The gift of tea from Hawaii!

Last week I was at a Newnan-Coweta Chamber luncheon when my friend Susan handed me a bag of teas she'd brought back for me from her recent Hawaiian vacation. Out of curiosity, I first opened this pretty box of teas from the hotel where she stayed, the Ali'i Tower, which definitely gets my vote for "Best Amenity" since they provide "exotic teas" for their guests. Susan said that when she found these in their room, she told her husband, "Don't open that! I'm taking that back to Angela!" Now that's a true friend, isn't it!

I was expecting simply some regular tea bags, but that's not at all what I found inside. The rich scent that greeted me when I removed the box's plastic wrapper was my first clue that these weren't ordinary tea bags, and I was also quite intrigued by the packaging. This looks like little rosebuds peeking out, doesn't it?

It was, it turns out, 10 elegant individually wrapped silken tea bags, and I absolutely adore the packaging! The Sunrise Energize blend says it is "packed in Sri Lanka with pure Ceylon tea and imported ingredients." I guessed, accurately, that Sunrise Energize would be some sort of black tea, and it tasted like a rich, minty black tea, which I greatly enjoyed. Seascape Dreams sounded like a bedtime brew, and indeed it appeared to be a chamomile or other herbal blend, perfect for bedtime sipping. Wouldn't it be great if all hotels gave their guests elegant morning-and-evening teas? I could get used to this!