When I found myself drinking eight cups a day, sleeping only six hours a night and feeling perpetually agitated, I decided it was time to give up coffee.
And stop I did, cold turkey. The pounding headache – the one where the back of your eyeballs hurt – took two weeks to subside.
That was nearly ten years ago, and since that time, I’ve weaned myself off caffeine completely – last year I finally cut caffeinated tea and the occasional Diet Coke out of my diet.
I still enjoy a hot drink, and have discovered that there’s a whole world of fascinating herbal teas that I never knew existed. When I was a coffee and black tea drinker, the only herbal teas I’d ever heard of were peppermint and chamomile. But since discovering Turkish apple tea earlier this year, I’ve been on a quest to see what other varieties are available.
My current favourite is this magnificent pomegranate and strawberry fruit tea, which turns a deep red hue when brewed…
Sage tea is obviously very popular in Turkey, as during my last visit to the Turkish deli in Auburn, I found it in both bag and loose leaf form. It’s a lovely gentle drink, and I absolutely adore the paper tea bag covers. I can’t bring myself to throw any out, so there are boxes of them all over the house now…
This delicious tea was a gift from friends – the combination of organic fennel, chicory and cardamom is surprisingly soothing after a heavy meal…
I found blueberry tea during my last visit to Harkola…
…as well as this marsh mallow tea, which is supposedly good for sore throats (can’t say I love the flavour, though) …
Finally, I adore this gorgeous Turkish fruit tea, a blend of rosehip and hibiscus. It has a slightly tangy, slightly sweet flavour, and the prettiest packaging ever!
I’d love to know if there are any interesting herbal teas I should look out for – do you have any suggestions? Thanks…
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
I am a very boring person by comparison… :-)
I only drink chamomile and fennel tea – in the “non-caffeinated” variety. I should explore more options.
some of your teas I had never even heard about, quite impressive selection you have!
Sally, most of the really interesting ones seem to come from Turkey – there must be a real tradition of fruit teas over there. I’m sipping on the rosehip and hibiscus as I type.. :)
We have a famous local tea called Rooibos that has many medicinal qualities. Most foreigners don’t like it much, but I love it with honey.
All your teas are so beautifully packaged!
Cin, I have lots of friends who love Rooibos, but I’ve never taken to it, although I have tried it in a couple of flavours. I didn’t know it was South African though, thanks for letting me know!
Twinings Lemon & Ginger makes a refreshing brew which is also soothing for scratchy throats when a little honey is added.
If this convenient T-bag brand is not available where you are, put the zest, rind and juice of a small lemon together with some grated fresh ginger into a cafetiere, then scald with hot water for 5 minutes.
Peter, I love this one from Twinings as well – I think they also do a Lime and Lemongrass which is very nice too!
Red bush, or as we call it, Rooibos tea :) And if you’d like to know the health benefits of drinking rooibos information can be found here: http://ecofootprintsa.blogspot.com/2011/07/moving-further-towards-self-sufficiency.html
And they’re good to add to your compost, or for chasing away snails.
Dani, thank you, I have tried Rooibos, although I’m not a big fan of it. Over here it comes flavoured too – vanilla, chai etc. It’s an interesting drink – I actually think my mother quite likes it.
I am a fan of Yogi brand peach tea..it is a bit peppery and warm and very peachy is full of good stuff for your kidneys and helps with water retention..have found it to be wonderful when I need to flush out my system after an allergy attack..from soy or msg.
Caroline, I think I’d LOVE peach tea – I’ll look out for the brand. Thank you!
What a fabulous collection you have Celia. I don’t enjoy all herbal teas, some are too flavour intensive I think.
Have a super week.
:-) Mandy
Mandy, they are all fairly strongly flavoured, and the Turkish ones are often bright red from the hibiscus! Hope your week is going well too! :)
Ah-HA! I knew you’d given up coffee, as you mentioned it to me when I gave up.
Cold turkey is the way to go, isn’t it.
Somebody told me to use half decaf and half coffee for a few weeks first. No thanks.
Takes a while to get out of the system, don’it.
I’ve always drunk vinegar water. It’s supposed to be good for you.
But now also drink frootie teas too.
I’ve found for myself that I don’t like teas with too many flavours. They seem to fight.
The regulars I drink are nettle tea or camomile.
Gill, it’s brutal, but cold turkey was the only way for me, as I was quite addicted! I tried drinking organic apple cider in warm water with honey, that’s very nice, but if I put too much cider in it upsets my stomach. :)
I saw nettle tea last time I was at Harkola, I’ll pick up a packet next time to try!
Limeflower for me and lemon verbena is a close second. :)
Oh lemon verbena I love, I drink it whenever I’m having trouble sleeping. I’ve never heard of lime flower! :)
You might know it as lindenblossom, I’m sure we’ve talked about it before. I picked some in the summer from the lime trees. In French it is called tilleul :)
I do love my coffee… Chai is my favourite tea. Well done giving up the coffee!
