Why the experience of your customer is so important

If you’ve ever ordered from my shop, you probably got a little treat for free in your package. I’ve talked to many business owners and ordered from many places. Some people practice this and some don’t. I decided when I started my business that this would be a regular practice.

When I order from a shop, It’s not just the anticipation of what I’ve bought but how it arrives to me. I’ve been disappointed so many times when I ordered something and the shop just throws it in a box or bag and sent it my way.

The fact is that the customer service doesn’t stop once you put an order in the mail. Something that I always wanted to be part of the Tea Thoughts brand is the opening experience. I want someone who has spent their hard earned money in my shop to feel truly special when they receive their order.

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Budgeting for these freebies is much easier when I plan them around Sticker Mule’s weekly deals that give a great discount on their products. They are constantly coming out with new products like the holographic stickers and keychains and I can’t wait to see what they bring out next!

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Genmaicha Rice Vs. Sencha Rice

If you aren’t following Tea Curious on instagram, you need to! She encourages experimenting with your tea instead of just accepting what people say about tea. She often tests ways of brewing, tasting etc! She recently had a challenge to drink down your green tea collection and guess what, I really needed to participate.

I started out with having some of my old, but surprisingly still good matcha every morning until that was finished and then I turned to my cabinet where I have a few green teas. I’ll be honest, while I don’t dislike green teas they aren’t what I reach for first so they often fall by the wayside. I actually really enjoy cold brewing green tea and drinking it out of a fancy glass with my dinner :)

Since today was the last day, I decided to help drink down my stash by experimenting with cooking! I was set on cooking rice in tea because I love doing that :) I’ve done it a few times and you can find those recipes here:

Gyokuro Rice

Matcha Rice

Oolong Rice

Tamago Kake Gohan - gyokuro

Long Jing Quinoa

In this post, I will talk more about the teas as opposed to the cooking method, so if you’re interested in that make sure to check out the linked posts.

Let’s meet the teas: Genmaicha and Sencha.

Both of these teas are actually fairly fresh. The genmaicha is from ippodo tea that I was given to photograph for one of my birthday giveaways! The sencha is a gift that my cousin brought me from his recent trip to Japan. I’m almost 100% certain it is sencha after asking some friends who know Japanese and also comparing it to my other green teas.

Now, I broke several rules of here for the sake of the experiment. I’ve cooked with tea many times and there is a balance between bitterness and all the flavor cooking off. I decided to cold brew the tea with 3 tablespoons of tea to make sure I got a potent brew since I would be using the brew as the water for the rice. I know this sounds like a lot but I need it to be potent so that it isn’t all cooked off which can happen.

So, at first glance the Sencha (on the right) is way darker in color and looks like it will give more of that flavor into the rice. This is the first interesting part of the experiment because this also speaks to when brewing this tea. Both of these brews had the same amount of tea and water and cold crewed for about 10 hours. I didn’t open the leaves up with warm water first, I just filled with vessels with cold water. I cooked each 1/2 cup of rice with one cup of the brewed tea.

At this point, I also kind of knew which rice I would like better. But, let’s continue!

When I cooked the rice, I also put a little less than a tablespoon of the leaves into the dry rice. It may seem like overkill, but I wanted to see which tea would hold up best to the environment.

After cooking, there was a large difference in how green the two rices turned out. You may be able to guess based on the darkness of the brews above.

Since I used tea in the rice as well, the sencha was a little bit more potent in terms of turning the rice color.

So after taking a few bites of each, here is what I thought. Genmaicha was the winner! If we talk about the flavor of green tea, the sencha rice is definitely more overpowering but it is present for the genmaicha but in a more pleasing way.

The sencha was strong but also a bit bitter. I would still totally eat this whole bowl and pairing it with either an egg or veggies and meat will be delicious. But on it’s own, it was just a bit too bitter and it seemed like the leaves kind of fell flat in the cooking process. The one thing that this rice did hold over the genmaicha is that the leaves incorporated better into the rice and it was a bit easier to eat.

The genmaicha rice was my favorite for a few reasons. First, I thing the brew was an nice, even flavor that really shows up in the rice. I think the genmaicha is much better quality tea than the sencha. The genmaicha flavor shows up in the rice but it is also mellow enough to let you enjoy the flavor of the rice as well. I think this would pair well with something a bit heavier. The one downside to the genmaicha was that the larger leaves and rice made it a bit more difficult to eat incorporated as there were some chewier aspects to it.

Tea.L - Tea Infused Skincare

I love drinking tea but I also love to try all the various tea infused products out there! Sometimes those products are a yummy snack and one of my other favorites is testing out tea infused skincare. If you look at all my facemasks and lotions you will notice that most of them have tea somewhere on the packaging. I was really excited to discover Tea.L which is a tea infused skincare company. There are a few things that set them apart from most of the skincare I’ve tried right off the bat before even trying their product.

1. They actually tell you what teas they use in their products. So many products will just say green tea but Tea.L takes it a step further and lets you know that they use dragonwell. They also use yerba mate and rooibos! This stuck out to me as more genuine and that I would get more benefits from the tea in their skincare.

