Warming Tea Rituals to Ease the End of Daylight Savings Time
Happy Halloween, friends! We hope you all get your ghoul on tomorrow night. And with Halloween falling on a Friday this year, the vampire vibes will growl and shriek all weekend long. Make sure to add tea to your ghostly weekend adventures. One easy route—go full Boolong. Our impressive catalogue of Chinese oolongs will all complement Halloween. Plus—it’s just fun to say boolong!
The weekend, however, holds more than witches and goblins. On Sunday, we turn the clock back an hour, and end Daylight Savings Time. Early mornings no longer will come cloaked in darkness—by 6 a.m., the sun will brighten our world. But instead of sunset arriving at 6 p.m., the sun will bid the day goodbye at 5 p.m. And by the time of the winter solstice, on December 21, the outside world plunges into darkness at around 4:30 p.m.
Tea Steps In as the Light Slips Away
We drink tea 365 days a year, and nearly 24/7. But based on years of tea sales, we understand that as fall ripens and shadowed hours grip more of our waking lives, many people pursue tea sipping with more verve.
They savor the feel of a warm mug in their hands in weak morning light. The aromas of just-brewed tea stimulate something primal—we are delivered back to years of mornings and afternoons decorated with hot tea to power us through cold days. The flavors soothe us, spark a certain coziness that comes from age-old alignments between Camellia sinensis or familiar herbal teas, and the months of prolonged darkness and nippy air.
During summer and part of autumn, when the sun comes across as relentless and the heat pervasive, we let our grip slacken. Rules and boundaries expand bit—even crumble. But once these celestial shifts start settling into our bones, we crave ritual again.
We can think of no better partner for crafting, bolstering and enriching ritual than tea. In Asia, in fact, tea and ritual complement each other like few other pairings. Sipping tea, together, marks different periods of each day. It sparks conversation, and camaraderie. Life in Asia would be bereft if not for the many pleasures, and rituals, that tea has delivered.
Let’s sink into some tea rituals we all can usher into our lives this year—and the teas to accompany them.
Tea Rituals: Dawn Reset with Milk Oolong
There’s something about morning that calls for tea with texture. Across the United Kingdom and many of its former colonies, like Australia, India and the United States, tea nearly always gets softened with cream. Those white dollops add pleasing fat to the elixir, which coats the tongue and enriches and lengthens the duration of the flavor experience. They also add a sultry texture. It all makes for a splendid way to begin the day.
Our Milk Oolong embodies this tea-with-texture ideal—without having to add cream yourself. Tea artisans steam this excellent Chinese oolong with non-dairy creamer before roasting the leaves, lending it a unique and creamy texture and flavor. It’s really more scented with creamer, rather than punched up with it. But those whispers of texture and fat are enough—Milk Oolong is one of our most popular flavored oolongs!
Tea Rituals: Five O’Clock Glow with Cloud Chaser
Beginning Sunday, dark will descend by five o’clock until sometime in the spring. It will get colder as the weeks march forward. We won’t spend as much time outside as we did during the warmer, brighter months.
The change serves as an outstanding pivot toward a favorite ritual—brewing a pot just as night arrives. As the caffeine in traditional Camellia sinensis keeps many people awake when they’re trying to go to sleep, we encourage caffeine-free options for late afternoon and evening tea. And our Cloud Chaser is custom-made for marking the end of a day, and turning toward the pleasures of evening.
Two ingredients in particular, Lavender and St. John’s Wort, contribute toward serenity and peace. But the custom blend’s other ingredients—lemon balm, marjoram, peppermint and rose petals—also help calm frantic minds and ease sippers into blissful evenings.
Tea Rituals: Cozy Reading Hour with Toasted Almond Fruit Tea
Let’s break away from doom scrolling, yes? And instead of staring at social media and letting the news cycle dominate our daily mental pursuits, invite books and ideas to populate our thoughts—history, literature, poetry, mysteries, cook books and much more.
It’s tough to make that happen across an entire day. But easy to set aside time for it—ritual-style. And it also somehow seems easier after the time change, when the days seem so much shorter.
With the time change also comes the runway toward the holidays. Halloween—tomorrow! Then Thanksgiving. Then Christmas and the winter holidays. And finally, New Year’s Eve. Roasted nuts figure prominently in much of the run up to the New Year. Baking incorporates myriad nuts—pecans, walnuts, almonds, pistachios, peanuts. People also serve savory roasted nuts across the season, sometimes embellished with honey and spices. It’s glorious.
Our Toasted Almond Fruit Tea conveys the season’s nuttiness, but it also includes apples and cinnamon pieces—both of them signature ingredients for autumn and early winter. To this magnificent blend we also add beetroot, for vivid red seasonal color.
Tea Rituals: Sunday Centering with Hua Mao Feng Jasmine Green Tea
Weekdays are so busy. Saturdays, too, often bring with them loads of activity. But then there’s Sunday. That’s the day we love setting aside for quiet, calming endeavors. Reading a book, while curled up on a couch. Making muffins, and nibbling them warm while sipping tea. Knitting. Chatting with far-flung family members—FaceTime-style.
For our Sundays, we love brewing Hua Mao Feng Jasmine green tea. This tea from China’s Sichuan Province has been consumed since the Song Dynasty—1,200 years ago! In Chinese, hua mao feng means “flower mountain top,” with “top” referring to it being the highest grade of Chinese tea. Artisans in Sichuan perfume this spectacular green tea with jasmine flowers, which sit with the tea for so long that the tea absorbs the pungent, floral aromas. The tea, too, gets decorated with fresh jasmine blossoms. This grand tea is an aromatic gift to your senses, and is as beautiful as it is delicious. Perfect for the Sunday centering ritual!
