Taking tea on the road

After spending last week on a writing project, some leisure reading, and a trip to the beach, I'm home and eager to get back to work (well, OK, that's a lie) and see what's been going on in my absence (that last part is true). I discovered a number of new teas while out and about, and I couldn't wait to tell you about some of them. My greatest discovery was Saphara's Mango Ginger Green Tea, a new organic, Fair Trade line. For years I've been trying to find something merely approaching the divine flavor of Fortnum and Mason's discontinued Mango and Ginger Green Tea, and this was actually pretty close to what I remember that tea tasting like! I found this tea at Modica Market in Seaside, Fla., but it's easily available online. Only after I bought it did I discover it is made by Celestial Seasonings, which I found surprising.

Next find: Revolution Tea. Ah, now there's a pleasant tea memory. It comes (or at least "came") in these cute, tiny little individual boxes. Several years ago, my mom found a non-tea-drinking sales clerk who sold her a whole case of the tea for what, we later learned, was supposed to be the price of one teabag. I was drinking Revolution Tea for a longgggg time after that. So when I occasionally buy the tea now, I figure I owe them. Ginger Peach is always a favorite flavor, and now it comes in this great little tin of six infuser teabags. This is perfect for travel.

This Republic of Tea Honeydew Melon Tea was kind of so-so, but it's the bottle that caught my eye. I've had their bottled teas before, but I must confess I never noticed the embossed teapot design on the bottle before. I'm saving this for some as-yet-unknown craft purpose. If nothing else, it'll be good for holding those tiny, perfect seashells picked up on Seagrove Beach one morning. Isn't God nice to give us totally free craft supplies like that? I can get excited about the simplest of things. This week, I was grateful God made all those wonderful shades of cream and beige.

And finally, I can't even remember which Alabama convenience store surprised me by selling this Twist Organics Mandarin White Tea, but boy, do I hope I find it again somewhere here in Georgia. This is a non-carbonated tea drink flavored with organic agave nectar and natural organic mandarin white tea flavor. It's got just 2 grams of sugar per serving, with about 2.5 servings in the bottle. I got two servings out of it, and the clean, orange flavor was so much better than wolfing down a diet Coke on the road. If you're traveling soon, please report on what new teas you find!