2. They tell you that their products are 99% natural. So many brands will say they are 100% natural when it just isn’t true. Again, Tea.L shows their transparency in their product. The 1% that isn’t “natural” is a safe product but they differentiate this which I appreciate !

Now, the actual products! If you’d like to watch an unboxing, you can check out my IG TV video here

Tea.L sent me a box showcasing their three products: an eye cream, face cream and body lotion. The eye cream combines green tea + yerba Mate. The face cream combines green tea + guayusa. The body lotion uses green tea + rooibos.

Right off the bat, I really enjoyed the dispensing method for these three products. The eye cream has an easy to dispense pump as opposed to having to stick my finger in a tube or squeeze a tube. The body and face lotion also have a pump mechanism as well which is really cool and I thought made it easy to not get too much out at once.

The other immediate thing I noticed was the smell. There is no artificial fragrance used in these items so they actually smell like tea which I really enjoy! The one with the strongest smell to me is the body lotion. The first time I put it on, my partner told me I smell like bubble tea, I agree with him that it was such a nice smell.

The face cream is nice and goes on well although I will admit I’ve used this one the least of the 3 as I have been testing out different skin care regiments. The smell of the face cream isn’t overpowering and I didn’t notice any reactions to my skin. The body lotion, which I’m almost out of is one I’ve used a lot. In the winter time, my skin definitely need some TEALC (hehe) and this lotion does the job. As mentioned above it has a nice smell and it goes on really well. I don’t have to rub it in a ton and I feel like it kept my skin moisturized for most of the day!

My favorite of the three products is definitely the eye cream. In the past few years as I’ve started my business, many nights with little sleep make eye care key! Their eye cream is a pretty thick consistency which to me make it absorb well into my skin and actually feel like it’s giving me some sort of coverage or layer of moisture! This is a thick cream so there is some rubbing in to do but I think that contributes to the feeling that I’m getting some coverage under my eyes without using any makeup. The skin under my eyes is a bit thinner so I appreciate this in an eye cream!

I’ve really enjoyed using these and look forward to purchasing more when I run out! I think it’s important to also share the people behind this great experience so I’ve asked the duo behind Tea.L some questions. Read their answers below to get a little more insight on them and their products!

Tell me a little bit about who is behind Tea.L

TEA.L was founded by husband and husband Zhao and Ron, who enjoy long walks at night and drink tea religiously. Ron used to work for a Canadian tea company called David’s Tea and Zhao came from a Chinese family with a 3-generation tea-drinking tradition. We don’t mind drinking from a tea bag when in a pinch but we always appreciated loose leaf tea in an infuser knowing their names and origin, and we want to maintain the authenticity throughout our self-care routine. The ideation process was driven by Zhao and Ron, but TEA.L was made reality thanks to a group of diverse individuals who brought in their unique perspectives: LGBT, millennial immigrants, ethnic minority, and women. And we hope that translates to our products where we stay simple by eliminating any assumptions about who should use our products, and we’d love to hear from you on how we are doing on that.

What was the inspiration to start a skincare line?

When we tried to incorporate tea in our skincare routine, we were very disappointed to find out that nothing on the market with tea claims approached tea with the authenticity a tea lover would expect. Everybody seems to be hiding behind ‘tea extracts’ and ‘fragrance’. We found ourselves asking, why can’t we treat tea in skincare as who they are when we drink them? That was really the genesis of TEA.L, if we can’t find one, let’s create our own! As we started our R&D process, we learned that each tea has its unique profile when it comes skincare benefits, just like their profile of color, texture, aroma and taste. Who knows rooibos and yerba mate each contains polyphenols not found in green tea? And this further reinforced our belief that all the tea lovers, regardless of where they are in their tea journey, they deserve to enjoy tea on their skin with the same authenticity in their drinks.

How did you choose the teas that make up your products?

We did the intuitive thing which is diving into our root as tea lovers. Ronald worked for a major Canadian tea brand for years when the loose-leaf tea movement just started to take hold in the US consumer market. Zhao came from a Chinese family with tea drinking habits that lasted for 3 generations (one of the things he packed with him when he moved to the US was a jar of his family’s favorite dragonwell). We have our favorite teas to drink but we knew from early on that we need to put in the hard work and expand our knowledge in understanding how these teas can benefit our skin.So,we spent 2 months digging into academic papers on dermatology and cosmeceuticals to learn everything there was about studies on tea’s effect on skin(with some help from friends in the skincare industry). And we lined up about 8 tea candidates including 3 green tea varietals (Gyokuro, Dragonwell and Sencha) based on our research. The next 6 months was endless trial and err on the other ingredients (oils, butters and extracts) and the infusion process. We had friends and families who volunteered to test our early prototypes, so we were very fortunate to have their feedback to improve on. The biggest challenge was to retain the scent of the tea while maximizing the effectiveness of the antioxidants. 8 months later, we finalized the teas and tisanes that are currently in our product: dragonwell, rooibos, guayusa and yerba mate

What do you think sets your products apart from other tea infused or based skin care products?

