Gear Patrol

Kickstand Black Tea Concentrate ($20) is a Brit’s wet dream. It’s the essence of your second or third favorite leaf, captured in its bitter, earthy, put-your-feet-up form, ready to be diluted to the desired strength and enjoyed hot or cold, black or with sugar, milk, honey or even some crumpets.

Okay, we’ll admit it. We don’t drink a lot of tea around GP HQ, but if we, or our British doppelgängers, were in the mood for a nice hot ‘cuppa’ we would most certainly make it Mentor Tea ($10+). With two all-natural variants befitting a man’s life, a Next Morning Blend (black) and After Hours…

Most of Gear Patrol’s editors aren’t serious enough tea fiends to ever justify dropping this kind of cash on a kettle. That said, we do know a variety of folks who take their leafy drink quite seriously, so we decided to share. Built with an integrated precision temperature gauge, this 3-quart tea pot is designed…

The Japanese Ito En tea company has released another 6.4 oz. “shot” style concentrated tea – the Oolong Shot. Similar to the Sencha Shot, the Oolong Shot packs plenty of antioxidant power, with 171 milligrams of free radical fighting polyphenols (a much higher dose than in regular brew). Oolong tea may be familiar to many…

The Ito En tea company of Japan brews up a multifarious collection of bottled teas in green, black, white, and fruit flavors. The taste and quality are great, yet with typical over-the-top Japanese engineering, the bottles are contoured to fit your top lip. But that’s not all – one of Ito En’s more cutting-edge products,…

All of this talk of glorious, French-pressed coffee got me thirsty to thinking. Sure, boiling water is a pretty simple task, but what simple task hasn’t been made better by the advent of a wonderful gadget to perform it for you. Wheras I love a nice stove-top kettle as much as the next guy, I’m…

A Dour Perspective On Your Morning Cup O’ Joe I’m not a big fan of pessimism. In fact, it’s a characteristic I find loathesome unless it comes served with two heaping scoops of sarcasm. Appropriate for Monday mornings, the Pessimist’s Mug is a perfect gift for someone you know (or yourself) that looks upon the…

New Leaf has a new look, but the 100% all natural and organically sweeted ice tea hasn’t changed, so look past the marketing blitz and all the other white teas for that matter and reach for a bottle of New Leaf. They’ve got blue and green teas as well but we prefer the smooth taste…