Afternoon Tea

A foggy start to another beautiful day.

Afternoon Tea

The practice of drinking tea and eating small cakes in the late afternoon was started by Anna, The 7th Duchess of Bedford in the mid 1800's. She simply couldn't bare the stretch from the mornng meal to dinner at 8PM she began nibbling snacks with her friends around 4PM. Apparently she wasn't the only one in a slump because the afternoon snack became as important to British well-being as a good Macintosh (raincoat) or a pair of Wellingtons (rubber boots).

Today, the afternoon tea consists of everything from elegant sandwiches, scones, cakes and cookies to PB&J's, vegetabel crudites, rice cakes and fruit plates.
It is still meant to be served in the late afternoon at hotels and tea houses and is still meant as a social interlude and pick-me-up before dinner.

High Tea served closer to 6PM is the working man's tea or small supper. Think of breakfast in reverse. It consists of foods like eggs, sausage, bacon, bread and cheeses with something sweet for dessert.

Cream Tea is a light snack of scones, served with clotted cream and jam rather than butter.

Fireside Tea is served at the hearth where guests toast bread, crumpets and muffins over the flames, while sipping tea.

I think it funny that back in the early days of tea when the lady of the house was allowed to own nothing, she had a very small, elaborate box or caddy, in which she held her precious store of tea leaves.
Those caddies are highly prized today and to find one that still has the inner compartments intact are very elusive.
I should know I have been looking for one for years.

Brightest tea blessings

Sidetracked post

In my post yesterday I mentioned that I would do "Afternoon Teas" today and I have been stretched rather thin today and haven't had the chance to do enough research to give the subject the time it needs.

However, my good friend commented on my post that she had lost her recipe for "Russian Tea".
I have found this one although I do know that there is a black tea that is a russian tea.
Tea traveled from China to Russia, via Mongolia and Siberia, in the 17th century but it didn't catch on until the French declared it fashionaable in the 19th century.
The Samovar, a large urn for brewing and serving the russian tea hot continuously, lemon slices, the practice of sweetening tea with a lump of sugar, and the smoky Russian Caravan tea (redolent of camels trekking too close to campfires!) are Russia's contribution to tea culture.

Here you go April, a recipe just for you.

RUSSIAN TEA

1 cup instant tea (If preferred, 1) cup)
2 cups Tang
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves
1 pkg. Wylers lemonade mix
1 1/2 cups sugar (or less)

Mix all together and keep in tightly covered jar. Use approximately two heaping teaspoons for one cup of tea.

I have a russian tea punch that would involve the rum you spoke of and oh, by the way April, there is no such thing as a bottle of rum that got too old! Wink, wink!

Instead of Starbucks.....

Why not try my cappuccino?
Well, it's more like an UNcappuccino.
I really feel sorry for the people like my sweet hubby, who are allergic to caffeine and are feeling neglected in a cappuccino and latte' world.

The Uncappuccino

2 cups boiling water
4 bags cinnamon tea
1/2 cup warmed milk
2 tablespoons brown sugar
whipped cream and cinnamon for sprinkling

In a teapot, pour water over teabags.
Copver and let steep for 5 minutes.
Remove and discard teabags.
Stir in sugar and the warmed milk.
Pour into cups and top with whipped cream and sprinkle with cinnamon.
Serves 4.
Note: Make sure when buying the cinnamon tea that you read the label. There shouldn't be any black tea in the package. That would add caffeine to the tea.
If you have to use 6 culinary grade cinnamon sticks in place of the tea bags. Let steep for an addtitional 3 minute for a total of 8 minutes and pull the sticks out and finish the recipe.


There seems to have been a little confusion about my George Orwell post.
I put my milk into my cup first, then the tea.
Orwell in his irreversible mind said it was to be done the other way and there was no talking him out of it. Well, fine for him.
Chemically, the milk will break down if you put cold into boiling hot. I give you my best link for fun in the kitchen Alton Brown who does chemistry in the kitchen and he can explain even better than me!

I want to say one more thing about tea lighteners.
Teas are herbaceous, they are floral, they are gentle and kind. What they are not is heavy.
The heaviest lightener you should put in your tea is whole milk. That is it.
Should you use half-n-half or cream you would be washing out the flavor of the tea.
If you tried to strengthen the tea to keep up with the cream you would have a tea latte' which might not be bad, but would have a high caffeine content.

Tomorrow I think we will be on to what is a true afternoon tea.
Until then, Brightest Blessings.

