Thanksgiving Teas to Brighten the Feast and Ease the Indulgence
The Thanksgiving feast itself is not exactly a celebration of tea. And we aren’t about to launch a campaign to make it one. Among the holiday’s many lovable facets stands a few especially stout ones—including tradition.
That said, teas absolutely can make supporting-role appearances during the day-long gathering. Tea can help keep us awake—it’s a multi-hour spectacle of conviviality, cooking, eating, drinking and cleaning up. Our favorite beverage also can offer flavors that accent the spirit of the meal—pumpkin spice, after all, dwells within the culinary heart of the holiday. Dessert teas, too, can easily find a home during Thanksgiving.
No matter how you celebrate this special gathering—with family, or opting for a “friendsgiving”—we hope this year’s floods you with love, contentment and lots of gratitude.
And when the holiday draws to a close, another one rises up immediately—the end-of-December holidays. The day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, you might begin your annual hunt for gifts. If so, we’ve got ideas! Read about them in this newsletter.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving Tea: Earl Grey Superior (Organic)
Citrus plays a role during Thanksgiving—if nothing else, it often perfumes the gravy. Bright citrus helps cut through fat, and Thanksgiving delivers quite a bit of that—turkey legs and thighs, drippings-dense gravy, mashed potatoes and stuffing saturated with butter, pie crust.
The pre-gaming, too, embraces food’s fat side. During the football games, there’s cheddar crackers, and balls of blue cheese; spiced nuts roasted in butter; dips heavy on sour cream.
We think organic Earl Grey Superior, with its punch of bergamot citrus, balances the holiday’s fat with aplomb—especially the hours prior to sitting down at the table. People might not desire a cuppa’ with their turkey and cranberry sauce. But while they’re plowing through handfuls of those spiced nuts, this tea will sing, in harmony, with the fatty foods laid out on the platters.
In addition, the Sri Lankan black tea used as the base offers astringent qualities that stand up to the rivers of fat. All traditional teas, in fact, present sippers with different measures of astringency.
Thanksgiving Tea: Pumpkin Pie Blend
Need we say more? Pumpkin pie and turkey are Thanksgiving-iconic. Emojis with either stand in for the holiday. Where the turkey revels in savory and umami overload, pumpkin pie enjoys sultry sweet creaminess, and bold spices.
Our popular Pumpkin Pie blend hinges on real pumpkin. Score! It also contains apple, almond and beetroot (for upped autumnal vibes) and rooibos, the South African tea with earthy notes and thirst-quenching electrolytes. And then there’s the spices: cinnamon, cardamom, coriander and clove.
It’s a perfect Thanksgiving tea, to be savored during the hours leading up to the big sit-down, or spiked with honey and cream and enjoyed as dessert along with a slice of pumpkin pie.
Thanksgiving Tea: Vanilla Rooibos
After you’ve swabbed your last forkful of mashed potatoes through gravy—while picking up a little sage-pumped stuffing along the way—it’s time for dessert. Pumpkin pie. Apple pie. Ice cream. More pies.
This is no time for a bold Darjeeling or complex oolong, in our opinion. Skip those treasures in favor of a proper dessert tea. Here’s a perfect choice.
This beauty rests on a foundation of rooibos—the same South African tea that bolsters the Pumpkin Pie blend above. Rooibos is earthy and delightful—healthy, too. To that we add calendula, which contributes a little woodiness and herbal qualities to the blend. It also brings soft color, hints of gold, to the final brew. Then comes two keys: real almond slivers and vanilla. As almond and vanilla dance in so many autumnal desserts, this blend serves as an ideal Thanksgiving dessert companion.
