade!



In our highly scientific taste testing, we found the Bushmills to be a bit more fruity and slightly less bitter than the Jameson Marmalade. It's lovely on Digestive biscuits, scones, pancakes, crepes, and just about anything else you can think of.

We also have a new 80-teabag size of Bewley's Irish Afternoon Tea.



We often are asked what the difference is between Bewley's Breakfast and Afternoon teas; contrary to what you'd expect, the Afternoon is actually stronger than the Breakfast blend. I guess the theory is that you need a bit of an extra push to make it through the rest of the day!

Website Inventory

We've been having a problem with our website inventory updating properly, so some of the products that we have in stock are not showing up on the website.

If there's something that you'd like to order, but it's not on the site, call or email us and we'll see if we actually have it.

Hopefully we'll have this problem worked out soon. Thanks for your patience!

ECCLES CAKES ARE BACK!

I try to avoid using all caps for anything, but I think this blog post warrants it.

Eccles Cakes, everyone's favorite raisin-and-currant-filled Lancashire pastry is finally back in stock! For real this time! We've been trying to get these back in the shop for the better part of a year, so we're super excited to be offering them once more.



For those who are unfamiliar with this delicious English treat, it's a small flaky pastry filled with raisins and currants. Here's a closer cross-section to give you an idea.



I'm not ashamed to say that I've eaten three of them since we got them in this morning. They're good right out of the package, but they're even better if you warm them up slightly. Just stick them in the microwave for about 15 seconds. I also have it on good authority that they're quite tasty when heated up and served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

You can pick them up in the shop or online. They come in packages of 4 cakes (each cake is just under 3" in diameter).

Come get them before we eat them all ourselves!