The Best Christmas Teas

It's nothing less than polar in Colorado today (currently a snow-dusted -4 degrees. Yes, minus four). That means one thing: we're donning our cozies and cuddling up with a proper afternoon tea.

Even in February, there's only one tea for us: American-made Christmas teas, a sippable form of self-care. So when Oregon-based Steven Smith Teamaker sent samples of their three holiday teas for an Aspen Grange taste test—we said “yaaaaaaas, plz.”

Nothing against eggnog, cider and cocoa, but sometimes you want to sip on a Christmassy drink without slurping up a gazillion calories in the process. That's where American-made Christmas teas come in: they’re a drinkable Stars Hollow, and they're chockablock with antioxidants and flavonoids that have been proven to lower LDL cholesterol (a handy trick in the height of cookie season). Plus: they often taste as divine as Luciano Pavarotti sounds singing Ave Maria. (Are you crying listening to that? BC we’re crying. And no we are NOT ashamed.)

Image courtesy Steven Smith Teamaker

Steven Smith’s American-made Christmas teas—including Ho-Ho-Hoji-Chai and Morning Light, a darjeeling—are available on their site starting in October each holiday season. Our favorite? Silent Night, made of peppermint grown in the misty Pacific Northwest paired with cinnamon, ginger and licorice. They call it “a caffeine-free candy cane in a cup,” and they’re not wrong. We love it so much that next year, we’re stocking up so we can sip it all year round. There’s nothing like an American-made Christmas (iced tea) in July, y’all.

Aspen Grange, home of American-made Christmas decorations and American-made baking supplies, is building the most Christmassy place on the internet.