Categories
Blog

Companies that Sell Loose Leaf Tea Samples

Let’s talk about tea companies that sell loose leaf tea samples.

So, you are interested in exploring loose leaf tea. Perhaps you are even interested in brewing with a gongfu cha approach. But, you aren’t sure where to get the tea or how to start looking.

I have some suggestions!

Categories
Blog Tasting Notes

Tea-Infused Chocolates to Delight

This post shares a handful of tea-infused chocolates to delight your palate, especially if you enjoy oolong or green tea.

Categories
Blog Tasting Notes

Tea and Buttery Cookie Pairings

Here are some tea pairings–black and green teas–to serve with cookies. I hope you will enjoy these and buttery cookie pairings as much as I do!

Winter is cookie season! Cookies are my absolute favorite dessert. Seriously, I could easily rattle off 10 or more “favorite cookies!”

Ceylon tea paired with Spritzgebäcken buttery cookies
Categories
Blog Events

Winter Rest Kit for Tea Lovers

Make it easy to enjoy restorative and mindful tea sessions with my online Winter Rest Kit for Tea Lovers!

Categories
Blog

My Top Tea Experiences of 2024

Instead of posting a list of my top teas for the year–especially since I published something like this not too long ago in my Surprise Teas of 2024 post-I thought I’d share my top tea experiences of 2024.

Before I share the list, I would like to clarify what I didn’t include on it.

I had tea sessions with friends in person and via Zoom that were really fun and, often, deeply meaningful in ways that are hard to share on a list like this. I didn’t include those. They felt too personal.

Categories
Blog Events

2025 Tea Festivals

Tea Lovers: Why not make attending one or more of the 2025 tea festivals a priority this year? This post shares 26 (and counting!) tea festival dates and locations in the USA, Canada, Europe, and Japan! [Last updated 1/16/25]

What is a Tea Festival?

Traci Levy (AKA Tea Infusiast)--a white woman with salt and pepper hair and glasses--smiling and showing jazz hands in front of the 2024 Toronto Tea Festival sign

Tea festivals are wonderful opportunities to connect with all things tea and other tea lovers.

As I wrote in “5 Tips for Attending Tea Festivals“:

Tea festivals are events open to the public (often requiring attendees to purchase tickets) that feature vendors and artisans (sometimes even producers) who sell tea, teaware, accessories, and related merchandise. They also usually sell tea sweets or other food items.

Categories
Blog Newsletter

Tea Infusiast News, No. 24

My monthly newsletter, Tea Infusiast News, is subscriber-only AND free.

In the December 2024 edition, No. 24:

You can’t tell from the table of contents, but this newsletter revealed the giveaway items before they were publicly announced AND they shared a sneak-peek at my early 2025 plans.

Subscribe To Tea Infusiast News

* indicates required

Intuit Mailchimp

Categories
Blog Events

The Power of CommuniTEA

My experience at an online tea event underscored the power of communiTEA–the magic that happens when we connect over tea in community.

I’m going to be real, Tea Friends. I have been struggling a bit. I have been scrambling to catch up–and trying get ahead–in my personal and professional life. An upcoming surgery has me discombobulated. Besides the stress of working more to prepare, fear around that event has been an unwelcome and too-constant companion. It has been really hard to process the fear and to allow space for other feelings.

Sunlight making a powerful light in a glass fairness pitcher full of tea

Meditating with others online helps. The practices I have learned as a meditation teacher help–particularly, to be with and breathe through my emotions. The charity tea event I recently held, Story of a Teacup 2024, also provided an unexpectedly wonderful boost.

Categories
Blog Newsletter

Tea Infusiast News, No. 23

My monthly newsletter, Tea Infusiast News, is now subscriber only.

It’s free. 

In the November 2024 edition, No. 23:

Tea Infusiast News has engaging tea content, special deals and advance notice for events, tea giveaways, etc. (The link to subscribe is below.)

Categories
Blog

Tea with a Buddhist Sister

I was blessed to enjoy a spontaneous session of tea with a Buddhist Sister at a recent mindfulness retreat.

Last weekend, I had a profound experience attending a two-day retreat. Adelphi University, near me, organized a program on its campus with monastics from Blue Cliff Monastery. The monastery “is a mindfulness practice center and monastic training center founded by the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, author, and peace activist…Thich Nhat Hanh.”

Image of a green clay teapot, a name tag from a mindfulness retreat that says "Deep Listening, Loving Action," a greeting card that says "Space" in calligraphy and has dried flowers on the front (sold by Blue Cliff Monastery), and a  card that says "Peace is every step."