Buddha Teas
Recently, I received a couple of boxes of tea from Buddha Teas. Being my Instagram followers and liking my photos immensely, they decided to give me a small present - their beautiful teas. And I decided to write a blog post about them. Before I start, I wanted to say, that I am an avid lover of LOOSE LEAF teas. Loose leaf high quality teas is what I drink every day, all day, without any exception. When I say tea I also mean Camellia Sinensis rather than herbal teas. So if my choice for TEA is strictly loose leaf, for herbal tisanes I am ok with teabags for convenience and comfort.
The first thing I noticed about Buddha teas is their packaging... Mmmmmm.... It looked really good, and it felt really good to touch it too. The box was sturdy and robust, and conveyed the message of quality. The actual tea bag fit neatly and precisely in its paper wrapping. It looked like the dimensions were measured up to a millimetre, and I loved that too somehow! Sorry, I got carried away with processing the photo of it, so it does look like an enlightening and perfect tea bag. :))) Well, it is in some way, as each tea bag contains a message on the label to enlighten your spirit. Mine was saying: "Laugh at your mistakes". Thank you! It's definitely a good reminder!
Their teabags are also made from Unbleached materials, which is also a good feature - at least if you drink this tea, it will not be a chemical soup in a cup, but a more natural brew. Although I still feel and firmly believe that tea leaves need to stretch and express their beauty to us through their little dance in the water. And to be able to dance they need one thing. FREEDOM! Freedom to move, and turn and twist, and swirl, and do all kind of dance movements they need to do to share their essence! But again, this is in my humble opinion, other people can think differently, and that is what I love about it. We are all unique and feel life around us in a different way. And it's better to drink tea in a teabag, than not to drink it at all!
Well, I had two boxes of tea - Camomile and Earl Grey. Can you guess, which one I drank with most pleasure? It was Camomile tea. I liked its golden colour of infusion, its aroma, taste, its silkiness. So I was inspired to make a lot of photos of it. Not so with Earl Grey. In my Tea Tours, especially the South Bank tour, I talk about Earl Grey tea. It has to be made with Citrus Bergamot Oil, which only grows in Southern provinces if Italy, a little bit in France and a little bit in Turkey. And with the tea that contains this citrus bergamot oil, when opening a tea bag, or a box of tea, we are met with the unmistakingly familiar aroma of citrus. It's difficult to confuse it with anything else. It's there. However, because citrus bergamot is used mainly in medicine and cosmetics, not much of it goes to tea. So a lot of producers add chemical flavourings or a bergamot herb (which is not a citrus bergamot, there is a difference). Buddha teas add a real oil of bergamot, that is what it says on the packaging. But I really didn't catch that orangy citrus aroma or taste I usually get from Earl Greys that use citrus bergamot oil. So I really can't comment on this more. And anyway, as I said in the beginning of this post, for me, Camellia Sinensis leaf must be brewed in total and complete freedom for me to like it. That's why I had my total LOVE for Camomile tea, which is a herbal tisane, and was quite indifferent, and even cold, to Earl Grey. Again, it's my personal preference, my particularity, that I stand by in my life.
Regardless of the taste and my own personal preferences, I liked the quality of customer service, the passion of people behind Buddha Teas and small messages to brighten up the day contained with each tea bag. And packaging! When I see these two boxes of Earl Grey and Camomile teas next to each other, I am reminded of the Yin and Yang. And it makes me smile.
