Saphyre's Teas

Been away a looong while

2006-12-09T17:06:00.000-05:00

If you want an actual physical, pardon the pun, update on my medical condition, check out my Sun and Moon Sorcery blog.

I am making an attempt to get his blog in better condition starting in 2007.

More teas, more herbs and more balms!

For the rest of this year, I will be gone from the area. Back up above that Mason/Dixon line to PA where my family is.
It has been a few years, but I am taking a bag of my homemade teas for the family to enjoy.

I will blog to you all in 2007!

Happy Yule and Happy Holidays to y'all!
Saphyre

Scent by Spirit

2006-01-27T19:40:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, I have Rchel's blog as a link on my site. I have had it there for a while. BUT I want you all to know more about this person seeing as how she is a tea mistress as well and runs a store with all you need for the pleasure of taking tea.

Rachel is the owner of Scent by Spirit, a web store that has many different kinds of tea, bath soaps and perfumes!
Scent by Spirit is the kind of webstore that I hope to one day have with Sun and Moon Jewelry, more on that to come.

Personally, I would love to trade recipes with Rachel for her different blends of teas as I am sure you will as well when you taste some of her blends. Try some Black Forest Chocolate tea or some Vanilla Moon tea.

If you are into chocolate, this is the place to start! Try some Chocolate Patches or some Chocolate Bliss Body Frosting or some Chocolate Mint Hydrosols.
I have to admit the chocolate mint hydrosol is great! I have used it in hot chocolate and just recently, I sprayed the custard plates with it just before I dished up my white chocolate mousse'. When people eat the mousse' and swipe it across their plates they get just the faintest hint of mint and chocolate to add to the taste of the mousse' AND I can claim it all to be MY expertise in the kitchen! HA!!
Um, I should mention here that the hydrosol sprays are also very good on the human body, but we won't go into that here!

She sells things for our fur people as well! Lots of pet care things PLUS a bunch of neat-o accessories for tea!
I finally got for a Yule gift the travel tea set she sells on her site. I gave a short description of it on my tea blog here.

She sells something that I have been wanting since I first came across her store.
A personalized or custom oil blend. I would love to have one of these and everytime I save up the money to induge myself...I spend it on other things on her site! Call me impulsive!
This is a direct copy from her site with the description:
Have you ever had a psychic reading which pointed out areas in your life that need to change in order for you to grow and advance both personally and spiritually?
Have you wondered how to move through these issues and release them?
Have you ever felt that you were stuck, or that your life was in a rut?
Do you have trouble focusing during meditation?
Are you feeling a little blue or blocked creatively?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, Scent by Spirit may be the service for you!
Scent by Spirit is a unique and powerful service that assists you in moving forward on your spiritual path. Rachel has been working with oils and custom scent blending for many years. Using input from her clients, Rachel works in tandem with Spirit to create the perfect blend by tapping into deeply rooted memories through scent association. Each formula is unique to the client and the situation at hand. The blend is custom formulated in sacred space over a period of several days. Many hours go into creating the perfect Scent from Spirit!
These blends can be used for a variety of endeavors, including but not limited to:
Stimulating,
Opening and Balancing the Chakra Points
Meditation
Lifting and Easing Symptoms of Depression
Enhancing Creativity
Protection
Opening to Psychic Abilities
Purification Energy Work
Consecration of Sacred Space or Tools
Ritual anointing
Healing work
Weight Release
The possibilities are endless!

To do the custom oil blend takes some time and if you want it you must be patient. Plus Rachel does personal consultations, so if you are in the Renton, Washington part of our country, stop by and say "HI!, Saphyre sent me!"

So please take some time, look over Rachel's site and read her blog, there are many interesting things there. Just today, I found out that she and I have another bond...Swing Music! Oh YES!! Andrew Sisters, Glen Miller, Benny Goodman! Oh, yeah!
The reason why I took band in school is because I wanted to be in a big band...of course there weren't any by the time I graduated, But I know how to play the french horn if anyone needs a chair!

Brightest Blessings to y'all!
Saphyre

Now for the pictures of all things tea!!!!

2006-01-27T18:53:00.000-05:00

First are some things I forgot to put in the previous post concerning Yule tea gifts.
These are actually Demitasse spoons, but I prefer them in my tea sups than regular teaspoons.
I find it funny because the reason the smaller spoon in your basic place setting is called a "teaspoon" is because that is how it is measured in Great Britain. When a recipe calls for a teaspoon of tea, they do not mean a measuring spoon they mean the teaspoon from your regular flatware!
However, this is my preference. These are G-Clef demitasse spoons, I think the pattern is actually called rolled scroll, but they look like G-clefs to me!

This is the travelling tea set I wanted and had posted about earlier last year.

Now comes the star of the show, Tessie the Tea Plant!!!

Please ignore the sick person holding the plant.

Here is my pride and joy the tea caddy from Monticello!
This is showing it closed and with my tea clip from my purse now the holder of my key to the caddy! I will show a close up later.

Here it is opened with a the precious few chosen teas.

In the above picture, the Darjeeling Silver tips is on the left and the second flush Darjeeling is on the right.

This is pictures of the second flush and the silver tips (flowers) of the darjeeling variety. The Silver tips were OK but I wouldn't drink them with milk, it overpowers the flavor. BUT second flush was my overall favorite. Good with milk.
Second Flush

This is a photo of the first flush tea I got. Very nice flavor.

Here is the close up of the tea clip. I make purse clips for different moods and for little gifts. This one I wore on my ourse until ....I needed a protector for my tea caddy key!
You can see there are many tea charms, a pot, tea cup and saucer, a tea bag. This one is done in Swarvoski cubes and brass charms. When Sun and Moon Jewelry gets its website up, you will be able to buy tea related jewelry there as well as purse clips.

Here is my 4 cup Brown Betty. She is a lovely thing isn't she? This little teapot has quite a history. Its origins date back to the end of the 17th Century and the birth of the British Ceramic Teapot.The original unglazed teapot was made out of red clay from the Bradell Woods area in Stoke-on-Trent. Today the Brown Betty teapot is still made in Stoke-on-Trent with the same clay from the original area. British people believe the Brown betty makes the best pot of tea because of the type of clay that is used and the shape of the pot.

These technically, were more of a gift to myself! I had been asking for a pair of sugar tongs but they were never forth coming, one day while browsing ebay, I found these heavy silver, antique sugar tongs! I was thrilled! Especially when I saw the price was under $20.
They are a proud addition to my tea accessories chest.

So, that is all I got that was tea related for Yule. My dear hubby pulled out all stops trying to find me the best tea and the best pot inwhich to brew it. Now if I could wrestle him still enough to actually sit down and HAVE tea with me, I would be accomplishing something.
Let's face it, it is hard for a 6'3" man to handle those little cups and the tiny bite sized sandwiches and savories. Worse yet, all of those prettily arranged cookies and mandalines just waiting to be swept off of the tiered server.
When the mood strikes me to have a tea, I have pity on my beloved hubby and hand him a mug and a regular sized sandwich and I serve the cookies he wishes myself. We both enjoy the time together a great deal more when there is no anticipation of disaster...that also means our dog goes into her house for a bit as well.

Many tea Blessings!

Times sure flies when you are wasting it!

2006-01-18T13:37:00.000-05:00

Yes, through the holidays and the full moons and celebrating and the temporary relief of pain that the session with pain pump had brought me, I sure wasted time these past few months!
Now, THAT is what I call a run on sentence!

With editors and publishers and being a administrator on another Witches blog, I haven't had time for my own tea blog.
Which is a really awful thing considering how many wonderful tea things I received over the holidays!

Great! I jujst realized that I still need to shuffle my new tea pics over to Flickr before I can post them here. I am really behind, aren't I?

Let's see, how about a listing of some items I recently got that involves tea?

I received, somewhat unbelievably, FIRST Flush Black (FF02) tea of the darjeeling Variety.
Also, I got SECOND Flush and the Silver Whites teas as well.

I must say that it was an actual delight to taste first flush tea leaves. To see them unfold in the steamy water and to see how different they looked in the strainer when compared to regular black tea from box. The taste was heaven.
To quote a favorite uncle of mine when he was drinking Irish Whiskey, "T'is like Angels dancing on me tongue!" The first leaves of the season have a floral tea taste.
Wihout going into a soliloquy on the tastes of the other teas, I will go over what else the tea fairies brought unto me!

A 4 cup Brown Betty Teapot. Perfect for swirling those tea leaves.

A Victorian Era silver sugar tongs. Beautifully patterned, heavy silver.

Believe it or not, I got an actual tea plant! Camilla Sinensis herself! Her name is Tessie, (I name all of my plants).

I got a lead free pewter tea strainer, or should I say another to add to my growing collection. I do love the celtic twists on the handle of this one.

AND, FINALLY, I got a tea caddy! This is beautiful mahoghany wood with burled edges. It has 2 compartments in it. Since this is a modern reproduction, there is no lead linings or tin papers inside the chest. It comes with 2 keys so I can serve it people who have a good set of tastebuds can enjoy the quality. For those without, they can have bagged tea!

The caddy came from Monticello, home of President Jefferson. You can see the caddy I have at this link. To say the very least, the caddy now holds my first and second flush teas. I am not ashamed to admit that the first flush is already gone...but I have ordered more when the 2006 season is right.

I think that may cover it. No, wait. My very good friend gave me a stretchy bracelet with tea pot beads and charms on it! I wear it with another bracelet I had made myself with tea paraphenalia on it!

There, that's done then.

Look forward to pictures very soon.

I am spending my days of late in bed with my back stablized. Although this little laptop is networked to my main com puter in my office, I cannot quite find the file folder with the pictures on it. This means I must wait until the "God of computers and beloved of me" gets home from work!

Until we meet again,
Brightest Tea Blessings!

Another Yule Gift Idea for Tea Lovers

2005-11-27T20:33:00.000-05:00

Used with permission of "Scent by Spirit"

This SwissGold's Tea Traveler. It is sold by Scent by Spirit.
This set is comprised of 1 Swissgold filter, 3 containers, mug, spoon and a cover.
The Tea Traveler is a compact and light tea maker you can take anywhere!
The three storage containers that come with the set can be filled with your favorite Scent by Spirit teas and sugars and even with milk (fillings are not included).

Of course, the gold filter has the same properties as all other Swissgold filters to help you enjoy your tea while traveling.

