Top 5 Teavana Teas

Happy Leap Day, friends!
Since I've done a Top 5 Teas From David's Tea post it's only fair to do a Top 5 Teavana Teas post as well. Teavana is slightly more expensive than David's Tea and when you purchase tea you must buy at least 50 grams.

5. Maharaja Chai oolong tea has a low level of caffeine. This tea is the perfect blend of wonderful spices such as cinnamon, ginger, pepper and cloves. You don't need to add any sugar to it because it's sweet enough on it's own.

4. Moroccan Mint green tea has a medium level of caffeine with a wonderful taste of spearmint. I love mint teas and this is no exception. It's a great tea to start your day off in the morning.

3. Passion Tango herbal tea has no caffeine in it. If you love Passion Tea Lemonade at Starbucks then you will love this tea. It's refreshing and tastes delicious as well!

CocoCaramel Sea Salt is always a winner! 

2. Grape Wulong oolong tea has a medium level of caffeine. It's one of my current favourite drinks and is only available on the website in larger quantities. It's pretty finicky and needs to be made exactly right but when it is, it tastes amazing!!  It's also very good iced.

1. CocoCaramel Sea Salt herbal tea has a low level of caffeine. As the name states, there are notes of chocolate, caramel and sea salt that blend together to make such a wonderful flavour. I highly recommend this tea to everyone who asks!

Honourable mention: Teavana's Rock Sugar! It dissolves in hot water very well and brings out the flavours of the tea.

Keep calm and steep on!

Hit Me With Your Best Pot

Loose leaf tea is known for being higher quality tea that's fresh and flavourful. Did you know that the 4 main types of tea, white, green, black and oolong, all come from the same plant called Camellia sinensis, which is a warm- weather evergreen? These teas are different in taste based on the parts of the plant being used and the way the leaves have been processed.

Each type of tea has unique instructions for preparation. When buying loose leaf tea there will be a label on the product that states the optimal temperature of the water, amount of tea used per cup and the steeping time to ensure your tea turns out great.

An example of a tea label and an amazing Teavana tea 

I suggest you follow these guidelines if you are just starting to use loose leaf tea. Tea can turn out bitter, too weak or too strong if the instructions aren’t followed and can ruin your opinion of a wonderful tea. I can’t count how many times I have forgotten to take my tea infuser out in time and ruined my tea. Once you start to make it more often and know how strong you like certain teas, it gets easier. The Tea Association of Canada has come out with a general steeping chart for you to refer to if you are ever unsure of how to steep a type of tea.  

Steeping Instructions

Tea Type	Preparation
White	80°C / 185°F	(Steep 2-5 min)
Green	80°C / 185°F	(Steep 1-3 min)
Oolong	80°C / 185°F	(Steep 2-3 min)
Black	100°C / 212°F	(Steep 4 min)
Herbal	100°C / 212°F	(Steep 3-6 min)

For those of you without a programmable kettle, there are other ways of determining the temperature of the water. The Traditional Chinese method being the most extensive and comprehensive method. There are 5 different stages of boiled water which are: Shrimp Eyes, Crab Eyes, Fish Eyes, Rope of Pearls and Raging Torrent. Golden Moon Tea has an article with helpful pictures of each of the stages.