The Purrfect Cup

Another Giveaway? Why Not?

Posted on June 2, 2013 by ThePurrfectCup | 11 Comments

I’m currently running a giveaway on my non-tea related blog (feel free to enter). But the nice folks from ITO EN’s TEAS’ TEA are running a social media giveaway! They asked if I’d be willing to mention it here and well you bet I am! SO here’s the deal:

From Memorial Day through Labor Day, TEAS’ TEA® is kicking off a sweepstakes that includes a grand prize trip to Australia inclusive of a VIP tour of ITO EN’s Tea Farm. To participate, fans can register at TEAS’ TEA® Facebook page and then use Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to capture a refreshing summer moment and share it via the hashtag #Teafreshing. On top of the grand prize, fans will receive hundreds of other prizes all summer long such as cameras, tablets, beach gear, and free beverages.

Pretty nice deal right? But wait it gets even better for you folks who read this here blog! If you comment on this blog post between now and Labor Day you have a chance to win the following: How is a grocery tote bag filled with a branded T-shirt, a button, and 2 FREE coupons for tea!

T-shirt!

Nice roomy tote…perfect for the beach or groceries!

Free tea!! Yum!

So what are you waiting for? Leave a comment to win the giveaway here. And don’t forget to enter on their Facebook page for a chance to win a trip to Australia and other great prizes!! Check out all the rules and regs below!

Maybe you can visit <a href='http://teatra.de/thedevotea/' rel='nofollow'><p class=

@thedevotea when you win!" src="http://thepurrfectcup.com/files/2013/06/image001-300x225.png" width="300" height="225" /> Who wouldn’t want to go there?

Now for the rules and other details from ITO EN:

ITO EN (North America), INC., the world’s leading purveyor of green tea leaves and tea beverages, announces the launch of their TEAS’ TEA® Summer Promotion “GET #TEAFRESHED,” an Instagram/Pinterest powered campaign encouraging consumers to share photos of their refreshing TEAS’ TEA® summer moments to win a trip to Australia and a VIP Tour of the ITO EN Tea Farms. The promotion will kick-off before Memorial Day on May 24 and run through Labor Day-September 2, 2013.

Participants can make multiple visits by including the hash tag # TEAFRESHING MOMENT. All photos will be posted in a gallery for visitors to vote for their favorites on a weekly basis. Weekly prizes will be given away to include cameras, tablets, beach gear and free beverages. The Australian Grand Prize will be awarded at the end of the campaign.

“We are looking forward to inviting our fans to share their TEAS’ TEA® summer moments with us and have a chance to win a Trip to Australia,” says Rona Tison, sr. vice president of corporate relations. “We hope our refreshing teas will inspire plenty of photo entries.”

TEAS’ TEA® is an all natural ready-to-drink tea, named from the Japanese expression Ocha no Naka No Ocha, simply meaning “The Tea of ALL Teas!” With thoughtful sourcing and meticulous brewing methods, TEAS’ TEAS’® proprietary filtration method reduces sediment creating a clean finish. The company has been a pioneer and leader in the unsweetened tea market for over 10 years, and continues to expand its distribution in natural and mainstream markets.

TEAS’ TEA® is available nationwide in natural and specialty grocery channels for $1.79. For more information, please visit teastea.com or itoen.com.

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Posted in Tea Contests

Tagged australian trip, giveaway, t-shirt, tea, teas tea, tote

blu tea company – a new local find

Posted on May 19, 2013 by ThePurrfectCup | 9 Comments

Two post in one day? You bet!

Yesterday my husband and I headed out for the day to do a little shopping. But first I wanted to check out a new tea place 20 minutes from home. After getting a little lost we found the blu tea company.

Check out the selection.

The blu tea company is a small shop located in Mechanicville, NY. They have a nice variety of teas to please every tea drinker. Plus they also offer loads of certified organic blending items (I’ll be going back for this)! The young lady behind the counter was very helpful as I was making my selections. I walked away with two black teas and one flavored green. I’d tell you what they are, but two are for a friend and the other is a giveaway. So you’ll have to stay tuned.

I did get an iced cup of the Blu Berry Madness herbal to go. It was very berry and very yummy. I’m looking forward to sharing the teas I purchased next weekend when I head off to Marblehead, MA. I also hope to stop back to visit blu when I have a little more time on my hands as they also offer lunch and of course tea!

A view of the tea for sale as well as tea goodies.

Pay no attention to my husband playing on his phone.

They also sell other goodies made by local artists/crafters.

Stat tuned for a follow-up post when I have a chance to head back for eats too!

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Posted in Tea Room Reviews

Tagged blu tea, tea, tea room

Live Your Love {A Tea Review}

Posted on May 19, 2013 by ThePurrfectCup | 4 Comments

First off drastic changes in seasons are not my friend. Nor are interns who swear what they have is “only allergies”. Said “allergies” turned into one of THE worst Spring colds I have ever had. Which put a little damper on my trying the tea sample from Live Your Love until today. Before I got down to sipping, I needed to set-up my “outdoor” office.

It happens to be a tad rainy here today. So the porch set-up will have to do.

