Best of 2009 Blog Challenge: Best Tea

My favorite tea is hands down Pekoe’s Mate Chai. To say that I LOVE it is an understatement. It is caffeine free but has an herbal properties that contains a stimulant similar to caffeine, although without the jitteriness or addictive tendencies. It can also alleviate fatigue, suppress the appetite, stimulate the body, rev up the metabolism, lift the mood, improve sleeping patterns, cleanse the blood, provide antioxidant benefits, and is thermogenic which encourages the body to burn more calories. Add all that goodness with the rich and warming spices of chai (cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, and pepper), a little agave nectar, and milk or some alternative makes this a heavenly beverage.

Although they don’t have a Peokoe here in Costa Rica, I am hoping that our first visitors from Boulder will bring me some (you can buy the loose tea!), as I miss it. I would treat myself to a mate chai after running errands in Boulder throughout the year, or just drive all the way to Boulder from Lafayette to get some. I did find it nice to enjoy it while on the drive home though. I’d typically get a fat slice of Pekoe’s killer zucchini bread, pumpkin bread, or their gluten free chocolate zucchini bread to have with it!

I would order a large Mate Chai with skim milk and 1/3 the agave (1 pump) and either ask for it to be hot or at whatever the temperature the liquids were at (ice=less mate=no bueno para mi). I loved that I could swipe my Pekoe card for points and often having enough to get a free drink!

As I’ve written before, this drink rocks my world so much that I tweeted about it and a woman in Canada said she’d never heard of it but would love to try it. Being that she didn’t have a Pekoe near her, I sent her some. And get this: she offered to paint my dogs’ portraits in return for the yummy mate chai! Yet another example that generosity breeds generosity!

The photo above is one of my large mate chai’s on the porch of our temporary house before moving to Costa Rica. (It had an expansive view of the Front Range!) See that cute little Tea Cozy with the felt branch on it? I made that. Check out my Etsy shop here.

I’ve found a new bakery in Jaco, owned by a French woman and her Argentinian partner, that has mate, which makes sense as mate is from Argentina. It’s good, but I do wish they had the chai variety with agave and dairy alternatives. I’ll take it plain though, bitter taste and all for it’s aid in my mental alertness and its general healing properties. I’ll take it over coffee any day.