Tea in the Arctic

The permafrost in the office where I work has me going out in search of a warm mug every couple of hours. That combined with stress and a relative lack of sleep had me drinking too much coffee daily. I was jittery in the afternoon, restless at night, and a zombie in the morning. So I cut it out. Now it’s tea, preferably caffeine free or low caffeine, on rare occasions a lemon-scented black I like or black chai. Bags, not lattes. Here are my favorites so far:

Yogi Tea’s Vanilla Hazelnut – gorgeous, delicious, snuggle-up flavor. You’ll never want to leave. The packaging sends mixed messages with a story from an Alpine cottage alternating with healthy living pointers from South Asian gurus, but it doesn’t really matter. Serve as suggested with milk and honey. Yum.

Harney & Sons Vanilla Grapefruit White Tea – One of two rival independent coffee shops sells this tea by the cup, but not in bulk, so I thought at first they made it themselves (they do roast their own coffee) and it just wasn’t available through any other way. Then I noticed the guy taking the bag out of the normal paper packaging, so I asked to see it. Lo and behold, a commercial brand, findable on the internet even. I used to think white teas were for wusses who couldn’t take green tea flavor, but they’re just different. Delicate, nuanced, and this one is simply lovely.

I guess I like vanilla in my tea. Back in my old haunt, I was partial to the vanilla orchid black whose sales benefitted a local food bank.