Rain, rain, go away

We have had a bad string of thunderstorms run through Charleston since last evening.
I thought we would do a "tonic" tea for this dreary day.
How about a recipe to start?

Jelly Pockets

1 cup all purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
7 tablespoons butter, softened
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg, beaten for the prebaked pockets
some jam...I like apricot or strawberry

Combine flour, sugar, zest and butter in bowl. Cut butter in until evenly distributed and mixture is crumbly.
Beat egg and vanilla in a small bowl. Pour into flour mixture and continue to beat at low speed until dough begins to hold a shape. Lightly knead on floured board, pat into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill for an hour.

Hmmm, time for tea.
**************************************************************
Indian Spiced Tea
This recipe will serve two...or me!

1 cup of water
1 cup of half-n-half
2 tablespoons loose black tea, such as Ceylon
1 cinnamon stick...use culinary cinnamon, NOT the craft store cinnamon you do not know how old that stuff is.
1 slice fresh ginger
3 cloves
2 teaspoons sugar

Bring water and half-n-half to boil in a small saucepan.
Add remaining ingredients, stir and reduce heat to simmer.
Cook 10 minutes.
Strain and serve.
This tea is so good that you could make this, let it cool and serve it over ice.
*******************************************************************
OK, an hour has passed, let's get back to the dough.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a baking sheet. Roll dough on floured board to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out circles with 3" wide glass or cookie cookie cutter. (My suggestion, keep a clean tuna fish or pineapple can for cutting, there are the perfect size!) Remove excess dough, gather in disk and chill
Brush the circles with the beaten egg and place 1 teaspoon of jam in the center of each. Fold to enclose and press the edges with fingertips to seal.
Transfer to cookie sheet and brush again with egg.
Repeat with the remaining dough.
Bake about 15 minutes,until tops are golden and set. Transfer to racks to cool.
Makes 16.

Enjoy!

Did you know?

That all true tea is derived from the Camellia sinensi plant, an evergreen shrub indigenous to an area up to 42 degrees north of the equator. The best tea is grown on plantations in China, Taiwan, Ceylon, India, and Japan. Since only the top two leaves and a final bud is used for tea making, first rate tea is still hand picked.....mostly by women. Women have the hands necessary for the delicate work.
Machine picking results in damaged leaves and a lesser quality tea.

The taste of the tea is also determined by how it is processed.
The three categories of teas are black, green and Oolong.
Black tea is fermented, green is unfermented and Oolong is partially fermented.
The heartier black teas from India and Ceylon are most popular in the U.S., Europe and the U.K. However, green teas are the rule in Japan, and the delicate Oolongs are popular in China.

Now, READER MAIL!!!
WooHoo! I got an email from Lisa in MO asking what I meant in my "Nighttime Tea" post by "proofing" a pot.

Proofing a pot means that in the case of that nights tea which was hot, I filled my teapot up with hot water to get it good and hot while I am making the bundle of herbs and boiling the kettle. I would then dump out that water and replace it with the boiling water from the kettle and put my bundle of herbs into it.

With a cold pot, like the thermal carafes that I suggested buying in my tea party post for a tea tasting party, you would fill the carafe up with ice water prepping it for the cold tea that you are preparing for the carafe.

By proofing a pot, your tea will have a better chance at staying hotter longer and if you use a tea cozy on your pot, the temperature will be even better.
The same can be said for the carafe maintaining the cold. Please be carefulwhen proofing the glass carafe and make sure there is a small amount of cold water in there before the ice cubes hit so you will not break the thermal glass bottle inside of the carafe.

I hope this answered your question Lisa and thank you for emailing me.

I am wanting to post a pattern for a tea cozy, but looking just now at the ones I have, I will have to crochet or knit a few new ones in order to write down the patterns.
Hopefully, sometime in the future I will add this to Saphyre's Teas.

A Tea Garden

Some of you may think, "I don't want to order or buy all of these herbs or teas to clutter my kitchen, is there an alternative?"
Yes! Grow your own! If you take an herb to make a tea from and you dislike it the taste, you will still have the beauty of the plant to enjoy.

Tea gardening, often overlooked in favor of flowers, vegetables or herbs, is a delight well worth the work of a small patch of ground. When you harvest The Mother’s gifts of tea you will reap a harvest of benefits. Besides the wonderful flavors and scents the teas can bring to your pot, let us not forget the various uses these teas can bring the body, like antioxidants and relief for everything from bad breath to a tummy ache.

