
After his first visit to England, Jai remarked that he hadn’t realized how true the cliché of drinking tea is. There are plenty of silly stereotypes about English people that aren’t true, but the joke that we drink tea constantly is totally accurate. My kitchen is always fully stocked with tea – while I’m generally a traditionalist who prefers black tea with milk and sugar, I do like to keep a variety of different flavors on hand that I can serve guests and enjoy on days when I feel like branching out.

I recently had the chance to sample some teas from Plum Deluxe, a company based in Portland that offers hand-crafted, loose leaf tea blends.

The first one I brewed up was Oregon Breakfast Black Tea. This fragrant tea is a mix of black and honeybush teas with orange peel and hazelnut essence. I poured Jai a cup with a little milk and sugar, and he enjoyed the sweetness of the tea, commenting: “It’s like the tea equivalent of a cinnamon roll”. Meaning, it was like enjoying a nice dessert!
Next, I made a cup of Pacific Northwest Evergreen Mint Tea, which is a nice, classic mint tea: Nothing but organic peppermint, organic spearmint, and organic flavor of mint in this one. I enjoy herbal teas when I’m feeling under the weather, and a lot of my friends prefer mint and green tea varieties so I’m glad to have this in the pantry!
Plum Deluxe have flavors for every taste and can be found on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.