August Tea Box
We began experimenting with cold brew tea since one of our members, Angie, dropped us a line on how she loves to make iced tea. Her concept is very simple. Submerge 1 tablespoon of tea in 10oz of cold water and place it in the fridge for a minimum of 8 hours. Strain out the leaves and serve. You can leave the tea leaves in for up to 24 hours and it never gets bitter or tart. This is great timing as we are featuring Silver Service’s Quince Green, one of the best iced teas I have ever had. We also have JusTea’s Mount Kenya Estate. Its fresh, malty smooth taste makes it perfect for ice. Mighty Leaf’s Chamomile Citrus is awesome cold brewed and we also love this tea hot! The Tea Spot’s Red Rocks returns as our classic summer time tea. We hope you enjoy this month’s teas!
Michael Menashy
Tea Sparrow Family
JusTea’s Mount Kenya Estate
Description: A sip of our Kenya black tea transports you to the lush, rolling green hills of Mount Kenya. This tea is fresh, malty, and smooth, but packs a serious hit of flavor. Sweet and complex on its own but equally superb with a splash of milk and honey to start the day off right!
Ingredients: Mount Kenyan Black Tea
Health Benefits: Most people don’t realize black tea comes with many of the similar health benefits as green tea, including reduced risk of stroke and heart disease, among many others. As well, black tea is said to increase energy, aid in digestive health and to promote healthy skin and hair. Black tea’s tannins are also great immunity-boosters.
Michael, “Bright, tart and rich. A perfect Kenyan black.”
Silver Service’s Quince Green
Description: This is one of our top rated iced green teas. A whole leaf sencha green tea that’s decorated with cornflower and mallow flower, and is flavored with quince fruit. Wonderfully refreshing!
Ingredients: Sencha, cornflowers, mallow flower and quince fruit.
Health Benefits: By now, the health benefits of green tea have been well-established. Here are just a few of the reasons we love it so much: it’s been shown to fight cancer and heart disease, lower cholesterol, prevent diabetes and stroke and to fight infection. It’s tough to beat that!
Zeta, “That was one of the best iced teas I have ever had.”
Might Leaf’s Chamomile Citrus
Description: Chamomile Citrus is a refreshing infusion perfected to curl up with and savour by the sip. Made with soothing Egyptian chamomile flowers and subtle slices of citrus fruit, this vibrant blend will rejuvenate the spirit. From intoxicating aroma to sweet flavour, this Mighty Leaf signature blend with Chamomile, fruits and herbs reflects our vision of the artisan tea experience.
Ingredients: Orange peels, chamomile flowers, rosehip peels, lemongrass, lemon myrtle, hibiscus, spearmint, natural flavors, orange petals.
Health Benefits: Chamomile throughout the ages has been regarded as a medicinal cure-all. It was considered a universal remedy by the ancient Egyptians, and the Romans and Greeks used chamomile flowers as a compress to apply to wounds to speed healing. It’s no wonder that modern medicine has been able to find so many additional health benefits to this flower as a tea. Here are but a few: chamomile tea boosts the immune system and fight infections associated with colds. It also helps relieve muscle spasms and menstrual cramps, relaxes the nerves, soothes the stomach, reduces inflammation, improves liver function, helps relieve back pain and rheumatism and is most well-known as a sleep aid.
Michael, “The chamomile is calming but the citrus revives the senses. Absolutely beautiful.”
The Tea Spot’s Red Rocks
Description: Our blend of naturally caffeine–free South African red rooibos, vanilla, and almond bits is an herbal delight! Rooibos is full of antioxidants and healthy minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper, and fluoride. It has a wonderfully smooth flavor, and is a great cold buster as well as thirst quencher. It brews into a dark red liquor and has a naturally sweet, earthy scent, reminiscent of pipe–tobacco. You cannot over–steep this tea (the longer the better!) and it is fantastic by itself, or with cream and a bit of sweetener.
Ingredients: South African rooibos, vanilla, chopped almonds
Health Benefits: This incredibly flavoured caffeine-free tea is growing quickly in popularity but did you know that it also contains high amounts of antioxidants? Although the antioxidants found in rooibos tea are different from those in green tea, they are still known to fight off free radicals in the body. Rooibos tea is also known to fight off cardiovascular disease, liver disease and lower blood pressure.
sommeliers sample and score the teas for look, region, aroma and of course, taste. We take pride in delivering a variety of world-class blends to your door every month – we feel we deserve it, and so do you!