Knoxify

Hello, my name is Michael, and I drink copi­ous amounts of fine teas…

I’m not sure if many of you out there can relate, but I never set out to become a loose-leaf tea addict. In fact, just two years ago hot tea really wasn’t my thing. How­ever, after fix­ing tea for my wife one morn­ing, I was tempted to forgo my usual two cups of joe in exchange for a cup of hot Eng­lish Breakfast. That indis­cre­tion started me down a path that began with tea bags and now con­tin­ues with noth­ing less than the best loose-leaves avail­able on the Knoxville market.

I have my mother-in-law to blame for this. I would have been per­fectly con­tent with tea bags had she not tempted me with the rich, full fla­vors from her loose-leaf stash. If you’ve drunk bagged teas all your life, switch­ing to loose-leaf is like switch­ing from black-and-white to color.

Even­tu­ally, sam­pling teas at my in-laws wasn’t enough. This past Novem­ber I ven­tured to her source, Turtlehead’s Tea and Cof­fee in Far­ragut, and I haven’t bought bagged teas since.

Enough with the pre­lim­i­nar­ies. Good tea is for sam­pling and shar­ing. So allow me to intro­duce you to my favorite fresh tea and cof­fee shop.

Turtlehead’s Tea and Cof­fee is located in the Food City Shop­ping Cen­ter between Con­cord and Lovell Roads. Look for the United Com­mu­nity Bank in front to help you locate this oth­er­wise non­de­script location.

Upon enter­ing the store, you’ll prob­a­bly be greeted by Jan. If you express any enthu­si­asm for find­ing some good tea or cof­fee, she’ll be sure to match yours and raise it to the next level.

Turtlehead’s car­ries a nice selec­tion of organic cof­fees along with steep­ware and acces­sories. How­ever, the real rea­son why I’m writ­ing can be found in the sixty or so boxes that fill the shelves behind the counter. That’s where you’ll find a tea trea­sure trove with a range of fla­vors suit­able for the pick­i­est tea con­nois­seur to the total tea novice. Jan can even mix a tea that you’ve had else­where if you describe it.

Sound tempt­ing? It is. I can’t leave with­out pick­ing up a cou­ple ounces of one of my favorites:

• Earl Grey Cream - This is one of Jan’s mixes. It falls under the cat­e­gory of “dessert teas,” and it has a hint of vanilla that brings out the smooth berg­amot fla­vor­ing that is the hall­mark of Earl Grey. I enjoy a cup with break­fast or when I’m on the couch read­ing a good book. This one is great with a lit­tle cream and sugar.
   
• Jas­mine Dew - Really smooth with a “just right” fla­vor. This one always makes for a relax­ing mid-afternoon work­day break.
   
• Cin­na­mon Spice - I gen­er­ally add a tea­spoon of sugar to my tea; how­ever, Turtlehead’s Cin­na­mon Spice has so much fla­vor that I pre­fer not to add anything.

In addi­tion to these, Spicy Vanilla Chai, a recent dis­cov­ery of mine, is also mak­ing its way onto my list. Plus, Turtlehead’s dessert teas are worth another post altogether…there’s Pump­kin Cake, Key Lime Pie and Choco­late Chai, each tast­ing like their namesake.

But, instead of me telling you about it, I think I’ve given you rea­son to go check things out for your­self. Mean­while, it’s time I put some water on the stove.

Got another Knoxville-area source for loose-leaf tea? Please share it in the comments.

photo credit: LeP­etit­Poulailler