3 Teas to Drink to Stay Warm this Winter
This winter has been the coldest one in a while, with many areas reaching record low temperatures. With such an extreme winter, the piercing cold can take its toll not only physically, but also psychologically. With subzero temperatures, a commute can feel like a climb to the summit of Mount Everest. Stepping outside can feel like stepping into a deep freeze. Even acts as simple as getting out of bed every morning can feel burdensome and impossible. With the holidays behind us, as sad as it is to say, much of the sparkle and festive feel of cold weather that is lent to winter by holiday season imagery is gone by this time of the year. Unfortunately, what is left can feel bleak and dreary. The good news is, it doesn’t have to. Tea is the perfect way to break up the drudgery of winter life. The warm liquid works wonders on a cold body and is able to revive the spirits more than perhaps any other source of warmth.
Below are three teas that we feel are perfect for sipping throughout the winter. Their rich flavours, bold bodies, and most importantly their ability to recover the drinker from seasonal pessimism make them ideal choices for cold weather tea sessions. We hope you enjoy our recommendations, and as always, if you have your own cold weather tea recommendations, please let us know what they are in the comments below.
If I could choose only one word to describe this tea, it would be the word decadent. In every way this tea hits the sweet spots of those looking for the perfect winter tea. A full body brought to the table by a black tea base is accented by being blended with real pieces of vanilla bean and calendula petals. The result is a fragrant and luscious tea aroma that fills a room with a warming vanilla scent.
The sweetness of the vanilla in this tea blended black tea helps to cover any mistakes that could result from overbrewing the black tea base. When over brewed, black tea can give an unpleasant bitter character to the finished cup. In the winter, there is nothing more satisfying than a strong cup of tea, but it can sometimes be a struggle trying to balance a strong cup of tea without making one that is overly bitter. The sweet vanilla in our vanilla cream tea ensures that you can enjoy a strong cup of tea on a cold winter day without having to endure a bitter sludge in your cup.
We really feel that our vanilla cream tea hits the spot in the winter weather and we believe that you will enjoy drinking it throughout the colder months of the year.
It may come as no surprise to see that our second recommendation is a black tea like the first. Black tea’s robust flavours and dry profile, matched with a bold body make it one of the perfect bases for winter teas. Unlike the last option however, our ambassador blend is a blend of only black tea, and not a blend of black tea and other ingredients. Similar to English Breakfast in that it only uses black teas from different origins for its blend, our ambassador blend has a rich and inviting aroma.
The flavour profile of this tea is reminiscent of fall leaves, with some creamy nuttiness throughout the tea and a thick body. The colour is a beautiful reddish brown when poured into the cup, and the tea’s smooth texture is contrasted by a bright tannic acidity that adds interest and complexity. The flavours of this tea blend help to provide a much needed escape from colder weather and assist in warming the body through a cold winter.
When brewing, the leaves of this magnificent blend open up to fully release their flavour into the cup. Compared to the last tea, the ambassador blend is a bit more sensitive to overbrewing as it does not have the sweetness of the vanilla to hide any mistakes that might have been made in the brewing process. To avoid making a bitter and unpleasant cup of this tea, pay close attention to brew times and remove the leaves at the end of the desired time. For black tea, it is recommended to brew between 3-5 minutes depending on how strong you want the final cup to be.
The Ambassador Blend has a lot of meaning to us here at Herbal Republic. Inspired by the father of our founder and store owner Anita, this tea is associated with warm memories of family and loved ones. We hope that the tea inspires love and warmth among whoever drinks it and we hope that it will mean as much to you as it does to us.
Late last year we did a post featuring our Mokka Rooibos. While that tea is perfectly suited to warm weather and provides much needed warmth and richness, we have talked about it quite a bit on the blog as of late. That’s why for the third and final recommendation I decided to go with a tea that falls under the radar a lot on the blog, and one that truly does deserve more attention.
The tea I’m referring to is the Organic Red Rooibos. For the third recommendation I wanted to find a tea that wasn’t a black tea, in order to show that other tea families can provide similar warmth and texture to warm up those who drink it. The Black tea family is truly wonderful at this and in all honesty, any black tea that we carry could have easily found itself on this list of recommendations. I was wracking my brain to find a tea that could best show warming qualities outside of the black tea family and I was browsing through the Herbal Republic product pages when I finally came across this wonderful organic tea.
Rooibos truly is an amazing herbal tea. Naturally sweet, rooibos will never get bitter from overbewing. This means that no matter how long you brew the tea, or how hot your water is, your rooibos will retain its sweet flavours. The nuttiness and remarkably smooth texture of this wonderful and sustainably grown tea are comforting and warming, perfectly suited for drinking in the coldest of weather.
With the coldest part of the year upon us, we owe it to ourselves to keep warm and happy. Tea is a perfect vehicle to use in order to accomplish this, and taking our recommendations means that you will be able to get more enjoyment out of the winter months and break up the monotony of the cold day.