Top Ten Gift Ideas for Tea Lovers

Tea is simple, just leaves and water, but to the tea lover it's simply a delicious, healthy way to relax. Each of the picks on this Top Ten Gift Ideas for Tea Lovers offers a new variety to taste, ceremony to try or history to learn about this choice beverage. If it seems the tea lover in your life has everything for tea think again, read on and be inspired with these ideas.

1) IBIS Electric Water Kettle ($39.95)
Tea can be appreciated in many ways but you always need hot water. The conventional stove top teakettle is pretty but the truth is that your tea lover is boiling energy away and risking the dreaded dry boil. That's why the IBIS Electric Water Kettle is #1 on the Top Ten Gift Ideas for Tea Lovers. The IBIS electric water kettle uses a 1500 watt heating element in direct contact with the water. It boils 50 oz of H2O in about 4 minutes and automatically cuts power after the water boils. It is fitted with a "scale filter" which reduces the amount of calcium in boiled water allowing for purer, more aromatic brews. This kettle is indispensable for the tea lover in your life.

2) Treat to a Tea Room with Tea Map Tea Room Directory
Surprise your favorite tea lover with a night on the town in a tea room that indulges the senses with spices, aromas, music and culture. Tea rooms have become popular sanctuaries across the nation and Tea Map Tea Room Directory has the scoop on where they are and what's steeping inside. With just a zip code, Tea Map Tea Room Directory finds all the tea hot spots in your area with information on hours, events, specialties and directions. Tea rooms offer a wide variety of tea experiences from purist to non-traditional and there is surely one nearby where you and your tea lover can sit and steep for hours.

3) In Pursuit of Tea's Finest Tea Sampler ($30.00)
In Pursuit of Tea traverses the remote regions of the planet to collect the finest teas. In their Finest Tea Sampler are four ounces of their best selections: Yinzhen Silver Needle, Buddha Tea, High Mountain Oolong and Assam Mangalam. These four selections represent each pure tea type (white, green, oolong and black) and can be re-steeped many times to be enjoyed again and again. Each tea comes loose in a silver foil bag with tantalizing descriptions of the special blends. The set is presented in a beautiful black handmade paper box with button closure that can be used for keeping letters, recipes or more tea.

4) The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura ($7.95)
There's the Book of Tao and for the tea lover, there's The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura. The guide celebrates tea from its ancient origins in Taoism and Zen Buddhism to the discipline of the Japanese tea ceremony. The author, Kakuza Okakura, devoted his life to preserving traditional Japanese culture serving as the curator of the Chinese and Japanese art collection at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The Book of Tea is one of his many contributions to preserving the history of tea origins, culture and ceremonies. It's the perfect journey to accompany a good cup of tea.

5) In Pursuit of Tea's Beautiful Moon Gift Set with Asian Tea Sampler and Kyobancha Incense ($83.00)
This gift set offers it all and comes in a beautiful custom made mulberry box from Thailand. Inside, a handmade ceramic tea cup with dragon fly motif awaits brews from six tea styles. A sample of white, green, oolong, black and pu-erh teas are included, each in a small glass covered tea canister, and the Asia in a Box tea guide describes each variety and how to best brew and enjoy them. The New Tea Lover's Treasury Book by J.N. Pratt is a passport into the history, regions and characteristics of teas around the globe and increases the tea drinking enjoyment reminding the reader that "no pleasure is simpler, no luxury cheaper, no consciousness-altering substance more benign." The 16 Kyobancha incense cones from Japan's Kyoto region release green tea aromas that perfectly complement the gift set's Japanese teas.

6) White Heron Tea's Handmade Teapot and Teacups ($40)
White Heron Tea has created the ultimate set for your tea lover's service. The ceramic teapot is glazed in soothing blue and gold. It's sturdy bamboo handle and filtered pour make tea service easy, comfortable and beautiful. The 4 matching teacups add extra warmth to the tea drinkers enjoyment. The set comes complete in a minimalist wooden box that pays homage to the beverage origins with stamped Chinese characters.

7) Tea for Beauty from Origin's Silver Tip White Tea Skin Care Collection
Chinese emperor's embraced silver tip white tea as an elixir of immortality and it is a potent antioxidant. That's why Origin's has created A Perfect World line of luxurious skin care products made with white tea antioxidants for anti-aging, anti-stress and anti-pollution. Any tea lover will appreciate the skin renewing white tea forces available through Origin's A Perfect World line. For the face choose from white tea skin guardian, antioxidant moisturizer with white tea, firming white tea moisture treatment for eyes, liquid moisture with white tea, antioxidant lip guardian with white tea or nighttime antioxidant mask with white tea. For the body there is Origin's A Perfect World creamy body cleanser with white tea, highly hydrating body lotion with white tea and intensely hydrating body cream with white tea. Aaahhh. With even just one of these delightfully rejuvenating products your tea lover can enjoy tea's benefits from the outside in.

8) Stash Tea's Honey & Gourmet Sugars ($3.50 - $59.95)
A honey stick for every cup of tea throughout the year may just be your tea lover's tea dream. Stash Tea offers A Year of Honey Sticks Sampler ($59.95) of 365 honey sticks in twelve flavors including clover, chai, cherry, cinnamon, ginger, lemon, licorice, orange, peppermint, peach, raspberry and bergamot. If your tea lover prefers sugar for sweetness Stash Tea has Brown Sugar Swizzle Sticks in packs of 5 ($3.50) for a fun and elegant alternative to boring cubes. Or for the adventurous tea lover try Stash Tea's Demerara Sugar ($4) from the island of Mauritius for natural, unrefined pure sweetness.

9) Beaucoup's Mini Personalized Tea Tins ($36.00)
What better way to acknowledge the personal beverage of choice than with personalized tea tins? Beaucoup specializes in party favors but you needn't host an event to enjoy these little sweeties. These adorable tins are perfect for loose leaf samples and Beaucoup will fill them with the freshest green or jasmine blends. The classic green and white tins and labels emulate the feel of an English country garden. The personal touch is yours with any message that says drink, steep and be merry.

10) In Pursuit of Tea's Tea Club Subscription
For the ultimate in tea, In Pursuit of Tea's Tea Club Subscription tops the Top Ten Gift Ideas for Tea Lovers. Whether your tea lover is a casual drinker or a connoisseur they will appreciate a new tea each month from either Black Teas of the World ($97.00), Ceylon Orange Pekoe ($70) or Green and White Teas of China and Japan ($135.00). Each subscription lasts six months and includes a permanent tea filter and paper tea filters and ¼ pound packages including White Peony, Yinzhen Silver Needle, Japanese Sencha, Buddha Tea, Green Tea Anemone, and Genmaicha, Brooklyn Breakfast, Royal Yunnan, Keemun, Red Fujian, Darjeeling First Flush, Assam Mangalam or Earl Grey. The world of teas delivered to your tea lover's door each month is the perfect reminder that you appreciate their love of tea.