The Gift of Tea.

by Fred Stewart

With the recent popularity of green teas and other similar products you may want to consider making a tea gift basket for a friend or relative. The benefits of these natural drinks are numerous and they are tasty as well. You can create a tea gift basket on your own or you can find a pre-made arrangement in a number of places.

You can buy tea baskets already made into gifts but it is much more fulfilling to put them together yourself. It demonstrates so much more care and thoughtfulness. By personalising the gift tea basket to the person you have in mind you will add far more than the pure monetary value of the gift. The recipient will be overwhelmed.

My most recent tea gift basket idea was to a good friend who is obsessed with fitness and healthy diet. The centrepiece was a special pack of green chai which aids digestion and diet at the same time as being very refreshing and therapeutic. There was also a book about the tea's history and health value alongside a selection of the richest chocolates. All this served to remind her of the need for moderation all things except moderation.

In this particular presentation I included a number of articles and testimonies about the amazing effects of green tea for dieters. Of course, the green herbs were included in the presentation. However, I surrounded the green teas with a bunch of fattening cookies and cakes. The contrast in this tea gift basket was ironically funny.

Fruit and flowers too can add a whole new dimension to your unique tea gift baskets. What are your friends favourite fruits? What colours do they love? Which flowers and fragrances give them most pleasure? Fruit teas, gift wrapping and even fruity biscuits can give you endless room for personal creativity too.

There are a myriad of flavours within a large number of categories of tea and this allows each gift basket to be unique and adapted to the receiver. Imagine a basket of fruit teas mingled with colourful real fruit or herb teas with flowers for mothers day.

Or how about an array of refreshing breakfast blends mixed in with cereals, jams and muffins. At the other extreme insomniacs would appreciate relaxing blends of herbal teas in bed of lavender with a good book or relaxing bath additives and chamomile teas.

There are endless options when it comes to making a personal arrangement like this. All it takes is a little creativity and you can make the perfect tea gift basket.