MARCH TEASE

Share Your Thoughts!

If you haven't already, we'd love to hear what you think of your Tea Drops experience. An incredibly easy way to do this (and to help your Tea Drops community) is to leave a product review, right on our website. It will take less than a minute! Click here to see how to write a view on our Variety Boxes. 

Our journey involves continuously improving and customizing our teas to the needs of our drinkers so we appreciate any and all feedback. Whether you purchased a custom blend or a Mini Tea Drops box, we look forward to hearing from you! 

An Inside Peek At Tea Drops HQ!

Welcome! We are so happy to share our humble home certified home kitchen that we work out of each and every day. We wanted to share a glimse of the artistry, time, and love that goes into handcrafting each Tea Drop. 

We are situated in the beautiful Los Gatos foothills, which serves as both a calming and inspirational environment since we're surrounded by tall trees and rustic nature. Interestingly, our kitchen was first built in the early 1920's and has since been lovingly restored with modern conveniences, while still maintaining it's historic character. From our records, we found out that this home used to be the former summer estate of the famous Ghirardelli family, San Francisco based chocolate proprietors. What an amazing opportunity to blend tea in the same kitchen that may have been an inspiration house for delicious chocolate creations. 

Thank you for joining on us this little tour of our Headquarters. We hope you enjoyed having an inside look at how and why we do what we do. Your support and encouragement help us fulfill a core passion of ours, which is spreading the love to tea to as many people as possible. A sincere thank you! 

Photo contributions by Diego Jimenez.

We're In! The Big Fake Wedding San Francisco

We are also absolutely thrilled to join the fun at The Big Fake Wedding, a real-er-fake wedding event and alternative wedding vendor fair for brides and grooms looking for artisans as unique as they are. The "ceremony" is slated for 5PM on July 30, 2015 in San Francisco, so all you Bay Area brides, head on over to The Big Fake Wedding website to learn more and to purchase tickets for the big day.

It's Easy Drinking Green

Just in time to ring in warm weather and pastel palettes, we released our Matcha Green Tea Drops this month in the shop. Packed with nutrients and anti-oxidants, one cup of bright green matcha equates to 10 cups of regular green tea. Why? The answer is simple: when you drink “regular” green tea (the kind you usually are served at your favorite sushi restaurant), the tea is the byproduct of steeping the matcha leaves in hot water. Matcha is stemmed and steamed before it is finely stone-ground into powder.

Matcha green tea is a common fixture in the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, which was where Sashee first experienced rich, delicious matcha for the first time.

She always knew there would be a Matcha Tea Drop, seeing as it is beloved the world over and we see this wonderful ingredient added to everything from beer to bread. Having since sourced a high-quality, organic green tea, that time is now and we couldn’t be more excited.

A particularly popular dessert feature, you’ll see a couple of our favorite creative uses for matcha in our recipes of the month—both featuring our Matcha Tea Drop! Subtly sweetened with a healthier, organic demerera sugar, we have curated a light, creamy, and wholesome tea experience. Whether you’re trying matcha for the first time or if it’s a favorite in your tea collection, we hope you adore our newest Tea Drop as much as we do. 

 The Tea Drops Guide To Composting

Here in California, we are looking our lack of resources right in the face. With only an estimated “year of water” left to our devices, we are even more conscious of our footprint and how we can help our planet. One way that we can promote a beautiful Earth is to start a compost pile in your backyard. Not only will you find a free and easy way to recycle your kitchen and food waste, you save lots of natural byproducts avoid an unnecessary fate in landfills.  Additionally, composting will introduce a host of vitamins and nutrients to your soil, but it will help improve its moisture retention, fostering a more fertile plant environment. With spring right around the corner, now is the time to start prepping your soil for all the green things you dream of growing! 

What To Compost:

As a general rule, if it’s green, it can be composted. That includes all plant products, as long as they are disease-free and not weeds that could spread rampantly.  Surprisingly, cardboard, newspaper, and even dryer lint (composed of natural fibers is most ideal) can be added to that compost pile. Eggshells and coffee grounds were two items that I often saw in my family’s kitchen compost bucket that always made me pause before I reminded myself that both of those come from organic sources, after all. Meanwhile, I was also surprised to learn that banana peels, orange rinds, and peach skin (essentially, particularly sweet fruits) often contain pesticides and should be kept away from your pile. Of course, any meat-free table scraps, including corn on the cob and apple cores, belong in the compost bin. 