The fact that we are a tea-first skincare brand who uses organic loose-leaf tea and tisanes with minimal processing and maximum preservation in our products. And this is driven by our vision to bring tangible value to our customers’ self-care routine, whether they are looking for more ways to benefit from tea or introducing tea as a new element in promoting a youthful look. There’s so much hype and so many new trends out there in skincare, and we aspire to help our customers create authentic self-care rituals that actually work for themselves.

What do you see in the future for Tea.L?

We hope that TEA.L will lead another wave of tea awakening for its role in skincare, just like how loose- leaf tea did with drinking tea. We believe this can be achieved when we connect with the tea lover community through their skincare routines and refresh the definition of tea in people’s lives.

What is your everyday tea and what tea do you want to drink more of in 2020?

Zhao’s everyday is dragonwell from family influence, it is just perfect in every way for him. Ron’s go-to is gyokuro steeped at 95 degrees for 2-3 mins, that way he gets more of the sweet flavor and less of the stringency. We do share rooibos together after dinner to aid digestion and just relax. We both want to drink more Oolong in 2020, as it is actually often overlooked, especially from certain region like Taiwan. We love how it sits between the green side to black side, and that it is versatile. It can be steeped multiple times and we get varied flavor profiles from every steeping. Specifically, we loved this Ginseng Oolong tea from David’s Tea but unfortunately it was discontinued a few years back, they are these tightly winded Oolong tea coated with Ginseng powder, would like to find them again.

Besides skincare, what are your other favorite ways to engage in self care?

Our recent favorite is to improve our sleep hygiene for better quality sleep. Sleep hygiene are the 12 good practices to aid deeper sleep and make you feel energized after you wake up. Among these practices, we are making an effort to get up at the same time each day regardless of the day to keep the biologic block set or entrained, and get off our devices at least an hour before bedtime. So far it’s been working wonders. It is something anyone can try so we highly recommend them.

Meet Nazanin - Answering Your Questions!

Every once in a while I like to do introduction posts on Instagram but I find myself sharing the same type of information so to shake things up I decided to let you all ask questions ! I got a bunch of great questions and I’m sharing the answers to them below. I’ve also included some silly photos that I took in my living room :)

If you missed out on it this time I will probably do this every month so you can wait until then or comment with your question and I will keep it for the next post!

Cupofmoregano: what was the first tea you fell in love with?

I’ll have to take you back to little Nazanin! I’ve been drinking tea ever since I can remember, it was something that I had with breakfast every morning and it was always a strong cup of ceylon that was sweetened a little. The ceylon I drink is tossed in bergamot oil but it really differs from your normal earl grey. I’m not sure what is is exactly but it’s a tea I don’t think I could ever part with !

j.m. Olivera: Any suggestion for tea cakes or sweets? What’s you POV on such?

Even though I grew up sweetening my tea and still add honey to my morning strong black tea like I did as a kid I always suggest trying a tea without anything. Pairing tea with sweets is always fun but I think once you really see what the tea has to offer you can find a better match for your tea. I find that chocolate of different varieties goes well with a lot of teas. I think my favorite pairing is a dark chocolate with either a roasted oolong or pu’er! Now, if you’re talking about putting tea INTO sweets I’m all for that and have a bunch of recipes you can see here!

Bluejeans_and_ leather: What have you noticed taste wise that separates an okay black tea from a great black tea.

I grew up drinking mostly one type of black tea, ceylon. It has a very particular flavor that is commonly associated with other types of tea that have either ceylong or assam like english and irish breakfast. For these I usually go with whatever has a nicer scent and I usually end up liking the flavor better. But if we’re talking about chinese black teas, that’s a whole new ball game. I found that in those black teas the ones that set themselves apart were those that had a dancing flavor. When I think of a dancing flavor I mean when we think of a darker tea we think heavy and strong but some of the most delicious black teas I’ve had are light and “dance” on your tongue! Instead of heavy they are refreshing!

Noelledrinkstea: favorite black tea, flavored tea & green tea

These are tough! I don’t really drink a lot of flavored tea so it would either have to be my everyday ceylon tea that is tossed with bergamot oil or a good masala chai blend! Favorite black tea is one I discovered recently from Old Ways Tea, it’s called wild style and it was one of the most refreshing black teas I’ve ever tried! It will definitely be featured in a future Tea Thoughts project :) I’ll be honest I don’t drink a ton of green tea, I drink mainly oolongs, pu’er and white teas BUT I have a soft spot for a few green teas including: hojicha, matcha and genmaicha!

Teabooksart: who or what got you into gong fu cha style tea?

The answer to this would be a what! Sticky rice pu’er. Back when I was receiving a lot of tea to review for my blog and still transitioning to recipes I was sent some sticky rice pu’er. At this point I really only had blends and a few high quality plain teas. I love rice and eat it almost every night so just taking one whiff of the sticky rice pu’er and I was in love. I’d never brewed a tuocha before so I looked up how to brew it. I saw gaiwan and gongfu were mentioned. I didn’t really know anything about it but I had seen other bloggers talk about it so naturally I went down a youtube rabbit hole of watching people brew! I was hooked! I brew gongfu style almost everyday. It first started out as an adventurous new thing I discovered but it’s become a beloved part of my daily ritual that keeps me grounded and grateful.

