I couldn’t quite believe the recent news that coffee-giant Starbucks is planning to open its first tea-only store in the autumn. The tea shop will open near the company’s headquarters in Seattle and will feature the US tea Tazo brand that Starbucks acquired over 12 years ago.
According to reports in The Seattle Times the new Starbucks will sell a variety of hot teas, iced teas and tea lattes and they insist that their store will be more like a wine-tasting environment, encouraging customers to experiment with different tea blends and flavours. Starbucks are also hoping that the new customers will also make the most of the store’s USP; a blending station where customers can create their own Tazo tea blends.
This got me thinking about my favourite beverage (yes, for the record, it IS tea) and here’s my top 3 tasty teas that I’d recommend everyone to try!
- I love Lancashire tea. Much like Yorkshire tea but much less famous, this tea is my favourite choice for a standard cuppa. As a long-term Lancashire resident, I can’t bring myself to drink Yorkshire tea, so even now I live in the south I have remained loyal and I go the extra mile to hunt out my tea of choice (it keeps popping up in Family Bargains and Poundland, so I’m happy with those prices!). I’m also collecting the tokens on the packet to earn myself a retro map of Lancashire, what I’ll do with it I have no idea, but I’ve got enough packets stashed in my cupboards to complete the set of tokens, so I can’t wait to get my freebie!
- My preferred drink for an afternoon pick-me-up (not coffee, bleurgh!) is Mr Scruff’s Make Us a Brew – Look Lively tea. It’s a funky green colour and I add a splash of milk to mine so it looks kind of odd but it tastes lovely and it reminds me of drinking tea with my hubby as a student at Teacup in Manchester. Available from www.mrscruff.com its organic and yummy, and my friend even bought me Mr Scruff badges for Christmas cos she knew how much I love it!
- Tastiest of all is Lipton Morocco Infusion tea which is packed full of spices with cinnamon and mint and I drink mine with a little honey for a smooth warming drink – great for soothing your throat when you have a tickly cough. In fact, this is the only fruit/herbal tea that I really like, as I find most of them to be too wishy-washy for me, but this one is punchy and delicious!
Give these teas a try, I’m sure you’ll enjoy them 🙂
