Tea and Children II
I know there was a thread on this some years back but rather than resurrect it, I thought I’d start fresh.
My kids are now almost 10 and almost 8, and recently they’ve shown interest in trying and learning about tea. I’ve been enjoying introducing them to some non-caffeinated infusions. They are both boys and bundles of energy as it is, so I’m trying to avoid caffeine, though they’ve had iced tea and Arnold Palmers so I wouldn’t necessarily rule it out entirely.
So far they’ve enjoyed honeybush and rooibos (plain!) most of everything they’ve tried, but we have only been trying a “tea of the day” for a few days so there’s lots of room for trying other things. I expect I’ll try them on fruit blends starting soon.
I’m looking for more ideas and I know that some of you also enjoy sharing with the school aged kids in your lives, so any recommendations about things that were particular hits (or not) are welcome!
Thanks much.
Metropolitan Tea Company has a Bubblegum tea that is designed for kids, they also have a fruit tea called Lady Hannah’s that would be good for kids.
Kids discovering tea is no different than adults discovering tea. Right now the only difference is avoiding caffeine. Take your kids to a tea store, or online store, wherever you purchase your tea and let them discover what they like.
Thanks, Lala! I’m starting a list, and Bubblegum and Lady Hannah’s are going on it right now. :-)
I would like to see my grandkids enjoy it more.
So far the only one to take a real liking to it is my
3yr old GrandAngel, Zae.
CT, there’s still time if they’re very young. :-) My kids have just now started taking a real interest though I’d tried to give them a gentle introduction several times before.
My son is just exploring tea as well, because he’s seen me take an interest :)
So far he is mainly drinking evening teas such as Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime & Bigelow Sweet Dreams. He has smelled some of my loose leaf and hasn’t shown interest in those yet, I think seeing the leaves is a bit weird to him. He likes to help get the tea bag ready and put it in his cup. I imagine as time goes on, he will start exploring some of the loose leaf as well.
Even the caffeinated teas don’t bother me too much so long as we are mindful of when we let him drink it. He is a mild mannered child and a cup of caffeinated tea is better than a can of soda any day.
My mom used to give me a cup of hot Lipton tea with milk and sugar on occasion, so I guess it’s just normal for me to let him have a cup once and awhile too. Now if he wants more than a cup, we’ll move on to decaf or herbal.
Thanks, Suziqzer! I agree, if they show interest in trying the loose leaf, I’ll let them try it (within reason). We’re not quite there yet, though. I can see trying them on some blends I have that are similar to Sleepytime, with mint and chamomile. That’s a good idea, thanks!
As a young child, as far back as I could remember, my parents let me drink a lot of tea. Mostly celestial seasonings herbal blends, but I remember having black tea as well. Although at the time I thought there was nothing worse than a cup of black tea. Ha ha, look at me now.
Well, I’m not a good example because I grew up on coffee (and not decaf)! I was born in Chicago and hated hot chocolate as a kid, so my mother, in an effort to get something warm into me during the winter, would give me coffee when the other kids were having hot chocolate. I sometimes wonder whether I’d be taller if I hadn’t become a coffee drinker at age 3. ;-)
Lala- My mom would have probably let me have what I wanted, but it wasn’t something I asked for much. She also made sweet tea in the summer with Lipton and fresh mint.. not decaf either and it was often a summer staple.
Morgana- I couldn’t imagine drinking coffee as a child.. I learned to drink it with dark chocolate desserts :) It is funny how our tastes change.
Yes, it’s surprising to me that I liked coffee and not hot chocolate, but there you have it. I still drink coffee the same way I did as a kid, with milk only, which is (surprise) how my mom drank hers.
My mom started me drinking Lipton with caffeine about the age of 6.
I have always that that was normal.
My ex family lets their children drink strong coffee as soon
as they reach for the cup…lol…at least it is not liquor ;-)
My grandkids (especially the 8-year-old) enjoy tea. They mostly like fruity blends or chocolate flavors. As Suziqzer said, it’s better than soda (though they put a fair amount of sugar in their tea).
Thanks, Dr. Jim! Chocolate is a great idea, and I have a lot of chocolate flavored teas. Vanilla might work as well by the same logic (they tried vanilla rooibos and didn’t care for it, but there are other options). And caramel. Probably any standard ice cream flavors, come to think of it. :-)
My son likes his tea sweetened as well (as do I blush), but we use as little as possible and I usually have raw sugar on hand which I feel a little better about using.