On the Scent by Spirit site, if you purchase the set Rachel will add a free 1 oz. tin of either decaf or regular English breakfast tea.

A particular favorite tea of mine from her site is Enchanted Fairy Cake Tea. It is really good!

So with Yule so close and tea seems to be a favorite gift among the quick shoppers. You know theones who go to the gift basket aisle of Walmart and just starts grabbing things with tea and jam in them.
If you want to get tea for someone this holiday season, make it good tea. It will be greatly appreciated!

Brightest tea blessings!

New Anniversary Aquisition

2005-11-21T19:47:00.000-05:00

I recieved as a wedding anniversary gift from a very good friend of mine. She is more a sister than a friend as she will always be.
This is advertized as a tea caddy. The basket held the pot and 2 cups fashioned in the Japanese style (no handles).
The caddy should be used as a tea holder. This one's lining is moulded to fit the pot and cups. So it shall remain the keeper of the pot!
Thi si a close up of the inside of one of the cups.

I will enjoy the use of this pot and cups the very next time I serve green tea!

Thanks, Wyllow for the gift of tea!
No greater gift can be given to a tea mistress.

Back to tea time!

2005-11-14T10:47:00.000-05:00

OK, due to illnesses and surgeries, this site and my others suffered from neglect. I apologise to my readers, but that is how it goes sometimes.
I will soon be leaving Dixie and heading off to Pennsylvania for the Yule season. I won't be here for that week, however if something special comes up in tea land during that time, I will have my laptop and my hanheld for a quick update.

This is a tea I found recently. Some of the kits actually come with the pot so you can see the flower pod expand. There are 9 organic teas to chose from. The pot and the tea pods come in a bamboo wood box. There are many things to scope out on this site.
From the teas to a delightful chai concentrate you will find something to delight you palate. See Numi Teas.

20% of the profits go to rebuild a bamboo factory in China. See details on the site.

PS, if you want to see something really amazing see the Flowering Velvet Tea Chest. This mahogany tea chest is filled with different types of flowering teas.

See my good friend's Rachel's site at Scent by Spirit. She has a great glass wand that I put on my Yule gift wish list. If you have ever seen the gourd type teas called Yerba Mates and the bombillas was metal wand that strain the tea.
This is the same thing but labratory glass.

Used with permission of "Scent by Spirit".

It comes in a case with room for your favorite tea.!!! My description won't do as good as her pictures are so please just go to her site. The Health Tea Wand.
I also have a link on the left for her main page. The upper link goes straight to her tea wand.

So this is a good start to re-lighting the fire of the tea site.

Tea by the Sea

2005-09-19T14:22:00.000-04:00

Being here in Charleston, SC makes this a beautiful place to have a sea side tea OR have sea themed party in your house.

Whether you live in the mountains or in the Keys, this is a cute little party for a fun afternoon or a little treat for a group of children.
Hot dogs and lemonade, what more could you want for a beach party!
This menu is really easy and the kids can help you in the kitchen.

*M*E*N*U*

Bite-sized Hot Dogs in biscuit buns

Sand Bars

Assorted fruit

Teapot Lemonade

*Bite-sized Hot dogs in biscuit buns*

A package of little smokies or the small hot dogs.

1 can of biscuits with each slice cut into 4 pieces.

Take 1 piece of the biscuit and wrap it around 1 little smokie. Push the dough together around the meat with the ends of the doggie showing.

Preheat the oven according to the biscuit dough package and bake according to the package directions.

For serving, I make a mix of 1 tablespoon of brown mustard and 2 tablespoons of ketchup together for a quick dipping sauce. Serve the sauce ina cleaned out scallop seashell.

*Sand Bars*

Easy as can be!

1/2 gallon of vanilla ice cream

1 package of Nilla wafers

Gummi or swedish fish

8x8 pan

Let the ice cream soften and and spread it out evenly in the pan.

Put the Nilla wafers in a bag and gently crush them until they are finely ground.

Sprinkle the cookie "sand" over the top of the ice cream and freeze for 2 hours.

Cut into squares and serve with Gummi fish on the side!

*Lemonade Tea*

This is really easy, for those you want a true tea, make a heavily lemon flavored tea.

For a decaffinated flair, make either iced or hot Lemon Zinger tea from Bigelow for a really refreshing lemonade tea.

Remember to decorate your table with gifts from the sea. Perhaps a trip down to the local walmart for some material that looks like fishing net for a table runner.

You can make coaster sized life savers by painting white circle on cork coasters and paint the red stripe running across 4 points on the white circle. Pencil on some lines to represent rope and you are done.

Hope you enjoy your tea at the sea!

Brightest Tea Blessings!

A blending of my beliefs and my loves

2005-09-18T13:42:00.000-04:00

Yes, I am a Wiccan. Anyone who reads my main blog Sun and Moon Sorcery will know that.
Being as my birthday was last week, I have decided to put in a few parties on the old tea blog.
This first party is about my belief of honoring the moon.
At the time of this writing the moon is at 93% waning Gibbous of full.

A full moon is shining, so turn the lights down low, put a table by the window and have a moonlight tea party!
Get some dark blue placemats, a few silver or gold napkins for the party. Work moons in all phases through your party favors and decorations. It is really easy these days to find material with a celestrial theme to make up napkins, tablecloths or runners.
Blow a huge yellow or silver balloon all the way up and hang it above your tea table. A nice inexpensive representation of our Lady the Moon.

Full Moon Tea Party

What's the news of the day,
Good Neighbor, I pray?
They say a balloon
Has gone to the moon

*M*e*n*u*

Moon Scones
Cheese stars and apple crescents
Milky Way Tea

Moon Scones

1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 stick of sweet butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup golden raisins or sultanas

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Put the flour and butter ina big bowl. Cut the butter into pieces. Rub the butter and flour together until the mixture looks like crumbs. Mix in the sugar. Add the milk and mix well. Gently stir in the raisins.
3. Chill the dough for 1 hour or more. Shape it into 2" balls. Put them on a greased cookie sheet, flatten them, and bake 12 to 15 minutes. Serve warm with Jam or honey.
Makes 12 scones.

Cheese stars and apple crescents

Cheese slices
Apples
a star shaped cookie cutter.

Cut the stars out of the cheese slices with the cookie cutter.
Cut the apples into wedges or slices. Make sure you cut out the core to make the slices or wedges into crescents.
Arrange your stars and apple crescents on a pretty plate.

Milky Way Tea

Stir together 1 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk mixed with 1/2 cup of brewed black tea.

This tea could be easily a bedtime tea treat for a child by taking the black tea out of the Milky Way Tea and just double the milk.

I hope you enjoy this foray into stars.

Enjoy!

A new bottled tea!

2005-09-03T14:32:00.000-04:00

Yesterday as the heat soared into the 90's, I was at my local Bi-Lo picking up a few things for the weekend's festivities.
As usual I was hot from running errands and had a terrible thirst!

I was looking in the static displays they have of all of the single bottles of drinks. Nothing caught my attention. It was too hot for a Pepsi, a bottled Frappaccino wasn't going to work and the juices there just wasn't rousing my attention enough to pick one.
I was walking by the deli on my way to the water fountain and saw these bottles.

I have heard of the Beacon Drive In. Anyone worth their rebel flag knows where Spartanburg and the home of the best hash plate is.

I picked up a bottle and read the contents, tea concentrate, lemon, sugar, a few other things to help with shelf life. So I bought one and then I saw they had the tea in plain, lemon and peach. It also came in quart sizex and believe me I thought about getting one of those instead of the 16oz bottle!
I have been disappointed before by bottled tea, so I took a chance on a small one.

MAN! I should have bought the quart!
It was great! Just enough of the lemon to give the tea the kick it needed to get by the sometimes aftertaste you get from tea concentrates!
I had it gone by the time I got home. I don't live but 3 miles away from the Bi-Lo.

I do not know if this will be sold nationally or just in the South...but it SHOULD BE!

To all of my Palmetto State readers, if you get the chance this weekend to stop by a Bi-Lo, do yourself a favor and pick up a bottle of this tea.

If you live in the Spartanburg area and are reading my blog, do me a favor and eat a hash plate for me! Beacon has their menu online...just in case y'all want to make your mouth water!

Sorry I haven't been around a while. I have been attempting to get a relief effort down to my friend and sister witch, Wyllow. She lives just 40 north of the "disaster area" of NOLA.
Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Brightest tea blessings to y'all!

Tea Sorbet

2005-08-16T18:30:00.000-04:00

There should be some sort of law against nature when it is 95 degrees at almost 6:30 in the evening.
Seeing as there is not, I will give one of my favorite sorbet recipes.
This one has green tea as its base, but you could add to it, such as raspberries or blackberries.

Green Tea Sorbet
2 cups of water
1/2 cup of green tea leaves
2 cups of sugar
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
You could as I said add 2 cups of berries that has been pureed and strained.
Combine the water and tea leaves in medium pot and bring to a boil, then remove from heat.
Steep the tea for about 5 minutes.
Strain and toss the leaves into your recycler or potting soil.
Return the tea to the heat and stir in the sugar. Bring to a boil until sugar dissolves.
When sugar is completely dissolved remove from the heat and refridgerate until cool.
When cooled, you can then add your pureed and strained berries and add the lemon juice.
Pour into a freezer bowl of a 1 1/2 quart ice cream freezer and freeze according to directions.
Transfer the sorbet to an airtight container if the freezer bowl in your machine isn't a container also. Freeze the mixture for 4 hours or until firm.
Serve this sorbet in martini glasses for fun. I make the sorbet with just the green tea and then after freezing and serving into individual dishes, I squirt some raspberry couli over the green tea sorbet.
Serve on a plate that has a few berries and mint leaves around the base of the martini glass.

Brightest tea blessings!

Summer is long and brutal...Answers to email questions!

2005-08-11T13:48:00.000-04:00

The temperatures are amazing here in the low country. I have been spending time in our pool or poking around air conditioned stores in search of teas.
My absence is from a bad health attack and the inability to stay at my computer as long as I need to get my blogs up to date.
I am waiting for some CAT5 cable to be installed from my router to my laptop in my living room and I will be better at the blogs. I promise.

Two bottled teas that I have recently tried out while on the road were Lipton's Lemon Iced Tea and Lipton's Iced Green Tea.
The lemon tea was just that, lemon. That is pretty much all I tasted in that bottle. There was no tea aftertaste or bite, not even a bit of sediment in the bottom that you will sometimes find in bottled teas showing there was actually tea in there!

