A Tea lover’s dream (Afternoon Tea at the Biltmore)

There are two types of people in this world. Tea lovers and people who haven’t discover how awesome tea really is. I my friend  fall in the former. I’ve always liked tea over coffee but when I started transitioning  to becoming a pescatarian ,that preference for tea grew. I started researching the different types of tea and their benefits and how adding it to your daily intake can do great wonders.  Slowly but surely I was drinking at least 3 cups of tea a day varying from Green ,Black Oolong and Rooibos.

By the time my birthday came around this year, I was pretty much enamored with tea that I wanted to incorporate  it into my birthday festivities somehow.So I did Afternoon Tea at the Historic  Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. The experience was so much fun that from that moment on ,I sought out to find the perfect tea set to have Afternoon Tea at home. Up until last week,I found a cute starter tea set that served 4 and was perfect for Matcha tea. I finally received it in the mail today and had my very first Afternoon Tea party at home with my family. It was so much fun that I’m thinking this might be a weekly or monthly thing for us in 2015.

I don’t personally have a preference of any brand of tea, but I am particular about the ingredients in my tea. Being that I drink my teas without sugar or cream I like the  teas to only contain organic tea leaves.  The closer to nature the better in my book! But sometimes that is not always the case especially when dealing with gourmet tea companies. Below I’ve added a list of the teas that I like and have tried in the past few months. Most of them are one ingredient teas and the others aren’t but they taste so good we’ll give them a pass. Happy Sipping!

• Prince of Peace Organic Oolong Tea
• Prince of Peace Organic Green Tea
• Prince of Peace Organic White Tea
• Prince of Peace Organic Black Tea
• Rishi Sencha Green Tea
• Republic of Tea Moringa Tea
• Republic of Tea Dandellion Tea
• Uncle Lee’s Organic Green Tea
• Choice Rooibos Tea
• Celestial Seasonings Vanilla Rooibos Tea
• Yogi GreenTea Kombucha Tea
• Guayaki Yerba Mate Organic Tea
• Teavana Green Moroccan Mint Tea

 

Mix it up!

Since  incorporating  green smoothies to my daily food intake, I feel healthier than ever. I went from one smoothie a day to two,  to sometimes even three. But just like shampoo once you start using it, it doesn’t feel that effective any more. So I switch up my smoothies every week or so,so my body doesn’t get use to drinking the same thing. So one week I’ll have  collard greens instead of kale and other times I’ll put spinach. I’ll also incorporated anything green, because green foods especially super-foods  are good for your body. I like to put in Wheat grass tablets as well as spirulina tablets or green super food packets to my morning smoothies, these give me  such a boost that coffee isn’t really needed. I also like to add Matcha Green tea sometimes to my smoothies for added  antioxidants. I’ve also tried incorporating hemp protein, but i can never get passed the chalky taste of protein powders. My recent mix-in that i think I’ll be incorporating  more often in my green smoothie is raw rolled oats. The raw oats give a hearty taste to the smoothies and has a great amount of fiber. I also love to mix in chia seeds and flaxseed to my smoothie for the omega -3 and the extra fiber that they provide.  Avocados are great mix-ins as well since they give a creamy texture to your smoothie but is also filling because of the good fats found in them. The best part about making these smoothie is you can put anything in there to your liking. With a little bit of research you can be on your way to a healthier you. Mix-in my friends! 🙂