Luxury Christmas Tea Gifts: Special Teas That Make Memorable Holiday Presents
Just one week from today, those who celebrate Christmas will spend the morning sitting around a decorated conifer, opening gifts, laughing, inhaling the breakfast treats that get passed around during the present-swapping ceremony. Cinnamon rolls never disappoint.
People will ooh over their new sweaters. Aah upon liberating the new electronic gizmo from its wrapping. The ambitious cook will begin hunting for recipes—to prepare that night—in his new cook book. The trail runner will thrill to the knee-high socks—perfect for when she’s out there in snow.
And some lucky loved ones will scurry to the kitchen to put on a kettle—they can’t wait to brew the botanical treasures from Ku Cha House of Tea.
We carry hundreds of teas, and truly adore them all. Many teas are daily workhorses; we sip them from morning until we go to bed. Others serve as treats. These prized teas get transformed into luxurious beverages whenever we want to reward ourselves, or to celebrate.
Prized Teas That Turn A Cup Into A Celebration
With Christmas around the corner, we are happy to share some of our favorite special teas—those that compel gift recipients to beam, gush and then race off to the cupboard for mugs and to the stove to boil water and begin steeping their new indulgences.
This range of exquisite teas make superb gifts for tea lovers as well as tea newbies. They’re prized, celebrated—and delicious.
Special Gift Teas: Tie Guan Yin
The complexities proferred by oolongs never cease to astonish us. A good oolong can broadcast so many different flavors and aromas: grassy, fruity, honeyed, herbal, earthy, smoky, floral—the range is broad and deep.
Tie Guan Yin, also known as Iron Goddess of Mercy, is one of the most famous Chinese teas, an oolong from Fujian Province with a sweet, floral fragrance, a snappy taste and a smooth finish that lingers.
Pro tip: Brew the tea several times, using the same leaves every time, to witness how this tea evolves with steepings. It’s how most Chinese people drink oolongs in general, including Tie Guan Yin.
What a gift!
Special Gift Teas: Da Hong Pao
Any self-respecting tour of fine teas must include Da Hong Pao, or “Big Red Robe.” This rock oolong, from the tea-famous WuYi Mountains in Fujian Province, is championed for its strong fragrance, rich, roasted flavor and lingering sweetness. People have been brewing and sipping Da Hong Pao for hundreds of years, and the puruit continues today—thankfully! We certainly contribute toward Da Hong Pao’s continued popularity—we sip it whenever we feel the need for some self-care and a little treat. It’s gorgeous.
Special Gift Teas: Gyokuro Superior
Green tea, of course, figures into our gift-giving strategies. Serious artisanship surrounds the crafting of fine green teas—and we cherish teas made with extreme care and attention. Gyokuro Superior, also called Jade Dew, fits squarely into the high-artisanship zone. Tea professionals in Hoshino, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan grow this exquisite expression of green tea in the shade for 20 days just prior to harvesting, which happens just once a year, in the spring. Immediately following harvest, experts steam, dry and carefully roll the tea into distinctive shapes resembling pine needles.
The time spent in the shade creates unique flavors—deep seaweed-like umami, notes of young peas and even corn, whispers of tender greens like spinach. It’s simply spectacular.
Special Gift Teas: Cormorant Creek Purple Leaf Puerh Cake
Pu-erh represents another taste sensation within the wide world of tea. Where other teas primarily get their flavor from oxidation levels, terroir and farming methods (like the shade that figures into gyokuro superior), with pu-erh the standout features hinge on fermentation. The only relatively common fermented tea in the world, collectors seek it for its myriad nuances and subtleties.
Our Cormorant Creek ranks as part of a special collection of purple raw-leaf pu-erh from China’s Yunnan Province, which is where most pu-erh is made.
The tea’s purple color comes from anthocyandin, a natural plant pigment that contains a wallop of healthy antioxidants. The anthocyandin also contributes towards this tea’s outstanding flavor and aroma—florally fragrant, with notes of blueberry fruitiness in the mouth.
Consider this esteemed tea for any loved one. They’ll never forget it.
Special Gift Teas: Tiger Mountain Wild Leaf Puerh
We couldn’t finish with just one pu-erh, especially when our inventory includes treasures like Tiger Mountain Wild Leaf pu-erh. This raw pu-erh cake, from Tiger Mountain in Yunnan Province, comes from wild tea trees—this is not typical of tea. Most tea producers cultivate it as an agricultural product. The wildness comes across in the brew—bright, complex, bittersweet, it’s a dream of a tea, with strong Cha Qi, or tea energy. Among other things, it offers a noticeable pear fruitiness. Tea producers crafted our Tiger Mountain Wild Leaf pu-erh in 2017, meaning it’s still young—people age pu-erh for decades. It’s wondeful to brew now, but also serves as a strong candidate for further aging.
Special Gift Teas: Silver Needle White Tea
This gem, also known as Bai Hao Yin Zhen, gets made from tea buds picked only in early spring. After meticulous hand-harvesting, tea artisans then fan out the buds and dry them in the sun. Following that, they lightly firing fire over charcoal at a low heat. The final step dries the tea, while preserving its spectacular silver color. Among the grand diversity of white teas, this one may be the sweetest. Sipping it will coat your mouth with dulcet pleasures. Production is limited for this wonderful tea—don’t miss it!
Special Gift Teas: Black Dragon Pearl Black Tea
A black tea—of course! All tea lovers need a selection of black teas in their repertoire. And this one—well, it’s a true keeper. Our Black Dragon Pearl, a unique tea from Yunnan Province, gets handpicked and rolled into pearl shapes by tea artisans. When brewed, the pearls unfurl, infusing the liquor with a smooth and malty deliciousness. You’ve probably sipped at least hundreds of cups of average black tea over the years. The stuff that comes in tea bags and sold in big boxes. Our Black Dragon Pearl is an entirely different kind of black tea experience!
