In my career which spanned over two decades, I was lucky enough to have been managed and mentored by women who encouraged my curiosity, nurtured my drive and celebrated my achievements.
To me, they are true bosses.
At home, moms take on the same roles for their family:
Moms manage the family’s schedule and ensure that everyone has what they need to do well.
Moms optimize various resources for the family’s benefit.
Moms cultivate their kids’ talents and support them to achieve their full potential.
With these roles, we could say that moms are the true bosses of our families.
Well, true bosses deserve boss-level treats from time to time, right?
How about healthy and refreshing teas from True Boss?
These drinks contain fruit enzymes made from fermented fruits and vegetables and are packed with nutrients that help the body perform better by aiding digestion and giving the immune system a boost.
Instead of refined sugar, True Boss drinks make use of cane sugar which is easier for the body to process.
Lastly, fresh fruit toppings give the drinks some added taste and texture.
Here are some of True Boss’ tasty beverages that are definitely good for everyone, especially moms:
Mango Cheese Milk Foam (Php165 regular). Cheese milk foam on Alpine Tea with mango toppings.
Berry Berry Good (Php140 regular | Php155 large). Cranberry enzyme with strawberry and mango toppings.
Strawberry Cheese Milk Foam (Php165). Cheese milk foam on green tea with strawberry toppings.
As a special treat for moms and the rest of the fam, these four drinks are available in a True Boss Gift Set for just Php599!
So give your mom a healthy and refreshing tea break, one fit for the True Boss of the family! Order online or visit or call any of these True Boss branches:
E. Rodriguez: +63 2 79002076 | +63 906 2945070
West Avenue: +63 2 77473171 | +63 916 2709916
Wilson: + 63 2 75271451 | +63 966 3276351
Mall of Asia: +63 2 77464608 | +63 967 4524087
To stay updated on its products and offers, follow True Boss on Facebook and Instagram.
Disclosure: Product samples were provided to facilitate this feature.
With the onset of the rainy season, don’t you sometimes feel the need to just snuggle up somewhere with a nice, hot cup of tea?
Well, why not?
For centuries, tea has long been known to give comfort to its drinkers, with stimulating mental alertness, increasing resistance to disease, cleansing and reinvigorating skin, assisting in proper digestion and easing joint and muscle discomfort.
But did you know that there is a proper way to enjoy your cup of tea?
Together with my friends from #WeLoveToEatPH, I discovered that there’s more to tea than meets the eye at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf’s recent #DiscoverTea event held at the 26th Street Bistro in Bonifacio Global City.
One of these discoveries is the process of tea cupping, which involves using multiple senses to appreciate and evaluate tea.
Here’s how:
With your sense of sight, visually examine the dry and unfurled tea leaves. Whole leaves with good color indicate tea of good quality.
With your sense of smell, take in the aroma of tea and try to distinguish the unique smell of each variant from the others.
With your sense of taste and touch, take in the flavor and mouthfeel of the brew as you slurp it using a stainless steel spoon.
Many things enter into the equation when it comes to enjoying a perfect cup of tea. Those that are stored in airtight containers and placed in a cool, dry and dark place will be able to keep their potency of flavor much longer. Those made of full and loose tea leaves would provide the finest taste, especially when steeped in freshly boiled water, and in the right proportion (8oz of hot water per 1 tsp of tea: or 12-16oz of hot water per tea bag).
Steeping time also plays an important role in producing your perfect cup. Steep it too briefly and you won’t maximize the tea’s flavor; steep it for too long and you scald the leaves, giving the tea a bitter taste.
Green teas require the shortest steeping time at 3 minutes, while black and oolong teas require a bit longer steeping time at 5 minutes. Herbal and fruit infusion teas require the longest at 7 minutes.
Also, be sure to pour the hot water over the tea, instead of dropping the tea bad into the hot water.
The #DiscoverTea event also served as the launch of CBTL’s new tea flavors which we enjoyed with some of the cafe’s pastry offerings.
Food-and-tea pairing is designed to enhance the flavor of the tea and the pastry by finding similar or complementary elements in both, as in the case of:
African Sunrise x Banana Chocolate Muffin. CBTL’s hand-crafted honeybush with a mild and sweet taste, and aromatic vanilla flavoring brought out the light sweetness of the cafe’s chocolate chip-laden classic banana muffin.
Genmaicha x Spicy Tuna Pandesal. The roasted flavor of from the Sencha tea and rice blend complemented the spicy tuna inside the hot pan de sal.
Apricot Ceylon x Blueberry Cheesecake. Definitely my favorite pairing, the light and fruity Ceylon tea is a great foil to the rich blueberry-topped cheesecake.
Pomegranate Blueberry x White Chocolate Berry Cheesecake. The bright and fresh yet exotic tea brought out the richness of the decadent blueberry-filled white chocolate cheesecake.
After our tea pairing experience, our team went on a new foodie adventure: blendingour own tea! We mixed Black Ceylon tea leaves with dried mango bits, pieces of orange peel and rose petals. After steeping in hot water, the resulting drink is fragrant and light, with a slight citrusy flavor. Who knew we could be tea masters for a day, eh?
The #DiscoverTea event showed us that there are a million ways to enjoy a classic.
Thanks to Harvard of AlwaysHungry.ph for extending the invitation and to the folks of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for the awesome tea rediscovery experience!
This Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf branch (26th Street Bistro) is located at Net Lima Building, 26th Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. Other CBTL branches in Taguig may be found at:
Ground Floor, Venice Piazza, McKinley Hill, Taguig
B8 Bonifacio High Street, BGC
32nd Street corner 11th Avenue, Park Triangle, BGC
Third Floor, BHS Central Square, BGC
Third Floor, Uptown Place Mall, BGC
Every Nation Building, 32nd Avenue corner University Parkway, BGC
Ground Floor, BGC Stopover Pavilion, BGC
Burgos Circle, BGC
Fifth Floor, SM Aura Premier, BGC
Shell Logcom, CP Garcia Avenue, Greater Taguig
Ground Floor, Vista Mall, Greater Taguig
Disclosure: Together with fellow foodies, I attended a tea tasting and pairing event held at 26th Street Bistro. Food and drink mentioned here we served as part of the program and were not paid for by the attendees, including myself.
Check out my other posts on The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf:
Starbucks has long been synonymous with great coffee, but did you know that it has a great selection of teas as well?
Last weekend, together with fellow bloggers Jen of Sand Under My Feet and Francis G, as well as other tea lovers in the east of Manila area, I attended the Teavana TEA-volution Tea Tasting Seminar, a Tea 101 if you will, held at the Starbucks branch in SM East Ortigas. Our Starbucks Tea Master Jonas Velgado took us on guided tour through the history of teas, the tea-growing regions of the world and three flights of tea tasting.
Tea culture started in China in 2737 BC. Legend has it that Emperor Shen Nung, exhausted after walking in the countryside, decided to rest himself under a tree and boil himself some water to drink. A gust of wind shook some leaves from the tree (said to be a wild tea plant) into the boiling water, giving the liquid a goldish color and a pleasant taste which the emperor liked. Thus, began the pleasures of tea drinking which spread throughout the world.
There is a wide variety of teas, each with its own flavor and characteristics, influenced by the region in which they are grown. China, for example, produces black, oolong and white tea. Japan, on the other hand, is known for matcha and green tea. India, also made a name for itself for black tea.
The processing of tea leaves which come from the same plant called Camellia Sinensis is what determines the teas’ strength of flavor and the leaves’ exposure to the elements – or oxidation – determines their classification into white, green, oolong or black tea.
White tea is the lightest and most delicate variety, made of the youngest and freshet leaves which are simply plucked and dried with no time for oxydation. White tea is usually characterized by its fragrant and sweet notes.
Leaves heated before being rolled and dried result to green tea. While there is little oxidation, the added processing brings out more natural flavors and lightly toasted notes.
Bruising or tearing the leaves add partial oxidation into the processing, resulting to a fuller body and richer color. Thus, oolong tea, commonly served in Chinese restaurants, is characterized by a floral aroma and a smooth finish.
Lastly, rolling and giving the tea leaves plenty of time to oxidize before being fired, give the black tea, more popular in Western countries, a bold, complex and strong flavor.
After the brief history and geography lesson, we were treated to three sets of tea tastings, from the base teas to exciting beverage innovations, all available at Starbucks outlets.
First Flight: Full- Leaf Brewed Teas
Starbucks’ Teavana line boasts of the youngest and freshest whole tea leaves grown from the most fertile regions. These are available in sachets in Starbucks stores so that tea lovers have the option to enjoy them in-store or wherever they are. Steeping time is usually at five minutes using eight fluid ounces of boiling water, but, of course, tea drinkers are welcome to experiment what works best for their taste. Enjoy these hot or ice-shaken.
English Breakfast. This robust handcrafted blend of Assam, Sri Lankan Ceylon and Chinese black tea. This will taste great with or without sugar and milk (but I would prefer it with sugar and milk!)
Chamomile. This caffeine-free herbal infusion uses chamomile sourced from Croatia, giving the blend soft and soothing floral tones.
Emperor’s Clouds and Mist. Both leaves and buds of the tea plant grown amd harvested from Chine’s Huangshan Mountain 3,500 feet above sea level are used to create this rich-bodied and sweet-flavored green tea.
Second Flight: Tea Lattes
Tea proves to be a very versatile beverage. Case in point: adding steamed milk to a strong-flavored tea gives you a frothy tea latte. Enjoy these in hot or iced formats.
Chai Tea Latte. Black tea is infused with cinnamon, clove and other warming spices, then combined with steamed milk, and topped with foam, resulting to a creamy balance of sweet and spicy.
Green Tea Latte. Matcha is lightly sweetened and served with milk, giving you a milky yet herby aroma in a thick, yet smooth and creamy deep-green blend.
English Breakfast Tea Latte. Steamed milk is added to English Breakfast black tea, lightly sweetened with cane sugar, resulting to a light mouthfeel but rich taste.
Third Flight: Featured Tea Lattes
From time to time, Starbucks introduces limited-edition beverages, fresh takes on their classic tea drinks, to match the season and infuse their beverages with the unexpected. These are also available hot or iced.
Oat Green Tea Latte. Green tea and oats are blended then topped with colorful granola, making a cheery and festive drink.
Peach Black Tea Latte. Subtle fruitiness characterize this blend of peach flavors and earthy black tea, my favorite among the drinks.
Chestnut Black Tea Latte. Finely ground black tea blended with steamed milk and chestnut sauce is lightly sprinkled with chestnut and strawberry bites, resulting to a creamy textured drink with a slightly dry nutty aftertaste.
Starbucks’ TEA-volution Tea-tasting Seminar is one of Starbucks’ laudable initiatives in expanding the Filipino palate. I can hardly wait to discover what other beverage innovations Starbucks has up its sleeve.
Kudos and thanks to Jonas and the Starbucks SM East Ortigas crew for their warm welcome and kind accommodation during this delightfully educational event! The seminar was well-organized and facilitated, with Starbucks SM East Ortigas store serving as a comfortable venue for the attendees.
Disclosure: The TEA-volution Tea-tasting Seminar held in this Starbucks branch is a free event open to the public that simply requires pre-registration. The beverages mentioned here were served to enable us to sample the brews and were not paid for by attendees, including myself.
Jellybeans in the City 