Choosing the right Christmas gift can be a difficult task for a tea lover and connoisseur. There are so many different varieties, blends, and flavours of tea to choose from. Hopefully, this guide will give you the advice you need to choose the perfect gift for tea lovers this Christmas.
Choosing the right tea
Caffeinated or decaffeinated?
The first and possibly most important factor to consider when purchasing tea as a gift is to make sure you’re not buying caffeinated tea for a decaf tea drinker. All of our herbal teas are decaffeinated so if you’re unsure if they drink caffeinated drinks, choose from our selection of these teas, our decaf breakfast tea, or choose a gift set with a mix of both herbal and black teas.
Black tea?
The most popular British choice: The nation’s favourite beverage is a strong black tea with milk, so you can’t go wrong with our Great British, Breakfast and Classic Teas which are all bold, malty and are robust enough to be paired with milk.
For a lighter flavouring: Our Afternoon Tea is usually served without milk as it has a much more delicate and complex flavour profile with the use of our Cornish tea leaves and specially selected Darjeeling tea leaves. This tea is a great choice for tea lovers who prefer a lighter black tea.
For a more acquired taste: People love them, some people hate them, green tea and Earl Grey tea are two flavourful teas which definitely divide opinion. If your tea lover is an avid fan of either flavour, they will not be disappointed with both our blends. Our Earl Grey Tea is made with natural bergamot oil from Italy which creates a beautifully pure and distinct Earl Grey flavour. Our Green Tea is the perfect blend of our Cornish tea leaves and tea leaves from China to create a scrumptiously smooth green tea.
If you are unsure if your tea lover likes green tea or earl grey, you can always choose a gift box with a selection of teas including one or both.
The perfect tea for a Christmas fan: Our Christmas Tea is a combination of cinnamon spice and malty black tea and is a sure winner for a tea lover with a diverse palette and Christmas on their mind.
Or Herbal Tea?
Our herbal teas have a far more diverse flavour range than the black teas as they are not made from the Camellia Sinensis bush.
Mint: If your tea lover is a fan of minty ice cream or peppermint creams, one of our Cold Cure Infusions teas would be a great choice. Cold cure teas are processed using a new and original method, developed here at Tregothnan. The leaves are dried using cold air, capturing the most sensitive and volatile oils within the leaf, rather than drying the leaves in a warming oven as with most other teas.
Fruit: if you’re looking for our fruity infusions, try our delicious Red Berry Tea with strawberries, raspberries from our Kent estate and apples from our Cornish orchards for the perfect berry tea. For the lighter fruity flavour try our Lemon Verbena Tea grown on our estate in Cornwall. These teas’ are great hot or cold!
Manuka: Our Manuka Tea is completely unique tea to Tregothnan and has a sweet and spicy flavour profile, made with pure Cornish manuka leaves. If you have never tried this distinct herbal infusion, it is definitely worth a try. Because of its distinct flavour, again you may look to pair it with a strong black tea.
Chamomile: This soothing herbal infusion is famed for its calming effects. When our master Tea Technician Tom processes this tea, he always needs a big mug of coffee with him as he does feel drowsy effects!
Nettle: Nettle tea is packed with vitamins and nutrients and is regarded as the healthiest tea there is!
Choosing the best-suited packaging style (pyramids, bags, loose)
Teabags: We are proud to say our tea bags are completely plastic-free! So, these teabags are the perfect way to have a quick cup of tea when you’re in a rush.
Benefit: A tea bag is the quickest and easiest way to have a cup of tea as the tea leaves are cut at a finer grade than loose tea.
Trade-off: As teabags contain a finer cut loose tea when brewed more tannins are released which can create more of a bitter taste to the tea.
Pyramids: Tea pyramids are biodegradable silken tea pouches containing a larger cut leaf to teabags These pouches are 100% biodegradable and plastic-free.
Benefits: keeps the quick and easy method of brewing, like teabags, but because the biodegradable tea pyramid is filled with larger cut tea, there are fewer tannins and a truer tea taste.
Trade-offs: Although our pyramid bags contain a higher grade of tea than the teabags, pyramid tea bags are more expensive than teabags.
Loose-leaf: Our loose-leaf tea is the most premium way to drink a cup of tea and is the way tea has been drunk for thousands of years.
Benefits: Our loose tea is the purest tea we create because it is the least processed
Trade-offs: Brewing loose leaf tea is a longer process than tea bags or pyramids and requires a loose tea strainer.
Choosing the perfect gift set
Now you have chosen the right tea; we can have a look at our fabulous gift sets to match.
Our pick for Loose tea gift sets: Our tea trio gift sets provide a collection of our most popular black and herbal teas in a beautiful gift box.
Our recommended gift set for a full Cream Tea experience: Christmas Cream Tea & Boxed Gift Set, this Christmas bundle provides the perfect Christmas cream tea experience. With this box, your recipients will also get a range of all our black teas to try.
Our pick for a single estate connoisseur Our Single Estate collection gift set if for connoisseurs of pure English Tea. Praised as being one of the world’s best single estate teas by Epicure, this gift set includes both our black and green single estate teas.
Our pick for stocking fillers: Black and herbal tea selection boxes are the perfect stocking fillers for tea lovers as they offer a tasting range of black and herbal teas to try.
