Why I Love #Tea4Tuesday on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

I’ve always been a fan of Stephen Colbert but I love him even more now. He tastes a tea every week on Facebook Live in a feature they call #Tea4Tuesday. As far as I can tell, they’ve been doing these videos since 2016. Someone off camera hands him a flask full of already brewed tea along with a brief description and tasting notes.

Their selections have run the gamut of what the tea world has to offer, everything from Nepalese white tea to Thai hei cha. I really appreciate the fact they don’t just stick to one particular category or region. Inexplicably, the teas are accompanied by souvenir spoons so tiny that it requires a magnifying glass to read.

Here are some reasons why I love #Tea4Tuesday so much:

Stephen takes his tea unsweetened

One of the biggest things about #Tea4Tuesday that makes me happy is that Stephen always takes his tea unsweetened. I’ve had so many arguments with companies who tell me that Americans only like tea when it has sugar added. The more examples we have that tea is perfectly fine on its own, the better things will be in the future.

Introducing tea to the maintstream

It is super revolutionary to have a mainstream media source talking about these kinds of teas. Thousands of people tune in, most of which are not hardcore tea heads like me. They tune in because they love the show and the host but what they get is an accidental education in tea. There’s no talk of health benefits or what the tea “does”. Stephen reads the tasting note and then gives his own impressions on the taste.

They feature from some great companies

The companies featured are some of my favorite tea dealers. I’ve spotted offerings from the likes of Yunnan Sourcing, Silk Road Teas, and Nepali Tea Traders. Occasionally, awesome teaware is used such as my beloved silver peacock cup from Crimson Lotus Tea. I do wish that they would identify where the tea was sourced from more often.

I’d love to know more about how and why they do this so I tweeted the show to see if they would answer a few questions. There hasn’t been a response yet.

Do you tune into #Tea4Tuesdays every week too? What would you like to see Stephen drink next? Let me know about it in the comments below!