A Solitary Tea Party . . .

I went out to meet a very good friend of mine the other day whom I hadn't seen in quite some time.  I had been told that I would be receiving a surprise gift and I was in anxious curiosity.  Now, with this friend anything is possible... I had no clue what to expect.  When we encountered one another, my friend had a large lump sticking out of their sweater. I tried to guess as to it's secretive nature but failed.  When we finally sat down, tea in hand, my friend pulled out a medium sized red paper bag. It had a strange little insignia on it.. like someone sitting cross legged on the floor holding a bowl in their lap.  I hadn't the faintest idea as to the surprise that awaited me. So flush cheeked and excited, I peeked into the bag and found two paper sacks and a tall cylinder which all bore this same queer bowl-laden person shape.  Whatever could it be? I asked myself, looking questioningly at the friend opposite me. They smiled and beckoned me to investigate. I pulled out the following: 

small paper bags of??

What could be in the cylinder container?

 I spread the items out in front of me and upon closer inspection, discovered the marvelous nature of the gift I had been presented with. The two small paper sacks were diverse aromatically and when I looked inside, I beheld two very different things.  The first packet, labelled Jade Dragon Mao Feng contained a very large portion of loose leaf green tea.  The second sack was labelled "Pineapple Kiwaii" and contained over a dozen little balls which meant only one thing... blooming tea!!!  I was completely thrown... Never before had I been given such a wonderful gift. But wait.. there was more!

My friend persuaded me to open the cylindrical canister and my eyes beheld a most interesting sight. I turned the canister over and out came the most deliciously red travel mug (of sorts) that I had ever seen.  It too bore the intriguing insignia that the packages and cylinder had. My friend informed me that these items were products from a store called Teavana and had been purchased for me by one of their employees- in fact, my dear friend. I stared, mouth agape at my comrade, not yet fully able to grasp the situation. This friend knows me quite well, and in understanding how much an avid tea drinker I am, came up with the most perfect of gifts for this fine tea-swigging-blogger! Check out my Teavana swag below!!

It is called... the Contour Tumbler

The visual description of the  product inside the cylinder :D

Isn't it just beautiful??!!

The drinking top is a circle with a push button in the middle..
when you push the button, the bottom of the lid opens and lets the tea through.
It's really a neat design! 

A million thank you's were given that day, and a million more to follow throughout the week and even now I have to say.. THANK YOU!! 

I'm currently drinking a "tumbler" full of the tea brewed from the loose leaf green Jade Dragon etc and I have to say, it's very tasty.  I'm not a huge lover of green tea but this one has a very nice subtle flavour to it that is unlike any green tea I've tried. It's like if you took green tea and sweetened milk and blended them together... it isn't very dark but it is rather flavourful. It sits nicely on the tongue and leaves the pallet sort of silkily coated... does that even make sense for a clear liquid?  Anyway, I strongly suggest any tea drinker try this.. even if you don't like green tea- it doesn't taste grass-like or vegetal like some generic ones do... 

I'm also very happy to say that I made the tea about an hour and 20 minutes ago, and the tumbler has kept it very hot - though I burnt my tongue in anticipation-  while the outside of the container is almost cold to the touch.  All in all, I am quite pleased with this gift and I hope to get into drinking more loose leaf along with my bagged teas.  

Something else worth mentioning... when you take out the tea basket post steeping you have to find a place for it and now it's wet and will be dripping tea from the steeped leaves until it is emptied.. but never fear!  The makers of this innovative travel companion intelligently created the basket bottom and the stainless cap to be complimentary. Which means that when you pull out the dripping be-leafed basket, it can rest inside the upturned cap (if desired). I thought it was a pretty neat invention... I'm the type to pull out the tea bag and leave it sitting atop of a napkin for hours. Now, no mess and no fuss.. just pull out the basket and sit it into the upside down cap in wait for re-infusion or cleaning. Check it out.. soo cute n'est pas?

The stainless cap.. and the tea basket

The tea basket sitting in the stainless cap :)

So now I sit completely contented... laptop in front of me, Anne of the Island to my right and my new Teavana Contour Tea Tumbler in my hand as the perfect tool for my Tea Party of One :D 

I'm going to review the tea i'm drinking on steepster.com and see what the folks are saying tea-wise on the world wide web.  If you want more info on this tea drinking experience feel free to comment or e-mail.. 

XOXO

C