Everything Tea. In a world obsessed with coffee, I don’t think people pay enough attention to tea. Unless you’re British, of course. But Cape Town is a coffee culture city, and tea only seems to make its mark on a few occasions.
As someone who grew up drinking tea and not coffee, I’ve always found this lack of tea love a little sad. So often, I’ll go to a cafe or restaurant and ask what tea they have, and the standard answer is Earl Grey, black tea, and rooibos.
While I enjoy a good cup of rooibos, I don’t drink black tea or Earl Grey.
So when I ask what tea a cafe has, I want them to say that they can offer me lemongrass ginger tea or strawberry fruit tea or anything that would classify as not boring.
But it seems that cafes and restaurants aren’t the only ones lacking in the tea department.
Indeed, it is exceedingly difficult to find exceptional teas anywhere in Cape Town, except for a few speciality stores or food markets.
Enter Everything Tea, which has just made the tea world of South Africa so much more accessible.
What is Everything Tea?
Everything Tea is a proudly South African and female-owned online tea shop.
But, it’s so much more than that.
See, they don’t only focus on exceptional teas. They focus on the entire world of teas.
- You can choose any of their loose leaf teas, a selection that includes herbal, black, green, oolong, and white teas.
- You can also blend your own tea, which gives you the option of selecting a base note, heart note, head note, and soul note to craft your perfect tea.
- Also, shop for gift sets, teapots, French presses, glass cups, and the cutest tea infusers.
- They also have a blog section where they share tea stories and recipes, deep-diving into the benefits of drinking tea and mixing it up with naughty recipes like a Hibiscus Prosecco or Colour-Changing Unicorn Margarita.
The Royal Gold Tea Infuser will add some style to your tea-making.
You can use the Royal Gold Tea Infuser for both your individual teacups or a teapot – simply adjust your tea serving size.
Why Loose Leaf Tea?
If you’re a tea fanatic, you probably already choose loose leaf teas.
But, if you’re not, then you may be wondering why you’d choose loose leaf tea over a simple tea bag that makes the tea-making process so much simpler.
If you’re a coffee fan, you can probably guess the answer to this.
It’s the same reason you invest in a coffee machine and don’t buy cheap instant coffees, which often don’t actually even have real coffee in them.
Loose leaf tea is simply better quality.
If you can see the actual tea leaf, you know what you’re drinking – and you’ll be fully able to enjoy the antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals found in quality teas.
Of course, “tea bag tea” also contains real tea (we hope – I’ve read some horrifying reports of investigations finding everything from plastics to glue to rat poisoning in cheap teabags!) but with less potency – and often only the bare leftovers from tea production.
Loose leaf tea also tastes better, as the leaf tea has room to expand and release flavours and aroma.
When I made the teas I tried from Everything Tea (more on those below), the loose tea often expanded to twice its size once steeped!
Finally, loose-leaf tea is more eco-friendly and sustainable.
You can re-use the same bit of loose leaf tea multiple times, each time getting the full flavour. And there are no bags to throw away afterwards.
And what do you do with your to-be-discarded tea leaves?
You can compost them, use them in beauty products like hair masks or exfoliators, sprinkle them in your bath, or use them as air fresheners and deodorisers.
Teas are available in resealable bags to guarantee freshness.
Each bag contains full brewing instructions, serving sizes, and ingredients.
How Do You Make Loose Leaf Tea?
Teabags are convenient because you can pop them in your cup, top with hot water, and you’ll be good to go.
Loose leaf tea requires a little more effort – but with the right tools, this really doesn’t take oodles of time.
Tea Infusers
You’ll need a tea infuser and a teacup or teapot. If you’re a coffee drinker, you can also use your French press.
I browsed the Everything Tea selection of infusers recently and came across the cutest No Drama Llama Tea Infuser (R120), T-Rex Tea Infuser (R120), and a Fabulous Unicorn Tea Infuser (R120) that made me smile from ear to ear.
But that nagging voice inside of my head that keeps telling me to finally grow up didn’t allow me to choose those.
I opted for the Royal Gold Tea Infuser (R85) instead, which suits the classy adult version of me.
But, secretly, we all know I want a No Drama Llama, don’t we?
Teacups
Keeping it classy, I also chose a pair of Double-Walled Borosilicate Glass Cups (R250 for the 230ml cups).
I’m not savage – everyone knows you can’t drink fancy tea out of coffee mugs!
These glasses are great because they’re so pretty and hold the temperature so well – completely cool to the touch!