The Green Iced Tea was weak in my opinion. My hubbers LOVED it!

Now by reading this you are probably thinking, "Well, she just doesn't like Lipton teas."
You would be wrong! I buy Lipton's regular bottled tea whenever we are about to get any kind of storm that knocks power out. During hurricane season, I have a dozen gallon of water and 4-2liter bottles of tea in my storm survival kit!
These newer flavors, though need some help.
I read in a tea article that Lipton's bottled tea called "Extra Sweet" is a popular drink here in the south.
I, myself, still have a remnant of a habit from being in Virginia for a few years that when I go into a restaurant I order sweet tea, when in fact here in the south, if you ask for tea, you will get it sweet. If you want un-sweet tea for the diet conscious among you you will have to ask specifically for that.
That having been said I will tell you that the Lipton Extra sweet is really good if you want a sugar rush, but it is too sweet for me.
I do prefer Lipton's bottled tea to Nestea.
Of course, when I am in Mt Pleasant I head to Earth Fare for my Sweet Leaf Tea. Earth fare is the only store here that sells it and every time I go into the market I get one...sometimes 2 if it is hot enough! You must understand, I take medications for my health and these meds give me a very dry mouth and they dehydrate me terribly. So the more I drink the better off I am.
Good thing I am not an alcoholic, huh?

You can always email me YOUR questions at saphyrerose@paganelements.com.
OK, I have had a few emails all on the same subject. So I can easily answer them all with this post!
To Tanya, Willow, Boobette and wrinkles43, I want to thank you for visiting my blog and reading the recipes. I am glad you have been trying them out and are satisfied with the content of my page here at Saphyre's Teas.
First I should say this question was about steeping times.
Normally, I will steep tea at 5 to 10 minutes depending on the leaf size or its grading. Herbs are steeped longer because there are factors involved concerning whether or not the herb is leaf or stems or bark. Different factors, different steeping table.
The question concerning tea bag steepage is simply if you steep a teabag for even 5 minutes you will get a very bitter and strong brew. If you are into that, great, I am not. Steeping time for bags in my humble opinion is 1 - 2 minutes, no longer.
The reason? Tea bags normally contain sweepings or tea dust. There is a greater surface area exposed to the hot water and the "agony of the leaf" will be shorter.
Even if you have a good quality tea bag, it will still be sweepings in the bag. Hence, the shorter steeping time.
In a previous post months back called "What is a Tisane?" there is a list of herbal steeping times. It may help you in figuring how to steep your tea.
One more hint for you, nver squeeze you tea bag out. It will push out the bitterest extract from the finished dust, plus you will have sediment in your cup. Just FYI for all of my friends out there.

Well, there you have it, I am up to date and caught up with email questions.
Now I have to go finish my cinnamon rolls. I made the log and was waiting for a brief period for the dough to rest before slicing it into the pan. The way my dog is sniffing around the counters I better get a foot under me.

Brightest Tea Blessings to y'all.
Saphyre Rose

A new aquisition!

2005-07-25T11:16:00.000-04:00

Hubby bought this for me over the weekend. I had a wheelchair weekend. Lots of pain and inability to walk. Soooo, hubby says we are going to the malls, it is cool in there.
(We are having high 90's in Charleston with heat indicies of 100+)

I have a stop at our most northern mall that is called Gloria Jean's. It is a purveyor of coffee, tea and accoutriments of both.
Hubbers knows the past few months I have been trying to build my teacup collection. I had been in a bidding war on ebay for a shamrock teacup - Beleek, that went up to $50.00 for one teacup and saucer. I had to let it go and pout for a bit hoping that there were going to be more...no such luck so far. Then I found a lady who painted her own teacups, I found a pretty shamrock one on her site but it got sold and she doesn't repeat patterns. Her loss...mine as well.

On our roll around the mall, I wanted to stop in Gloria Jean's for a sneak and peek at all of their individual teacups. They still have the tea set I want to buy my little niecling as soon as she gets a bit older to handle ceramics. hubby handed me a few to look at but he had already got this one down. He said it would make him happy to know while he is at work that I am drinking my tea with my favorite pattern bought by himself.

How can you not love a man like that?

I bought 2 bottled teas today, they are in the fridge getting cold and I hope to critique them later today. The high is suppose to reach 98, so cold tea will be a blessing from the Goddess!

Brightest Tea Blessings!
Saphyre Rose - Charleston's tea mistress!

It 93 outside and time for tea!

2005-07-18T16:05:00.000-04:00

It is true, I could drink hot tea during a heat wave but it wouldn't be as refreshing as this recipe for a tea sweetener syrup.

I do believe we have spoken before about making simple syrups that are very good for iced teas. Because the sugar is already dissolved in the syrup, it is a great way to add sweet to a glass of tea that came from an unsweeetened pitcher.
Here in the south, we use a simple syrup that has the flavor of lemons and sometimes mint.

This syrup involves lemongrass. A great ingredient for Asian cooking can now be used for teas and drinks of many varieties.

Fresh Lemongrass Syrup:
2 stalks fresh lemongrass, coarsely chopped 2 cups water 1 cup sugar
Place the lemongrass, water, and sugar into a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, for 15 minutes.
Strain the mixture and cool.
Cover and refrigerate for up to a week.

You can try this syrup for a real Asian flare with an Oolong or even a green tea. The delicacy of the lemongrass will not overpower, but I think compliments the green teas flowery aroma.
I have used this syrup over freshly cut fruit for a compote. It has a variety of uses. If you use this syrup, post your comment here or at my email and let everyone know how you liked or didn't like it.
I am hoping to hear from you!

Brightest tea blessings!

I can't believe how long it has been!

2005-07-17T22:14:00.000-04:00

Over a month since putting a post up!
WOW!

I have collected a few new recipes for tisanes. I have made a new batch of lavender sugar. I got both a fresh plant and some dried flower heads. This has been curing for about a month and I lifted the lid this afternoon and it was beautiful! I tasted and it was very flowery.

I am looking to get some violets to candy for a tea I am planning for on the 31st of July. A virtual and physical tea party that will include both my sister witches and my family. I am having trouble in finding the flower heads. It is very hot in Charleston these days. Today's high was 94. So delicate flowers, I guess are getting burnt before they can get plucked.
I have a few plants outside of my entrance that are showing signs of sunburn. Shade is at a minimum here these days...except when the afternoon storms breeze through.

I wanted to check out the blog before going to bed and when I saw how long it has been, I decided to post and then update more tomorrow.

Make sure to check back for more recipes and a critique on a new magazine I just got a subscription for called "Tea Time".

Until then, Brightest tea blessings!

Vacations...

2005-06-16T12:42:00.000-04:00

are coming. Not mine, but a friend who wants to spend her rare vacation time with me here in Charleston.
I will be off the blogoshpere fro a week, but Wyllow and I will be on the streets of Charleston from the Historic District to Ft Sumter trying to find the tea shops!
(I know there is tea out there...I can smell it.)

So until I get back with more tea news...you all behave yourselves and drink lots of tea...it is GOOD for you!

I know I will buy at least one new teapot to share with you!

Brightest tea blessings!

Tea Radio and Scent by Spirit

2005-06-07T09:28:00.000-04:00

Yes, you read me, Tea Radio.

This month featured guest is my friend and fellow tea fanatic is Rachel Johnston who is the tea mistress and owner of Scent By Spirit.
Her blends of tea, both herbal and leaf, is some of the greatest blends I have ever tasted. PLUS she makes unusual blends.

My recent purchase from Scent by Spirit is Super Coconut Tea. This one is a blend of coconut flakes and coconut milk with black tea and a few other goodies. This is a very unusual tea but with a very coco-nutty finish.
I love coconut! From bath soap to tea to cake, I love coconut!

There is a sign up for the radio, but it only your name and email address. Once that info is in, you will be sent another link through your email to get to the radio.

Scent by Spirit and Rachel's own tea blog are both direct links on the left side of this page.

Enjoy your success Rachel, you deserve it!

Brightest Tea Blessings!

Combining my favorites!

2005-06-06T22:23:00.000-04:00

How can I combine my love of tea with my love of beading?

(Note: This pot has been ammended because the original size of these photos was messing up the blog page, so if you wish to see these up close go to flickr.com and lOok at Wiccan's pictures.)

With this.....

Here is another pic...

I found these cute charms at Walmart, I got the blue/purple dangling beads made with headpins, added some silver ovals and put it all together with Accuflex and a toggle.

While at Walmart I found some other beads that cried out for my attention, but they got made into a watch band and unfortunately, they have nothing to do with tea...bummer.

Brightest Tea Blessings!

Tea Time Treat.

2005-05-29T11:45:00.000-04:00

Tea adds a distinct, yet mellow flavor to these truffles.

I will tell you that this seems like a lot of work, BUT they are good and once you get the idea and have done these a time or two it won't be that big of a deal. The time consuming part is the waiting for the centers to cool and chill.

Get a makeshift double boiler, a candy thermometer and have fun!

I sit down at the table when dipping the centers because of my back. I keep the tempered chocolate loose by wrapping a heating pad around the bowl on medium heat.

Note: You could, if you really wanted to, use coating chocolate and bypass the tempered chocolate...but I wouldn't.

Tea Truffles
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups of whipping cream
3 tablespoons loose Oolong or green tea
1 pound bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
3-4 tablespoons of cocoa powder
1 ½ bittersweet chocolate, that has been tempered. See bottom of post.

In a 1 quart saucepan over medium heat, bring the cream to a boil. Turn off the heat, add the loose tea, cover the pan and allow steeping for 5 minutes. Strain the cream to remove the tea, then keep the cream warm in covered saucepan.

Melt the chopped chocolate in the top of a double boiler over hot water, stirring frequently with a rubber spatula to ensure even melting. Remove the top of the double boiler and wipe dry, pour the cream into the melted chocolate and stir together until blended. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, cover, let it cool to room temperature, chill in fridge until thick but not stiff. (2-3 hours)

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or waxed paper. Fit a 12 inch pastry bag (or nipped Ziploc) with a #5 large plain round tip and fill partway with the truffle cream. Holding the pastry bag above the paper, pipe out mounds about 1” diameter. Cover the mounds with plastic wrap and chill in freezer for 2 hours or in the fridge for 6 hours.

