2013 Christmas Gifts for Tea Lovers: Gifts under $20

So perhaps you got that quiet lady who sits in the corner for your office Kris Kringle or perhaps you have a friend or family member who loves tea or perhaps you'd like to get someone addicted to tea! Either way, I have trawled through the best of the net to bring you the ultimate tea lovers gift giving guide. This year, to ensure we stick to our budgets and because I found sooooo many lovely things, I'm going to bring you a series of guides based on price. Today it is the best gifts under $20! Enjoy!

Mulled Wine Tea $9.83 by Bluebird Tea Co.

Who doesn't love a nice big mug of mulled wine or even mulled cider when it's chilly outside. Ok, so maybe not for an Australian Christmas but if like me you do enjoy those flavours then this might be a great tea to try. If you like chai then you'll probably enjoy this tea too! Heed caution with customs as this tea contains some fruit pieces.

Miniature Spoon Necklace $9.02 by Hannah Makes Things

How adorable is this cute little necklace pendant. It would make a great gift for a quirky jewellery lover who also happens to enjoy tea and possibly antiquities, or should that be an-tea-qui-teas!

Blue Tea Cup Earrings $9.93 by Jodie Anna

Continuing on the jewellery theme how about these cute but quirky tea cup earrings! Or...

Gold Tea Cup Ring $19.85 by Lisa Angel

...This very Alice in Wonderland golden tea cup ring.

Earl Grey Lipbalm $5.86 from Sweet Cecily's

Umm, yum! Tea that you can wear and smell and maybe even kiss! What tea lover wouldn't appreciate tea flavoured lip balm. What a lovely invention and it sure beats your regular run of the mill flavoured lip balms. 

Christmas Cup Cosy $10.80 from Cookie Crochet

Does someone you know never get to finish their tea because by the time they get around the drinking the rest it's gone cold? If so then this is the perfect gift. This crochet cup cosy fits over disposable cups and the good news is that if this holly design doesn't do it for you they (Cookie Crochet) have tons of other designs, including some cute dogs and a cheeky monkey!

Tea Tote $17.95 by Snowdon Design and Craft

Let your tea loving friend share their passion by sending the world a tea-lightful message of hope. Where else would you put a message of hope than on a lovely multi-use canvas tote! Book bag, laptop bag, shopping bag, it's uses are only limited by your imagination.

Mr. Tea tea infuser $14.95 from Heart & Heim

I know you've often thought it would be cool to brew tea using your pants right? Well now you can, but not with your pants, with Mr. Tea's pants. Fill his silicone pants with your loose leaf tea, allow him to recline in your cup and pull him out when your tea is done. This would make a great gift along with some nice loose leaf tea.

Wedgewood English Breakfast Tea Caddy $7.95 from David Jones

Wedgewood is a brand synonymous with china, quality and lets face it, expensive old stuff. This pretty little tea caddy in the lovely shade of what's commonly known as Wedgewood blue would make a lovely little gift for someone and they'll never know it was under $10!

Dream tea cup and Saucer $14.95 from Myer

This whimsical little cup and saucer comes in a range of pastel colours. It is dainty and sweet perfect for a really girly girl tea lover or just someone who loves a lovely cup!

20 Times to Shine tea sampler $20 from T2

Got a $20 budget? This is perfect! Your receiver gets to sample 20 of T2's most popular teas all individually sealed to ensure freshness and no cross contamination. Just to name a few you'll get Chai, Chamomile, Gorgeous Geisha and Melbourne Breakfast. A great variety box!

Tielka Tea Collection $20 from Tielka

This beautifully presented gift collection of three lovely loose leaf teas from Tielka actually gives twice. Apart from being organic it is also Fairtrade which makes it a great gift for the ethical tea lover. Tielka are also an Australian based company and it's great to support home grown small business where possible. This collection comes in three varieties; dark, light and Rooibos. My favourite is the light collection which includes Moonlight White Tea, Rose Moscato Green Tea and Midnight Blossom Oolong.

Twinings Christmas Tea in tea caddy $10 from Woolworths

If you're in a rush for a gift and you have a $10 limit then this might be the gift for you. Presented in a nice keepsake tin is this christmasy black tea blend. There is also a caffeine free spiced apple Christmas blend in your gift receiver prefers a herbal blend.

Tea Time with Sophia Grace and Rosie $16.98 from Book Depository

Get them started young with this lovely book about taking tea by those two annoying British girls who seem to be on Ellen every day. Ok so maybe some people find them cutesy wootsy but I'm not one of them but that doesn't mean you can't buy this book for your little princess and share it over a cup of tea with her and ted!

Hopefully I have inspired you with these gift ideas under $20. Do you have a gift you need to buy for someone but you're not sure what to get? Let me know in the comments and I'll see if I can include it in my next post!

Stay tuned for gifts between $20 and $50 but in the meantime enjoy your tea!

It's Official; Tea Makes You Smarter!

Drink up friends! A new study has shown that regular tea consumption actually boosts your brain power. This includes both black and green tea. Regular tea drinkers are more alert and less tired according to this study. I know what you're thinking, it's the caffeine, however that's not entirely true. Best you read the article to find out more.

You can read the full article here from News.com.au

Also this article had such a lovely graphic that I had to share that too.

The only problem is that all the little sweet treats look more appealing than the tea!