Lizzy, I love coffee too, it just doesn’t love me! :)
I prefer to drink coffee and be the sleep-deprived agitated curmudgeon that people know and love.
Big Boy reckons the invention of coffee created the intelligentsia – prior to that everyone drank weak beer and were perpetually tipsy. So a great poet such as yourself probably has an precedent for drinking lots of coffee, Cosmo! :)
Good for you Celia, you deserve to be very proud of yourself! You know I’m an Earl Grey freak, but I cannot handle coffee at all. I really enjoy Licorice Legs tea from T2, it has a sweet aniseed flavour, or teas with hibiscus/Rosella in them are lovely too. I’ll have to look out for that blueberry tea, sounds intriguing :-)
Becca, I can’t afford any of the teas from T2! My friend Catey told me about a tea they had in there called Buddha Pearls – amazing balls of rolled tea – and when I was last there I had a look for them. They were $500/kilo!!!
The blueberry tea is lovely! :)
I gave up coffee some years ago when I realised it was making me feel a bit ill and haven’t looked back. However, I could never give up tea – it keeps my heart beating.
Amanda, I miss tea more than coffee, but I don’t miss the caffeine! :)
I can only drink 1 coffee a day…. and I look forward to it immensely. I am a boring tea drinker ,dilmah , so I cant help you at all but I do make a great fruit loaf from berry tea, is that counted?
Tania, absolutely that counts! Berry teas are always delish! :)
I wish I could go caffeine free. I have a slight diet coke addiction.
I’m very boring when it comes to tea. Green tea with jasmine is my favourite and peppermint and camomile. I’d love to try out some new ones.
Claire, to find interesting ones, check out ethnic supermarkets, there’s often a wide range to try! Very reasonably priced too – all the boxes of teas you see above were under $3 each!
You are so strong giving up caffeine, do you feel better for it? I hope you are getting more sleep. When I don’t drink coffee and tea, (i go through cycles) and I have never drunk fizzy drinks, I drink hot water with a slice of lemon. your teas look so lovely, I should branch out!! c
C, my mum keeps telling me how good hot water and lemon is for me! I went through a patch of drinking lemongrass in hot water with a little honey – that was very soothing! :)
chai for me, other than that the odd coriander tea and that’s about it.
I love the looks and sounds of your Pukka tea. Sounds like a lovely way to wind up an afternoon.
The Pukka tea is very nice, I’ve been having a cup each night after dinner. I think my friends found it at the new deli in Summer Hill. I used to love chai – when we were at college we had Indian friends who would make a really milky ginger chai which was super sweet and just to die for!
You should do some sort of mod podge project with your pretty tea bags. They would be lovely covering a small table. With enough mod podge or varnish, it should easily protect them for ages.
KK, that sounds like a great idea, as the bags are starting to accumulate. I’m not too good with glue and varnish though! I was thinking about some sort of origami…
One of my favorite teas is cherry tea. It tastes great and is also good for coughs. There are so many herb teas, it’s hard to choose! Your tea bags are sure wrapped in pretty paper!
Manuela, I would LOVE cherry tea! I’m going to have to look out for it now! Thanks for the headsup! :)
Peppermint is the house blend around here. Lemon, orange and berry are also favorite teas. I love coffee in the morning though, makes me feel like a morning person, even though I’m not. :-)
Maz.
Maz, O Paper Queen, please tell me what I can do with all my teabag wrappers! :)
hmmm. I’ll have to ponder that one.
You could use them as little envelopes for secret messages in lunches.
You could paste a bunch of them on large piece of paper or a paper bag and make a spiffy cookbook cover. Laminate with clear contact paper for durability.
I bet you could make some cool stapled lantern out of them.
If you cut them into triangles you could make beads out of them. Just coat the backside with glue and roll them on skewers or toothpicks.
:-)
I have to have my coffee in the morning – 2 cups every day! But from then on I drink Rooibos tea and what ever flower tea I have going. This month it is jasmine flowers :)
Tandy, jasmine flowers sound pretty! Do you have the flower balls that open up in the pot? They’re so beautiful, but a quite expensive…
that is what I drink – the were not that expensive at all here and I know I can’t send you any which is a pity!
I am not over coffee yet, but only drink decaf. I drink green tea with lemon, about 2 liters a day. I feel much better with good tea! Your teas all look so fresh & yummie! good for you, my friend! ;)
Sophie, green tea is supposed to be really good for you! I don’t drink it much anymore because of the caffeine, but I do enjoy it when I do!
I do love my one cup of coffee in the morning that chases the sleep out of my eyes and cobwebs from my head, but I’m drinking more and more tea these days too. One of my very favorites is Bigelow Vanilla Caramel, which tastes almost like candy to me, but alas it is caffeinated. My favorite decaffeinated tea right now is Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime Vanilla. They really do help me get to sleep. Do you have Celestial Seasonings teas available there? Celestial Seasonings has a blueberry tea which I discovered this summer tastes better to me as a cold iced tea brew. I made big pitchers of it all summer during the hottest spells.