Be sure to check with your local extension service for your hardiness zone and to see what sort of planting work well in your area. They will have a great deal of information there for you.
I could spend the rest of the month typing the kinds of plants to blend a tea with, so I will give you the top 10…I may give at some other time list an additional 10 plants.

I will note here first that I say through this “sweeten with honey”. You do not have to. You can use Stevia, white sugar, raw sugar, corn syrup or nothing at all. I say use honey because I think it brings out more of the floral taste of the herbs. As a warning, some herbs are bitter and they need a bit of sweet, but use what you like.

Agrimony – Has a long history as a tea in Europe
Harvest – Leaves and seeds
Taste – Light celery flavor, sweeten with honey.

Borage – Ancient Greeks believed borage to bring them courage and flavored their wine with it.
Harvest – Leaves and flowers
Taste – Has a cucumber flavor to it, can be used in salads as well.

Burnett – Used in ancient times for blood clotting. It is used today to flavor oils and vinegars.
Harvest – Leaves
Taste – Another with a cucumber taste but with a sweeter flavor.

Caraway – This is an old world tea used for stomach ailments
Harvest – Seeds
Taste – A sweet tea with an after bite.

Catnip – A cat owner’s favorite as cats love to roll in it. It is used for stomach ailments.
Please grow your own or buy from a reputable herb store, DO NOT use the pet store catnip for your own drinking tea.
Harvest – Leaves
Taste – A fresh minty flavor with a bit of a peppery bite, sweeten with honey.

English Thyme – Used for calming nerves, an antiseptic and for flavoring soups and stews.
Harvest – Leaves
Taste – Spicy and pungent flavor, sweeten with honey.

Horehound – A wonderful tea for colds and bronchitis.
Harvest – Leaves
Taste - A unique flavor as being pleasant yet slightly bitter.

Lavender – An Old World charm, used for the heart, calming and aromatherapy.
Harvest – Leaves
Taste – A very pleasant flavor that is sweet and aromatic.

Roman Chamomile – is an old world tea and one of the most common. Used for calming.
Harvest – Roots and leaves
Taste – Apple flavor

Wood Betony – Grown for its beauty, harvested for its medicinal properties.
Harvest – Leaves
Taste – A bitter taste. A perfect specimen for blending with other herbs or teas and sweeten with honey.

A nighttime tea

It is already past 9:30PM here in Charleston, SC and the whole day has been swallowed up with household duties, email to be answered and other responsibilities.
Some of the medicine I take along with the disease I have itself can make sleep an elusive thing.
As of this posting, I do not have the link up to my main blog, but that is the only page where I will speak of Fibro other than in passing here.

Since it is nighttime and I do love a warm cup of tea at night, so whatkind of tea does a person drink when she wants a cuppa but can't have the caffeine of normal tea?

Herbal!

Yes, plus there are side benefits of drinking of an herbal tea for nighttime use.
You can use a single herb, or a blending of more than one for your bedtime drink, if you sweeten it use honey it has natural sedative properties.
Here is a drink for the night, PLUS a bonus from it.

Put the kettle on to boil then.....
In a piece of doubled cheesecloth (5"x5") place 2 tablespoons of Chamomile and 2 teaspoons of crushed hops.
Tie this up in a bundle and put 2 cups of boiling water into your proofed teapot and drop in the bundle. Swish it around a bit then let it steep for 10 minutes.
Pull the bundle out of the pot and set it aside to drain and cool into a small bowl.
Put your pot, your mug, your spoon and my honey bear on a tray.
Now go back to the herb bundle. Give it a good squeeze into the little bowl then dump all of the herbs out of the bundle pulling out any sharp chamomile stems from the cheesecloth and toss them into the bin. Then take a pair of scissors and snip the cloth in half.
Now keep the tiny cloths in the bowl that you had squeezed the bundle into and place it on the tray and off you go to bed.

Now you have your bedtime tea plus you have some eye pads. That's right! While drinking your tea before bed wring out one of the tiny cloths and place it over a closed eye.
It will help bring down puffyness if used during the daytime as well.

Pretty cool, huh?
Enjoy!

Let's have a tea party!

It is raining here in Charleston and I am in need of an imaginary garden in full bloom.
Look, there is the gazebo all set up for our party....almost.

