Drinking tea is nothing short of magic – it really goes back to some 3rd century AD when they used to drink teas as a medicine. It heals your gut as well as soul and there’s absolutely nothing in the world that can make you feel better this quickly. Just one sip & all’s good again.
Everyone in the UK is addicted to black tea with milk – which is by no means a bad choice, but drinking herbal and leaf teas just seems to give me a little more space for exploration as well as variation in taste. Do you have a favourite tea to drink in winter? When it’s freezing cold outside, I tend to incline to sweeter, slightly heavier tastes. I’ve picked 5 of my favourites which you need to try – they are blooming delicious!
5 beautiful winter teas
Black Dragon Pearls
This tea is pretty new to the hipster tea scene – that’s because the way it’s made is quite difficult as it’s hard to replicate its shape by a machine and each tiny dragon pearl needs to be rolled by hand. This particular tea originates from the Yunnan province of China (which is also the province where the oldest mentions of tea EVER come from). The taste is extra earthy and kind of chocolatey. It makes you feel warm and cosy and if you really need to, you can add a splash of milk & it will still taste bloody amazing.
It’s usually slightly more expensive but you only need about 3 pearls per cup!
Rooibos Nutcracker
You might not know this but rooibos is actually an African tea which grows on a bush in scorching heat. The tea itself tastes completely different from your regular leaf tea and even people who are not too keen on leaf teas enjoy drinking it. This particular rooibos tea is a blend with tiny apple pieces, cocoa nibs, marigold flowers, blue cornflowers and a few natural flavours such as chestnut. The taste is super light but sweet, so it’s perfect after a big Sunday dinner whilst watching your favourite film.
Honeybush Pumpkin Chai
Another African tea – this one comes from a huge plant with gorgeous golden blossoms. It’s called the honey bush and this tea is made from its tiny leaves. Just like rooibos it’s much lighter than your average leaf tea so it’s perfect when you’re feeling extra full after Christmas roast. This particular chai is a blend of honeybush tea, cinnamon bark, cardamom, ginger root, cocoa nibs & safflower with a hint of pumpkin. It’s naturally caffeine free so you can also devour it just before bed!
Jasmine Silver Needle
And we’re back to more standard teas! This one’s pretty special. Did you know that the way they make this tea is THIS dreamy?!
Jasmine teas are made in a two-step process. The silver need tea is a white tea, which is harvested in the spring, then carefully stored until the summer, when the jasmine starts to bloom at night. Each evening, they spread out the little tea leaves and layer them with fresh Jasmine blooms, which will open and give their scent to the tea. This is repeated for several nights until the tea is proper soaked in the jasmine scent. How beautiful!
This tea is airy but has quite a grounded after taste. It makes you feel super calm and relaxed. I would say it has very similar effects on me like a chamomile tea.
Turmeric Bliss
Finally, my most favourite tea in the world right now! I’ve only discovered this tea recently and I’m so in love with it. It’s a mix of turmeric, apple pieces, rose hips, cinnamon bark, ginger, orange, marigold flowers, mango pieces and black peppercorn. It’s not a real tea in the sense that it doesn’t have any tea leaves in it but it’s a beautiful infusion of herbs, fruit and spices. It’s like a fresh ginger tea but taken two notches up! And not only does it taste heavenly – it’s also good for sore throat and cranky digestive system after all the Christmas chocolate you’ve eaten.
Where to buy your favourite tea online?
Sometimes you can easily find a nice independent tea shop close to where you live, however they are not as popular as one would think. If you love exploring new tea flavours then I can definitely recommend popping over to Adagio Teas. They have a very comprehensive website with hundreds of gorgeous tea blends (you can find all my faves on there too!) and they offer “sampler” packs of various teas, which I think is perfect for someone who loves discovering new blends and learning about tea in general.
You can buy a sampler box (like this Christmas one which contains chestnut, gingerbread, candy apple and candy cane!) from as little as £6 which is a great value for such a high quality tea. They also give you an option to order your tea in a sample size (makes about 10 cups), 85g, 454g or even in silk tea bag pyramids for those lazy butts who can’t be bothered to deal with a tea strainer! All their teas are very reasonably priced, especially the pearls which can be very expensive in a high street stores – here you can find them for as little as £4.
Oh and if you’re asking where my fancy glass mug is from then it’s also from Adagio – mine also came with a strainer and a lid (this one).
? This post is not sponsored however I’d like to say a huge thank you to Adagio for sending me samples of some of my favourite teas as well as the gem that Turmeric Bliss is!