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Presented in partnership with Verdant Tea
The memes would have you believe that mothers subsist solely on wine and coffee, but what the algorithm doesn’t want you to know is that the true source of mom’s magical powers is a drink that dates back to the third century AD. We’re talking, of course, about tea, the second-most widely consumed drink in the world after good old plain water.
Yet despite its ubiquity, tea doesn’t seem to get its due around gift-giving moments like Mother’s Day. Which is a damn shame, because those fragrant, flavorful, caffeinated leaves offer something for everyone. Different teas have been said to make people more relaxed, energized, focused or even smarter. With that in mind, we rounded up a half dozen or so of our favorite teas, kits and accouterments from the farmer-first tea company Verdant Teas. Their team is committed to bringing teas never before seen outside China to the rest of the world through a unique direct trade model. They maintain personal relationships with some of China’s preeminent tea growers, tasters and graders. Who each crafts every batch of Verdant Tea by hand. They’ve got something for everyone, regardless of which of mom’s superpowers needs a little boost.
Verdant Tea Tea of the Month Club
Verdant’s CSA-style monthly subscription sends a box of three to ten hyper-seasonal looseleaf teas curated by small family tea farmers directly to your door. Boxes feature special experiments, club exclusives and only the freshest harvests. It also comes along with tasting notes, brewing tips and special background on each tea and the farmer. Buy a 6 or 12 month subscription with our code INSIDETEA and you’ll get a $25 virtual gift card for tea or teaware.
Verdant Tea Meet the Farmers Five Teas
This box of five samples of Verdant’s most popular teas, each one sourced from a small family tea farm, is perfect for newcomers to Verdant Teas or to tea itself. It’s a simple, low-cost way to explore tea styles and categories. The best part — the kit also includes a coupon for $5 off the next order, so you basically get the sampler for free.
Verdant Tea Tasting Kits
Verdant’s selection of tea tasting kits seems to scroll forever, with offers divided up by tea types. There’s green tea, black tea, oolong tea, pu’er and more. You can also select the tea by workshops and region. They’re like tea tasting parties in a box. Or tea education in a box. Or both! You can’t go wrong with any of these so we’re dropping them all here, but we also chose a couple of favorites below.
Verdant Tea Discover True Single-Origin Tea
Not sure where to start? There’s a box for that! Taste teas from 6 unique growers and regions, with premium hand-picked teas, direct from the farm. Verdant Tea is all about representation for our partner tea farmers, bringing teas never before seen outside China to the world with a unique direct trade model based on personal relationships. Try this introductory tea tasting kit to learn what Verdant Tea is all about!
Verdant Tea Classic Teas + Essential Travel Tea Set
Six teas from five small farmers and five growing regions (enough for 125 tea sessions), plus everything you need to brew authentic “gong fu” style tea, anywhere. We don’t know who thought to put a porcelain gaiwan, three tea cups, a tempered glass pitcher, tea cloth and water bowl into a travel case that packs smaller than a folded shirt, but as sworn enemies of rinky-dink hotel room coffee pod brewers, we thank you.
Verdant Tea Essentials Gongfu Tea Set
Fun fact: the classic Chinese tea ceremony known as gongfu, which translates to making tea with skill,” is also known as kung fu tea. This great set includes all the tools you need to start brewing: a classic gaiwan, pitcher and strainer as well as two tea cups. One might say this set will put you on the path to becoming a kung fu (tea) master. We wouldn’t. But one might.
Verdant Tea Laoshan Black Teas
It’s impossible to pick just one tea from Verdant’s seemingly endless list, but we have it on good authority that this one is widely beloved by everyone who tries it. The He family hails from Northern China, where this tea is fed by mountain spring water. It is then oxidized in the sun to create some of the sweetest, most chocolatey black teas in China.
Verdant Tea Dragonwell Green Teas
For the green tea fan, True Shi Feng Dragonwell is one of the most famous in the world. Handpicked by Li Xiaoping in the micro-region of Shi Feng, it’s incredibly sweet and full of bright, fresh spring flavor and texture. These seasonal harvests often sell out on pre-order before they’re even picked. Bet you didn’t think shopping for tea was going to turn into trying to cop a new pair of Jordans, but this stuff is its own kind of grail.
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