Gift shopping season is upon us, teahearts! With so many incredible humans of all types in our orbits, we truly delight in pairing just the right tea with each personality! This year, I’ve rounded up my top ten teas for ten of our favorite friend archetypes. Find your friends below, and let me know if I’ve missed any big ones!
We should all be so lucky to have a friend who introduces us to the finest of chocolates, wines, cheeses, preserves, and so on. I have a friend like this. His name is Rich, and he spoils the tea crew with exciting new flavors, talking at length about the origins and processing styles which make each treat special. For the haute foodie friend, I can think of no better counter-spoiling gift than our Teaneer Nilgiri black tea. This rare and unusual style hails from the south of India and is left whole, large, and twisted rather than cut and used for breakfast teas as most of the region’s tea tends to be. The farmers on the Teaneer estate work in harmony with the earth, water patterns, and lunar cycles. They have a symbiotic relationship with their cattle and their tea pluckers, and it really shows in the tea. This black tea behaves like an oolong, offering an ever-evolving flavor profile with notes of stonefruit and magnolia blossom!
What is tea for, if not taking care of one another? Our Okinawa Tonic is beloved of health-conscious drinkers, as it follows a classic Okinawan formula for lowering blood pressure, blood sugar, and inflammation. All that, AND it’s super delicious! Tropical East Asian flavors shine here: turmeric and hibiscus, jasmine and chicory, all in a green and white tea base. The final blend is refreshing and well-balanced without being too fancy-shmancy. A great everyday sipper that will have your loved ones feeling great in their bodies and their taste buds!
Oh-la-la! Who’s the spicy, saucy romantic in your life? Treat them to an extra tasty reading sesh with the gift of Smut-Tea! This carnal concoction boasts a rich purple hue with a seductive sparkle. Slippery elm and marshmallow root bring a soothingly seductive throat-coat function, and the irresistible aroma of cardamom and rose will lend extra immersion to their scandalous storytime. Relaxing and rousing all at once!
An ideal gift for your type-A darlings, Memory Booster is a tasty tea as packed with cognitive support as it is with flavor. Form AND function? Hello! The organizer friend’s favorite combination! We adore the smooth minerality of Pinhead Gunpowder green tea, and it balances perfectly in this blend against bright blueberry, cleansing ginkgo biloba, and herbaceous rosemary. A favorite of Friday’s mother, Dr. Elliott, and sure to be a welcome addition to the (probably impeccable) tea collection of that beloved human who makes your life easier with their datebook, keen mind, and ever-ready notepad.
Remember those sunny Saturday mornings as a kid? The ones with big bowls of sugar cereal and a fantastic cartoon lineup? Now think of the incredible person in your life who makes you feel like that when they’re around. Childlike energy is infectious and precious, and we’re ready to celebrate it! The ideal gift for the kid at heart is our Rohan’s Research Blend. It tastes like sunshine and cereal milk, was inspired by a super sweet kiddo in our neighborhood, and $3 of every ounce is donated to the Association for Creatine Deficiency Research to help kids like Rohan keep living their best, most joyful lives!
Do you think we’d leave the luxe off this list? As if! The queen diva of your life deserves the glitziest, sparkliest, spiciest tart little fruit of a cuppa, and we’re here to provide! III. For the Crown is fit for a princess. Top-shelf gold-tipped black tea leaves from Nepal form a twisted nest of exquisite color and texture. Cradled in that nest is a party of real raspberry pieces, smooth corn silk, all tied together with a chili-honey combo and a heavy hit of edible gold glitter. This tea is a showstopper from start to finish, sure to stun your diva!
The ultimate “call your mother” tea, Proof of Life is a nod to the mom friend in a jasmine green & black tea with serious lemon-raspberry cake inspiration. Cheerful, homey, one-of-a-kind and inviting. If quality time and checking in on one another were a tea, it would be this one. Show your mom friends some love and say hi with this tea. They’ll be so happy you did.
If you are blessed enough to have the consummate host friend in your life, you know what it is to feel profoundly welcome. This human is a gift to all, and deserves the ultimate comfort tea: Warm Wishes. Smooth cinnamon and buttery white tea combine with aromatic crushed cardamom, orange peel and clove to create a splendid simmer pot experience. A touch of ancho chili brings the sweet heat in a delicate background way, offering the impression of a thick knitted blanket about the shoulders and a sincere smile from a dear friend. This is not only the coziest tea, it’s also the friendliest! Sure to delight as a host gift, and find great use in the cupboard of the consummate host.
Three cheers for the gods of gift cards! An easy pickup for that last-minute party addition, secret santa, host gifting, thank-you cards, and myriad other applications! The classic gift card is no cop-out, though we know a lot of y’all are the desperate last-minute slackers. Look at it this way: you’re giving the gift of choice. You’re giving the gift of opportunity by opening the door to literally hundreds of incredible teas and letting your giftee choose their own delicious adventure! TBH, there’s no bad way to use a gift card, and with options ranging from $10 to $200, you can range from stocking stuffer to extravagant expenditure as you please!
Happy shopping, happier holidays, and happiest sipping!
xoxo, Friday
1 comment
Oh my gosh, now I’m imagining teas for more of my friends! Something with spruce tips for my snow bunny Sister-in-law, or something with lots of umami for my mushroom obsessed science friend. Something with lots of caffeine and sparkles for the holiday party friend!