Mel, yes, we have Celestial Seasonings here, and their Sleepytime is one of our favourites, although not the vanilla version. They also have a Tension Tamer which is delicious, and has a picture of a princess on a dragon on the front of the box. That alone was enough to inspire me to buy it! I’ll look out for their blueberry, thanks for the headsup! :)
I just saw your sage tea…have you ever thought about using homegrown sage to make a brew? I’m a chamomile girl myself, although do like a lemon tea.. my friend throws a huge bunch of her homegrown lemon verbena leaves into a teapot when I visit and it’s so refreshing. I’d love to try using more herbs from the garden for tea making.
I was under the impression that black tea was caffeinated but also had a substance in it that counteracted this so the caffeine was virtually non-existant? Correct me if I’m wrong!
Chris, I know black tea has something in it which is meant to make you calm, but I don’t know if it specifically counteracts the caffeine. I’m quite sensitive to caffeine, even in tea, although much less so than coffee! Have never tried fresh sage tea – our sage is finally starting to come back in the garden, so I might have to give it a go!
….. :) This is my tea, my sage tea, dear Celia. Last year I stopped to drink coffee too. Because of my stomach, and also tea too. And I drink always sage tea… It is so nice. Sometimes apple tea too… but you can’t believe some of others make allergic reaction… Thank you, with my love, nia
Nia, the apple tea is one my favourites, and I’m not surprised sage is good for the stomach! I figured it had to be, as there was so much of it on sale in the Turkish deli!
Oh you are a good girl – I don’t think I could give up my black tea! Although I should try. I am really not convinced on the sage tea – is it really that good?
Ali, it’s not my favourite – I like the red teas better – but it’s a very soothing drink, when I’m in the right sort of mood. :)
They all look really interesting. I’m not a hot drink person at all – I dislike the flavour of both tea and coffee, which is a pain when someone offers you a drink… I’m not keen on fruit teas either, I think partly because I expect them to taste as strong as they smell, and they never do for me, but also just because I’m not used to wanting something hot to drink. I should be more adventurous :-)
C, I have to agree with you – most fruit teas I’d tried before these were all a bit boring, and lots seemed to add fruit to black or green tea, which I didn’t really like. These Turkish teas are completely different, and very strongly flavoured.
After reading your post, I really should try and get myself to embrace tea with a little bit more passion let alone being a tea lover. There are such good nutritional and antioxidants in tea and I shall psyche myself that tea is like my whisky :)
Chopin, there’s a world of tea to explore out there, and I haven’t even started to find out about all the Chinese and Asian teas out there! (Although most of them were medicinal when I was growing up, so I’m a little wary – still have memories of being forcefed bittergourd tea when I had a sore throat).
Go easy on the sage tea Celia – it’s good to drink from time to time and good if you have a soar throat, but too much of it is not meant to be good for you (though can no longer remember why). I’ve never been a black tea or coffee drinker, though I do now drink green and white teas. Pukka teas do a really good range of interesting ones and I especially like spicy teas. But my real favourites are just herbal teas straight out of the garden. Do you grow lemon verbena? If not, try it. It makes fantastic tea, both fresh and dried. Ours died in the cold winter we had two years ago, but my favourite for something that grows well over here is a mixture of fresh blackcurrent leaves and lemon balm.
Choc, we have a small lemon verbena plant growing – I love that tea whenever I have trouble sleeping. It’s so relaxing! Thanks for the tip on the sage, will go easy..
I’m with you on caffeine in the diet. I do like my first cuppa decaf tea in the morning but as regards coffee, unless it is exceptional I won’t bother with it. These days we’ve lots of artisan roasters in Ireland and I will break my caffeine ban for a cup of their blends. But otherwise it’s not worth it.
As for herbal teas … there’s only one that I’ve stuck with and that’s Twinnings Lemon & Ginger. But might revisit after reading this post :-)
The Twinings lemon and ginger is delicious Gillian. I broke my caffeine ban only once in recent years, and that was to drink the civet coffee that Marty bought me. It was delicious too – I was reminded why I found it all so addictive!
Hi Celia, I’m a big herbal tea drinker too but can’t stand chamomille or peppermint. I love the Clipper brand teas – the children call the Detox tea ‘Jelly tea’ as it is mainly hibiscus and then nettle and licorice (but I can’t taste the licorice as I don’t like it). They used to make my life favourite with rosemary, ginger, oregano, lime and aloe vera – was unbelievable but I can’t find it anymore. My other favourite is Mariage Frere Marco Polo tea rouge – it is rooibos with vanilla and red fruits. An expensive treat but I always re-use tea bags. Also – Kusmi tea Detox is delicious.
Anna, thanks for the tip, I’ll look out for the Clipper brand!
Im one of those crazy people who puts sugar in my herbal tea. The hardcore tea people hate me lol. I need a bit of sweetness though
Nic, each to their own! I sometimes put honey in mine… :)