Tea Lights: A Delightful Way to Light

A small, bright star in the candle world, the tea light has come to be used for decoration, mood lighting, and for heating things as well. Their small size and the fact that they are held in their own container means that the uses of tea lights are far more diverse than for regular candles. And because of their low profile, they are also less likely to blow over and are therefore safer. The tea light candle has really brought the loveliness of the candle flame to many more people who utilize them in any number of ways. This is reflected in the availability of tea lights in all colors and many designs, as well as in containers of different materials. Of course, like normal candles, tea lights are also available in scented wax, thought you should check to make sure the source of the scents is natural. Finally, one of the best things to use tea lights for is for heating up aromatherapy oils (essential oils). Tea lights are great because they burn up most of their fuel, whereas regular candles tend to drip wax all over. There are also many delightful tea light holders available to add that special touch to a room.

Supposedly, tea lights were used in Japanese tea ceremonies first for ambience, and then later also to keep tea warm. While the truth of this information needs verification, it's safe to say that tea lights have been used to keep tea warm somewhere and some time in history. Even today, some of the nicer cafes will employ them for this purpose. Besides warming people's tea, tea lights are also used to warm fondue, that very special Swiss eat.
Tea light candles also warm non-edibles, like the aforementioned essential oils. How this works is you place some water and a few drops of an essential oil of your choice in an essential oil diffuser, also known as an essential oil burner. Then, you light a tea light and place it in the compartment underneath the part of the diffuser holding the water and oil mixture. The tea light heats this up, diffusing the scent throughout the room. Diffusers are great because you get to have a fire, albeit a small one, and you get nice smells to go along with it. Because diffusers also come in many different types, the right one can also hold a very special place in your home. If you don't want to fuss with essential oils and diffusers, you may opt to just go with scented tea lights. Many of these actually make use of essential oils, which are released as the candle burns and can achieve the same effect. That way, you don't have to think about the water evaporating, and are guaranteed to get a scent as long as the candle is burning, whereas a diffuser that has used up all its essential oil will stop producing the scent.

For those who are paranoid about fires or safety conscious, or for people who just want to have the effect of candlelight without having to replenish them all the time, there are battery operated tea lights and flameless tea lights. You can even get an LED tea light nowadays. LED tea lights will save a lot of energy, if you plan to use them a lot. They will also last longer than tea lights using other kinds of bulbs, thanks to the superior longevity of LED technology. LED tea light candles may be the most long burning tea lights of all. Electric tea lights may be great for special mood lighting outdoors, as well, and there's no risk of them going out if there's a stiff wind. Rechargeable tea lights may be brought out regularly and used again and again. Battery powered tea lights as well as plug in electric lights may also be available as flickering tea lights, which will give some of the feel of the liveliness of a real flame.

If you want long lasting tea lights without giving up a real flame, try soy tea lights. These are made with natural ingredients (though most of the soy in the United States has been genetically modified, which is something less than natural), and vendors claim they will burn for an average of seven hours.

Even though soy tea lights are made with genetically modified soy, the health effects of which are unknown, they are probably better than candles that make use of petroleum derived wax.  Besides the material of the wax used, also avoid a tea light holder made out of PET, PVC, Acrylic, of polystyrene as these aren't safe for use with flames and are toxic if burned. 

For an even more charming use of this kind of candle, try hanging tea lights.  These often come in the form of centerpieces for your dining table and can hold multiple tea lights, making for a very enchanting display indeed.