All.hail.amy: which tea did you have to learn to appreciate

Raw pu’er! I used to not like it because I either was drinking not great ones or ones that I wasn’t brewing correctly so the taste wasn’t something I went for. Last year I started tasting them again now I’m hooked! I did need to give it another chance before I truly appreciated it! I would also put most green teas into this category because I used to not drink any since I didn’t like the flavor but as I’ve become a better brewer I can find delicious notes in green teas when I couldn’t before.

Daniellegeva: When’s the last time a tea surprised you?

Not to sound corny but I feel like I’m always surprised by a new tea. I have a wide variety of tastes so I don’t often come across a tea that I don’t like but it’s still always nice to taste something and be like OH WOW!!! I think to give you a specific answer though, I recently have been drinking more white teas and I got one from denong tea. It’s funny because it kind of smells the same way the pu’er from that same shop but when I tasted it, it was like an explosion of sweet and floral flavors I didn’t expect!

Teaaholic: what’s one of the biggest things you learned about tea since starting Tea Thoughts?

I think the biggest thing I’ve learned about tea is that it is humbling. It’s humbling in many ways including how much there is to learn about tea. It’s humbling in a way to see what an incredible process it goes through to get into your cup. It’s humbling that such a simple leaf can have an enormous impact on our everyday lives- helping producers and shops make a living, helping drinkers feel good, helping us all learn to appreciate the smaller things in life that hold great value.

Tea House Birthday Celebration

It’s no secret that I love where I live! I love Maryland and living right outside the Nation’s Capital is pretty awesome. BUT, I am sad that there isn’t really a tea culture here. If you want bubble tea, I could point you to endless places. When it comes to gongfu, there is only ONE place that I know of that allows for this type of brewing and it’s nestled in beautiful Georgetown!

While Georgetown isn’t the easiest place to get to, it is totally worth the trek. Georgetown is home to Ching Ching Cha, a Chinese tea house! A little bit about the name, cha means tea. Ching Ching was a bit harder to find a meaning. I found in two different places describe this as celebratory and maybe even equivalent to saying “cheers” which makes total sense!

I had no idea this place existed and for my birthday in 2019, my family surprised me with a visit here. I was stunned. Everything I wished we had in our area, we actually had! Of course when they asked what I wanted to do for my birthday this year I expressed interest in going back to Ching Ching Cha.

The tea house is small, intimate and has a beautiful design. The first thing I notice when walking in is the high ceilings with glass for natural light. The walls are lined with tea, teaware and art.

You have the choice of sitting on a platform at a low table with cushions and shoes off which I love! You also have the option of sitting a table with chairs.

The cool thing about this place is that when you order a tea, they bring you a tray, teapot and pitcher just as I would do at home. Water is boiled over a flame in the middle of the table so you can continually brew your tea.

Ching Ching Cha has a good variety of teas ranging from puer, green, oolong, black, white, tisanes, artisan (blooming teas), and herbal remedies!

I have been here quite a few times and have only tried their oolongs so I decided to branch out and give their pu’er a try. I got an incredibly woodsy shou that was strong and delicious!

My sister had the phoenix oolong which is one that I love and have bought from them and my mom had the oriental beauty. Their oriental beauty tea is phenomenal, my mom and I both bought some to take home.

Did I mention that they also serve food? We got a variety of food but I really enjoyed their cold salad on the right below and their dumplings on the left below. I’ve tried just about everything on the menu and from their salmon to marbled tea eggs, it is all a delightful treat!

We also got some dessert! The sweet on the left is lotus seed in puff pastry! For Persian new year we also put lotus paste on our table so I am familiar and fond of this taste. Both of these are right out of the oven, hot and delicious! Now, the coconut tart on the right stole the show. This tart is one of the most delicious sweets I’ve ever had. My mouth waters as I write this! The coconut comes through very well and It also reminded me of a cream of wheat dessert we get at our local Burmese restaurant so maybe there was some of that in it as well!

The experience was so wonderful as always. The atmosphere is calming, the food is delicious and I get the opportunity to nerd out about tea. I also have been able to introduce my family more into the world of teas they are unfamiliar with. It’s exciting to see them enjoy teas that they wouldn’t never think to drink!

The staff is so kind and informative when showing you how to brew so it’s a great place for anyone from beginner to expert!

Last but not least, they have a ton of teaware to grab your interest which is always a fun way to end a visit to them.

If you’re in a DC, this is a must visit! If you’re interested in ordering tea from them, I highly suggest the oriental beauty or the phoenix oolong which I have tried and bought for myself because I enjoyed it so much!

See you next time, Ching Ching Cha!

Gong Fu Cha Tea Practice for Better Mental Health

Before I get into this post, I want to preface it by saying that I am not a health care professional and the opinions expressed here are based off of my own experience. I think it’s important to mention this for obvious reasons but also because there are so many bogus health claims around tea and I want to set myself apart from those. This is a case for Gong Fu Cha improving mental health in a general sense.

