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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.

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

Tea Tuesday: VidaKai Loose Tea and Fruit Infuser Bottle

April 12, 2016 · Leave a Comment

I have a lot of infuser bottles that I quickly disappoint me. The mesh infuser allows loose leaf tea into the water, the bottle leaks, or it is awkward to drink from. But my Infuser Bottle Prince has come with the VidaKai Loose Tea and Fruit Infuser Bottle.

First off: I haven’t tried it with fruit, but the infuser size is much better suited for tea, I think. It is a generously sized infuser, but I don’t think one could get too much fruit in there, and there are better bottles out there for infusing fruit waters. But it is absolutely perfect for allowing full leaf teas to unfurl and brew.

The infuser doesn’t let a single speck of tea into the brew. I tried it with a green chai tea. Chai teas typically have ingredients in the spices that are prone for getting loose, but the mesh keeps them all in without compromising the taste. It quickly brewed a wonderfully full and robust tea without any metallic taste, as happens with some infusers.

The bottle itself is made of BPA-free Tritan Plastic. It really feels and looks like glass. It is certified to withstand 225 degree heat and it comes with a nice looking sleeve so carrying it is no problem. It also retains heat beautifully: it stays hot through my morning commute.

I really enjoy being able to brew tea in the morning and bring it with me. To make the morning easier, I fill the infuser the night before with tea and then just add water in the morning. Since the cap locks air-tight, the tea doesn’t oxidize at all. Then in the morning I just add hot water and let in brew as I head out the door. Since it has a reasonably large sized infuser, I can re-brew the same leaves a few times before having to change them out. Cleaning it is no problem: both the bottle and the infuser clean quickly and don’t leave a lingering taste of the last brew of tea, so I can go from a rich black tea to a subtle white tea with ease. I have been hand-washing it, but it is indeed dishwasher safe.

The aesthetics of this bottle are really impressive. I said to my sister that it is kind of like if Ralph Lauren make a tea infuser. In addition to the Tritan plastic looking like glass, it has a brown loop strap that really looks like leather, and it makes carrying the bottle incredibly easy.

I really am thrilled with this infuser bottle. It is durable, brews well, and is gorgeous.

Find it at

VidaKai Tea Infuser Bottle Components

VidaKai Tea Infuser Bottle Components with Brewed Green Chai Tea

Tea Tuesday: Collect Teables Shakespearmint and AgathaChristea

April 5, 2016 · Leave a Comment

It is Tea Tuesday here at StyleChicks. I am a big tea fan, and always love to try new flavors and brands. I also find that tea is pretty popular and can often make a nice gift for either gender. I especially like when a tea gift can be combined with something else the gift recipient might love, such as music, literature, or art. So I was excited to see the themed series Collect Teables The Tea Book.

Aprilâ€™s theme is perfect for a tea loving bibliophile and makes a nice housewarming gift or for other occasions that your pithy bookworm friends would enjoy as a tasty treat while reading their favorite books. This line of CollectTeables teas are styled and named after famous literary authors, playing on alliterations of their pen names or actual names to entitle their teas. Each bag comes with illustrations of the author and a nod towards thematic elements from their most famous works depicted on Artistically Drawn Foils. And, for the especially clever, hidden references to their works are also seen in the images. Can you find them in the photo below?

I tried the two currently featured authors: AgathaChrisTEA and William ShakeSpearmint (see what they did there?) The beloved crime novel writer Agatha Christie/ChrisTEA is Earl Grey, and Shakespeare/ShakeSPEARMINT is, of course, a mint tea.

Every month a new themed series of Collect Teables will be released. They will include musicians, philosophers, politicians, or animals.

Haven’t heard of Collect Teables or theteabook.com? That’s because they are new, very new in fact. As in starting April 3rd and for a limited run kind of new. They are a new startup that is making some traction with their Kickstarter.

Check out the website at http://www.theteabook.com/collectteables/ and see their Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theteabook/the-teabook-the-smart-way-to-store-share-and-serve

Nice-to-know features:

The TeaBook and Collect Teables are zero waste companies. All Collect Teables are shipped box-less to reduce waste in shipping and packaging. (quoted from the Tea Book website).
All Collect Teables teas are Certified Organic by OCTO, and Certified Kosher by KSA.

I tried out both and think the Agatha Chris TEA makes for a fun inclusion to serve at a book party or mystery dinner themed night, they can help make for an easy decorating theme and conversation piece, as seen in the photo below.

Find these lovely teas at http://www.collectteables.com.

CollectTeables Agatha ChrisTeas

Collect Teables Shakespearmint Tea