Green and Herb Teas

La Tea Dah at Gracious Hospitality is hosting a Tea Blog-a-Thon from March 16 until May 31. She has a different theme for each week and you may participate as much or as little as you like. The theme for the seventh week, April 27 - May 3 is The White, Green, Black, and Herb of Tea: "Tell about your favorite tea. How do you prepare it and serve it? Milk and sugar? Plain? What are some of your best memories of serving or sipping on this tea? Share a picture if you can. Tell the health benefits of the tea(s) you prefer. Where do you purchase your tea? Is there someplace you enjoying purchasing tea from? Who from and where."

I have been taxed with many things lately, and so I am just trying to catch up with my entries to the Tea Blog-a-Thon. So I can give just a brief overview.

Since I avoid caffeine, I drink just herbal and green teas. Also, decaffeinated black teas such as Earl Grey and Constant Comment.

Favorite Teas
Lemon Flavored Green Tea
Cinnamon Flavored Green Tea

From Tea Forte - Ginger tea. Here is the small tin with two infusers.

Health King Gastro Ease Tea – a Chinese tea distributed by Universal Herbs Inc. (HerbsPro.com)

Bigelow teas are found in most supermarkets. Here are the flavors I like:
Mint Medley
Apple Cinnamon
I Love Lemon
Apple Cranberry
Sleepy Time (chamomile)
Orange Spice
Tasty Tangerine
Blueberry Harvest

Serving
I usually serve tea plain and offer a choice of raw sugar, Splenda, Stevia, or honey sticks. (We used to add milk to our tea when I was growing up, but no one asks for it now. )

Memories
For her seventh birthday, I held a tea for my niece/god-daughter. Here is a photo of the kid's table setting in May 1998. She had five kid guests, plus five adults.

When it was time for me to serve tea to the kids, the birthday girl declared, "I don’t like tea!" Immediately, the five young guests each echoed, "I don’t like tea!"
My reply – "Oh but since this is a tea party everyone just has to drink a little bit of tea… Everyone just drink a couple swallows. Then you can have some thing else to drink."
The tea chosen for them was Bigelow Apple Cinnamon.

As they sipped from their cups, one of the kids said, "This is good!" The others nodded and agreed. Soon someone said, "I like this, more tea please." The others said, "More tea, please!"

The kid's table was set in the kitchen. In the dining room the adults took Bigelow Earl Grey decaf.

A few Friday evenings ago my sister, her husband and daughter (now almost 17 years old) were here for supper. It happens that her mom, my sister, does not like tea though her husband makes herb teas at home. As we were talking about tea, my niece/goddaughter now said, "When daddy and I drink tea, I feel all warm and nice…"

It has been great to read the various entries on this week’s topic. Go to Gracious Hospitality to read them.