Best Gifts for Tea Lovers

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By Sarah Rose

To know tea is to love it, but there can be so much to learn, from a simple teapot, short and stout, to the intricacies of an ancient tea ceremony. We sought out tea growers, tasters, blenders, sommeliers and influencers worldwide to recommend gifts for casual morning sippers and connoisseurs alike. Having spent years researching and writing a book on the global history of tea, “For All the Tea in China,” I know a few things about Camellia sinensis (the tea plant). Here are our top choices for anyone who might warm to a soothing cup.

$17 at Amazon

$25 Save $8

$23 at Amazon

To turn a bagged-tea drinker into a loose-tea lover, “I almost always recommend that new tea drinkers start with an over-the-cup infuser,” like this clever tea steeper, says Abigail St. Clair, founder of Tea Bella Tea Company in Tampa, Fla. It makes the brewing process more transparent: Hot water swirls around leaves, and when the liquor is just the right color to your taste, you place the steeper atop a mug or teapot and the pressure-release trigger strains out the brew, leaving behind spent leaves. “You can even add honey or sugar to the leaves” before you start, says St. Clair. For a larger version, try this 24-ounce model from Chaish.

$297 at Amazon

$300 Save $3

$300 at Wayfair

$380 Save $80

To savor the vast variety of tea requires the same basic skills as any home cooking, a sense of timing and temperature. “When someone has a poor experience with [delicate teas] such as green or Darjeeling, it’s often because of a steep that didn’t do the tea any favors,” says Maria Uspenski, founder of the Tea Spot in Boulder, Colo. A one-touch electric kettle, with programmed temperatures and drop-down infuser eliminates the guesswork in precision brewing.

$15 at Amazon

$16 Save $1

As with baking, you will get best results when measuring tea leaves by weight rather than the spoonful. “Some teas are tightly rolled while others are fluffy and light,” explains Ben Marcus-Willers, of Red Blossom Tea Company, a San Francisco-based tea company that sells to consumers as well as Michelin three-star chefs. He prefers a portable, pocket-size digital tea scale that stores small; Red Blossom sells a similar one to this model.

$60 at Food52

$72 Save $12

In India, there is a specialty tea based on Ayurvedic medical principles, says Steve Schwartz, the founder of Art of Tea, a tea purveyor based in Los Angeles. “The balance of cardamom, cinnamon and clove,” gets brewed in a saucepot with black tea, milk and sugar and acts as a “traditional digestif.”

$640 at FORTNUM & MASON

When it comes to enjoying tea, “My strong view,” says Ottilie Cunningham, tea buyer at London’s Fortnum and Mason, “is that one should use the teaware that makes you happy.” After my book on tea history was released, I was so overjoyed that I marked the day with a dainty gold necklace. Today it would be this cheerful teeny tiny cup and saucer necklace by designer Alex Monroe.

$100 at Amazon

$111 Save $11

$130 at Macy's

My English grandmother first warmed her teapot with hot water, poured it out, then brewed tea, which experts say is a quintessential brewing technique. “You should let the dry tea leaves stand in the warm teapot for a few minutes before pouring the simmering water,” to help the leaves unfold and deliver their aroma, says Franck Desains, tea taster at the Paris tea emporium, Mariages Freres. Desains suggests a porcelain tea pot clad in stainless steel to keep a quality tea warm for hours. This 34-ounce porcelain teapot from Bredemeijer comes with a felt-lined stainless steel cozy and a filter.

$55 at Amazon

$83 Save $28

Upgrading to a glass tea dripper pitcher is a great talking piece for dinner parties and brunches. A “glass decanter ensures each guest gets the same strength and flavor of tea in their cup,” says Joshua Kaiser, founder of Milwaukee’s Rishi Tea. Herbal tisanes—made with flowers or herbs, but not leaves of the tea plant—are elegant to watch as they unfurl in the glass bulb.

$58 at MET STORE

$68 at ANTHROPOLOGIE

Artist Cindy Sherman elevated porcelain teaware to new pinnacles when she designed a limited edition tea service in honor of Madame de Pompadour, mistress to French King Louis XV. “I long for it” says Heidi Johannsen Stewart co-founder of Bellocq, the Brooklyn-based tea atelier. But at $10,000 for the 21-piece set, “it is beyond my budget alas.” Those who desire tea art for the masses will appreciate the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Van Gogh teapot or this floral option as an alternative.

$300 at Amazon

$300 at Cuzen Matcha

Japanese tea ceremonies use matcha, a high-quality green tea that is finely ground into powder then whisked into hot water, rather than steeped. “It is like eating a whole leaf,” says Tea-Bella’s St. Clair who says she is “obsessed” with this at-home matcha grinding machine, the first of its kind in the U.S., she reports. Raw leaf, or tencha, can be ground fresh daily as you might artisanal coffee beans, then prepared as it has been for centuries—or mixed into a protein shake, lemonade or matcha latte.

$23 at Amazon

Serving in Iraq and Afghanistan with the 187th airborne infantry kindled his taste for tea, says Brandon Friedman. He started Rakkasan Tea Company with other combat veterans in Dallas after working in the Obama administration; rakkasan is derived from the Japanese word for “parachute.” Friedman likes this sturdy travel infuser when he is on the road. “The handles fold down and it has a hard carrying case so you can prepare a cup in a hotel,” he says.

$57 at Subminimal

“Matcha likes to clump in corners” says Catherine Jue, founder Tekuno, a San Francisco-based specialist in Japanese tea. It traditionally gets frothed with a bamboo whisk that helps create the delicate mouthfeel, texture and taste, but “on days when I’m in a hurry or just don’t have the energy to be extra careful with my tools, I do turn to an electric milk frother.” In Buy Side’s milk frother testing, this hand-held version was the best of its kind.

$64 at Harney & Sons

$71 at Amazon

As the mercury climbs, staying hydrated is a necessity that can also be a pleasure with ice tea. This extra large ice tea jug offers “plenty on tap to share with friends” says Emeric Harney, the third generation tea expert at Harney and Son’s teas of New York. Cold brewing iced-tea will bring out the subtle, umami flavors in tea. Alternately, make a tea concentrate by doubling the amount of tea leaves in hot tea, then pouring it over ice.

$25 at Amazon

“The advent of modern temperature-controlled homes” has mostly made tea cozies a relic of the past, says Ravi Kroesen, head teamaker at Portland, Ore.-based Smith Teamaker. Tea will always taste best fresh and warm, and its taste will change—“often for the worse,” Kroesen notes—as it cools. For chilly mornings and dark winter nights, this jolly tea cozy by Orla Kiely will keep both your teapot and spirits warm.

$35 at Neiman Marcus

$35 at Uncommon Goods

“I am a fan of drinking tea wherever I go, so a great, eco-friendly travel tumbler to steep loose-leaf tea is a must,” says Jessie Dean, founder of Asheville Tea Company in North Carolina. This double-walled tea thermos has an infuser for loose leaves that can either brew continuously, or be compartmented off once your steep is complete, and will stay warm for up to six hours.

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