A Brush With Royal-tea! Prince of Wales: A Tea Review

I couldn't resist the royal-tea pun after my brush with royalty this past week. It was the first time I have ever seen any members of the royal family and possibly will be the only time. A friend and I battled the crowds of over enthusiastic elderly royal fanatics, one of whom not only stole our spot but then provided everyone in her vicinity with a running commentary of events AND got on the television news. Have I mentioned before that luck doesn't seem to follow me. Anyhow, we saw Prince Charles and Camilla, albeit fleetingly, and I left feeling satisfied enough to be able to say that I've seen some of the Royal Family.

As the royal car approached the cliches began. The rowers started to row down the river and the little river cruise boats positioned themselves for the photos. It was as if they had rounded up every swan from the river and contained them to just the portion they would see. It made me chuckle as I wondered how annoying it must be for them to go everywhere and have everything constantly be a superficial show. Personally, I'd get tired of it very quickly. You couldn't pay me to be a royal. As the car slowly drove past us we had a peek inside and waved to Charles and Camilla. Something amazed me about seeing them in person; they looked better than on television. In fact, Camilla was a very beautiful woman for someone her age. The car pulled up not far from us and they jumped out and straight away started to shake peoples hands, after all they only had 10 minutes to greet around 500 people. We didn't get a hand shake but that didn't matter to us, we had seen the royals!

Now, on to the tea... Twining's produce a popular black tea blend known as Prince of Wales. The tea is not named after Prince Charles the current Prince of Wales but was named and blended for Prince Edward VIII, the Prince of Wales. You might think you have no idea who he is but really you do. Prince Edward VIII became King of England in 1936. He was King for less than a year due to his abdication involving his relationship with American divorcee Wallis Simpson. There was a recent film about their relationship, W.E, and they featured, well actors playing them, in the fantastic film The King's Speech. When Edward abdicated that meant his younger brother Albert was to become king, which he did. Our current Queen, Elizabeth II, is the daughter of Prince Albert, later known as King George VI. I should add that Prince of Wales is a title given to the person next in line for the throne, so one day you would imagine this title would go to Prince William.

Twining's blended their Prince of Wales tea in the 1920's. It is a mild black tea blend similar to English Breakfast however has a little more of a bold smooth flavour whereas English Breakfast, I feel, has a slightly sweet and smooth flavour. It is a nice afternoon tea. It is a popular blend and is readily available in the supermarket in both tea bags and loose leaf blends. If you enjoy English Breakfast and want a change without wandering too far then this blend fits the bill. Brew this tea at 100 degrees celsius for 2-4 minutes. If you brew for too long it will become bitter and loose it's smooth flavour.

The Verdict

Tea: Twining's Prince of Wales

Store: Most Supermarkets

Rating: 5/5

Comment: A great afternoon tea and a nice alternative to English Breakfast

Harrods Earl Grey - A Tea Review

I have to admit, I’ve never much been a fan of Earl Grey, the tea that is. Unfortunately I never met the man, he was a British PM in the 1830’s. The origins of the tea are disputed however it is regarded by the Grey family that Twinings were the original mass provider of the blend and yes, it was named after a man called Earl Grey.

Whenever I think of Earl Grey I for some reason see Nigella Lawson and hear her saying ‘citrusy bergamot’ in her sexy cooking voice. What on earth is a ‘citrusy bergamot’! Good question, thanks for asking. Well it turns out a Bergamot is simply a type of orange, grown predominantly in Italy for its oil and not juice, and Earl Grey tea is China black tea infused with the oil from the rind of this orange. It goes a long way in explaining why I’ve never been too fond of the brew, I don’t really like orange flavoured anything.

I can pinpoint the moment where I first developed a dislike of Earl Grey. I was at the house of an acquaintance and she very poorly made me a cup of tea, the unfortunate victim was Earl Grey. The teabag was steeped in that cup for such a long time that by the time the tea touched my lips the flavour was bitter and overly strong. I can remember that when she excused herself to use the bathroom I quickly tiptoed to the kitchen, poured some down the sink and added several spoonfuls of sugar then tiptoed back to the lounge where I continued to drink the hideous beverage under the watchful eyes of my host. I could not have simply poured the whole thing down the drain, that would have been far too obvious.

Fast forward five years and a lovely friend gave me a beautiful mug with a box of Earl Grey’s for my birthday. It was time to try again.

I boiled my kettle and prepared my cup. I placed the tea bag in and poured over the water. I pulled the tea bag out after what could only be described as the longest minute of my life. I wanted to start mildly. The ‘citrusy bergamot’ aroma wafted through the air and to my surprise was actually rather pleasant. Once the tea had cooled I tasted it; to my great surprise it was lovely!

Earl Grey wont replace English Breakfast as my go to black tea but it makes a very nice pick me up.

Where does Earl Grey take me when I close my eyes? Probably not where you’d expect, or maybe it is…

If you guessed riding on top of an elephant in British ruled India with a giant parasol, then you were correct! Maybe it's the spicy citrus flavour that makes me think of Indian food?

The Verdict

Tea: Earl Grey

Shop: Harrods - available instore, online or in Australia at selected David Jones stores

Rating: 4/5 if brewed correctly

Comment: Now we know what ‘citrusy bergamot’ is this tea makes more sense. An uplifting black tea that makes a nice change from the regular black tea blends such as English Breakfast. Steep your teabag for 1-2 minutes for a light and refreshing flavor.