If you aren’t familiar with Gong Fu Cha, I’ve seen it translated in a few different ways such as “tea with effort” or “tea with great skill”

Effort? Aw man, I thought this was going to be an easy way to improve mental health!

If you look into this tea practice, there are lots of different ideas about it’s history and how it should be done. I think from an outside perspective or someone who hasn’t done it before it can look intimidating. I promise you that once I break down some of the essentials, you’ll see that the practice is really something that you make your own. In my opinion, you should brew tea how you wish and if it tastes good to you then you’re doing it right!

Before I knew what this practice was all about, I went to YouTube to find out the basics. I fell down a rabbit hole of brewing videos of people practicing gong fu cha. I was intimidated but intrigued. I did notice that every video I watched was different. People use different tools, set up their table differently and brew differently. I’ve come to realize that there aren’t many hard and fast rules but some guidelines to help.

Here are some of the very basics of gong fu cha:

Tea

Generally speaking, when using the gong fu cha brewing method, it’s for a specialty tea. This is a type of tea that is higher quality with more depth in the flavor profile and the ability to be brewed many times and keep it’s quality.

Set Up and tools

This also varies but usually you will find a tea table or tray where you can pour tea waste or washing. In terms of tools, the brewing vessels are much smaller than the traditional western style pots.

When I brew tea gong fu cha, I am usually brewing tea for myself but it is also possible to brew for several people. The teas that I brew go in a gaiwan or small tea pot and are brewed many times. I’ve brewed some of my favorite teas 10 or more times! This style provides different flavors for each brew and generally speaking as opposed to western brewing.

So what does this have to do with mental health?

For me, increased mindfulness means better mental health. Here’s why. We are busy bodies. We want to hustle, work hard and achieve greatness. I am one of these busy bodies and often, everything that we’re doing and have to do are overwhelming. We’re moving so fast and continually picking things up along the way that it feels impossible to slow down.

I’ve always thought of tea time in general as my slow down time. Even if I make a quick cup in the morning, I have to slow down to do so and the enjoyment I feel when I slowly take those sips calms me down. The reason I’m advocating for Gong fu cha is because you can’t just take a minute or two. You need to carve out some time to prep, brew and enjoy. It’s a ritual that once you make the time, it can be your everyday time to ground yourself.

I think that too many people advocate for clearing your mind all the time. While prepping your tea can help you focus on the tea as opposed to other things, but the larger benefit is allowing you to acknowledge your stress or troubles while you sip your tea. As you taste your tea, you can organize your thoughts. you can see what is worth moving to the top of your list and what isn’t. You can say, sure there is this thought that is negative but I see it and It doesn’t doesn’t own or define me.

In addition to facing your thoughts, it helps increase mindfulness in the moment and with practice it will help with this overall. When you slow down to prep your cup, it’s easy to practice listening to the sounds around you and noticing details. When you’re moving fast, it’s easy to take all the sounds for granted. When you slow down to listen a little you start to see how vast our world really is.

Once you make time for this ritual often, what you’re doing is prioritizing taking a break. You’re taking time to care for yourself and you’re taking time to try some delicious tea! These are all called practices because you may not get it all on the first try!

I have a short guide about this called meTEAtation in my shop but I wanted to share some tips here too for mindfulness when drinking tea

-Enjoy every moment of this time. Look at your tea packaging, read about your tea, inspect your tea, smell your tea!

-When brewing, play around! I sometimes like to see how high I can pour the water from the kettle before making a mess!

-When brewing, take in all the smells. Smell the leaves dry and wet, smell the lid of your brewing vessel and inside it as well! All these things add to the experience

-Take note of the transformation of your tea. Especially if you have tightly rolled oolongs, tea cakes or any compressed tea - the transformation after brewing is beautiful.

In conclusion, the case for Gong Fu Cha for mental health centers around the time you take to slow down and enjoy little actions, reactions, sounds, details and smells.

I’m going to list some resources below. I’ve included two of my favorite places to buy teaware and tea in addition to some amazon recommendations as some people prefer that.

1) Tea and Teaware: Bitterleaf Teas (they’re having a sale right now!!)

2) Tea: White2Tea

3) Amazon

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How I fell In love with tea

I want to take this journey back to the 90’s and my childhood. My love of tea started here. Noon panir and chayee shirin for breakfast - Persian bread and cheese with sweet tea. I’ve always been anti tea bag, my dad used to tell me that tea bags were the dregs of tea and that loose leaf was the only way to go!

We generally drank different black teas, mostly ceylon. The tea that strikes such fond memories and the one I still drink to this day is a loose leaf ceylon that is tossed with bergamot oil. While many people call this “earl grey” I guarantee you it’s a bit different. I’ve also had many versions of ceylon that are essentially blends. Some people put things like rose buds, cardamom and even saffron in their tea!

While these were the only things that I drank, I thought I was a tea expert. In reality I actually only knew about black tea and really, the black tea that I drank.