Dust your hands with cocoa powder and roll the mounds into balls. These will be the truffle centers. Cover and chill the centers for another 2 hours in the freezer.

Melt and temper the 1 ½ pounds of chocolate. Line 2 more baking sheets with parchment or waxed paper. Remove the truffle centers from the freezer one tray at a time. Place a truffle center into the tempered chocolate, coating it completely. With a dipper or a fork remove the center from the chocolate, carefully shake off the excess and turn the truffle out onto the paper. Repeat with the remaining sheet of truffle centers. After dipping the chocolate, place 2 tablespoons of the tempered chocolate in a paper pastry cone and snip off a tiny opening at the pointed end. Pipe the letter “T” on top of each truffle.

Let the truffles set at room temperature or chill them in the fridge for 10 – 15 minutes, when the truffles are set place them in a paper candy cups. In a tightly covered container wrapped in several layers of foil, the truffles will keep for 1 month in the fridge or 2 months in the freezer. The truffles are best served at room temperature.

Variation: Use white chocolate for the bittersweet chocolate in the centers and for the coating, and use ¾ cup of whipping cream. (Remember, "white" chocolate isn't really chocolate)

Tempering:
Unless you work with chocolate all of the time I will tell you about tempering.
All chocolate comes from the store tempered; it is in the reheating of the chocolate that it loses its tempering. Tempering is the act of heating the chocolate in a way to control the crystalline structure of the chocolate. Chocolate that hasn’t been tempered will have a grainy texture with possible grey and white streaks in its appearance. This is known in the industry as a “Chocolate bloom” Tempered chocolate sets up quickly and has a clean sharp snap when it breaks and releases easily from molds because it shrinks as it cools.
There is a quick way to temper and a classic way. I will leave the classic way to the chocolatiers of the world and describe the quick way.

Quick Tempering Method:
Chop 1 pound of chocolate into very small pieces and set aside 1/3 of them. Melt the remaining 2/3 in the tops of a double boiler over hot, not simmering, water, stirring frequently with a rubber spatula to ensure even melting. The chocolate should not exceed 120F (white chocolate 110F) or it will burn.

Remove the double boiler from the heat, then remove the top pan of the double boiler and wipe dry. Stir in the remaining 1/3 chocolate in 3 batches, making sure each batch is completely melted before adding the next. When all the chocolate has been added, the chocolate will be tempered.

Top 10 reasons tea is good for you.

2005-05-26T12:51:00.000-04:00

No, this isn’t a David Letterman list

There are lots of reasons why I enjoy a hot cup of tea: I love the aroma of various flavors of tea; holding onto a hot tea mug warms my hands on a cold winter morning; sipping tea in front of the fireplace is a great way to relax. And those are just the feel-good reasons. If you're not drinking tea yet, read up on these 10 ways tea does your body good and then see if you're ready to change your Starbucks order!

1. Tea contains antioxidants. Like the Rust-Oleum paint that keeps your outdoor furniture from rusting, tea's antioxidants protect your body from the ravages of aging and the effects of pollution.

2. Tea has less caffeine than coffee. Coffee usually has two to three times the caffeine of tea (unless you're a fan of Morning Thunder, which combines caffeine with mate, an herb that acts like caffeine in our body). An eight-ounce cup of coffee contains around 135 mg caffeine; tea contains only 30 to 40 mg per cup. If drinking coffee gives you the jitters, causes indigestion or headaches or interferes with sleep -- switch to tea.

3. Tea may reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke. Unwanted blood clots formed from cholesterol and blood platelets cause heart attack and stroke. Drinking tea may help keep your arteries smooth and clog-free, the same way a drain keeps your bathroom pipes clear. A 5.6-year study from the Netherlands found a 70 percent lower risk of fatal heart attack in people who drank at least two to three cups of black tea daily compared to non-tea drinkers.

4. Tea protects your bones. It's not just the milk added to tea that builds strong bones. One study that compared tea drinkers with non-drinkers, found that people who drank tea for 10 or more years had the strongest bones, even after adjusting for age, body weight, exercise, smoking and other risk factors. The authors suggest that this may be the work of tea's many beneficial phytochemicals.

5. Tea gives you a sweet smile. One look at the grimy grin of Austin Powers and you may not think drinking tea is good for your teeth, but think again. It's the sugar added to it that's likely to blame for England's bad dental record. Tea itself actually contains fluoride and tannins that may keep plaque at bay. So add unsweetened tea drinking to your daily dental routine of brushing and flossing for healthier teeth and gums.

6. Tea bolsters your immune defenses. Drinking tea may help your body's
fight off infection. When 21 volunteers drank either five cups of tea or coffee each day for four weeks, researchers saw higher immune system activity in the blood of the tea drinkers.

7. Tea protects against cancer. Thank the polyphenols, the antioxidants found in tea, once again for their cancer-fighting effects. While the overall research is inconclusive, there are enough studies that show the potential protective effects of drinking tea to make adding tea to your list of daily beverages.

8. Tea helps keep you hydrated. Caffeinated beverages, including tea, used to be on the list of beverages that didn't contribute to our daily fluid needs. Since caffeine is a diuretic and makes us pee more, the thought was that caffeinated beverages couldn't contribute to our overall fluid requirement. However, recent research has shown that the caffeine really doesn't matter -- tea and other caffeinated beverages definitely contribute to our fluid needs. The only time the caffeine becomes a problem as far as fluid is concerned is when you drink more than five or six cups of a caffeinated beverage at one time.

9. Tea is calorie-free. Tea doesn't have any calories, unless you add sweetener or milk. Consuming even 250 fewer calories per day can result in losing one pound per week. If you're looking for a satisfying, calorie-free beverage, tea is a top choice.

10. Tea increases your metabolism. Lots of people complain about a slow metabolic rate and their inability to lose weight. Green tea has been shown to actually increase metabolic rate so that you can burn 70 to 80 additional calories by drinking just five cups of green tea per day. Over a year's time you could lose eight pounds just by drinking green tea. Of course, taking a 15-minute walk every day will also burn calories.

Which tea is better -- green, black, white? There really isn't enough difference to get overly excited about. All teas generally contain the same amount of flavonoids. As we have discussed before, Green and black teas come from the same plants, but green tea is dried for a shorter time and doesn't go through a fermenting process used for black tea.

Are decaffeinated teas just as good for you? Some companies use chemicals to decaffeinate tea; others use a water process. The chemical process removes more of the beneficial polyphenols, so read labels carefully when choosing decaf.

This list idea came from MSN's helath page. It is nice to see that others are jumping on the tea bandwagon.

Brightest Tea Blessings!

To my friends...

2005-05-25T12:31:00.000-04:00

"Teapot is on, the cups are waiting,
Favorite chairs anticipating,
No matter what I have to do,
My friend there's always time for you."
Anonymous

Garden Party!

2005-05-25T12:20:00.000-04:00

This recipe was sent to me by a friend who loves her afternoon tea 'ritual'. A time for medittion and relaxation. When it gets hot in the south, the herbs become a frozen treat!

Garden Party Punch
2 cups water
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons snipped fresh mint
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 cups strong brewed tea
1 1-liter bottle club soda, chilled
1 large stem lavender or borage (optional)
Rose, calendula, or pansy petals (optional)
Flower ice cubes or ring (optional)
Place water, sugar, mint, and lavender or borage, if desired, in a large stainless-steel or nonreactive pan.
Bring to boiling; remove from heat and let steep for 20 minutes.
Strain mixture through 100%-cotton cheesecloth-lined colander.
Add orange juice, lemon juice, and tea to flavored water; chill.
Just before serving, add chilled club soda.
If desired, sprinkle punch with flower petals and serve with flower ice cubes or ring.
Makes about 3 quarts or 16 (6-ounce) servings.

Flower Ice Cubes: Fill ice-cube trays half full with water and place an edible blossom or petal on water in each cube. Freeze until firm, then fill the tray with water and freeze again.

Flower Ice Ring: Fill ring mold half full with water and place edible blossoms or petals on water in ring. Freeze until firm, then fill the mold with water and freeze again.

Make-Ahead Tip: Prepare punch except do not add club soda. Cover and chill up to 24 hours. Prepare Flower Ice Cubes or Flower Ice Ring and freeze.

Brightest Tea Blessings!

A recipe for potpourri...tea!

2005-05-24T12:02:00.000-04:00

This is a great tea. It has a bit of spice to the flavor and after you taste this herbal tisane you may want to add a few ounces of china black to the mixture to make it an herbal blend tea.
Very good either way!

Potpourri Tea
1/2 cup dried rose petals
2 tablespoons dried orange blossom
1 tablespoon dried orange peel, freshly grated
1 tablespoon cassia bark, crumbled or cracked into small pieces. Use your rolling pin.
4 whole star anise
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon whole cloves, freshly pounded
If wanted 2 ounces of china black tea
Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl with your hands. Store in airtight tins. Use one heaped tablespoon per pot.

Want a variation? This is a very good and tested in my kitchen recipe.
Sweeten with clover honey or Lavender honey if you can get it!
2 cups dried orange mint or orange geranium leaves
8 teaspoons china tea
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup dried calendula petals
1 tablespoon dried orange rind
1 tablespoon dried lemon rind

Note about Cassia bark. Cassia is what is sold in most stores as cinnamon sticks. A true cinnamon bark stick would be over a foot long and too expensive to be in a regular household kitchen.

Brightest Tea Blessings!

Flavored Sugars...

2005-05-23T13:08:00.000-04:00

I know 2 posts in ONE day! WOW!

My favorite additive in the world and believe me I have tried every one I could get my hands on, is sugar.
You are going to say it is just a sweetener. OH, how wrong you would be! Sugar can be a flavor enhancer and a flavor carrier.
With a few simple additions, I can make flavored sugars that not only make a great addition to your tea drinks, but to your baking as well.

Recently, I made my family Vanilla egg custard. I use vanilla beans for this dish. While the bean is split and some of the seeds scrapped out into the milk while it is heating, there will be a lot of flavor left in the bean.
After tempering the eggs and then straining the custard through a sieve, I got the bean out and left it on the counter to dry a bit. after dishing the custard for a rest in the fridge, I split the bean again and scrapped out as much seeds as I could and put the bean and the seeds into a quart jar I keep full of white granulated sugar with other remnants of vanilla beans gone by.
This will add to the flavor and aroma of this particular sugar. As I use the sugar I add more to the jar as it loses its volume. Because I keep adding beans to it, I have a ready supple of vanilla sugar whenever I need it. Granted the oils from the beans make the sugar lump, but a vigorous shake will get the sugar flowing again.
If you are going to make this sugar from scratch, I would suggest that you put the bean into your sugar and then let sit for a few weeks, shake it every day or so to distribute the flavor that is leaking out of the bean into the sugar.