(Quick note: I ended up getting the 80ml glasses, which is why they look so small in the photos. But the cups you can order are much bigger. You can also upsize to the 350ml glasses, but, personally, I think the 230 ml glasses are the way to go.)
With the right tools, you’re all set for your tea experience.
Brewing Instructions
Everything Tea also makes it super simple by including brewing/steeping instructions and serving sizes on their teas, so you know exactly how many grams of loose tea to make per cup or pot.
Did you know that different teas need to be brewed at different temperatures?
This can be difficult if, like me, you just have a standard kettle.
But, some of the fancier kettles – like those by KitchenAid – even allow you to set your hot water temperature for the perfect tea experience!
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I chose three tea blends from the online tea selection.
I tried to mix it up a bit to give you a good indication of the quality you can expect, so I chose a rooibos-based tea, a classic herbal one, and the Everything Tea flagship herbal.
The Marzipan Mocha tea is the perfect dessert treat.
Marzipan Mocha contains coffee beans, almond slivers, and marzipan pieces.
Marzipan Mocha Tea
Ingredients: Honeybush, vanilla rooibos, almond slivers, marzipan pieces, rose petals, and coffee beans
I love marzipan, so choosing the Marzipan Mocha Tea (R150) was a no-brainer.
I’ve tried a few marzipan-flavoured teas before, which were all terrible, but the Everything Tea version did not disappoint.
What makes this tea stand out is that it’s not simply flavoured black tea (as so many others are) but actually includes real almond slivers and marzipan pieces for that flavour punch.
The tea itself was quite sweet and I think it’s a perfect dessert treat.
I had it plain, which I usually prefer for teas, but I think this would go very well with warm, frothy milk, or even condensed milk!
The marzipan flavour isn’t overwhelming, though, so if you like the general idea of it but aren’t too sure about the marzipan element, then you don’t need to worry.
Note that even though this is a tea, the mixture does include coffee beans, and you’ll get 0.5 mg of caffeine per serving.
The Lemongrass, Cinnamon & Ginger tea is vibrant and zesty.
Guaranteed real, quality ingredients.
Lemongrass, Cinnamon & Ginger Tea
Ingredients: Lemongrass, cinnamon pieces, ginger, pineapple fruit granulate, liquorice root, fennel seeds, pimienta triturada, spearmint leaves, basil, orange peels, clovers, cornflowers, and pink pepper.
Lemongrass and ginger are my go-to teas. I’ve found that these teas are generally reliable in flavour and always taste great.
I also really like lemon tea, but it’s incredibly difficult to find good lemon tea in South Africa!
So lemongrass is the way to go.
The Everything Tea Lemongrass, Cinnamon & Ginger Tea (R190) is fantastic – vibrant, energy-giving, and zesty.
It’s definitely packed with flavour and smells absolutely divine!
It is quite gingery, which I really enjoy, but it may be too overwhelming for someone who’s not a massive ginger fan.
But, if you are, this is the perfect choice for a midday energiser or a post-work refresher.
B(l)eauty Sleep Tea
Ingredients: Chamomile, butterfly pea flowers, rose petals, blue cornflowers, lavender blossoms, rosehip, basil, lime leaves, siderite, and balm & valerian root.
B(l)eauty Sleep (R190) is the Everything Tea flagship herbal blend.
The best descriptor that keeps coming to mind is ‘midnight blue’ and I don’t know if it’s because it results in a purple-blue colour or because it instils that midnight calm. Both are true, though.
I can’t tell you if sleep teas actually make you sleepy, but they certainly help your mind, body, and senses relax – which should help with falling asleep!
This tea is probably also the prettiest of them all. Of course, it contains the most flowers, so this makes sense. But it’s an absolute delight to look at.
And, flavour-wise, it’s calm and gentle, with no single overpowering flavour.
B(l)eauty Sleep is Everything Tea’s flagship herbal tea.
It’s also the prettiest tea.
Get Your Hands On Everything Tea
Everything Tea is available exclusively online.
Their packaging is beautiful, making the whole tea experience a delight from the get-go.
There is quite a lot of variety on the website, and it is easy to miss a few goodies, so my suggestion would be to just really scroll through everything.
There’s so much goodness; you wouldn’t want to miss a thing!
You’ll find all of their contact details below.
Everything Tea South Africa
Website: www.everythingtea.co.za
E-mail: info@everythingtea.co.za
Call: +27 84 064 1358
Written by Benike Palfi
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Article Date: April 2021
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