As I grew older, tea became more routine. As a kid, I drank it often but it wasn’t something I craved. High school definitely set off something in me. I drank tea like it was my job. It was a delicious thing in my daily routine and also something that I got to share with my mom and dad.

My parents divorced when I was younger and in High School I spent more time at my mom’s house. We drank tea together a lot. Once I started to make the tea “right” it became my job. She lovingly referred to me as kolfateh chayee - tea butler. The nickname became a family wide joke that is still used. My mom was especially sad when I moved out because she was losing her kolfateh chayee. My younger siblings tea making skills are not up to snuff !

Fast forward to college, in my dorm room you could always find grits, fruity pebbles, my electric tea kettle, mug, ceylon and a tea infuser. I drank tea all day and night. It was always something I was known for. I was a “tea” person as opposed to coffee like most everyone else. To me, tea was just a normal part of my routine. Still, I only drank my ceylon and railed against green teas because they were bitter. In reality, I just didn’t know how to brew it.

I always had a passion to start my own blog and shop but didn’t know what to do. I have so many passions but I always thought that nobody would care what I would have to say or buy what I create. After college and starting my current job (several years ago), I felt stuck. While I liked my job generally, I didn’t have the artistic creation that I so badly needed.

I decided that I would focus on tea and started a blog where I reviewed different teas. I really didn’t know much about tea other than what I drank! So I started trying teas I would find or that companies would send me. A lot of the time, these teas were different blends. Then, I was gifted a tea book where I started to read about the history of tea, how it’s brewed, the cultivars etc!

After “reviewing” blends for a while I decided to switch to cooking and baking with tea because I felt more excited about that and that I know more about it than trying to review teas. My taste for blends started to falter (except my ceylon) and I tried pu’er for the first time. The rest is history!!!

So, thanks to the lovely ceylon leaves my heart was primed for tea and that love has only grown more and more daily!

I wanted to share two things that you can find online. The candy above which is a delicious saffron candy with cardamom seeds in it can be found here. These are a great sweet with tea if that’s your thing and was also a cure all for stomach aches :)

The cheese I mentioned you can find here. If you’re weary about buying cheese online, take the brand name to your local international supermarket and see if they have it!

Finally, if you want to try the tea that started it all you can find it here.

What tea started your tea journey?!

If I had $1000 to spend on teaware...

I am SO excited about this post. As I’ve journeyed deeper into my tea journey, my obsession with teaware has increased. I have a cabinet filled with pots and cups but I still always want more! Experimentation is an important part of tea time for me. I like to try different vessels with different teas and see how it changes the experience. I sometimes use the same gaiwan or tea pot a few days in a row but usually, I run through all of my teaware!

Additionally, just like any other collector I like to be able to add more artist’s work into my collection!

How did I decide where to shop? Well, I have a few favorite places and a few of them have come out with some new pieces that I’ve been admiring. As I move into the holiday season and I have to stock the shop with goodies, I unfortunately have to tie my hands so I don’t spend on teaware! I do like to buy myself something nice as a gift if the holiday season goes well so many some of these will end up in my collection! Maybe some of these will will end up in my collection!

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Bitterleaf Teas - $230

Ok, they are pretty much my favorite shop. Their branding and aesthetic is so amazing and honestly it draws me in. I also appreciate the obvious effort they take to curate different pieces for all their different categories! Most of my current teaware comes from Bitterleaf. You could say I’m a little bit of a fan girl.

Please note that all credit for these photos goes to Bitterleaf teas, they are from their site.

Shop Bitterleaf Teas

I’ve been wanting to add more tea trays to my collection and this vintage style tea tray really caught my eye. I love the shape and how it isn’t wood! I also don’t have a tea tray that is quite as tall!

I’ve always wanted a tea jar like this! I love the idea of making tea storage just as beautiful as the teaware. This design is simple in color but complex in design. The contrast between ceramics body and wood top is also nice.

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Mansa Tea - $52

Mansa Tea is a brand I discovered on Instagram and we collaborated on a giveaway for one of their awesome tea sets. I love the way Mansa takes teas that people might otherwise feel are “out of reach” and presents them the way they should be, accessible for everyone. They also have really useful information sent out with their teas so even a novice tea drinker could brew them correctly! BUT, this post is about teaware :D

Please note that all credit for this photo goes to Mansa Tea, they are from their site.

Shop Mansa Tea

I love the shape and size of this tea tray. It is pefect for a solo session and there is a sense of direction about it. I don’t have a tea tray that looks like this and would love to add this to my collection!

This photo displays exactly why this tray is so appealing to me for solo tea time!

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Koto Tea - $302

This is one of my favorite shops for Japanese teaware! I have a beautiful chawan and chasen from this shop and it is one of a kind! Recently on instagram, I saw a product in their shop, a tea box! I love the design of this basket. It is simple, useful and reminiscent of the classic picnic basket!

Please note that all credit for this photo goes to Koto Tea, they are from their site.

Shop Koto Tea

Obsesses with this box! I can imagine myself going on a picnic with my matcha and some delicious snacks :D

The simplicity of the design is so my speed and love how the handle can collapse as well!

