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Archives for December 2011

Adorable Christmas gift for this tea lover!

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I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!! I certainly did…spending time with family and friends is always fun, the food was delicious, the gifts were outstanding, and – oh yeah – I received several tea-related Christmas presents. 🙂

The teapot clock in the picture above is a Better Homes & Gardens piece, and it was a gift to me from my awesome mom (a contributor on this site as well). It’s hanging on my dining room wall now along with a few other coffee-and-tea pieces of art, and I loveeeeee ittttt. Thanks, Madre!

Libre Loose Leaf Tea Glass Review: Loose Leaf Tea on the Go!

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Libre Loose Leaf Tea Glass

We were recently sent a wonderful Loose Leaf Tea Glass to review on the tea blog and we’re still buzzing about it.  Seriously, The Libre Loose Leaf Tea Glass is absolutely beautiful and flat out ingenious. It’s one of those products that, within a week of having it, you ask yourself, “And just how did I ever get along without this?”

You’ll use this gorgeous infuser/travel tea glass (it’s simply too classy to refer to as a mug) daily as I do.  Not only is this little beauty perfect for taking with you (whether you fancy iced tea or hot), it’s just as convenient to use at home!

Here are just a few things I love about the Libre Loose Leaf Tea Glass:

  • It makes brewing and enjoying loose leaf tea as convenient, easy, and delicious as other methods.
  •  The design is as beautiful and classy as any tea lover could hope for.
  • The glass fits perfectly into your vehicle’s drink holder.
  • The glass even fits in your purse!
  • Maybe best of all, the Libre Loose Leaf Tea Glass has a glass interior, meaning you’ll enjoy tea the way it was meant to be enjoyed: Fresh, wholesome goodness untouched by plastic of any kind.
  • I’ve never (as in not even once) had a problem with leaking.
  • This may sound pretentious and it may hit at tea snobbery, but I love that it looks so highbrow and classy. Wherever you go, people will want to know where you got this beautiful tea glass to go.

I could go on and on about how beautiful, convenient, and first class this product is, but I honestly think this would be a great time to encourage you to visit Libre’s Online Shop.  You’ll find a wealth of information, images, close-ups, and even videos.  While there, be sure to visit the main website as well – it’s a great, fun place for tea lovers to feed their passion.

The Health Benefits of Green Tea Simply Astound Me

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We’re all familiar with the health benefits of green tea. We spend a great deal of time on this tea blog praises the benefits of all teas, but green tea seems to pack an extra punch.

If you’re one of the many (make that MANY) people interested in watching their weight, or even in losing weight, green tea should become your new favorite drink. Here are a few obvious reasons:

  1. Green tea is calorie free.
  2. Drinking green tea keeps you from drinking calorie-laden or sodium-rich drinks.

I’ll be the first to confess, I struggled with soft drinks.  I was hooked on them throughout high school as well as into my twenties and beyond (we won’t go into how far beyond reaches, it’ll just give me a headache).   When I was somewhere in the early-thirties range, my metabolism turned on me. We’d always been very close friends, then all of a sudden, she became a raging lunatic. Despite my pleas, she tormented me with neglect. I realized that if she refused to be of any help, I’d have to start cutting back on calories.  I took a good look at the number of calories I consumed each day simply by drinking soft drinks.

Imagine my shock when I realized that I drank over 600 calories each day. One can of Dr. Pepper (my weapon of choice at the time) has 150 calories. I easily drank 4 cans a day.  If we were to be honest, it was probably more.

I switched to Diet Dr. Pepper and about 10 pounds came off almost immediately. How could it not, right?!  I didn’t realize, of course, that I was taking my sodium count to dangerous levels at the time.  I also failed to acknowledge that each can (or glass) did me absolutely no good whatsoever.  In fact, each one did harm.

I finally caught on to the insanity of drinking what is essentially poison and replaced my diet soft drinks with tea and another favorite, iced coffee.  It’s great to know that my drinks now do positive things for my body and mind.

Here’s a little trick for making green tea even healthier:  Add a little citrus.  Whether you add a lemon wedge, orange wedge, or splash of juice to your green tea – you’ll help your body benefit from the antioxidants.  Vitamin C actually helps your body to absorb more antioxidants from green tea.

Not only is green tea incredibly healthy for your body and mind, it can be a wonderful weight loss aid. For one thing, as we said, drinking green tea will keep you from drinking unhealthy, often calorie-rich drinks. Every wasted calorie saved is vital in weight loss and management.  Green tea has also been shown to help increase your metabolism and force it to become a friend instead of a foe.

Many people also say that green tea reduces their appetite.  I’ve read countless accounts of people drinking a cup of green tea about an hour before a meal in an effort to eat less.  I have to be honest though: Unless you are dangerously overweight, I personally wouldn’t go this route.  For one thing, we need to eat a well-rounded amount of food. We need the nutrients for optimum health.  Besides, if you don’t have a healthy, filling meal – you’ll just make up for it later by snacking and that’s almost always worse.

Ideally, we should all eat a healthy diet consumed mostly of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fish.  We should not ever waste any calories with our drink choices.  That’s just insane, if we think about it. If you aren’t already a huge fan of green tea (as well as other teas for that matter), make today the day you take the first step in a beautiful relationship.

Find the tea blend and the tea brand that you love best and vow to never leave its side.  Check out the tea aisle in your favorite store or never leave your house and Shop for tea on Amazon.

If you have to add a little flavoring to your tea, go with citrus or even a little honey. If you reach for white sugar, you’re pretty much defeating the purpose when it comes to counting calories.

If you have to add Stevia in order to make peace with green tea, do so.  It’s STILL healthier than soft drinks or diet soft drinks.  However, I think you may be surprised at how wonderful green tea is without any sweetening.

 

Teabag Holder from TJ Maxx…awwww?

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Just wanted to share a picture (or two) of one of my recent TJ Maxx purchases, an adorable teabag holder which also happened to include Twinings Tea samples. I’m a big believer in giving props where they’re due, and TJ Maxx pretty much ALWAYS has something tea-related in there that I want…gift sets, mugs, bags, infusers – you name it, they have it. Also, these same things are sold at other high-end stores for much higher prices. So if your city has a TJ Maxx (I think Marshall’s is pretty much the same thing), consider yourself grateful, and support them by buying something cute, like my teabag holder. 🙂