Tea as a Sensory Love Letter to Summer
The world comes alive in summer. We listen, and hear birds yakking with one another. Inhales light up our brains with perfumes: blossoms, grass, neighbors’ charcoal grills. Instead of mostly white, brown and conifer green, our eyes now behold chartreuse, pink, emerald, sapphire and canary yellow. Our bare feet tread across wood floors and warm sidewalks. And our tastebuds finally savor in-season watermelon, peach, English peas and tomatoes warm from the sun.
Summer ranks as an especially sensory and tactile season. And we can meet the moments with our favorite beverage, tea. No other category of drink on the planet incorporates so many flavors and aromas. Tea gets sipped hot, of course—but it’s lovely warm and frigid, too. And it incorporates such a range of textures, depending on the accoutrements: cream, honey, ice and so on.
As we embrace our summer vibes—the official kickoff takes place this month, on the summer solstice—let’s decorate the heady patch of warm, long days and languid evenings with tea. And let’s also consider celebrating Pride Month, the symbol for which is a rainbow. Such color! Perfect for June.
Tea for the Senses: Purple Haze
What a beauty! Brew this treasure and luxuriate in the aromatics: so much ginger and lemon perfume. Take a sip and experience the sultry caress of pineapple, the anise punch of basil, the familiar tang of apple. Pour this gem in a clear teacup, and witness the bold color—purple, from the butterfly pea flower. The wonder also contains blackberry leaf and moringa leaf. It’s a spectacle of sensory delight—and also packed with health. For even more tactile pleasure, try it over ice.
Tea for the Senses: Watermelon Chiller
If you really want to align your tea with pure summer vibes, you can’t go wrong with our bespoke and popular watermelon chiller. Call it summer in a mug. This rapture rests on a foundation of our fabulous silver needle white tea, a treasured tea from China’s Fujian Province. The Camellia sinensis provides the grassy and floral backbone. But watermelon, honeydew melon, apple, hibiscus, elderberry, peppermint and rosehips bring the summer party.
It’s one of those teas that transports sippers to a season—similar to how a chai or pumpkin spice delivers people to the months of falling leaves, snow, fireplace blazes and holiday baking. It’s another jewel that responds with enthusiasm to the clink of ice, and that warmly accepts addendums like mint leaves, orange slices and more.
Tea for the Senses: Peaches and Cream
Along with watermelon (see above!), peaches capture summer like few other foods or drinks. And as a Colorado company, we champion our state’s bounty of famous peaches, from the Western Slope. Sometime in July, we’ll start snagging fresh ones from farmers markets, and inviting the juice to drip down our chins.
But there’s no need to wait until late summer—you can get your peach on today, with our crave-able Peaches and Cream blend. This outstanding and custom tea finds its roots in oolong, a favorite Camellia sinensis. To that, we add peach (natch), mango, peach blossom (yes!), calendula and sunflower. Talk about summery!
Sip it hot. Let the heat dip into a warm zone. Brew a batch, cool it in the ‘fridge and pour it over a tall glass of ice. No matter how you prepare our Peaches and Cream, you’ll sink into its sensory pleasures: the bold aromatics, the taste of summer, the peach-infused ice cracking between your molars. It’s a dream.
Tea for the Senses (Pride): Pink Flamingo (red and pink), Dan Cong Honey Orchid (orange), Tie Guan Yin (yellow), Gyokuro (green), Blue Butterfly Green (purple)
Yep, given our broad range of teas (more than 200!), we offer more than enough for tea lovers to craft their own rainbow of flavors, aromas and colors. This selection of teas from around the world (China, Japan, and herbals tapping botanicals from myriad countries) serves as an especially rich rainbow tapestry. Our Pink Flamingo, for example, broadcasts bold pink through the addition of dragonfruit and hibiscus. Stunning Dan Cong Honey Orchid, from China’s Guangdong Province, brews a mysterious and compelling orange. Another Chinese classic, Tie Guan Yin Superior Oolong, from Fujian Province, turns into a lovely yellow when brewed. Japan’s famous Gyokuro tea—grown partially in shade, to shape its unique flavor and maintain its color—turns deep green when prepared in a pot. And then there’s our Blue Butterfly Green—incandescent purple from the addition of butterfly pea flower.
