Easy Back-to-School Teas Brighten Kids’—and Parents’—Mornings
In just two weeks, the little ones toting cartoon-emblazoned lunchboxes and the bigger ones snagging lunch from off-campus pizzerias and delis are all headed back to school. The prospect rarely thrills the K-12 crowd.
Parents? They can lament summer’s brevity. But parents often welcome the return to structure, order and the cessation of ferrying those without drivers licenses to camps, pools, friends’ houses and the rest of the sun-splashed activities that make up summer.
As we savor the carefree, last days of school-free mornings and afternoons, we also prepare for the coming months of routine and organization. Breakfasts must get made, and kids delivered to school by bus, car or foot. Lunches need to get packed. After-school snacks readied. Dinners planned in advance. Bedtimes enforced.
Ease the abrupt pivot to school
For many parents, the abrupt transition from footloose child-pal to sergeant can be jarring. And so can dealing with kids who confront their sudden re-emergence in early mornings with so much grumpiness.
Tea isn’t going to transform frowns—and never mind tears—into grins and giggles. But it might at least soften some of the morning’s edges, and give kids discrete boosts of enthusiasm. And when it comes to back-to-school vibes, every little jolt of cheerfulness helps!
We think our selection of easy back-to-school morning teas for kids will improve the experience for both parents and kids. And as late summer dwells at the heart of the stone fruit harvest—pleasures like peaches, plums and apricots—we think kid-friendly teas that celebrate the gift of these sweet treasures are especially apropos.
Enjoy these last weeks with the kids! And before the parade of non-nonsense orderliness kicks back into high gear, stock up on these outstanding teas!
Easy Morning Back-to-School Teas: Peach Oolong
Strawberries can serve as shorthand for early summer, and apples for autumn. But few fruits in the Northern Hemisphere rival peaches for their ability to conjure certain summertime vibes.
Chances are, regardless of whether the kids use crayons or computers to get across ideas, they savor every bite of summer peaches. Here’s one way to prolong the peach pleasure: Serve them peach-punched tea in the mornings.
Our scrumptious peach oolong combines traditional Chinese oolong tea with dried mango, dried peach, plum blossom, calendula and sunflower. Given the abundance of ingredients in this beauty, the caffeine in the oolong gets mitigated. And oolong tea doesn’t contain much caffeine to begin with, compared to other teas, like matcha.
If nothing else, a cup of our Peach Oolong might serve as a subtle jumpstart to the long day ahead. One thing is sure: It will tantalize tastebuds.
Easy Morning Back-to-School Teas: Apricot Black and Caffeine-Free Apricot Black
A few sips of this tea, and chances are any child’s mood will lift. It’s delicious, packed with apricot flavor from real apricot pieces as well as marigold flowers. Chinese black tea serves as the base. It’s got caffeine. The addition of marigold petals and apricot pieces ratchets back the caffeine quotient, but if you’d like to skip it altogether we also offer a decaffeinated version of this special tea. We recommend them both!
As with all of our decaffeinated teas, this one relies on C02 to remove caffine, a natural plant botanical, from the leaves. Using C02 rather than solvents like butane, which is a common practice, is preferred.
This rich brew, while arresting when served hot, also sings when it’s cold brewed and served in a glass with ice on a sizzling day. And if you go with the caffeine-free version, it works wonderfully as a dessert tea for after dinner.
Easy Morning Back-to-School Teas: Plum Green
Plum-infused tea might seem novel to people in most of the world—but not in China and Japan. Many people in both countries cherish the style for its deep, elegant flavor and health properties. But they also champion its health advantages. The combination in this low-caffeine gem helps reduce fatigue without relying on a big caffeine wallop; green tea is low in the compound. They also trumpet how it stimulates appetite and reduces inflammation.
Our plum tea also contains a special ingredient for digestion: kombucha powder! This fermented substance aids gut health, while also adding a pleasing zing to the brewed tea.
The kids, of course, won’t care about the health benefits. They’ll latch onto the taste. But parents will appreciate the tea’s hidden, health-forward secrets.
