help choosing an xmas gift for my tea loving girlfriend.

[neilxvx]

My girlfriend loves tea. She spends over 50 bucks a month on whole leaf teas. She doesn't really like caffeine, so she only uses white tea. I might buy her a nice tea pot, the kind that has the filter in the middle, for you to steep in the actual pot you pour the tea out of. Problem is, she already has three, but never uses them. I would like to get her one that she would want to use. I know she doesn't want a cast iron, but a ceramic one. I think buying her a few ounces of a nice tea would be too expected.

I was showing her Joels thread about matcha tea. She look really intrigued by it and even said she really wants that kit she saw in the pictures. Is matcha tea very caffeinated?

Any ideas would help, anything!

[Chuckaluck]

Stash Tea sells gift certificates. They have nice stuff.

[TimmyBoston]

I think she'd like one of your empty Scotch bottles.

[neilxvx]

I think she'd like one of your empty Scotch bottles.

Filled with tea leaves, under the claim that the cork seals off the flavor. :lol:

[expatCanuck]

...Is matcha tea very caffeinated? ...
Yes, very, according to a post in Joel's matcha thread.

A nice Yixing might be the thing. I've ordered a few from enjoyingTea.com -- a decent selection of quality pots.

At this point, you'd likely not be able to get anything from from YSLLC by Christmas, not even at extortionate delivery fees.

Last note -- my understanding (chemistry buffs, please chime in here) is that caffeine is among the most readily soluble compounds in tea, and that a quick 15-30 second rinse will get rid of much (if not most) of the caffeine.
Discard that, and then rebrew.

- Richard

[Howard Newell]

I'm not sure how soluble caffeine is, but wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine) lists its solubility as 670mg per milliliter. I'm not sure how long you'd have to steep the tea to get rid of most of the caffeine, but I have noticed that when I continue sessions from previous days, I don't really feel the caffeine quite as much.

[neilxvx]

Well I bought her a very nice hand made ceremic tea pot at this small shop in Midtown. I think that will do. I just don't think she'll end up drinking very much Matcha, as she is really sensitive to caffeine (she takes prescriptions that don't mix well with it.)

Thanks every one for their help.