Gong Fu Tea

Des Moines, Iowa

With fall officially commencing last Friday, we've been observing that the hours of daylight are slowly beginning to decrease. This prompted us to share our favorite tea that provides that extra boost of energy we sometimes need in the fall and winter months, Organic 500 Mile Chai.  The tea's name originates from the many late night truck drivers stopping at small chai stands along India's highways asking for a very strong and sweet brew to help them drive long distances ("for another 500 miles"). Organic 500 Mile Chai is a blend of small leaf black tea, dried ginger, cloves and cinnamon.  
 
We discovered this delicious tea at one of our favorite tea shops, Gong Fu Tea.  They offer a broad selection of fine teas, including one of our staples - Spice Tea, as well as lovely teaware.

http://www.gongfu-tea.com/

Pars Persian Store

Chicago, Illinois

It seems lovely fall weather has arrived providing us with the perfect reason to enjoy even more tea! We've been busy refilling our tea tins and wanted to share one of our favorite neighborhood tea shops, Pars.  Unfortunately, Pars does not have a website which means that if you do not live in Chicago you will just have to add this to your list of reasons to visit this great city :)

Pars carries much more than tea (everything from specialty foods and spices to home goods and more) but we go there for their wonderful (and inexpensive) selection of loose leaf teas and tea accessories.  They have shelves lined with containers of tea - the equivalent of a tea 'candy store' - complete with the scoop to fill your bag with as much tea as you can afford to take home! Some of our favorites include the English breakfast tea and green flowering teas (which are individually sold so you can take home a variety to sample).