This tea is a pure ceylon black tea. Yes it does happen to come in bagged form. (I believe I just heard a groan from the direction of Australia) I was a little on the fence when I saw it was bagged tea as I am typically not a bagged tea fan. But I went into this sample with an open mind and a thirst for tea!

I even broke out one of my Christmas gifts for this cup.

I’ve tried many ceylon teas. I have to say I’ve enjoyed most of them. But I usually had to add cream and sweetener to said cups. This one I am happy to say needed nothing added to it! So far so good. It smells rich and malty, which you all know I love in a straight black tea. The finish on this one is very smooth with no bitter aftertaste. Which I’ve experienced with ceylon teas in the past.

I would suggest this as a nice morning cup or perhaps an early afternoon pick me up. Drinkers choice there. Plus Live Your Love gives back a portion of the proceeds from the sale of their tea to Sri Lanka’s branch of Smile International. This organization helps to provide health care, education and other services to those in need in Sri Lanka. Another added bonus to this tea. There is no staple in the bag. Sure it might be a little thing to you, but to me it means no metallic taste to my tea!

Jasmine Dean was good enough to send me two boxes of this tea. For that I thank her. One will be living at work in my desk, while I’ll be taking the other with me on my trip next week to share with a dear friend.

My thanks to Jasmine for the chance to try this tea.

Afternoon tea time.

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Posted in Tea Review

Tagged afternoon tea, ceylon, live your love, rainy day, tea, tea review

More tea for the cabinet

Posted on May 5, 2013 by ThePurrfectCup | 6 Comments

Well, so much for only buying seasonal teas. When we went to the tea tasting Friday night I purchased FIVE new teas. Well, technically two were re-stocking two teas I’ve been drinking like crazy – the Salted Caramel and Nutcrunch Honeybush teas. Turns out they mix really well together. The other teas I picked up were a Blueberry Crumb Cake (new – black and green blend), Endurance (new – a flavored puerh tea), Nutcrunch Honeybush, and Decaf Chai.

Yum!

Now there are only four teas here. Seems the Salted Caramel is a popular blend. Good news is the owner let folks pre-order it AND get free shipping when it comes in. Now that is some good customer service.

I even got a little time to talk tea with the owner. He’ll be missing out on the World Tea Expo because his youngest is only a few months old. But hopes to make World Tea East in the Fall. He was even good enough to give me the last of the Blueberry Crumb Cake over ice.

After the tasting it was off to the drive-in for Iron Man 3. Go see it if you haven’t. More tea reviews coming soon as well as a new Taking Tea With ____, stay tuned.

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Posted in Tea Tasting

Tagged black, blends, chai, green, honebush, tea tasting, Teas

Post coming soon

Posted on May 3, 2013 by ThePurrfectCup | 5 Comments

Perhaps even tomorrow! Real life had gotten in the way of the tea blog. But things are finally working out in a way. So I’ll be able to put some work into the next Taking Tea With ___ AND I have some new teas to review on the way to me as I type this.

But tonight I’m off to the final tea tasting (until the Fall) at a local tea place. I also plan to stock up on a few favorites they offer. Salted Caramel being one of them.

I’m also working on a birthday tea with a tea blender/shop owner I was fortunate to meet up with last Fall. So I’m really excited with what we come up with for my ~~35th~~ er 25th birthday! Stay tuned.

Drink Tea!

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Posted in Announcements

Tagged birthday, news, tastings, tea reviews

Saturday Morning Update

Posted on April 6, 2013 by ThePurrfectCup | 1 Comment

This blog seems to be turning into something I only post to on Saturdays. I apologize for that. But I have been busy and Saturday mornings seem to be the ONLY quiet time when I can get in a few properly brewed cups of tea. Right now I’m enjoying a caramel tea from Upton Tea. It’s pretty good. Later today I’ll move on to some of my straight black teas.

I’m not giving up on the blog, if you were worried about that. I think I’ve just hit a block with it. But I have some ideas for another Taking Tea With ___ and some more reviews of teas from my cupboard. After all I just placed an order with Harney and Sons (they had free shipping on orders over $25 – I tried to resist) so I should probably talk about that next time. Which if I’m lucky could be as early as Tuesday. I really love living so close to the main location. Yet it never seems close enough when I ask my husband if we can pop down there for lunch and shopping…funny how that works isn’t it.

What else, what else…oh right my other blog. Don’t worry it isn’t tea related at all. If you want to learn more about it I’ve updated the tab at the top of the blog titled Gal In The Grey Hat, to be nice I’ll link to it here. I plan to put up one about this blog over there shortly. So that’s what I’ve been working on/doing.

Happy sipping!

Mmmm

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Posted in Announcements

Update – Kind Of Sort Of

Posted on March 29, 2013 by ThePurrfectCup | 5 Comments

Right, so that contest I was going to announce? It sadly needs to be pushed back a few weeks. Partly due to the fact that new job has worn me out – in a good way. Meaning it is really making me work and I’m loving every minute of it. Bad news its that it means I have very little energy left at the end of the day to do more than a load of laundry or make dinner.

So a contest is coming, just later in April. Plus I also need to round up the prizes! Which again goes back to me having the time/energy to do that. Vicious cycle all around.