Another flavored sugar around here is mint sugar. It is the oldest sugar on my shelf as it has been added to and freshened with more mint for the last 2 years.
I took a quart jar and I filled it half way with raw sugar. I then put a bunch or fresh spearmint leaves in the jar and then covered the mint with a mix of 50/50 white sugar and raw sugar. In the beginning, I left the jar alone for about a month and then checked the mint. It needed to be dry in the sugar, if it got damp or the lid of the jar allowed in too much air, it would rot, but it didn't it dessicated the leaves down to a dried form. I took the mint out and added a few pinches of freshly dried mint leaves to the jar. I lidded the jar tightly and then shook it every day for another month. It was ready to be used after that. The leaves in the mint sugar doesn't bother me because it just becomes part of the dregs of tea leaves in my cup.
Over the years I have added a drop or two of mint candy oil to the jar whenever I couldn't get mint leaves. The jar has turned itself over several times. I have given out the sugar as gifts to friends and would use it in mint juleps.

There are other combinations as well. Lemon rind in a jar of sugar would take a bit longer to leech the oils from the rind, but it would taste lovely.
The next trip to the market I will be purchasing yet another coconut, I think I will see how cocnut meat reacts with sugar. Yum, coconut sugar! Oh, Boy!
Add some of that to Scent By Spirit's Super Coconut Tea and I will think I have died and gone to the Summerlands!
Let's not get me started on the other sugars I have on hand! Lavender, Violet I could go on!!!

Brightest Tea Blessings!

Teapots...what is up with these sizes?

2005-05-23T11:38:00.000-04:00

I am looking to buy a nice cast iron teapot. The kind that is coated with enamel to prevent rusting on the inside.
I look around and see the sizes! A 20 oz pot is what I call a single setting serving. It will make 2 nice mugs of tea and although this is suppose to be for 2 people, it would be for one around here!
Think about the size of 20 oz. That is one of today's vending machine sized Pepsi bottles.

The next size up is 40 oz, that is a little too big and then there is the 85 oz. WAY too big.

So I guess if I do purchase a iron pot, which is what I want, not a kettle. I will have to go with the 20 oz pot and then fill it up for the next "sitting". The fortunate thing about cast iron is once you proof the pot, it will have enough residual heat to keep the tea warm for quite a bit.

I have several pots, stoneware, china, even a metal one that I don't care to use but keep because of its beauty. I have infuser pots, french presses, etc. etc.

The one I use for when I come into my office here (when I get caught up in my computer and forget I have a pot of hot tea next to me!) isn't even a teapot. It is a thermal dairy carafe.
If you have ever been in Starbuck's you have seen these carafes, they hold the cream, half & half and milk near the sugars in that store. I bought mine in a restaurant supply store. It holds a quart. Perfect for a morning or afternoon at the computer. They are stainless steel and if you proof them well, they will stay hot for hours.

Well, I am off to look for my pot on ebay. Wish me luck!

Brightest Tea Blessings!

Bottled tea

2005-05-18T22:11:00.000-04:00

I am a known tea drinker. That much is obvious from the very fact I run a tea blog to the 3 gallon tea dispenser in my fridge.
When out on the road, I still enjoy tea. I mean really, I drank Pepsi when I was in college, the backseat of my AMC Javelin was a testiment to the fact as there was bottles (anyone remember glass bottles?) to the aluminum cans (anyone remember pull tabs?), my floors was littered with those and my books.
However if tea was bottled way back in the late 70's I would have had those in there instead.
I live in the South, (Thank the Goddess) were sweet tea rules. You don't have to ASK for it in restaurants, it is just given. I have seen snooty Yankees send their tea back asking for plain (GASP!).
There are many sweeteners in todays markets, I use Stevia or just plain sugar when out. (I keep a tiny bottle of stevia in my purse for the RARE occasions a restaurant has only plain tea.

If any of you have read my other blog (see the Saphyre Rose on the left) you would know I have a disease that I do not need to speak about on this blog as well, but the medicine that I take to control it makes me have a very dry mouth. Couple that with my love of tea and you could say I may drink a lot of bottled tea when travelling.
Normally, I stick to Lipton bottled tea and drink Nestea only when I have to. I don't always care for lemon in my tea. Lipton gives you lots of flavor options.

This past weekend we were at my favorite organic grocery store, "Earth Fare". My hubbers think they should call it "Witch Fare" because so many of my lot hang there! It was there that I was tempted to try a new bottled tea. (It could have been the 85 degrees we had that day as well).
The tea is called "Sweet Leaf, The Original Sweet Tea". This stuff is MY homemade tea in a bottle (Though mine is a bit stronger). It tastes like tea without the taste of preservatives because there are NO preservatives in the tea.
It states right on the bottle that is sweetened with real cane sugar and tastes like homemade...it DOES! A true southern tea.

YUM!
What makes me laugh at these prepackaged drinks are serving sizes. This 16oz bottle supposedly holds 2 servings! I walk around my apartment with a 20oz glass in my hand most of the time! Where do they get these "servings"?
I had a bottle of SO-BE Liz-Blizz last week and as I was draining the last dregs from the bottle I happened to notice (upside down) that there were 2.5 serving in this bottle. When I added the calories per serving together I nearly fainted. WHOA! I guess we will stay away from Liz-Blizz for a while!

Back to Sweet Leaf...I think if you can get a bottle to try you should do it. On their website is a map of the states and the maps say exactly where they sell the bottles of tea. I clicked on SC and found the exact store where I bought my bottle!
In fact, the website shows them to have 6 different flavors and varieties of tea. I guess I am going to have to go back to Earth Fare and do more investigating.
Oh, the things I have to do for my blog!

Brightest Tea Blessings!

I am going to take you on a TEA CRUISE!!!!

2005-05-17T22:13:00.000-04:00

Yes, a tea cruise! Put on by Lavender Rose Gardens, this is going to be huge!
Unfortunately, I cannot go on it, but it does leave my hometown of Charleston, I wonder if I could stow away?!
See the info here.
All I can say to those who are going...I hate you! Just kidding...not. OK, enough sour grapes.

Why was I NOT born a Rothschilde?!!!!

7 days at sea with 3 ports of call. I would go JUST for the tea crafts, then there is the parties and on and on. I have been to Key West been there, done that, but Cozumel, that would be cool. I am not sure I could get my hubbers to come back with me once we hit the Grand Caymans. He would definitely go native. I wonder if CSC has a branch down there. Hmmmm.

Oh well, practicle Virgo wants a house and car to keep the money coming in, so this cruise is waaaay out of her league, but I can dream, can't I?

Brightest Tea Blessings!

Teaware - Volume one

2005-05-12T15:27:00.000-04:00

Here we go again! Doing a post in volumes! There is just so much information to share!
Today is Teapots!
When you think about it, all we really need to drink or serve tea is a container large enough to hold the leaves and the water. That could be anything from a tin can (when you are camping) to a Gorham silver service complete with waste bowl.
Well, let's try to think outside of those lines and get a service that will enhance our tea experience.
What you really need is a pot with a weighted bottom to keep it steady, a spout large enough for pouring and not dribbling, a means of straining out the tea leaves and a cup.
It is from these tea essentials that a grand host of teaware have evolved. Some range from useless pieces of cross contaminating strainers to 'too cute to use' tea cups.

Let's explore...
Yixing teapots: This is a pottery pot that had been made near Yixing, China since 2500BC. It is a distinctive, humble yet beautiful pottery made from a purple sand clay that is porous yet able to withstand cracking. Because it is porous, it will absorb some of the teas flavor.
As the pot is used, it becomes "seasoned" with the tea's flavor allowing each succesive brew to be a little better than the last. It is said that if you use a Yixing teapot for many years, you can brew tea simply by pouring boiling water into it!

Gaiwan: this refers to a small, handleless tea bowl made of porcelain with a matching saucer and lid. It serves the function as both cup and personal teapot. To use, you place the amount of leaves necessary in the bowl which is sitting on its saucer, and the boiling water, you then place on the lid and let steep the amount of time required. When done, you hold the Gaiwan by the saucer so as not to burn your fingers and push back the lid of the bowl to strain the leaves back. Doing this operation correctly with one hand requires some practice, like using chopsticks!

Japanese Ironware: called Tetsubin, these heavy iron kettles have been used for centuries to heat water over open fires. The pots are typically wider than they are tall and may be embossed with designs inspired by nature.
Modern Ironware is glazed with enamel making for better cleaning.

Samovar: The Russian invention is a large vessel, usuall y in copper in which water is heated by a means of charcoal in a pipe that extends down through the center. A small teapot sits atop the urn so that brewed tea can be kept hot. Tea (often with lemon added) is then served in glasses with metal holders. (I cannot find any that isn't under $100 a pair!)

There are many more like infusers, but I do not consider them a pot or the french press for that matter. So since it is my blog, I will disreguard them (Although I own 2!)

And just for fun I will throw this word into the tea blog.
Teapoy. Know what it is? Teapot, the word comes from the Indian word meaning "three feet". Tea caddies, mixing bowls and other tea paraphernalia were stored in a teapoy. A small three-legged pedestal.

No this isn't a picture of a teapoy, just a curious picture I found of teapots! I thought it fit.

Brightest tea blessings!

Late Night Tea Crafts

2005-05-10T23:07:00.000-04:00

The tea craft I had promised you yesterday I waited too long to post and blogger went down for maintenance...so this post is late, sorry bout that y'all.

I had been wanting for some time to put a few tea related crafts up but I couldn't decide on the best or easiest way to do it. Let's face it, everyone needs a tea cozy for their pot, but how many of you want to sit here and read a pattern for crochet? "ch st 45 across. Make a dbl in the 3rd ch from hook and follow pattern from *" That doesn't sound like m,uch fun to anyone who can't read a crochet pattern. It sounds like alien speak in the words of my hubby and he speaks a few different languages on his own!

