to a tea

Hello, hello, hope you're having a beautiful morning! I personally love the early hours of day. Not only is it a time when my energy levels are naturally at their peak (yes, I'm that girl) and my favorite meal takes place, but it's also filled with serene yet invigorating solo moments, Danielle time, (as Miss Gena would say). One of the most enjoyable parts of my A.M. routine are spent with a cup of tea, usually green, and in the past few days specifically BourgeTEA.

Chris, the creator of BourgeTEA, contacted me a couple of weeks ago to see if I would like to sample his products. I, obviously, did not hesitate to say yes. Not only am I an avid tea drinker, but I was also looking forward to supporting his brand which began on a university campus similar to the one I left. He saw an opportunity to create quality tea, of which had been lacking, and he went ahead, made, distributed, and sold them himself. Since then he has continued to grow, changing the stigma of tea and tea drinkers and creating a product that has become an "amazing, flavorful resource."

The exciting story alone was enough to make me excited to review these teas, but then I also got to break out this little guy. All BourgeaTEAs are high quality loose leaf, meaning that those beautiful jars are filled with dried hand-picked buds and pieces of whole tea leaves, and that one must brew them in a special tea pot or mug with a filter. Each day last week, I either added Green Citrus or Lucari Chai to the filter in the pot above along with boiling water from my stove-top kettle. Then, after about 5 minutes of letting it steep, the true taste-testing began. Let me please first say that I don't often like citrus-flavored anything nor chai teas.

But I absolutely loved them both. The wonderful thing about larger loose leaf teas (as opposed to the ones in tea bags) is that the flavor is more subtle yet full. And, that once I brewed a pot, I had many cups to enjoy throughout the morning. Green tea is my tea of choice, but I highly doubt that the other black, white, and rooibos selections would be any less delicately tasty. Still, I thought I'd shed some light on the healing properties of teas that are green-most importantly the highest concentration of antioxidants, which have been attributed with reducing the development of many health problems including cancer and heart disease. 

For me, drinking tea has become a daily experience, one that I usually prefer to an A.M. coffee (unless the latter is needed), but I do have concerns about it's environmental impact. As a result of the breadth of high quality flavor combinations, many teas are cultivated in rugged and remote areas of the world where biodiversity is usually at it's highest. Organic teas are grown in a sustainable manner, while all others risk soil degradation and a reduction in species. Also, in extremely unfortunate cases, wood used in drying the tea leaves can lead to deforestation. Quite a lot of information to ponder, I know.

Will I continue to drink my BourgeTEA? Of course. I am blown away by how much pleasure I truly derive from these teas, especially the the Lucrai Chai (a blend of bright, exotic Viet Nam Mekong Cinnamon, Sri Lankan Green Tea, Indian spiced Chai, and pineapple). Nevertheless, due to the tea's involved preparation and my limited time, I doubt that it will become a consistent habit. It may simply remain a weekend treat with the ever-constant glorious breakfast bowl of oats. Thank you for the samples, Chris! I look forward to Friday morn.


Are you a tea-drinker yourself? Or is coffee more your thing? Tell me why :).