The Hot Beverage Society

Great gift basket ideas for people who enjoy hot beverages are fun and easy to make. Of course, you can buy already-made gift baskets, but you’ll save a lot of money by making your own. Also, you can tailor make the gift basket to suit the tastes of the recipient by creating your own basket of goodies. Of course, you’ll want to include a varied selection of coffees, teas, and maybe even hot chocolate mixes. Don’t stop there, however.

Other things you might want to include in the gift baskets include monogrammed mugs and/or cups, flavored coffee creamers, and a fancy tea ball. Have you ever seen those flavored coffee stirrers? Most are covered in chocolate, and as the hot beverage is stirred, the coffee melts into the beverage, imparting the luscious taste of decadent chocolate. These are great to use with coffee and with hot cocoa, so you might consider adding a few of these to your gift baskets.

You might also want to include some other goodies in your gift basket ideas. Think of foods that go well with coffee, hot tea, and hot cocoa. Some suggestions are teacakes, coffee cake, biscotti, and cookies. Another food that goes great with coffee and hot tea is cheese straws. You can make all these right in your own kitchen! For tips on assembling your gift basket ideas, watch the following video:

Your goal when storing tea is to keep it away from influences that can negatively affect its delicate aroma and flavor. In particular this means keeping it away from air, heat, light, strong smelling foods and humidity.

Most tea, if well stored, will keep for at least one year. But if you store it poorly it will lose its flavor in a matter of months. Of course there is one category of tea, called pu-ehr tea, that is an aged tea. This is the only tea type that is fermented and, like wine, has vintages. Some green pu-ehr teas are over 50 years old!

But most of us don’t have been a fermented cake of tea in our cupboards but want to keep our green tea, whites, black and oolong teas as fresh as possible. Here’s what you need to do (courtesy of The Tea Lounge).

Air is not good for tea. If tea is left unwrapped and exposed to air all its residual moisture will be lost. The tea leaves will become brittle and produce a flat, unbalanced infusion. Although glass jars are commonly used to store tea, it’s important that these do not sit under bright lights or in sunlight.  Its better to use an opaque container.

Keep your stored tea away from sunny windows, radiators or counter-tops that have close lighting. And, as tea also absorbs odors, keep it away from strong spices or any foods with strong smells such as garlic or cheese (see amusing video on this, complete with other tea facts). It’s probably also best to keep tea out of plastic storage containers as these have a tendency to impart unwanted odors onto the tea.

In order to ensure that you are drinking a fresh tea, it’s important to find out when your tea was plucked. Tea is seasonal with the same harvesting cycle repeated annually. For example premium green teas from China and Japan are only picked in the springtime. So if you’re purchasing a green tea in January it’s probably from the previous year. Darjeeling teas from India are also very seasonal with the first flush teas being the most highly prized.

When you buy tea, don’t store it away for months before drinking. Many people make the mistake of drinking their old tea while saving their new premium tea only for special occasions. It’s probably not going to get any better the longer it sits around in your cupboard.  Do use it while it’s fresh.

Are you a coffee lover?  I certainly am, and I love to explore every new flavor I come across.  There are many people today who love to run out to the latest trendy coffee house to find the latest brews at outrageous prices.  I prefer to search around and find a high quality whole bean coffee.  

I’ve spent enough time hunting down uncommon coffees, that the sellers I deal with can usually provide me with some solid details about the origins of the beans I’m buying.  This doesn’t mean much to some people, but for serious coffee enthusiasts, noting even the most subtle differences in flavor can be a fun and enjoyable experience.  

I’ve found that I can try just about any flavor I like without spending very much money.  Coffee drinking is still a relatively inexpensive diversion, even if you like to go with the premium products.  Of course, the savings goes right out the window if you choose to go to expensive coffee outlets like Starbucks, where most of your money is going toward paying for the brand, not necessarily the coffee itself.

If you are a serious coffee fan, consider experimenting with the various ways of preparing coffee.  Most people today have come to rely on automatic drip coffee makers.  While these are good machines for getting your coffee ready to drink quickly, they can sometimes be lacking in flavor because the hot water passes over the finely ground beans so quickly.  

I recommend trying some other, slower brewing methods to give yourself a true appreciation for the subtle differences among coffee varieties.  I found a nice little video describing how to make coffee with a French press.  This is a method that most people have never tried, but it is certainly worth trying if you love experiencing the many levels of flavor available in premium coffee.