I thought up something a little different, but something I am sure you have seen before in another context.
I am sure you have seen the latest fad at parties and that is the wine charms. Everyone has a different wine charm on their glass to identify their own glass.
Well, I do not go to many wine parties. I am more of a Guinness drinker if I am going alcohol drinking.
Nope, I thought why don't we steal the pretentious crowd's idea and make sense of it. We get the kits for the wine charms from any craft store, and instead of putting grapes or cheese or cork screw charms on the rings, we will put tea related charms and then put the rings on our tea cups.
Tha way at a tea party you will know what tea cup is yours.
In the craft set, there is a larger ring that is suppose to go around the neck of the wine bottle, we will use that one to keep track of our little ones and store in the meantime on the handle of the teapot.
Cute, huh?

I get my sterling silver charms from bluemud.com. They have quite a selection of charms. I had thought of the different teapots they have, or cups, tea tags, ladies hats and spoons would all be great charms for the tea cup rings!
I have a military charm bracelet and my hubbers bought me a chef's charm bracelet complete with a tiny chef's hat and saucier pans. BUT the bracelet I want is on Scent by Spirit web site and it is a tea cup and teapot charm bracelet.
No tea Mistress should be without her own tea charm bracelet! (Hint hint, hubby, hint, hint!)

Oh, bother! The sprites have been busy as well this evening. I see my book on how to tea dye has disappeared. It was right here a minute ago! This book shows how to dye with tea and how to make sure the color stays true. Since I am a witch, I make my own "spell" paper. Teas of all kinds play a roll in the color of these papers.
I guess, thanks to the sprites, I will have to tell you about it on another post.
I guess I better quit while I am still somewhat ahead!

Brightest tea blessings!
Saphyre

Cooking with Tea - Volume One

2005-05-09T14:20:00.000-04:00

I have so many uses and recipes for cooking with tea that I thought I would seperate the recipes into volumes like I did with my puppy's antics at Sun and Moon called "Puppy Pursuits".
I know you are thinking she is going to write recipes for accompanying tea. Well, I do have a great recipe for Lemon Mousse Gateau' but I was thinking more along the lines of cooking WITH tea.

I would just like to say here I had this all typed up and then there was a power spike! It is 88 degrees as I type this, I am guessing the power grids couldn't handle all of the A/C's coming on at once!

Let us start this volume with adding tea to recipes.
Using tea in this way brewing must be done differently to stop any bitterness caused by additional cooking at a later time. I make a tea liquor and I will give a few recipes for that and the brewing instructions, to add to different foods such as soups, rice, risotto, gravies anything that could use a bit of jazzing up.
I use Guinness to give stew a different taste and bite, I feel that certain teas can do the same to what some consider bland food.
First, the brewing. The trick for cooking with tea is to let the tea brew naturally in room temperature water for a longer period of time.
Recipe for Liquors: Black Tea - 2 heaping teaspoons of black teain a cup of water and allow to brew for 20 to 30 minutes. Strain and reserve the liquor.
Oolong Tea - 2 level teaspoons of tea in a cup of water and let brew for 20 - 30 minutes. Strain and reserve the liquor.
Green Tea - 2 level teaspoons of tea in a cup of water, again allow to brew 20 - 30 minutes, strain and reserve liquor.

I find using sometimes as little as 1-2 tablespoons of liquor in a dish will greatly enhance the flavor. Replace 3 tablespoons of your water for cooking rice with the green tea liquor and enjoy!
Here in the south we have a dish called Shrimp and Grits. I wonder how much tea would improve the grits for this dish?

How about eggs shown above? Pretty different, huh?
They are called Chinese Marbled Eggs and they are very easy to make.
You will need 4 large eggs
1 cup of brewed black tea with leaves left in cup, your choice.

1. Fill a medium sized pot with water enough to cover the eggs, lid the pot. Bring the water to a full rolling boil. Turn off the heat and allow the eggs to hardboil, about 15 minutes. This will prevent the premature cracking of the shell.
2. Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon. Using the bowl of a teaspoon, gently crack the shells all around, but do not remove the shell. Using the slotted spoon put the eggs back into the water. Add the black tea with tea leaves, and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.
3. Remove the eggs again, and allow them to cool. Shell them carefully. The result will be a "marbled" look on the egg whites. Serve whole or sliced in half lengthwise, placing them yolk down.

These eggs make "eggs-cellent" deviled eggs. I call them "Raven's Eggs"
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I want to make one point about the liquors...if you have any left over, you can freeze them in ice cube trays. This way they will be available for use at another time. This gives you the added advantage of having "tea cubes" available for Iced Tea...but that is another post!

Tomorrow - Tea Crafts!

Brightest Tea Blessings, my friends!

Tea Plants

2005-05-07T14:05:00.000-04:00

I found a site that actually sells tea plants! I am so excited. Fortunately I live in the south and the weather conditions described for the care of these plants are pretty much the weather patterns here. HOT, humid, I have partial sun, mostly shade on my walkway into my apartment, which as it is is filled with plants and flowers...I MUST HAVE a tea plant.
Even if I never harvest a single leaf, it will be enough to know I have a tea plant growing in my own living area. How much more can a "Tea Mistress" ask for?
I must put the bulletin out to all of the male members of my family so I can give them a chance at getting me something when they are always saying they never know what to get me for a gift!
Then, I start budgeting for it myself...just in case!

In case any of you other tea fiends are interested in a purchasing a plant, the site is Barrow's.
If you don't know your hardiness zone, you can find it here at the National Arboretum site.

Oooooooooh, my own tea plant...I can't stand it!

Free Trade?

2005-05-06T22:13:00.000-04:00

Someone timidly asked me, "What is Free trade?"
Free trade is the exchange of goods and services between countries with few or no government-imposed rules of restrictions.
It helps the indigenous peoples keep more money or services for what is theirs.
For more information you can read about the free trade agreements here at the FTAA.
Tomorrow, answers for whirled peas, er, world peace.

Brightest Tea Blessings!

More about bags...

2005-05-05T11:46:00.000-04:00

My soon to be Tea Fairy...I got the color right, but I still have to work on her background...right now she looks like a mushroom fairy!

I know tea bags are easy and convenient. BUT, they are made up of the dust or sweepings make for bad tea.
Tea Houses have size categories for their leaves.
There is the whole leaf called OP or Orange Pekoe, which is the best if done correctly, by that I mean allow it enough room to open and move around. As many Tea Mistresses know, there are even better variances of OP. Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe (TGFOP) is the top grade. During harvesting the top two leaves and bud are plucked by hand. The bud is actually the immature leaf tip which is not yet fully opened. When harvested during the slow growth periods, these young buds have a golden tip, hence the grade 'Flowery'. When these tips are in abundance the terms 'Tippy and Golden' are also attached. Occasionally the number "1" or "2" may be placed at the end of the letters to designate better grades among similar teas. Similarly the letter "F" may appear before the TGFOP to designate a "finer" grade and the letters "SF" designates a grade of "super fine".Thus a tea graded as "SFTGFOP1" is a Super Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe
There is the BOP or Broken Orange Pekoe leaves which are good, as they have more surface area exposed to the water, but and this is my opinion only, that the steeping time must be cut down because bitterness can occur.
Then you get to the F or Fannings, they are smaller than the BOP in that the pieces are no bigger than the heads of pins.
That having been said, D is the lowest grade of tea available if produced by CTC (Crush, Tear, Curl, but that is another post) method of manufacturing and Dust if produced by the Orthodox Method. This size is literally the smallest broken pieces left after siftings, sometimes called the "sweepings".
If you want to know if your tea bag is dust or not, look in the bottom of your teacup when you are drinking the last sip, there is usually a residue or dust in the bottom of the cup.

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Someone emailed me and asked how much tea is drank around here. Well, I will use that as a segue into this story and answer it as well.
Recently my favorite Iced Tea maker gave up its tenacious grip on the world of tea and I had to purchase a new one. Imagine my horror when I found that GE no longer makes the Iced Tea Maker. I had to get a Mr. Coffee brand tea maker. The problem with this maker is the 3qt pitchers. Once I get them filled with tea and water, they become very heavy for someone with FM to handle. After watching my struggle with the pitchers, my beloved hubbers came to my rescue. On his lunch break one day he asked me if I wanted to go to my favorite restaurant supply store. That is like asking a kid if he would like to go to the candy store!
While there I picked up my third silicone baking mat, (I now have an exopat, a silpat and a teflon baking mat!) my husband walked over to the restaurant dispensers and picked up the Iced Tea Dispenser shown below. This thing holds 3 gallons of iced tea and it has a slim design to fit into my fridge. It takes up less space than the huge pitchers did. The great thing is, my hubby helps me make the big 3qt pitchers and then dumps them into the dispenser! No lifting for me! I have not put 3 gallons in, just 6 quarts. I like the idea of fresh tea.

Now to answer your question, I hope you are sitting down, I put the 6 quarts of tea in the dispenser Tuesday...I will be making more tomorrow. The thing has enough for this evening.
Please remember my hubby doesn't drink this tea, he has to drink decaf tea, so all of this tea is going in me! Plus the hot teas I test for this site.

Like I said I love my tea!
I can't wait until someone gets me a shirt that says "Tea Mistress", I may actually get my favorite table at my favorite tea room without having to tip someone!

Brightest Tea Blessings!
Saphyre

Today's Tea is.....

2005-04-28T21:13:00.000-04:00

The Republic of Tea's brand called Earth Tea - Rainforest.
Technically, not a tea it is a tisane which we have spoken of before in this blog.
This brand from reading the ingredients list has roobios in it, but like I discussed in Rainbow of Tea down at the "Red Tea", Roobios is not a native to the Camillia Sinesis family that true tea is. It is a plant from the area of South Africa, called Capetown. It is a woody herb...sort of, but definitely not a tea.

The other ingredients are Allspice berries, birch bark, cinnamon, pau d' arco, star anise, natural vanilla, mace, anise seed and blackberry.
Pau d'arco is a tree that grows in South America, it has for centuries been known for its medicinal qualities.
There are a total of 36 Unbleached tea bags in a beautifully decorated tin. Unfortunately, I cannot drink the tin, because the price was HIGH!

The tea itself was a rather light brew with a definite spice scent. The problem was my own in that I didn't read the labelling BEFORE I purchased the item. I truly was expecting a true tea. Not one to let 10 dollars just slip through my hands, I took the next bag, broke it apart and put its contents inside my french press for one to which I added a tsp of black loose leaf tea.
MUCH better. This is what I was hoping for from the beginning. A nice color and scent to which a taste was like a spicy green tea.

