I took this photo of my favorite (Tropical Goji Green, iced) and then drank it while having pad thai for lunch. Perfect.

Spring and summer come on slowly in the Rocky Mountains – just ask anyone up here who lived through April and May. But while we’re tea purveyors living at 8,000 feet above sea level, we know that many of our biggest fans aren’t, so plenty of you enjoyed the kind of spring weather we can only dream of until, well, sometimes July.

Being cold and watching the snow fly in mid-May makes us nostalgic for those halcyon days of heat last summer, when the grass was green and the river was flowing smoothly behind our office. Although many of us up here don’t bother with air conditioning all summer long, last August I remember a day when the  swamp cooler in the office was on, and thought of sipping a hot cup of tea made me cringe enough to inspire a blog post. One reader who lives in the Sacramento Valley responded. Of course she’s still drinking hot tea in the hot weather, she wrote. It’s not like coffee drinkers drink coffee iced at breakfast during the summer.

Yeah, she has a point. Even I still drink a hot cup of coffee every morning in the summer. So I put it out there to our Facebook fans: Do you switch to iced tea in the summer, or just stick with hot tea all year round?

And you know what I love about the answers? I love that many of you just drink hot tea year round, and think nothing of it … even those of you who live in hot, humid climates. “I am surprised that even though I live in SW Florida, I drink an awful lot of hot tea,” says Gena Lategano Harakal. “I do supplement with iced tea during the day.” Is there such thing as an “awful lot” of hot tea, Gena?

“Hot tea, all year long,” says Toni Williams. “Your Jasmine is my true blue favorite.” There is something refreshing about the floral quality of our Jasmine Green Tea, that’s for sure. Deborah Bradford, Peggy Drahnak Winskey and Alisha VanHoose Torres say they drink both hot and iced all year – you’re tea drinkers after our hearts, ladies.

Michael Worley drinks hot tea year round but throws any leftovers into the fridge for a cold drink later, he says. Good idea – although he notes that’s only if he has any leftovers. We know what you mean, Michael.

Evelyn Gonzalez lives in “hot, humid North Florida,” and does say she switches to iced tea, using our own loose teas to brew her own every day. And Kyenne Williams says she drinks our Better Rest Blend both iced and hot, because either way it chills her out. We’ll have to try it iced, Kyenne – thanks for the tip!

This summer, when I’ve got both the front door and the back door open to get a little cross-breeze going, and I’m reaching for a tiny, portable fan to direct at my forehead, I’m going to think of all of you and your commitment to hot tea. I’m not saying I won’t immediately dump a cup of steaming Tropical Goji Green over some ice cubes like I usually do, but I might stand there and ponder taking a sip of the hot stuff first.

Either way, cheers to summer!