Tea Talk

Father’s Day is always celebrated on the third Sunday in June. This year it falls on June 19th. Do you know why it’s always celebrated on the third Sunday in June? Well, here’s a bit of the history of Father’s Day. The first Father’s Day was celebrated in Washington state on June 19th, 1910. A Spokane, Washington, woman named Sonora Smart Dodd, one of six children raised by her widowed father, established the holiday to honor Fathers. It was instantly successful and was celebrated yearly after that. It wasn’t until President Richard Nixon signed Father’s Day into law in 1972...

The name of this tea says it all. If you want your dessert but don’t want to pay the price for calories, this tea is your go-to. It tastes just like chocolate cake but without any guilt. Honeybush Chocolate Cake is a naturally sweet, caffeine-free tea from South Africa, as are its counterparts, Organic Honeybush Vanilla and Honeybush Peach. These wild growing plants thrive exclusively on mountain ranges in the Longkloof District and were discovered in the 18th century. Honeybush had a resurgence in the 1990s and has since grown worldwide in popularity. This delicious chocolatey blend is perfect for...

I'm excited to announce that I have 6 new teas joining Uptown Tea Shop. I'll be talking about each of them individually and sharing what makes them stand out from the pack in future newsletters. The teas are a collection of caffeinated, decaffeinated, and naturally caffeine-free teas; I'm sure there's something new for everyone. I get many requests for more herbal and non-caffeinated teas, so my tasting team and I have been doing lots of sample tasting to pick the healthiest and best flavors to offer. I know it's a tough job, but someone has to do it, and we're...

As the weather heats up, I like to enjoy Green Tea and White Tea over ice. These teas are deceptively simple, refreshing, and have a wonderful flavor. My favorite method of making iced tea with green and white teas is a cold brew. This entails no hot water. You simply add the correct amount of tea to your container or glass, add the coldest water possible, and pop it in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. If you don't want to wait, like me, this method is for you. It is fast. Cold brewing gives excellent flavors with no bitterness. Another...

One of the most common questions I get this time of year is what’s my favorite iced tea and how do I make it. I will tell you I’m a huge iced peach tea fan. I carry three black peach teas, Peach Perfection, Peach Mojito, and Decaf Peach Black, plus two white teas, Peachy Keen and Organic Ginger Peach and a green tea called Peachy Apricot. I also enjoy fruit teas in general, like Magic Moon, Pomegranate Black, Mango Passion Black, and Iced Cherry Black, to name a few in the black tea category. Other green teas like Pomegranate Blueberry,...