Well, I started this as a critique of my newest tea, but ended with a new recipe! That's good right? I wonder what the folks at The Republic of Tea would think about my revamping of their tea...who cares, it is an improvement.
Well that is it for today, I am going to try really hard to make a post tomorrow although I have a full schedule of errands to run and a lunch date so I am going to say I will try very hard to supply another post before Saturday...This is for the benefit of my sibling and my close friends on the web who worry about me when I am not posting everyday, you bunch of worry warts, I love you too!

Brightest Tea Blessings.
Saphyre

Socially Responsible Tea Packaging.

2005-04-27T23:03:00.000-04:00

Please visit my friend Rachel's blog for the her whole account of the "sachet" type tea bag trend hitting the stores.
The new wave it seems is a triangular bag for the tea or herbs to brewed giving them more room to fill and expand...GREAT!
However, this new material for the sachets is a type of plastic. Plastic netting or mesh bags are making a hit in the world of teas.
It is a real shame because as I have stated here many times I only use loose tea for full flavor, there are times that bags are handy. At those times, I always try to keep unbleached natural cotton or muslin bags for that purpose.

Remember if you buy these type of bags that they aren't good for the planet. They cannot go into your compost, they cannot be recycled. It is easier to just dump a muslin bags' cooled content into a compost pile OR a bag of potting soil and toss the empty bag into the wash that it is to pollute Mother Earth with more petroleum based products (plastic).
Try to be a social and ecological shopper when you are out purchasing your tea or anything for yourself.
Look for Free Trade Products and a items that have a high percentage of recycled products for containers or paper products, etc.

We need to pass on our planet to the next generation, please do not let it be an earth we are ashamed of.

Been away again..but have news!

2005-04-25T20:32:00.000-04:00

This has been such a lazy weekend. My hubby Lee, had his birthday on the 21st and he took Friday off. So for 3 days we did nothing. NOTHING!
I spent a lot of time on the couch reading and I did some beading as well.
These are the most favorite things I can do these days that do not involve a trip to my brother's back porch! THAT, my friends is the BEST place in the world.
I had a pot or two of tea this weekend and some great news!
Two dear friends of ours who live in Wilmington, NC is the first bit of news. The one friend is going to be a momma and the other friend who happens to be HER momma is going to be a grandma!
I am going to go into more detail on that on Sun & Moon.
The other bit of good news is a dear witch friend of mine is coming out of her bayou home to visit me in the low country in June AND she is bringing me some andouille sausage from the 'Big Easy' with her! Oh, Boy!

She wants to see America's only tea plantation and that is right here on Wadmalaw Island.
There are a few tea rooms here in Charleston and one in Summerville. This is a chance to not only show her the area, but to report on the tea rooms of the low country for my blog.
Unfortunately, we both suffer from a chronic illness. The one I discuss on the other site and the same illness that will sometimes without warning bump me off of all of my pages for a few days. BUT we will perserve and gimp along together even if we have to hold each other up and get a step ladder to boost us into the horse carriages!
Don't worry Wyllow! I am looking forward to the visit!

I have had the time this weekend to enjoy a tea called "Zhena's Gypsy Tea - Sense of Peace"
This is an organic tea and although I normally only buy loose tea, this tea is round bags.
The ingredients of this tea are Organic White Tea, Organic Egyptian Mint and Roses.
Purchased at EarthFare grocery store for $8.99 for a tin of 30 tea bags, it is overall a good tea. Although the price was really high for such simple ingredients.
Gypsy Tea is a tea company dedicated to the fair trade which is so very important in todays world.
From looking at the sight, there are 13 types of tea available and a new one called "V-Tea" which is white tea with vanilla.
The sight for Gypsy Tea is very thought provoking and she sells beautifully packaged tea.
I still think her prices are high.

Tomorrow, hopefully, we move on to get a better daily grip on this blog thing now that the computer isn't doing the "out to lunch" bit that was so common with XP.

Fruit Teas

2005-04-20T15:23:00.000-04:00

I think I have mentioned all the colors of tea, the scented and the flavored, herbal and flowered.
How about fruited...with real fruit!

We are fortunate these days to have readily available to us not only a variety of different kinds of fruit usually year round, but we can find dried. I will say though I have the hardest time finding fresh figs and dragonfruit.
Go to your grocers and look at all of the dried fruit available to you and if the selection isn't good there, try your local Whole Foods store, Organic market or Co-op.
The important part of the fruited teas are the fruit must be dried. You can do this yourslef by picking fruit it is just ripe. Slice the fruit and use a food dehydrator or spread it evenly out on a drying surface. Remember to turn it over often to prevent mold from forming on the fruit. Use a clean window screen for a good air circulation and make sure you cover them at night to prevent insects.

OK, let's get some of the dried fruit and make some tea!
Depending on how you mix things up, you may also need to be aware of what some properties are dried plants.
How about Juniper and Cranberry Tea?
As most women know who have ever had a UTI, cranberry juice is the first thing we reach for its soothing and healing of the urinary mucus membrane. Juniper has long been used as an antiseptic. Used together and you get a good flush of the urinary sustem.
Pregnant women should stay away from juniper as it is a uterine stimulant, and that just isn't good for you.
To make 2 cups (16 0z) of Juniper cranberry tea:
2 teaspoons of dried Juniper Berries
1 cup of boiling water
1 cup of cranberry juice
Put the berries into the proofed ceramic or glass teapot. Add the boiling water, cover and let steep for 10 mintues. Allow to cool and then combine with the cranberry juice.

Orange, Cinnamon and Peach Tea.
(If dried peaches aren't available, try dried apricots!)
This also makes 16oz.
1 tsp grated fresh orange zest (rind, no pith)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbs chopped dried peach
2 cups boiling water
Combine the orange zest, cinnamon and peach in a proofed ceramic or glass teapot. Add the boiling water, cover and steep for 5 minutes. YUM!
It is good for a digestive after a heavy meal.

I have so many more recipes and info for you, unfortunately my health meter swings wildly at times and today it is in the red. When it swings back to the green, I will add more recipes and ancedotes about my favorite beverage...TEA!

A Cream Tea

2005-04-19T16:14:00.000-04:00

I know, I know, I said that on Monday I would give a recipe for clotted cream you can make at home...so sue me, I got tied up at the post office, grocers, etc, etc.

Sooo , without further ado, here is my favorite recipe for homemade clotted dream.

2 cups heavy cream
Cook cream in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until the cream is reduced by about, mmmmm, half. It should be the consistency of butter with a golden :crust" on the top of it.
Transferr the cream, crust included to a bowl. Cover and let stand 2 hours, then refridgerate at least 12 hours. Stir the crust into the cream before serving.
This should make about one cup.

This is a bit time consuming, but it is better than what you can get in those tiny bottles at the gourmet or import store and it is cheaper. I think the pint cream I bought last week was $1.50, the last time I bought a tiny jar of prepared Devonshire clotted cream its price was over $5.00.
Sooo, I think I will invest the time when I want clotted cream.

Clotted cream is really good on things like scones, naturally but how about english muffins, bagels or my favorite, Sally Lunn Buns.

Sally Lunn Buns are a light egg bread similar to Brioche.
This is my recipe for them.

1/2 stick of butter
1 tsp sugar
1 cup milk
1 1/2 tbs dry yeast
3 eggs
2 1/2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbs milk extra
Grease a baking sheet and two heavy duty foil strips measuring 18" long and 2" wide
Combine butter, sugar and milk in a saucepan and heat until warm, about 110F degrees.
Add yeast and stir to dissolve. Let set. In a seperate bowl beat 2 of the eggs well, pour some of the milk mixture into the eggs, beat some more, then add more milk and beat, this is called tempering, without it you may wind up with scrambled eggs. Add the rest of the milk and beat well.
In a large bowl, Add 2 1/2 cups of the flour and the salt and mix them together, make a well inthe top of the flour and add the liquid mixture. Mix well adding flour as needed to form a soft dough. Lightly knead 2 minutes on floured board.
Cut dough in half. Shape each into a 6 inch round. Place on prepared baking sheet and secure each around its base with a strip of foil. Cover with clean towel and set in warm place to rise until doubled, about an hour.
Preheat oven to 425F degrees.
Bake buns 20 minutes. Meanwhile, beat the remaining egg with the tablespoon of milk for a glaze. Brush on tops, return to oven for a few minutes to dry. Cool on a rack. Split buns in half and toast to serve.
Serves 4.

If you have any questions or if you need more info, please feel free to email me.

Brightest Tea Blessings to y'all!

American Iced Tea

2005-04-17T23:11:00.000-04:00

According to my readings, Iced tea was introduced to America by an Englishman at Chicago's Columbia Exposition in the summer of 1893. In an attempt to get sweltering fairgoers to drink tea, he poured it over ice chips and a national predilection was born. Today bottled iced tea is the fastest growing section at the supermarkets.

I do not know about where y'all live, but everytime I need a 'tea' and run over to a vending machine, the tea is ALWAYS gone. Whether it is the Coca-Cola Bottling company's Nestea or Pepsi's Lipton Tea, both machines are usually out when I get to one.
My hubber's never asks, when we are out on the road and we stop for a cool drink, whether it is on a state owned rest stop or a filling station, he always gets me my tea, sweet and in a bottle.

The English really do not 'get' iced tea, but then again, when has Great Britain ever had 90 degrees in the shade with 90% humidity (or higher)? Let's face it, we need our tea at times iced. Some of us just like it cold. I am one of those people. I have a cold sensitivity with my teeth that NO amount of special toothpaste will help. I like my sweet tea just out of the fridge, if it is very hot out I may put 1 or 2 ice cubes in it.

I have a sibling though.......

My big brother, I used to run and get his tea for him when he got home from work either from the coal mines or when he was volunteering as an EMT and he wanted his tea then and still has it to this day with so much ice that you can see no space at the bottom of the glass.
Now that is a lot of ice. And it is too much ice for me to drink from...brrrr.

Tomorrow, just what the heck IS clotted cream anyway? I will tell you! I may even give you a recipe on how to make your own and a great recipe for scones.
Until then,
Brightest Tea Blessings!
Blessed Be

Fruit and Herbs and Tea all in one!

2005-04-17T01:58:00.000-04:00

I found an old copy of an Herbal Companion magazine that I had saved for a tea recipe that combined fresh herbs, fruit and tea.
I have tried this tea as in the notes I wrote along the edge of the margin I noted that it needed "a little something more".
I will give you the recipe as it was stated in the book and then tell you what little something I gave it. You can try both and be the judge.