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Verdant Tea - $139

I’ve never personally bought anything from verdant tea but have definitely browsed their site before! I wanted to add a yixing pot to this list because I don’t own one! I love the simplicity of yixing pots but chose one with this beautiful lotus flower.

Please note that all credit for this photo goes to Verdant Tea, they are from their site.

Shop Verdant Tea

It’s about time to get a yixing pot! I’ve stayed away until now for a few reasons. For one, I like to switch tea into different vessels to see where they fit best and yixings are generally dedicated to one tea.

I also prefer gaiwans usually in my brewing so I don’t often go after tea pots but the carving on this was just too beautiful to pass up!

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Yunnan Sourcing - $72

I’ve only every bought tea from yunnan sourcing but they also have a large teaware collection! Do I need more gaiwans? Probably not, but actually can you ever have too many gaiwans? The gaiwan is probably my favorite brewing vessel. I think it’s easy to use and the wide mouth enhances the tea experience with more accessible aroma. This gaiwan has a unique design and is unlike any other gaiwan that I have!

Please note that all credit for this photo goes to Yunnan Sourcing, they are from their site.

Shop Yunnan Sourcing

Ah, how gorgeous is this? I love floral/plant type designs on gaiwans and this one is so different from the ones I have!

I also love the raw look of this gaiwan as most of mine are very obviously glazed!

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180andup -$146

This is a brand I discovered on instagram. Their curated collections have always drawn me in and after searching through their site I found these beautiful cups! I don’t have any octagonal cups. I also love the painted figures on the cups. Not only is it beautiful for making tea time more peaceful but I also love to photograph tea sessions and these cups would be an amazing model!

Please note that all credit for this photo goes to 180andup, they are from their site.

Shop 180andup

I only have one other fair cup shaped this way and it’s my favorite. The one that I have is glass so it would be nice to have a ceramic one as well! I love that it has a light color glaze so that I can still see my tea!

This shape is so cute and I can’t help but put these on the list! I love the colors in the design as well.

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Esteemed Tea Co - $59

Love, love, love esteemed tea! They have a delicious selection of oolongs and I’ve featured their teas in my steep it real box because I loved it so much! I also used to have this gorgeous thin glass cup with gold rim from them and it was my favorite. The glass got stained with tea so easily because I used it so much. One day, I knocked it off my shelf by accident and because it was such a delicate cup it shattered :(

Confession. While looking these cups up for this post, I bought one. I couldn’t help but replace my beloved cup!

Please note that all credit for this photo goes to Esteemed Tea Co, they are from their site.

Shop Esteemed Tea Co

I have one of these but I could always use another. These strainers are so delicate and beautiful!

I’ve always wanted a tea strainer in this style!

I will hold onto this one for dear life because I love this style of cup so much!

How lovely that it also comes with a stand!

Total: $1000

I think it’s important to note that this was actually difficult. I wanted to be able to get several items but had to re-do my list several times because some of the items I initially wanted to put on this list were too expensive in the sense that I wasn’t able to add many other.

One day I will own a legit tetsubin!!

What would be on your list if you had $1000 to spend??!

Ways to make your tea time more calming

Sometimes tea time can’t be calm. You need tea but you don’t have time to sit somewhere and have an intentional practice. I’ll still take rushed tea over no tea at all!

When you do make the time for tea though, you want it to be used to the fullest. I think there are some ways that you can make tea time a calm and peaceful time.

One of the most important things you can do for tea time in my opinion is to set the right environment! Having a place where you’re comfortable is key. If it’s a cool day, make sure you’re warm. If it’s sweltering, make sure you’re cool!

I have a quick and simple guide in my shop where I go over some specifics for meTEAtation that I think can be really helpful if you don’t know where to start.

Besides being comfortable, the ambiance of your tea spot can help make tea time better. There are two different things I like to do to achieve this!

The first is good music. I will throw on whatever artists I’ve been into recently and jam out while I drink tea. Some days though, I need to unwind and one easy way for me to do that is to listen to “zen music.” I searched this one time on youtube and there are TONS of videos, some 6 hours long or more! These videos capture nature type sounds or soothing sounds. Have you ever had a massage? You know that calming music they play, that’s the stuff!

Without getting too scientific because this isn’t my area of expertise, music calming you down isn’t a coincidence! The types of music that I found under “zen” when searching youtube have specific sounds and style that can aid in lowering your heart rate, blood pressure and even helping with muscle relaxation. While listening to music we enjoy can also help us be happier and more relaxed sometimes you need the relaxing music !

Here is one of my favorite youtube videos

I also made a short playlist on spotify and will add to it as well!

Another way to bring calm to your tea time is by having fun! There are SO many different ways of doing this but I’ll go over some of the things I like to do. When you engage in some intentional activity during tea time, you’re putting all your attention into that and there is a break from stressful or damaging thoughts. It can be healthy to have temporary escape like this. I think it makes me a generally calmer person and less likely to explode when things go wrong. That’s not to say it NEVER happens ;) but I think since I started more routine and intentional tea practice, my mood is different.