How To Compost:

My aunt kept a compost bowl next to her sink, which she emptied out into her pile everyday. The common suggestion is to keep a lidded jar with a handle under your sink so that you can toss items in and then easily transport to wherever your pile is situated when it is all filled up. Ceramic, steel, and plastic make up the most popular choices for compost containers. A quick Google search reveals these incredibly attractive choices:

White Ceramic Compost Pail from World Market, $14.99

Stainless Steel Compost Pail from Williams Sonoma, $39.95.
Comes equipped with charcoal filters for disintegrating odor.

Plastic Compost Pail from Burpee, $19.99. This model also comes equipped with a charcoal odor mask.

Where To Compost:

 If you are lucky to roam on a large bit of land, pick a spot that is out of the way and downwind from windows, doors, and other popular social gathering spots since odor comes with the territory of having a compost pile. While it also shouldn’t be a trek so far away that you quickly lose the ability and motivation to hike your waste somewhere, it is helpful to be downwind.

1. Once you’ve selected your plot for the compost pile, spread a thin layer of straw or twigs. This will help facilitate water draining in your pile as well as allow the earth to breathe.
2. Add manure—pet manure should not be added to gardens that will include edible item but it also adds immeasurable benefits to the richness of your soil.
3. Water your pile sparingly and feel free to let the rain to do the work here.
4. Cover your compost with lumber waste, cardboard (shredded), or carpet. All these will help trap moisture and keep the soil damp. In the end, wet soil is happy and healthy soil.
5. Every few weeks, churn your compost with a  shovel.

Your compost pile should contain more carbon- than nitrogen-rich items. Feel free to check out this very helpful cheatsheet when looking to see if your favorite food is carbon or nitrogen. 

We wish you a healthy and verdant springtime with Tea Drops!

Matcha Green Tea + Coconut Popsicles

Warm weather is just around the corner and as we start to soak up the sunshine this spring, we were inspired to share a frozen treat recipe featuring our newest Tea Drop: matcha. These absolutely delicious treats are so easy to make, vegan, and quite a healthy indulgence--the recipe boasts coconut milk, matcha, and agave nectar. 

Makes: 6 Servings
Recipe Source: 40 Aprons

Ingredients: 

• 1 13.5-ounce whole coconut milk
• ½ C almond or coconut milk
• 2 Matcha Tea Drops
  
• ¼ C agave nectar

You'll also need: Popsicle molds

Instructions: 

Whisk coconut milk. In a separate bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of milk with 2 Tea Drops, dissolved and stir until smooth. Combine this with coconut milk. Add agave nectar. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze for at least 5 hours. Enjoy!

  Hibiscus & Rose Earl Grey Iced Tea

 This simple and straightforward recipe is just a stroke of genius! We love the marriage of hibiscus blossoms with the rich bergamot Earl Grey. Chilled, the result is a refreshing and flavorful floral beverage that harkens to sunny days at the beach or a warm and breezy teatime on the patio. 

Recipe Source: The Kitchn
Makes: 8 servings 

Ingredients:

2 quarts of water
6 Rose Earl Grey Tea Drops

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a pitcher and refrigerate for at least two hours, and then overnight. The longer the viewing time, the more vibrant the coloring and richer the flavor.

Strain and chill until ready to serve.

Tea Drops On The Road! 

We are so excited to announce a brand-new section of our website where you can find information to join us on the road! This is a great way to see if our little team of tea lovers will be headed to your hometown.

So far, we've got these events lined up for spring:

March 21, 2015: 1-3 PM. Tea Tasting at Hoopla Emporium in Altadena, CA. More info on this event here. 

April 11, 2015: 10:30AM-1:30PM & 2:30-5:30PM. Tea Tasting at Nathan's & Co. in Oakland, CA. Both store location--for info, click here.  

April 25, 2015: 1:30-5:30 PM, Tea Tasting at the Los Gatos Wine Walk in Los Gatos, CA. For event info, click here.

We will also be vendors at the following events: 

The Jackalope Art Fair, running April 25 & 26 in Pasadena, CA will feature local artisans and craftmakers and we're excited to take part. Find out more over at the event website. 

Tea Lover's Festival runs from May 1 - May 31st in Los Angeles, CA. Tea Lovers UNITE -- find out more about this awesome month celebrating the love of tea here. Tea Drops will be participating in the Tea Lover's Marketplace on Sunday, May 3 from 10AM - 5PM.