But I have been drinking tea though all of it! In fact as luck would have it most of tomorrow I will be spending drinking tea and reading. What am I reading? One of these two books:

Looking forward to these!

So until I remove my nose from a book and get myself together…drink tea and drink it often!

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Posted in Random

boutique teas Wrap-up

Posted on March 15, 2013 by ThePurrfectCup | 7 Comments

First off my apologies to Tiffany at boutique teas for being so late on posting about these final two teas! Life got a little crazy for a while there. I had a minor surgical procedure two weeks ago and thanks to my darling husband caught his nasty two week long cold on top of it! Then I found out I landed an amazing new job. So things have been busy in my life to say the least. But here we are the final two teas!

This last week at work I’ve been drinking boutique teas Organic 2nd Flush Darjeeling (which looks to only be available in a gift set) after my morning stop at a certain chain coffee shop. (This last week has been a killer: finishing projects, etc. So a BIG kick was needed to jump start the day.) But after my morning java slip my taste turn to tea. So I cozied up with this one mid morning each day.

I really love the fruity notes in this one. I’ve never, to my knowledge, noticed floral notes in my Darjeeling before. But this was really a nice surprise as I tend to find Darjeeling teas can get very bitter, very fast. This one didn’t. Plus the smell was different and reminded me a bit of a favorite fruity white wine I enjoy. I’m sad to say there may be less than a cups worth left to brew up!

This morning when I had hoped to sleep in… (I took a day off plus the weekend between the old and new job) …I was up at 7:30am. At least I got an extra half hour right? Anyway, I was looking at the other tea, a green. You all know I don’t love green teas. BUT I do try them. I also don’t have a very green thumb. Take for example my poor plant at my old job.

The hanging plant, not the one on the window ledge.

It was near death until I cut the long leave back a bit. Plus I tended to feed it leftover coffee or tea when I was too lazy to head off and get it some water. So perhaps green things and I do not or are not meant to get along?

But I gave this Organic Clouds and Mist Green Tea a shot this morning as it claims to be a perfect morning tea.

It certainly steeped up to a pretty color!

The directions (which I tend to follow to the letter with greens) called for filtered water heated to 180 degrees and a steep of 3-5 minutes. I thought this might be a little long for a green. But I went with three minutes and hoped for the best. The smell of the tea was a mix of veggies and something sweet. I had hopes this would be good!

And to my surprise it was. The taste was that of spinach and other green veggies for me. Which I like. But being that green teas really aren’t my thing this isn’t one I personally would stock all the time. Nothing against Tiffany and her tea, just a personal tea preference. Greens aren’t my thing, but again at least I try them!

So my deepest thanks to Tiffany for letting me try out her teas! If you haven’t taken a look at boutique teas I suggest you do.

For now I will leave you with this picture of our eldest cat, Ty. He crept up behind me this morning as I was waiting for my kettle to heat up and nearly gave me a heart attack…

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Posted in Tea Review

Tagged black tea, boutique teas, cats, days off, green tea

A Post of Sorts

Posted on March 2, 2013 by ThePurrfectCup | 10 Comments

So remember that time…say a week ago when I was going to come up with a contest/giveaway for the blog? Yup that was supposed to be today. And in case you haven’t guessed yet…it isn’t happening. Well, not yet anyway!

I’m still planning on getting a contest together and I plan to include a lot of my local favorite things in the giveaway (including tea from some local to me shops). The trouble is life happened this week bringing sickness, an unexpected (minor) procedure, and some really good news to our house.

SO the contest/giveaway will probably happen near the end of the month (or at least after St. Patrick’s Day). So I apologize in advance for the delay.

I still need to try the last of the two teas from Tiffany at Boutique Teas…but this sort of cold and my pain meds are keeping me from that…at least today. I will have it up my Monday! That’s my goal.

So while you wait I suggest you go read this post because I agree with a lot of what she has to say. Who am I kidding, I agree with all of it. I’ve seen the topic spring up a lot lately and I’m glad to see it being addressed. I’ll say more about my thoughts on the topic in an upcoming post I’m sure. But not now. Now I’ll leave you with this photo I took of my tea this morning. Enjoy!

Chocolate tea!

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Posted in Random

Saturday Morning Update

Posted on February 23, 2013 by ThePurrfectCup | 4 Comments

I apologize for the lack of updates/posts in the last few weeks. Life has been busy to say the least. There have been many birthdays to celebrate as well as many evenings out of the house. All of which leads to no posts. But I have been working on a few things coming soon! Plus there are still two teas from Boutique Teas to review.

I also haven’t sent out a newsletter since December! Which means when I do there will HAVE to be a giveaway! Stay tuned I plan for it to be a good one! That newsletter will hit in March around the 1st…which I realize is a week away so I had better get a move on!

I’ve also been buying tea like a madwoman…again. Some purchases from a local tea cafe – The Whistling Kettle as well as an order from Upton Tea (as in last night), I can’t resist after the quarterly arrives! So look for me to be talking about some of those teas too.

In fact I’ll leave you with a few photos of today’s tea of the morning from The Whistling Kettle – Maple Taffy.