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Tea Tuesday: Willow & Everett Glass Teapot Infuser Warmer

April 26, 2016 · Leave a Comment

This is a functional yet attractive piece, it hold 40oz and comes with a warmer that looks like a zippered sweater for a teapot to keep the tea warm and to make it portable.

This is suitable for personal at-home use, at the office and attractive for entertaining as it has the capacity to serve tea to five or six guests. The pot is glass and the lid and built-in strainer components are a rust-free stainless steel. The design of the strainer fitting into a funnel-shaped holder keeps loose tea leaves out of the water and allows the loose tea leaves plenty of room to unfurl and brew. I like using this with some of my loose teas that have dried fruit pieces in them because it allows plenty of room for them to expand and infuse the tea with flavor.

The stainless steel portion of the lid and strainer and funnel-shaped strainer base can be easily removed, and the glass container itself can be microwaved to reheat the tea, but delicate tea such as whites, oolong, and some greens, it may be preferable to just keep it warm with the cozy so as not to make the tea bitter with a re-heating. It is also convenient to be able to easily remove the strainer after brewing delicate teas such as some whites that only brew for a minute or two.

The only issue I am concerned about is how fragile the glass is so I will be keeping the zippered warmer cozy on the teapot itself most of the time. Makes for a nice gift for a tea lover.

Find it at Amazon.com.

Willow & Everett Glass Teapot Infuser Warmer

I received this item for testing and review purposes.

Gear Ultimate Infused Water Pitcher

April 21, 2016 · 1 Comment

This is the second Gear Ultimate Infuser Iâ€™ve tried, the first being the Infused Water Bottle. The Gear Ultimate Infused Water Pitcher has many of the same excellent qualities as the bottle, in a larger 93oz size. If you are looking to drink more water for health or beauty purposes, then this is a great product for you.

First of all, the infuser is far better than other fruit infusers I have tried in the past. The infuser has small enough holes that seeds and leaves do not get into the water. It is a generous sized infuser in the pitcher, and a lot of fruit can go into the infuser, which is nice. It also allows for infusion â€œrecipesâ€ of ingredients: you can include more than one kind of fruit/vegetable/herb. I tried out Mint and Strawberry and the result was wonderful. No calories, no sugar or artificial sweeteners, and the water is so crisp and refreshing. The packaging comes with recipes that go beyond your standard one fruit infusion: adding something like strawberries or mint to the typical cucumber spa water really makes it enjoyable. I have a whole Pinterest board of spa waters, but the booklet had some mixtures that I hadnâ€™t seen before.

Once you have infused your water, you can take the infuser out and replace it with the freezable and reusable ice core to keep the liquid cold. This is great for outdoor gatherings or just keeping your beverage cold during the day. Itâ€™s great for keeping at your desk at work. I read an article recently that a top derm was saying that it takes two liters a day of water to hydrate your skin. This gives you a little extra, and may end up replacing some not great for you beverages like soft drinks or sugary drinks.

One thing I donâ€™t like is that the lid slips off easily when pouring, even when you hold it in place. I found this out the hard way. However, if you are mindful of that it isnâ€™t that big of a deal.

Gear Ultimate Water Infuser Pitcher

Gear Ultimate Infuser Water Bottle

April 21, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Iâ€™ve been on a bit of a hydration kick lately. This is due to the fact that I have been feeling a bit dehydrated lately (the fact that it is allergy season doesnâ€™t help), and a renewed fascination with spa waters. So for on the go and at the gym, I really like the Gear Ultimate Infuser Water Bottle.

It is made of BPA-free Tritan material, so no worries about chemicals leaking into your otherwise healthy water. The cap seals tightly so I donâ€™t have to worry about it leaking into my gym bag (I have had some disasters of the sort.)

The infuser is made of two parts: the generous sized infuser tube and a cap. The infuser cap allows you to pour the liquid out without the fruit getting loose. The holes in the infuser are relatively small but that is a good thing as it keeps seeds etc from getting into the water.

I decided to test it out with some strawberries we have in the house. I sliced each large berry into 4-6 pieces. I was surprised that it didnâ€™t take too many slices to fill the infuser â€“ maybe 1-2 berries worth. I then filled the bottle with tap water and put in the infuser.

This next part is important: be sure to shake the bottle a few times in order to get the full flavor to infuse into your water. Since you are using cold water, this isnâ€™t steeping the fruit like a tea in hot water. So the infusion needs a little movement to mix.

Since I planned on using it during the day, I left it in the refrigerator overnight. When I tasted the water this morning I was amazed: it was incredibly sweet. You would never guess that this was not artificially sweetened, just fruit sweetened. I drank it and then refilled it. Obviously the second batch wasnâ€™t as flavored, but it was still a good, crisp taste. In the future I will probably bring along some extra fruit during the day to make extra infusions and keep my hydration momentum going.

The package comes with a little booklet that gives some ideas for infusion recipes, which I found interesting. The spa water staple, cucumber, can be made more interesting by adding strawberries or mint. Iâ€™m looking forward to trying some different fruit mixes.

The pieces all wash out clean and donâ€™t retain taste, which is impressive since I infused it overnight.

Iâ€™m really excited to find a travel fruit infuser bottle that keeps the fruit and seeds out of the water and makes such tasty water!

Gear Ultimate Infuser Water Bottle

Tea Tuesday: Vahdam Premium Green Tea Chai

April 20, 2016 · Leave a Comment

I am thrilled to say that I have finally found a Chai green tea that is the proper balance of tastes. I have spent years trying to find a tea that has the wonderful spice of Chai, and the health properties of green tea.

The closest I came before was a White Chai Tea, but I could never find a green that I liked until I tried Vadham Premium Green Tea Chai. I like fresh loose leaf green tea, and any chai varieties I tried always ended up a weird blend of a vegetal taste with a vague cinnamon top note. Not a great combination.

Vadham’s Green Chai gets it right, though. The green tea is sweet, not vegetal at all. The Chai spices (cinnamon, cardamom, clove, Black Pepper) blend beautifully to create a delicately spicy brew. I really enjoy that it can be re-brewed a couple of times before it loses potency, so my brewing travel tumbler can just be refilled with hot water through the morning before I have to change out leaves,

What is also wonderful about this tea is that it is truly a full-leaf green tea. Standard green tea bags only contain remaindered dust of green tea, not the true leaf. By brewing the full leaf, you will get so many more of the health benefits of green tea: anti-oxidants, EGCG, etc. This particular tea has even more anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties since it is a chai tea, and the spices in chai teas are anti-inflammatory in nature. So in addition to tasting amazing, it is really good for you as well!

While green tea is much lower in caffeine than coffee or black tea, it still does contain some caffeine if you are sensitive. But that is true of all green tea (there are some decaf versions out there, but those are more processed than the original leaf, so it is a balance.)

The packaging is also wonderful. To maintain freshness, each batch is packaged quickly. There is an expiration date to assure that you are using fresh tea, and the package seals tightly. There are step by step instructions on how to brew the tea, so if you are new to green tea, you will find it easy to brew!

As a side note on the instructions, it is recommended to brew the tea at a temperature of 194-212 degrees. Usually green tea gets brewed at lower than the boiling point. I tried both boiling and at about 192 degrees, and found the lower temperature produced a better taste.

I am truly thrilled to have found an excellent Green Chai after all these years!

Vahdam Premium Green Tea Chai