Cucumber Lime Oolong, Ohio Tea Company

https://www.ohioteaco.com/Cucumber-Lime-Oolong_p_697.html

Chinese oolong tea, freeze-dried cucumber, natural flavor

I was at Ohio Tea Company and decided to try this Oolong.  Oolong is my favorite kind of tea.   I love the quality tea that Ohio Tea Co has!!

You can see the nicely rolled Oolong tea leaves and then when you steep the tea the leaves unfurl.  It's  beautiful!  The aroma is a nice lime citrus.

This tea falls between the green tea and black tea. Do not let your water boil, if you do you will burn the leaves- and then your tea will be bitter and you will not enjoy your tea.

Check out my $4.95 Walmart cup!!!  I love it.  Only would love it more if the cat's glasses were purple :)

This tea is really nice!  I am not getting the cucumber flavor, but I do get notes of lime.  I read on line that this tea is even better poured over ice.  I look forward to trying it iced.  They say the sweet tartness of the lime will come through even more.

I love Ohio Tea Company.  You need to check them out...and if you are not from Ohio, you can have the tea shipped to you.  And shipping for tea is free!!!

EVY Tea, Cold Brew Black Tea Strawberry

https://evytea.com

"Starting with only the cleanest ingredients, Cold Brew Evy Tea is gently steeped in cold water over the course of 16 hours.

This patience and dedication allows the tea leaves to bloom beautifully into a smooth, naturally sweet liquid that is free from bitterness that occurs when brewing in hot water.

When you sip an Evy Tea, you will taste a beautiful and balanced infusion of delicate flavors of teas, fruits, herbs, and spices." from the website

I saw this cold brew tea and thought I'd try it.  I have never seen bottled cold brew tea.  I didn't like the flavor, it was strawberry...or maybe it was the honey in it.  I am not a huge fan of honey.  It is too bad, because I like what they were doing and the calorie count.

I love how little calories are in this tea.

I poured my ice tea into my cool $4.95 Walmart cat mug.  I  love love love this cat mug!!!

World Market is great for having lots of unique things, and teas is one of them!!  They have fun different teas there. 

FOCO Thai Tea Drink

While I was in Vancouver visiting my sister and her family I saw these fun wings outside a TJ Maxx store in Portland.   I love street art.  I would love to see more around, it is just fun. If I ever get my tea shop and I have an exterior wall - I want street art :)

We stopped into World Market and I picked up some fun teas that I had not tried before.  I found this Thai tea and decided to try it.  I was surprised how much it tasted like the thai tea I had when I was in Thailand.  I mean it was really just like it!!!  The calories are a lot, so that is a downside.  But, it you want to know what Thai Tea taste like, this maybe the closest thing I have ever had, outside of a thai restaurant.  I guess that makes sense since it comes from Thailand, lol.

https://www.amazon.com/Foco-Thai-Drink-11-8oz-Pack/dp/B009629RHU

Phoenix Tea - Tea Dude (Medina Ohio)

https://teaduder.com/?fbclid=IwAR2GzaspSmWHITtGkQFpmIiByKVeadQ7KtJDoAnDq4fIMH5lcjsRqteaikE

A friend from work let me try this tea that she had discovered.  After a cup of the tea, I went on line that same day and ordered some for myself.

This tea is a variation of Lady Grey. Light and very citrus with hints of orange, lemon and lychee. 

From Wikipedia, "Lady Grey tea is a trademarked variation on Earl Grey tea. Like Earl Grey, it is a black tea flavoured with bergamot essential oil.

Lady Grey tea is a modern invention, created by Twinings in the early 1990s to appeal to the Nordic market, which found Earl Grey tea too strong in flavour. The name is trademarked to Twinings. Lady Grey differs from Earl Grey in that it contains additional lemon peel and orange peel. It first went on sale in Norway in 1994 and in Britain in 1996.

The Twinings blend contains black tea, orange peel, lemon peel, and citrus flavouring (bergamot)."

I really enjoy this tea.  It may not be for everyone, but I love the citrus flavors in this tea.

I found these yummy cookies at Aldhi's.  They are from Germany and they are great with tea.  The chocolate and coconut blend nicely with the bergamot in this tea.

What a fun treat at the end of the day.  Even my cat wants to try it.

Winter & Warmers Raspberry and Lavender Cold Brew

http://www.winterwarmers.my/tea_introduction.php

I picked up this great tea in Penang Malaysia.

                   

Cold brew is a great way to drink tea.  By not heating it, you are not releasing the tannins and you can add cold water over and over again. Also you retain more antioxidants than hot brew and also it releases only half the caffeine.  I usually can add water 2-3 more times to my glass or in this case pitcher of water.    This pitcher is great, because it has the mesh holder inside and your leaves don't escape.

If I have bagged tea I do one bag per 8 oz of water.  When I do the loose leaf in a pitcher, I generally eye ball it, but if you want something more specific go with 4 Tbsp per 1 quart.

Hazelnut Vanilla Tea, Ohio Tea Company

I took two of my co-workers to Ohio Tea Company on Saturday.  The ladies in my department all drink tea, which is so fun!!  Two of the gals had never been to Ohio Tea Company or Trader Joe's, so we decided we needed a ladies outing.  

We had a blast smelling tea and discovering and learning new things about tea.  My friend Amy said she could spend all day here and pick teas.  She is excited to bring her mom here.  

The have canisters of tea there and then in front of the tea is a smaller canister with a sample tea in it to smell.  Then on the bottom of the small canister it gives you the prices per ounce.

Amy said that she wants Ohio Tea to print out a list of all the teas with a check box.  Then when she comes she can smell them all and put a check by the tea she wants.  She can also note which ones she wants to try later.  She could also cross out which ones she would not want to try.

Also, it is good to note that if you sign up with the monthly new letter 

 you can get a 1/2 of tea FREE each month.  This is another great way to try teas and learn what you like. 

The staff is also so friendly and so helpful on telling you about the teas.  Letting you know about the caffeine level, the flavors, and other good tips about the tea.

After spending time at Ohio Tea we headed to Beachwood and went to Trader Joe's.  I so wish we had one closer than an hour.

We had so much fun we are planning to make this trip again!!!

I purchased some canisters and some tea.  They have a great price on canisters.  The tall skinny ones hold around 4 oz (give or take) for $3.50 and the big one for $5.00

Also if you let them know that you are buying the tea to put in a canister, they will not put the sticker on the bag of tea you buy, they will give you the sticker for the canister.  I also LOVE their tea pictures.

This outing was nice and fitting, since the day before I had to put my cat of almost 16 years down.  I loved my Shakespeare!  She was a fantastic car.  In honor of her I bought this cat mug.

I loved this new tea, Hazelnut Vanilla tea. 

 I made it the first time and added nothing and it was really good.  I made it a second time (using the same leaves) and I added milk and it was great.  I think the milk enhanced the flavor.

I also had a brownie with the tea - it had the spot!!!

Hope you get to try this tea!!  

I was also reminded how fun it is to be with friends, especially when going through a tough time.  Be kind to people.  Reach out to those around you.  I have been blown away by the support from people as I grieve the loss of my cat.  I know so many people get loosing a fur child. So, I thank those of you who reached out to me!