Sip Into Fall With These Four Teas
Maybe you’ve noticed it too—days growing shorter and shorter, seemingly with more decisiveness than during mid-summer. You’re not dreaming. Indeed, daylight changes slow down during the solstices; this year’s summer solstice, the longest day of the year, was June 21. But as the march of days gathers around an equinox, then changes speed up. And today, we’re just a dozen days from the fall equinox, on September 22. We’re losing as much as three minutes of daylight a day.
In Colorado at least, outdoor temperatures have not yet aligned with these dramatic shifts in daylight. Either way, with dusk now beginning to announce its arrival during dinnertime, we can at least sense the evolution of one season into the next. A splendid benefit: Golden hour begins punctuating the end of the day earlier, sometimes while we’re still noshing on gazpacho, pasta with fresh corn and chiles, and peach ice cream.
With autumn comes more predictable evening rhythms. The school routine by mid-September has probably begun to reach a state of equilibrium. With earlier darkness, desires for coziness ramp up.
Cue, tea. Invite it to help conjure fall atmospherics, if not outside at least in your spirit. Tea serves all seasons—we just finished months of sipping lots of iced tea variations. But now we head into what we think of tea’s high season, at least for most North Americans.
We sip tea in wool slippers and heavy robes, at the kitchen table, while it’s still dark outside. Low winter light fills the living room or offices with afternoon shadows while we take breaks from tasks and work. Dark evenings compel us toward the kettle; we bring warm mugs into bed with us.
As the leaves begin their transformation from green into gold, crimson and persimmon, let’s start turning to the teas that will comfort us across this heart-swelling season.
Early Autumn Teas: Genmaicha Green (Organic)
With its green tea, and both roasted and puffed brown rice, this classic Japanese tea—wildly popular across the island nation—rings some serious autumnal bells. The savory notes from the rice, combined with the sencha tea’s grassy and even seaweed aromas and flavors, fit it squarely within autumn and winter sipping.
Also known as “brown rice tea,” genmaicha brews smooth, with a slightly creamy texture and flavor. Due to the addition of rice, the tea also contains less caffeine than typical green teas. We think the lowered caffeine, combined with sencha’s punch of the amino acid L-theanine, provides a steady, balanced focus—perfect for fall’s more contemplative pursuits.
Early Autumn Teas: Twilight Oolong Green
Twilight comes earlier in mid-September. We love sipping this oolong, punched up with licorice root, during crisp September and October late afternoons—just before the night falls. Somehow the oolong’s earthiness, combined with savory licorice root, delivers us to happy visions of fall’s majestic subtleties. But this tea doesn’t just reference early twilight with its flavors and aromas. The addition of blue butterfly pea flower provides visual transformation, too. Just add a little acid to the brewed tea, for example a few drops of lemon, and the liquid turns deep purple.
Early Autumn Teas: Smoky Dragon Black
Fall showers us with color and change. But it’s also pretty simple. No daffodils or roses beginning to bloom. An absence of seedlings presaging fields of tomatoes, peppers or celery. It’s the season of sweet decay, the beginning of the end for the long and multifaceted summer. And simplicity dwells at the core of our Smoky Dragon Black tea. The beauty combines black tea touched with smoke, with vanilla. Simple. Delicious. And for us, evocative of autumn’s straightforward enchantments.
Early Autumn Teas: Autumn Chai (Organic)
Chai, which people in India have been brewing and pouring since the 19th century, serves as the OG pumpkin-spice-style tea. Variations on a theme of chai proliferate across the subcontinent, with different villages coming up with their own special formulations of tea, herbs and spices. Some of them lean hard into chile spice, or black pepper. Others offer pure baking spice. This chai (we carry 11 styles) delivers the hallmarks of autumn baking: Madagascar vanilla black tea, cinnamon, allspice, ginger and nutmeg. Essence of the kick-off to the cold months!
