Christmas Gift Guide

Know someone who likes tea but not sure what exactly they’s want? Read on for gift recommendations for the tea people in your life. We have something for everyone, from someone just getting into tea to tea connoisseurs. In the first part we suggest some different teas, and in the second part we have tea ware recommendations based on your budget.

Tea

With so many different teas to choose from it can be hard to know what to get someone. Read on for a few ideas to suit a range of tastes.

Festive Teas

This year we have three teas released especially for Christmas: our Christmas Blend, Chocolate Chai, and Vanilla Black. Look no further if you want rich and fragrant festive flavours. The Christmas Blend brings together classic flavours of orange, apple, cinnamon, and cloves. A perfect warming and comforting drink for the festive season. Our Chocolate Chai is a luxurious, vegan-friendly blend of warming spices, luxury chocolate, and rooibos. Being caffeine free, this makes a lovely festive evening drink. Our final Christmas release is the indulgent Vanilla Black. Made with a combination of chocolatey Keemun, malty Assam and floral Nilgiri teas, along with the highest quality vanilla pieces. Sweet, comforting, perfect for Christmas.

Approachable Teas

If you know that the person you’re buying for likes tea but you really have no idea which tea or flavour notes they like, the following teas are all very approachable and likely to be enjoyed my most people. Our first approachable recommendation is Scottish Fudge Tea. A blend of Assam black tea, natural vanilla, and pieces of handmade fudge from the Fudge House of Edinburgh, it’s is rich and creamy with a comforting but not overpowering sweetness. Anyone with a bit of a sweet tooth will love this.

Next, the Mokalbari Assam is a high quality broken leaf Assam tea with a malty, full-bodied flavour and a floral aftertaste. It is harvested during the second flush on the famous Mokalbari East tea estate. This is perfect if your’e looking for a strong black tea that has more complexity than a breakfast blend.

Finally, you can never go wrong with a good breakfast tea. Our Breakfast Blend is a full bodied and rich blend of Assam teas with a small amount of Darjeeling that gives a strong and robust infusion.

Green Tea

My favourite green teas at the moment are pre-rain Longjing and Karigane Kukicha. The pre-rain Longjing is a sweet and nutty green tea from China. Picked before the early spring rain, this tea is sweet and fragrant with very low bitterness.

Karigane Kukicha is a Japanese green tea made from the stems of the tea plant. It has a touch of that characteristic Japanese umami, which is complemented by a lovely sweetness.

Unique Teas

If you’re looking for something a bit different, two creations we are very proud of and that you won’t find anywhere else are Black Forest Gateau and Leith Lights. Inspired by rich and scrumptious cake, Black Forest Gateau delicious blend brings together layers of carefully selected black teas with vegan chocolate, cacao nibs, and cherry pieces.

Leith Lights is a caffeine free infusion inspired by the street lights in Leith, which were the first in Scotland to be electrified. It is tropical and fruity, with earthy and medicinal notes from turmeric, ginger, and mint.

For the Connoisseur

If you’re buying for somebody that knows their tea and seems to already have everything, then we have a couple of very special teas which we’re sure they’ll appreciate. Rohini Plum Muscatel Second Flush Darjeeling is an unusual but delicious example of a Darjeeling tea made with the Japanese Yabukita cultivar. The Yabukita cultivar is know for its intense flavour and Rohini has combined this with the exceptional terroir of the Himalayan foothills. It has rich flavours of plum, pomegranate, dark cocoa and pollen.

Sencha Midori No Kaori is a first pluck Japanese Sencha, which is shaded (Kabuse) before picking and then lightly steamed (asamushi). The result is a rich and complex green tea. Notes of spinach and nuts compliments the aroma of freshly baked bread. It tastes of pure umami, which gives way to sweet hay and honeydew melon. The leaves of are flat needles of lush, emerald-green silk - Aptly named for its translation of "Green Aroma."

Finally, Kinnettles Gold is a unique, Scottish grown single estate tea. This distinctly flavoured tea is grown and hand-rolled on Kinnettles Farm in Angus by Susie Walker-Munro. The golden tipped leaves infuse to a shining golden liquor, and taste delicately of apples and cinnamon. Only 1.5kg to 2kg is produced each year, so it’s a truly special tea.

Tea Ware

We have curated a selection of beautiful tea ware at different budgets.

Affordable

We stock lovely tea cups from Zero Japan. They come in a range of colours and and cost £12.50.

The Unicup and Unitea pots from Kinto Japan are wonderful affordable tea brewers. The Unicup is a glass cup with a plastic brewing basket that you just take out and pop to the side when your tea is ready. At £17.50 they are perfect when brewing tea for one. The small and large Unitea pots are great for brewing for more than one person. Like the cups, they feature a glass pitcher and a removable plastic brewing basket. They’re elegant, convenient, and easy to clean. The small and large pots are £23.00 and £25.50 respectively.

Medium Budget

The teapots produced my zero Japan are fantastic if you’re brewing for 2. They have a lovely silhouette and come in a range of colours and glazes. They have a removable stainless steel basket and lid for convenient cleaning. They come in at between £30.50 and £33.50.

This year we’re really excited about the Marumo colour changing cups, also from Japan. Beautiful white porcelain in a classic Japanese teacup shape, they feature either a cherry blossom or ocean wave design that changes colour when hot tea is poured inside. They’re £27.50.

For the matcha lover, we have really pretty matcha bowls from Zero Japan in four designs. They embody the wabi-sabi aesthetic with thick dribbling glazes and tactile clay. They are fantastic matcha bowls at only £39.95.

Splurge

For something really special, we have the Red Dot Design Award winning Frustom teapot and cup set. It has a gorgeous minimalist silhouette and is the prefect size for 2 to three cups of tea. It comes either in black or tactile creamy white. £115.00

We also sell Matcha kits that include everything you need to get started with matcha for £85.00.

Experience

Sometimes the best gift is a shared experience. We do tea tasting experiences for between 3 and 5 people where you’ll taste 4 different teas and learn all about the history, processing, and brewing of tea. We offer a Chinese gongfu tea tasting which showcases 4 different teas representing different styles and regions in China. We also do a Japanese tea tasting where you’ll sample and learn all about Japan’s unique green teas. The tastings are £30.00 per person.

Christmas Opening Times and Postage Dates

Over the Christmas period we will be open every day until December 23rd, from 11am until 5pm. On Christmas Eve we'll be open from 11am until 3pm. We will then be closed until we re-open on Wednesday 10th January. We will still be processing mail orders between Christmas and New Year, and after New Years Day.

This year, Royal Mail has provided a guide to latest posting dates, rather than guaranteed last posting dates. For UK customers, order no later than Tuesday 19th December for Tracked 48 orders, and Wednesday 20th December for Tracked 24 orders. For international customers, order no later than Tuesday 12th December. To avoid disappointment, order early as Royal Mail are not giving guarantees.