If you've ever been to Jubilee Suites, you'll see evidence of Dana Maloney's passion for tea everywhere. Starting in the Bay View great room where groups gather and breakfast is served, Dana has a custom-built tea cart that contains everything one could imagine for preparing a proper cup. Besides the assortment of cups, teas and herbal blends, the electric tea kettle is set out to provide boiling water in a flash, along with brown sugar and white sugar cubes, local honey, monkfruit sweetener, half and half, whole cream, oat milk, and whole milk. We sat down with Dana Maloney this week to gain more insight into her love of tea.
Q: What is it about tea that fuels your passion?
Dana: Tea is very important to me. I am particular about all of it. I like a big cup. One that is smooth feels the best in my hands and I love to feel the warmth of the tea through the cup. When I call my mom, I almost always have a cup of tea and the ritual takes me to a new place while we're talking. Even traveling in the car, I like to hold a cup. It calms me and helps me feel connected, present and content.
Q: What are your earliest memories of drinking tea?
Dana: I think it started in the '70s when I was 12-14. My dad was in the Air Force and we lived in Taiwan for a couple years. We drank jasmine tea all the time. Everyone drank tea. It was served on trains by a man who came by with a huge tea kettle and china cups. It was my first time and I thought it was delicious. After we came back to the States, we continued to move around- Kansas City, then St. Louis, then Alabama- and I continued to drink tea. When we were transferred to Germany, I began to drink English tea. And when Jim and I were married, his job in the Navy took us to Yokosuka, a suburb of Tokyo, and I drank green tea there.
Q: What kind of tea do you drink now and how do you make it?
Dana: I still drink green tea every morning. I make about 4 cups and have it with me all morning. I mix a green tea bag with a pinch of Mediterranean sea salt and a Longevity tea bag by Pure Formula. It's a mixture of many ingredients and it tastes delicious. I heat the water to boiling in the electric kettle, pour it over the tea bags and let it steep for about 5 minutes. When it's ready, I pour it into my favorite white cup and carry it with me all morning. No sweetener for me. In the afternoon I drink Ginger Lemon herbal tea and in the evening I drink my own herbal blend called Dana's Relaxing Tea.
Q: What is Dana's Relaxing Tea blend?
Dana: It's a mixture we blend here at Jubilee Suites and we put some in every suite for our guests. It includes passionflower, lemon balm, linden, oat tops, chamomile, and basil. I love it in the evening. It helps me feel relaxed and I sleep better too.
Q: How is your passion for tea reflected in your passion for personalized hospitality here at Jubilee Suites?
Dana: Whenever I offer food or drink to a guest, I'm sharing something I love with them and I feel a real connection with them. I like to make my Dana's Relaxing Tea tea blend available to encourage our guests to relax even more while they're here. It's the perfect accompaniment to the peaceful view of Mobile Bay, or to sip while bird-watching, or while visiting around the firepit at sunset. I make sure each suite has some of my special blend of Dana's Relaxing Tea, an electric tea kettle, and a beautiful teapot and cups for serving the tea. I'm pleased when a guest tries my tea and tells me about it. We love to feed people and we love to feel connected, and tea is just one of the ways we encourage that.
Q: Have you made any efforts to educate people about tea?
Dana: I never try to force my tea habit on our guests. There are coffee lovers and tea lovers, and I don't try to compete with the coffee people. We all have our reasons for what we like, and personally, I'm a bit sensitive to caffeine, so I avoid coffee. For guests who enjoy tea, I have about 10 kinds for them to try, a lot of blends. When I meet someone who loves tea as much as I do, I enjoy swapping tea stories with them. We've had a few guests who share my passion and they come back again and again.
Q: Are there health benefits to drinking tea?
Dana: Some of the ingredients in tea are good for me mentally and physically. I've learned that green tea has anti-inflammatory properties, some herbal teas promote gut health and some ingredients help people relax. There's just something about tea that makes me feel good all over.
Q: Do you have any plans to offer high tea at Jubilee Suites?
Dana: I would love to do that someday. There's something really special about an elegant high tea shared with people you love.
Learn more about Jubilee Suites by checking out our suites. We'd love to have you stay with us and we promise to provide good tea and great coffee when you do! All guests are invited to enjoy our made-to-order breakfasts in our Bay View great room each morning. We hope to meet you this year. We'd love to exceed your expectations!
Dana and Jim Maloney