Monday, March 30, 2009

Blend of the Month

Lately we've been having a lot of fun here in the shop, blending up various combinations of our loose teas to create new exciting flavors. We're having so much fun, in fact, that we'd like to let you in on the fun as well! Starting this April, we're going to spotlight a "Blend of the Month". We'll blend some up and sell it in-store and online, with a new creation each month!

Our first tea is Strawberries & Cream, a delicious blend of our Fresh Strawberry black tea and Vanilla Cream black tea. With a bit of sweetener and milk, it's like a dessert in a cup!



Look for it on our website as well as in the store this April!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Perennial Tea Room Tea in Tins

In addition to our Seattle Breakfast, we now have three other loose teas packed in 4-ounce gift tins!

There's our Earl Grey Extra Aromatic, double-scented with natural oil of bergamot. This is just about the best earl grey we've found, and it's the only one Sue (our resident earl grey nut) drinks!

It comes packed in an elegant black tin.



Next up is one of our favorite herbal blends, Market Rooibos Chai. It's a caffeine-free blend of South African rooibos (also sometimes called red tea), cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and a hint of vanilla. It's a sweeter, smoother spice blend than most other chais, so it makes a great after-dinner drink. Of course, it's also great any other time of the day!

It comes in a pretty burgundy tin.



Last, but certainly not least, is our Victorian Earl Grey. It's a blend of earl grey (with natural oil of bergamot, nothing artificial) with rosemary, lavender, and rose petals. The rosemary gives it a unique aroma that blends nicely with the rose and lavender. Perfect for a garden tea party with your best china, but it's just as good in a sturdy mug to start your day.

Comes in a vibrant violet tin.



All of these tins, as well as our Seattle Breakfast, are on our website.

Teaposy - Blooming Tea

Recently we got the Teaposy "blooming teas" back in stock, so we took the opportunity to take some pictures of one of the teas in action.

The tea starts out looking like this, a little ball of hand-tied tea leaves.



Add some hot water (not quite boiling, around 175 degrees F) and it starts to open up.





This one is called "falling water", a calendula flower with a little chain of jasmine blossoms floating up from the center. You can see the flowers just peeking out now.





Isn't that beautiful?



The tea itself has a nice jasmine scent. Even though it steeps for quite a while (around 10 minutes for it to open fully), it doesn't taste bitter. Display teas like this are great for parties and special occasions. You could even get a big fish bowl or punch bowl and put several of them in as a centerpiece for a table.

We have assortments of different kinds available on our website here.


Did you know?

We are trying to show as many of our new products on the blog as possible, but we can't always get them all on the website. If you're in the Seattle area, you can come by and visit us if you'd like to buy something you see on the blog.

For folks who can't make it into the shop, you can always call us at our toll-free number (888) 448-4054, 9:30am-6:00pm Pacific Time, and we can probably ship just about anything in the store to you!

So remember, if you saw something here that you just can't live without, but you don't see it on the site, just give us a ring! We'll be happy to send it to you!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Sakura Sencha is here!

It's almost Spring again, and that means that the highly anticipated Sakura Sencha is here!



This wonderful flavored Japanese green tea is flavored with natural cherry blossoms, with little heather blossoms to add a dash of pink. It has a lovely sweet and floral taste, but it isn't overpowering. The base tea that is used is a good quality sencha that seems to be complimented by the cherry flavor, rather than being covered up by it.

This tea is sourced from a company in Shizuoka, just south of Tokyo. Their tea is transported by air to the US rather than by ship, so it gets here much faster. That means better-tasting, fresher tea!

The Sakura Sencha is produced in limited quantities this time of year to celebrate the arrival of cherry blossoms (sakura) in Japan. The Japanese love cherry blossoms, and having a picnic sitting under the cherry trees is one of the most popular activities in the spring time.

The Sakura Sencha is $5.00 per ounce. If you want some, get it soon because we only have a limited amount in stock!