Design a Tea Custom Blends

While the world grips their tea cups in anticipation of the release of the custom Oprah Chai in April, I'm sipping my own custom blend.

As stated last week, Design a Tea is an artisan tea company that allows you to become your own self-proclaimed teaologist. Offering both loose tea and tea bag forms, I prefer the loose teas, simply for the ceremony of tea time.

By choosing from a base tea (black, oolong, green, or rooibos), then choosing from over 30 flavors and herbs, a custom blend is as endless as your imagination.  Not to mention you can name your custom blend, just like Oprah did.

This week, I brewed a pot of my custom blend of Earl Grey Tea with vanilla and caramel.  Caramel was the dominant note at first sip, which is a welcoming way to begin the day with breakfast.  The vanilla and bergamot were more of an aftertaste, yet still married well with the black tea base.  Mild, yet memorable to my palate, I sweetened with agave nectar (tea snob that I am, I am not one to add milk to my tea).

My custom blends are reflective of my temperament (can you say mood teas?). Which is why I chose to sip from my tea cup that reminds me of sunshine.   My Earl Grey with vanilla and caramel blend is fitting for this week's calendar arrival of Spring, while we still wrap up under the grip of Old Man Winter.

TWHS Reviews Fashionista Tea

Is there anything better than stylish shoes with your tea?

That's a rhetorical question, by the way...

Enter Fashionista Tea , the brainchild of former TV Producer and Emmy Award Nominee Brenda Dillon Cavette, whose portfolio consists of fashion and design segments. With a college background in Fashion Design and Merchandising, it only made sense to merge her love of tisane and fashion to create eight blends for a divine tea time.

Available in loose tea form or biodegradeable silk pyramid sachets, Brenda shipped me a chic tin - complete with a fashion illustration - of Organic Orange Chamomile sachets for review.   The sachets have a signature leopard print pump on the tea tag; swanky!!

My love for tea was met the minute I opened up the tin.  The inviting scents of the botanicals announced what I was in for, and after steeping for the recommended 5-7 minutes (I chose 7 minutes), the aromatic orange was wafting in the air.

And the taste; bliss in a tea cup!  The fruity scent is mild yet  sweet, and just a touch of honey made it a welcome treat to sip with shortbread cookies. I will now brew a cup of Organic Orange Chamomile every night as part of my nightly regimen.

Fashionista Teas are the perfect way to sip to your health and social consciousness, as they are  all-organic and botanicals.  As a Fair Trade Tea, Fashionista Tea helps tea farmers and their families worldwide by helping protect against land loss, while supporting fair wages for workers.

So if you're looking to welcome spring in a stylish way, host a, "Tea With Style Brunch" and serve Fashionista Tea's collection.  Use the tins as vases to hold posies that coordinate with the hues of the illustrations.

I, for one, will be getting "dolled" up with the gourmet teas, as I give Brenda's gourmet teas TWO pinkies up!