Acquiring a New Tea

Yesterday, I had a 10:00 a.m. district council meeting for my church just north of Auburn Hills, MI.  Great Lakes Crossing - Michigan's Largest Outlet Center - is in Auburn Hills.  As I passed the outlet I determined I'd stop on my way home.

At 12:30 p.m., on a wintry, January day, it wasn't crowded.  Just the way I like to shop!

The first store I approached was Teavana - a store with marketing savvy.  A sales lady was standing at the door to offer me a sample of their "featured tea of the day" as I entered the store.

The featured tea was "Winterberry".  Had I not tasted it, I never would have known to purchase it. It was delicious, and very aromatic.  Winterberry is a blend of two of Teavana's teas - Strawberry Grapefruit Green Tea and Strawberry Lemonade Herbal Tea. Another wise marketing strategy - you have to by two teas in order to make the Winterberry tea!

It was so good I opted to purchase 2 oz. of each - which totaled $21.26 for 4 oz. of tea! Teavana's teas are definitely not cheap, but they're usually very good. The sales lady suggested packaging them separately to give me the opportunity to determine the ratios according to my taste preference.  She suggested 1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons of each.

The wonderful aroma of the dry leaf even permeated the dense paper bags with plastic Saran-like linings.  

I noticed they carry Matcha.  While I didn't purchase any yesterday, it's on my list of future purchases.

I made the Winterberry tea for breakfast this morning based on Teavana's suggested ratios. It was very good, but for the next steeping I will cut back a little on the Strawberry Lemonade to eliminate the slightly tart edge.   Since it's made with half green tea, I'm anxious to see if it will yield a second steep.  The red color of strawberries comes through in the steeped tea.

Below is the infused leaf.

After leaving Teavana, I went to TJ Maxx, Talbots, and Nine West.  I found something in each store... tomorrow's post.