Let's say there is just going to be two of us for this party, but that doesn't mean we can't do it up right.
I would set the table as you would for a meal, with a dessert plate, fork and teaspoon and butter knife on a pretty napkin. Our table is large enough to place a pretty three-tiered tray of tea time delights in the center. I will place the teacups and saucers and the teapot near by me for serving the tea as the hostess. Our table is small, so I am going to put the tea accoutrements on a tea caddy.
I think I will put a few bunches of flowers on the bench rails across from our table and make a few tiny tussie mussies to tuck among the goodies on the treat cart.

OK, time for a menu.
For this to be a traditional English Tea, it must have three courses.
The first course will be a finger sandwich. Perhaps the old standby of cream cheese and watercress, but how about Gorgonzola cheese, walnuts and broiled fig spread finger sandwiches?
The second course will be scones or crumpets served with lemon curd, clotted cream, honey or whatever preferred.
The third course will be the sweet but in miniature. Petit Fours, cream horns, berry tarts, etc. Because I am known for my candy, I will fill a small dish up with my homemade truffles as well.
If y'all want the recipes, just post here which one you want and I will post it back, that way it will be available to all without me doing all of the typing in case no one was really interested.

Alright, we got the menu and the decorating done now let's talk about tea!

Nearly everyone is familiar with black teas, blends, and some classic scented ones, and the choices of even these are amazing. It's best to offer a choice of only two. Consider the many flavors of the foods you will offer and what you believe will taste best with them. You can rarely go wrong with a full-bodied Assam black, crisp Ceylon black and sturdy English or Irish blend. Each can stand alone or take milk as desired.
For our party I pick Tuscan Orange, a flavored decaf tea favored by my husband and a black tea called Irish Breakfast for me. I love the dark amber brew.

Oh well. It was a nice thought, but with the thunder and lightening happening, I do not think there will be any tea party here today!

Perhaps you would like to try a tea party of your own but feel like this is a bit too staid for you. How about trying something completely out of the ordinary? This party can be "Americanized" easily by serving iced teas, mini quiches, pigs in the blankets and mini jelly sandwich roll ups.

Do you know what the number one drink is in the country is? Water. Tea is the second most popular drink in the US.

You could, if you wanted to make this into a tea themed party and have a bunch of friends over and do a tea taste testing.
You can get thermal pots now in your local meglamart for under $5. They hold a quart. With a few of these, say 3, you would have enough to do a tasting for an Indian tea, I suggest Darjeeling, a black tea, a suggestion would be Irish Breakfast tea and an Oolong tea, here I would suggest Ti Kwan Yin. Put out a small pitcher of milk, a saucer of lemon slices and a plate of Ginger Snap cookies and see how the teas differ in color, taste and scent.
I don't think you will be disappointed in any of them.

I hope you had fun with our imaginary tea party and that I have given you an idea for your own party.
If you do have one, post how it went here.
I would love to hear about it!

George Orwell teaches us all....Almost.

Yes, it was the great writer, George Orwell who first wrote in the Evening Standard in 1946 the definitive guide to the Perfect Cup of Tea.
George Orwell was a great tea drinker (he was born in India), partly due to his experiences in Burma as a policeman, where he visited tea plantations, and partly due to his years of poverty in the ’30s where he survived on little else but bread and tea.
He decides that there are 11 rules to the perfect cup and one of the rules are to totally ignore chinese teas. Now, personally I find this a little harsh being as how the Chinese have been drinking tea for thousands of years before the "civilized" world.
He leans towards the teas of India and Sri Lanka which is not surprising seeing as how he was born in India

Orwell states. “Anyone who has used that comforting phrase ‘a nice cup of tea’ invariably means Indian tea.”

He wants his tea made in a China or earthenware teapot, and strong with it — ‘six heaped tea spoons to a quart’ — and loose tea leaves should always be used. Well, he and I are in total agreement about the loose tea, but not that strong!

Orwell claims that the water should be boiling as it is poured, and then claims to have settled the age old argument of what comes first: the milk or the tea?
“This is one of the most controversial points of all,” he says. “In every family there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable.
“This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round.”

I guess I am going to have to "answer" this one.
Ever hear of tempering? By slowly putting the tea into the milk, you are giving the milk the chance to temper or heat up to the temperature of the tea. If you put the cold milk into the boiling hot tea, you may notice that your tea now has a film of what looks like oil on it and some tiny curds as well. What that shows is your milk curdled the instant it hit the hot tea. The butter fat melted and the whey curdled.
I don't mind having a milk moustache, but a grease one? Forget it.