Try a different way of brewing that you’re used to! I only ever knew one type of brewing and then I discovered the world of gongfucha! I always encourage people to try this style of brewing because there are so many elements to it that it can be a ton of fun!

I’ve shared a video below that shows someone brewing in gongfu style. You can see that there are many more elements involved than western brewing style. I think these additional elements make tea time more fun and intentional!

Some items you might see:

-Tea Pets

-Tea Tray

-Smaller tea pots and cups

If you want to get some of these things and don’t know where to start, check out BItterleaf Teas, one of my favorite shops! I also made an amazon list of tools if you want something at a lower price point.

Finally, I want to talk about something that might seem silly but it’s super important to me. Attire! I could never enjoy tea time in something tight or rough.

My ideal tea time is when I can throw on a pair of sweats or leggings, a loose top and either slipper socks or fun socks! These types of clothes engulf my body in comfort and allow me to be more relaxed. I’m also usually less upset if I spill tea on them!

What are some ways you like to make your tea time more relaxing ?!

5 Things I've Learned Since Starting Tea Thoughts

I started Tea Thoughts several years ago and I wanted to share some important things that I’ve learned. I hope that these will help you in your own endeavors!

1) The Importance of a tribe

While creating content and/ or products can be satisfying to anyone trying to express themselves creatively, it doesn’t mean much if you don’t have an audience to share with! Tea Thoughts is still very, very small and has plenty of room to grow but one thing that Tea Thoughts has, is a tribe. Through social media, I’ve connected with the most amazing and supportive people. My tribe are the ones who pay attention to, engage with and support my content.

Even if your tribe is small, it’s way more important than having a bunch of followers who you never interact with. The tribe is there through all the algorithm changes. The tribe is there when you come back from not posting for a while because you needed a break. The tribe is there when you release new things. A tribe is actually just a family that you’ve created around your business. They aren’t just “customers” they are people who you can actually connect and share your passion with.

2) You can always do more

Sometimes it feels like I’m always working. I go to work then when I have breaks I’m doing things for Tea Thoughts and when I get home, I work on Tea Thoughts. Content creation or design is not the only task for my business. While I’ve gotten used to some of the other things I need to be doing like sales tax and managing bills, it’s so easy to neglect certain parts of a business.

For me, I often will focus on new designs and products and then my blog goes without an update for a while. This is something that happens all the time and it can lead to embarrassing things like having the link to your etsy shop on your blog in several places even though you don’t use etsy anymore !! A couple successes means that the work will continue to pile one. This is a good problem to have. It seems like the more you do the more you find out you can continue to do to improve. While I maintain my blog and shop as best as I can there are many aspects that I could go through and fine tune. It’s not the most fun but it’s important.

3) It’s not all sunshine and rainbows… and that’s ok.

I receive so much positive feedback about my blog and shop, it is sometimes emotionally overwhelming. I think when people see your online presence they make an assumption about your success. While you want people to view you in a positive light, their view doesn’t define your reality. In the communications I put out, I’m generally positive because I want to be and because I want to spread that to others. That positive attitude doesn’t always reflect what is happening in the background.

As a product shop owner, I haven’t reached a point where I’m sending out a bunch of orders every single day. Generally, I will have times where the orders roll in and then times in between that are quiet. These quiet times can be rough. As a small business owner, we can sometimes tie our self worth to the perceived success of our business whether that is views, sales, referrals etc. So when your your success is down, you often feel down on yourself.

Having these times aren’t all bad. When orders roll in, it’s generally a time of happiness and motivation. When sales are slow or non existent there is a different type of motivation. During these times, I take a deeper look at what I’m doing and see what I can change or fix. Great progress can also happen during these times. Trying to find positive aspects in times we perceive as “bad” can be healthy and productive for our businesses.

4) Follow your passion

It’s easy to get sucked into following trends in order to be successful. I don’t advise that you ignore trends but to make sure that everything you do is somewhat in the realm of your passion. When we are passionate about something, the result is always better. Creating a certain product or type of content can be more fruitful but only if it’s done right. If the trend is boxes, you can’t just throw together a box and expect it to do well.

Your passion will lead you on a journey and while on that path, there will be stops along the way where you can step off the path slightly to create something. When creating that something, make sure that one foot is still on the path. Ultimately, that path will lead you to success and you don’t want to stray too far from it. Passion makes us happy and happiness helps us be more successful.

5) You’re doing ok!

In all aspects of life we like to play this comparison game. Sometimes the comparison is against actual statistics like: my swim time was this and that other person’s was 3 seconds slower or faster than mine. The other more harmful type of comparison is when there isn’t a clear outline or what you “should” be doing and yet you compare yourself to others anyway. This type of comparison extinguishes parts of our passion. It brings us down. It makes us doubt ourselves. This is an illusion. When you’re on your own journey, the path is what you make it and just stepping out and being brave enough to follow your passion on a somewhat scary and undefined road is an accomplishment.

In times when the comparison bug won’t stop nagging, remember all the amazing things you’ve done. Little wins are worth acknowledging because all together they equal something great. Be motivated but be kind to yourself along the way!