I volunteer as a reading teacher to individual or small groups of children at the low-income school I taught at for 30 years. There is a six year old boy who has an amazing sense of smell. Every day he leans over and says “well, what do we have here” And then he reviews it. “well I smell some peach and a little something else, maybe orange” He just has an awesome sense of smell and is able to describe it so well. When he grows up he is going to have some terrific job wine or beer tasting or perfume mixing or something. I am so tempted to give him a little… but I don’t. It would be too weird. If only I could use his sense of smell to help him learn to read!
My nine year old sister has tried a few different teas (I’ve never worried about the caffeine since my step Dad allows her to drink coffee, and I was drinking coffee at her age too). Mostly she refuses to try things at all which I think is because of my brother who hates tea. I’m confident she’s trying to “impress him”.
However, the one blend she did like was Butiki’s Watermelon Xylophone. She loves watermelon to begin with, but I think she liked it because it was fruitier and light (she disliked the black blends she tried) and was more willing to try it because the name was fun.
Thanks so much, RS! I love the name Watermelon Xylophone, and it does sound like something my kids might like. I think the older one had a watermelon agua fresca at one point when we were on vacation and liked it. Great suggestion!
All three of mine(13,10 and 7) enjoy tea. Whenever they see me drinking they are curious and ask if they can sample. Every time we have Japanese or Chinese food they ask for green tea, Russian and Middle eastern goes with Ceylon or indian blends. Today my oldest asked about puerh i was drinking. After trying she said if she could have a cup as well. I dont see the reason why not. It doesnt make them hyper. They drink it without milk or sugar. I dont make it super strong,much weaker than I would. They do like Moorish Mint by Samovar(when I’m extra generous with half tsp of honey). They like Caramel by Kusmi, Read my Lips by Davids. They also like Sleepytime anytime. I never force them, only by request:)
Your kids have very sophisticated tastes. :-) My younger son tried Moorish Mint about a year ago at a Samovar tea room (it’s one of my favorites) and wasn’t a fan, but we didn’t put any sweetener in it and perhaps that would have done the trick. Today when I was doing rather a marathon tea drinking session, he did seem interested in trying some green. I suppose there’s much to be said for allowing them to take the lead. :-)
i steep it short,like 1.5 to 2 min top 180F. maybe its more palatable to kids and some honey or agave make it shine. i was stunned when my daughter asked for puerh, she didnt say gross or it stinks. i started drinking Puerh about 4 months ago. Oh Samovar Tea Room, i wish they would open up in NY;)
Today they had Kusmi Caramel. I’m not in the mood for Kusmi lately but they always are;)
I offered some Earl Grey Lavender this morning and they both turned up their noses. ;-)
My 5 yearold enjoys chrysantimum tea. Calles it “flowertea” :)
Have not intoduced her to other teas yet, but she has taken an interest to smelling and examining the dry leafs of all my teas.
Thanks for this—I can see flowers being interesting, I will have to keep that in mind.
My 7 year old loves tea and whenever I make a pot after dinner, she always checks it out. Her favourites so far are pink flamingo tisane from David’s Tea and Silver Needle white tea. She also loves Dragonwell green tea. I remember I used to drink tea when I was a kid… it was all black tea though and I always put sugar in it. She drinks tea without sugar or honey, just straight tea.
Adagio Teas has some fun “kids” teas in tins (although they are a bit pricey). http://www.adagio.com/gifts/tree_house_bags.html I think if you are a new customer they will send you a $5 off coupon too, which sweetens the deal a little! Also, my daughters really like the chocolate chip tea from Adagio when I let them have some sips from my cup.
My four year old has been asking for tea lately so I have been making her cups of rooibos. The more I do it, the more tea she wants! I might do an experiment with her one of these days and see how she reacts to caffeine. I have heard of it hyping up some people, but calming down others so I’m interested to know which category she falls in. I’m guessing the hyping up group, but only trying it will tell!
What is it with kids and rooibos? To me it tastes like wood or rattan and I really only appreciate it as the base for a good blend where I can’t really taste it, but my kids like it plain! Go figure. It’s hard to know about the hyping. My kids, particularly the older one who is really into sports and very talented (goodness knows where he got it) is a bundle of energy. I’m not sure I’d be able to tell the difference if he had caffeine. On the other hand, anything that might add an edge to the excessive energy isn’t something I want to be too free handed with. ;-)
Login or sign up to leave a comment.