Finally, he insists tea should be taken without sugar.
“How can you call yourself a true tea lover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt.”
Hmmmm.
Well, being a transplanted southern belle, I prefer a bit of sweet in my tea Colonel, darlin'.

Onto the recipe.....

Ostara Tea
1 tbs chamomile
1 tbs damiana leaves
1 tbs lemongrass
1 tbs spearmint leaves
1/4 tbs jasmine flowers
1/4 tbs orange peel, grated

Combine all of the herbs in a pot that will hold 4 cups of hot water. Remember that these dried herbs will expand.
Pour 2 cups of boiling water over the herbs in the pot and let steep for 10 to 15 minutes.
Strain out the herbs and serve with stevia for sweetness or honey.

Let the teas commence

OK, I promised when I started this on my other blog site that I would be addding (when my health allowed) a tea a day, OR some sort of herb lore, tea lore or tea trivia.
I am going to start this off for the newbies by bringing over my tea recipes from the other blog that was long ago in the archives waaay back in 2004.
If anyone has questions, post them and I will answer them as best I can, and if any of you can answer better, than get your own blog.
Today's Lesson -
So many friends in both emails and on the board have wanted me to post herbal rememdies. Simple teas or tinctures that make our lives better with this disease.
Well, if I had a cure, believe me it would be given to all.
However, being an Earth Mother and a lover of all things green, I do have a few things that can help with some symptoms. These teas help a variety of things, but nothing is a cure.
I must caution those who have no idea of herblore, to go to a reputable herb supplier to get your herbs. Some herbs are toxic and although you may like the idea of going out and harvesting things, this should be left to the ones who know the difference between Chamomile and Agrimony.
Also, when introducing an herb that you have never seen before to your system, you should find out if you are allergic to it. Put some wet herb on a bandage and place it on your skin for 24 hours, see what happens. If you are feeling woozy or you break out in a rash, don't use that herb.

Let's start with the kids.
To curb a hissy fit, this tea would be great. Children 5 to 10 can have a 1/2 cup of this tea three times a day. Babies could have a dropperful or a teaspoon three times a day.
Fight the Fit tea:
2 oz of Chamomile Flowers
1 oz of Catnip Leaves (It is from the mint family, don't buy the stuff in pet stores!)
1 oz of Lemon Balm Leaves
1 oz OatstrawThese measurements can be adjusted depending on how much tea you want.
Combine all of the herbs in a pot and cover with 1 quart of boiling water. Stir well and let steep 20 minutes. Sweeten with Stevia or honey.

For over-indulgence or for a Tummy flu, try this one.
"I got a Tummy Ache Tea"
1 oz Peppermint leaves1 oz Spearmint leaves
1 tablespoon of grated, fresh licorice root. If it is dried, use 1 teaspoon of the dried root.
1 tablespoon of Anise seeds and pods
Orange or Lime slices for the Vitamin C
Use the same directions as above, except place the slice of citrus on top of the individual cups.

Fibro Fog Tea
We have all been down this road!
This one we will make a little different.
Take 2 oz of Ginseng root (Siberian) and place it in a pot of 1 quart boiling water.
Let simmer for 20 minutes. Take it off of the heat and add the following herbs.
1 oz Gingko leaves
1 oz Peppermint leaves
Let steep another 20 minutes.
You can make a tincture from Ginseng root and a fifth of Brandy or Vodka.
But I will tell those who want to know how to make a tincture via email.
Tincture making might be done on this blog at another time.
This tea will calm you down while making you feel great! Don't ask!

Uplifter Tea
1 oz Chamomile flowers
1 oz Hawthorn leaves, berries or roots.
1 tablespoon Lavender Flowers
1 oz Lemon Balm leaves
1 oz Oatstraw1 oz St-John's-Wort flowers
1 oz Skullcap leaves
1-2 dropperfuls of Siberian Ginseng Tincture.This tincture can be made or purchased in a healthfood store or an Organic Grocery Store such as Whole Foods.
Stir all of the herbs only, in 1 quart of boiling water.
Steep 20 minutes.
Pour yourself a cup and in the last few sips add the tincture and drink.Three times a day should be good.

These teas are better drank through the day. Just because you make a quart of tea doesn't mean you have to chug it all at once.
It is actually better if you use it through the day to keep the herbs flowing through your system.

I am not responsible if you have a bad reaction to these teas as I do not know how you are preparing it or taking them.