Beyond the Pinot Noir: Tea Gifts for Thanksgiving Hosts
The host roasts the turkey, mashes the potatoes, assembles the stuffing, bakes the pies. Guests? They tend to bring wine. Which, of course, is fine. We’re not about to bash the introduction of a bottle of pinot noir to a Thanksgiving gathering.
But we’ve got a more creative idea. Show up with a gift of loose-leaf tea. Maybe an infuser for brewing. Include a note offering steeping instructions and recommendations for a perfect time to sip the elixir. Customize the present for the host—let her know you appreciate the toil she invested in crafting the epic feast.
You could write something like, “Brew this beautiful tea in the early afternoons during the long holiday season. Let it coax you into a meditative pause, invite it to help you slow down and be present in the moment. Small ceremonies like this enrich our spirits, and improve our days.”
Offer her classic Camellia sinensis teas, ones she probably has never tried before. Many of our Camellia sinensis blends are especially novel. Imagine that the selections open her eyes to the glories of tea, and galvanize a passion for diving deeper into our favorite beverage. Just one simple thank-you gift could spark a lifelong relationship with an ancient, global beverage.
With Thanksgiving arriving in just two weeks, it’s time to start getting ready. Compared to hosting the meal, picking up a loose-leaf present registers as a minor effort, but one yielding immense advantages. And if your home serves as this year’s Thanksgiving destination, then consider picking up special teas for yourself. You most definitely deserve it!
Thanksgiving Host Gifts: Silk Road Pear and Date Black
This tea delivers such a bounty of rich flavor—every time we sip it, we feel spoiled. Our Silk Road Pear and Date black tea begins with quality black tea. But then we add pear, date, apple, carrot flakes, blackberry leaf and lemon verbena to the blend. The result is a luxurious flavor bomb, a tea that never fails to remind us about the pleasures of our favorite beverage. A stunning, perfect gift for Thanksgiving hosts. We love sipping this one first thing in the morning.
Thanksgiving Host Gifts: Mango Sticky Rice Green
This gem contains four types—yep, a trifecta!—of classic Camellia sinensis teas: green, pu-erh, oolong and a whisper of matcha. Each of them adds its own notes: floral, grassy, honeyed and so on. The rest of the ingredients round out the sticky rice effect, in winning fashion: toasted rice, mango, peach, peach blossom, calendula and sunflower. We even dust the blend with Japanese matcha! If you’ve ever tasted mango sticky rice, chances are you became an instant fanatic. Now savor that same marvelous juxtaposition of flavors with this beautiful tea. We adore this tea any time of the day, but find we especially gravitate toward it mid-morning.
Thanksgiving Host Gifts: Empress Garden Oolong Blend
This blend keeps things simple—and that’s one of its superpowers. Both oolong and black tea anchor our Empress Garden oolong blend, a tea that has become a Ku Cha crowd favorite. The rest of the blend includes lychee, vanilla, cornflower and an especially important component: osmanthus flower. People in the United States don’t often encounter osmanthus, but it’s extremely common in China and other parts of Asia. Osmanthus introduces apricot, peach skin and honey notes to the teas it touches. We thrill to sipping oolongs in the afternoons, as will the lucky recipient of this tea gift.
Thanksgiving Host Gifts: Japanese Yuzu Green
Gift this beauty to a Thanksgiving host, and the recipient might quickly pick up a green tea habit. It’s that good. Japan offers intriguing green teas, from matcha to sencha and hojicha. This kukicha green tea on its own will please any sipper. But the addition of yuzu and its unique citrus qualities renders this tea notably unique. We brew our Japanese Yuzu Green across busy afternoons, providing us light fuel and plenty of deliciousness to get through the day.
Thanksgiving Host Gifts: Chiyogami Decorative Tin
Make your tea gift even more special by placing it in one of our spectacular Chiyogami decorative tins. Japanese artisans began crafting Chiyogami, a kind of paper art, in the early 17th century. Its name comes from the Japanese words chiyo (thousand generations or long life) and kami (paper). People traditionally use the colorful, patterned paper for decorating small household items, lining boxes, making paper dolls and more. When we found these tins swaddled in Chiyogami, we ordered them immediately. They’re enchanting, practical and perfect gifts!