Apple-Mint Iced Tea
To brew 4 - 10 ounce glasses.
1 quart of water
6 teaspoons of black tea or 6 regular tea bags (GASP!)
1 cup of fresh peppermint leaves
2 tablespoons of honey
2 cups of apple juice
More fresh mint sprigs and apple slices for garnish (Optional)

Combine black tea or bags, peppermint leaves and just boiled water in a teapot and steep for 5-10 minutes. Strain, stir in honey and chill.
To serve, combine with the apple juice, pour over ice and garnish with apple slices and sprigs of mint.
Hint: To keep the apple slices from turning brown, spritze with lemon juice on both sides.

THAT was their recipe. I admit it was good, but it seemed kinda flat for a summer cooler tea.
I thought if you are going to add a apple juice to the tea, why not make a spritzer instead?
While the tea is chilling, take 1/2 can of frozen apple juice concentrate and add it to a quart of club soda. You will need to mix this in a large pitcher because it will get fizzy.
Take out your chilled tea add 2 cups of the apple spritzer to it, pour over ice and garnish.
I think you will like both of these teas.
The great thing about the spritzer is there will be enough left over for those who don't want or need tea. The apple juice concentrate and club soda is a delightful drink on its own, add tea and WOW!

I should mention that if you are using a sweetened apple juice for the original recipe, you may want to leave out the honey as it may be too sweet for you.

Fast forward 6 months, it is cold out and you need something warm. Make this tea. Except make it hot and use a culinary grade cinnamon stick for a stirrer. Yum!

See, tea can be very versatile and I love just about everything you can do with it.
Enjoy!

The Moon Brews

2005-04-14T23:19:00.000-04:00

Ahh, the moon. My personal totem. I have moon earrings, bracelets, anklets, necklaces and my apartment is decorated in moons and stars. My actions and life is guided by that 28 day cycle of the moon.
Is it any wonder that I have several teas for women that involves their moontimes?

Do not think that because you no longer have a moontime whether surgically (such as myself) or naturally that you cannot drink these teas. They will help you rebuild the calcium and the strength your body needs to live life to the fullest!

Moon Brew
This will make you a mason jar full of tea.
2 tblsp Oatstraw
1/4 cup rose petals...these are dried petals from roses that haven't been sprayed. Try your florist for presprayed roses OR get your own if you are fortunate enough to have the bushes.
1/4 cup spearmint leaves
1/2 cup nettle leaves
3/4 cup raspberry leaves
1-4 cup lavender flowers
Please remember to get these ingredients from culinary herbs not from the craft store's dried up potpourri packs.
Mix these herbs up in a large jar. Cover tightly.
To make the tea, you can then use 1 teaspoon of the herbs per cup of water. Steep for at least 10 minutes.

For a calcium boost, I found the following on a woman's health site that I added a few herbs to, it turned out to be a very flowery tea with a mint bite.
Again this herbage will make a large jar. Mix all the herbs well in the jar by putting the lid and shaking the jar. Keep tightly covered in a cool, dark place.
Full Moon- Full Bones Tea
1/2 cup of red raspberry leaves
1/2 cup red clover blossoms
1/2 cup nettle leaves
1/4 cup lemon balm leaves
2 tblspns of calendula flowers
2 tblspns of lemon verbena leaves
2 tblspns of rose petals, the organic type mentioned above.
This is better drank by the pot. For a 4-6 cup pot, steep 1/4 cup of the above herb mix covered with boiling water for 15 - 20 mintues. Strain into your cup. Sweeten with honey if desired.

What is a tisane?

2005-04-13T12:00:00.000-04:00

Got an email from Sheryl who wanted to know what a tisane or an infusion was.
Great question and unless you were an herbalist, this terms probably wouldn't cross your path.

Believe it or not, everytime you put herbs into a cup of hot water not only have you made an herbal tea, but you have made a tisane. Just that easy.
A tisane is a french word for a beverage made by steeping dried or fresh plant parts in water that has come to a boil.

A decoction, used mainly for medicinal purposes, are made by boiling the plant parts in water until the liquid is reduced. The water is then strained into a container or teapot.

We could go on from there, but we would be entering my herbal healer arena and out of teas!

An infusion of a single herb is called a 'simple'. Simpling is the best way in my opinion to enjoy and appreciate the benefits of that herb.
You can mix an herb with a tea and have a delicious combination or herbal blend. I like spearmint with black tea. There is also Chamomile with Green tea. The chamomile is a gentle, delicate flavor and blends beautifully and does not overpower the green tea.

You want to know the best way to brew herbs?
Glad you asked. It is really easy if you follow a few guidelines.

1. Use fresh cold water. As with black, green, or Oolong tea, the purer the better tasting the water the more satisfying the tea. I use bottled water.
2. Use full-leafed herbs when possible. The more intact the leaves or the flowers are the better the essence of that plant will be. When herbs are powdered or pulverized, (look inside of any herbal tea bag) their essential oils which are responsible for their fragrance and their taste to evaporate quickly. If you use an infuser you will get more joy from your herbal tea than any tea bag convenience can give you.
3. Use the proper equipment. Herbs need space and good water circulation to unfold and move to steep. For infusing, use a plastic, bamboo or wire mesh strainer that can be dipped into a single cup or get a pot with a built in infuser.
DON'T USE THE LITTLE STAINLESS STEEL BALLS, or the enclosed mesh balls. There is absolutely NO room in those things for herbs to unfold in.
If you must use those things do what I do, use them for sprinkling powdered sugar or cinnamon, they are great for that, not good for tea.

Your cup and teapot should be glass or ceramic as metal could give a definite metallic taste to the tea and it may even give undesirable minerals to the herbs.

OK we all on the same page now? Lets make us an infusion.
1. Boil water: Fill a kettle with water and bring it to a boil. Use a little of the boiling water to proof your pot.
2. Infuse the herbs: Cover herbs with just boiled water and allow to steep...how long? Herbs take longer to steep than black tea does, depending on the herb, the part used, you will have to experiment here.
3. Drink: If you like, add lemon or honey to taste. I find that honey brings with it even more herbage flavor.

That is about it.
I hope you enjoyed our foray into tisanes, infusions, decoctions, macerations, er, that is a different post.

Brightest Tea Blessing, y'all!

Back on the burner!

2005-04-09T16:27:00.000-04:00

After a two day Discussion" with my cable modem, I am back online and running.
Since joining 2 tea rings the traffic to this blog has certainly increased...Thank you for stopping by!
Don't drink bagged teas unless you have to!

I was thinking of giving an idea for a Morrocan Tea Party (complete with tents and camels!), but I realized that I have left some of you in the lurch as it were on teas.
I have gone over the Rainbow of Teas in a previous post, but I think it is time to talk about the blends.

Here I will give just a few of my favorite black tea blends.

English Breakfast: originally this wasn't a blend at all, but a straight Keemun, it was given its name by British tea marketers. Today the term applies to any combination of China, Ceylon and India teas that yields a brw with a medium body and brisk character. Usually drank with milk as a whitener.

Irish Breakfast: Another marketing term. Heartier than English Breakfast (of course), it's usually made from high-grown Ceylon and robust Assam. Also good with milk and my particular morning favorite.

Russian Caravan: Originally I posted about the origins of Russian tea in "side tracked post" . Today this blend is likely to be made from China and Formosa Oolongs, unspecified black teas and perhaps even some Lapsang Souchong. The blend is then cured with smoke to give it its characteristic aroma and flavor. Served best with lemon slices.

These could also be considered blends, but I call them flavored and/or scented.

Earl Grey: This is said to be the finest scented tea to be drunk in the west. It's made of China black, Ceylon or India tea with oil of Bergamot extracted from a small citrus fruit ggrown in the Mediterranean and sprayed on the leaves after manufacture.
One thing I can tell you as an herbalist is that there are grades of bergamot oil, some are natural some are synthetic or an chemical ester. The best Earl Grey balances an orangey flavor with the tea taste without one overwhelming the other.

Lapsang Souchong: This tea is grown in China but rarely drank there, this tea is immediately identifiable by its smokey aroma obtained from curing in a smoke filled rooms (think hams) over pine needles. It priduces a dark red infusion that goes especially well with savory dishes.

Chai: This is the Indian word for "tea" and the ubiquitous brew of India. It is made from a combination of black (Or sometimes green) tea leaves and a combination of spices. Quality can range from delightlful, and as I can attest, to dreadful. Milk, usually condensed, is added.

Green tea blends
I only have a few of these.
Jasmine tea: What Earl Grey is to the west, jasmine tea is to North China.
Jasmine is a nightblooming flower and are picked in the morning and kept in a cool place nightfall. Just as they are about to open, they are piled next to heat dried green tea leaves which absorb the jsmine fragrance. This process is repeated two or three times for ordinary jasmine tea, or up to seven times for top grades like Yin Hao. Jasmine Pearls are hand rolled pellets that "explode" in hot water, releasing their perfume.
Watch out for inferior teas made with extracts and oils and remember that the presence of blossoms in the tea has no bearing on quality; some excellent jasmine tea has no flowers in it at all.

Green Chai: Frankly I do not understand this tea. It is a popular one out now. Green tea is so delicate and beautiful on the palate, why anyone would want to cover a green tea up with spices is beyond me.

Now some tea sites or others may go into herbal teas at this point. I may go into a few, but I must stay true to my herbalist roots.
Herbs are not to be entered into lightly. They have medical, chemical and magical properties. You may even have problem with some herbs without even knowing it.
But that is another post. As the warning states on the bottom of this blog, you must be careful upon introducing herbs into your system.

Mint Tea is a very good tea. A pitcher of iced mint tea on a hot, sultry, southern afternoon like the kind we have here in Charleston will make you think you stepped into a Tennessee Williams play. However, where mint has the power to help some people with a tummyache, people with a hiatal hernia should stay very clear of all mints.
Chamomile Tea is very good and a gentle tea. as long as you know you are getting true chamomile...there are people out there in the "herb" business not knowing what they are pulling. Is it chamomile or is it agrimony? Read labels. If you are buying a tea already made up, then it should just say chamomile flowers.
There are blends of herbs as well but I think I will do that another day.

Time for a tea break.

Children's Tea Parties

2005-04-06T18:26:00.000-04:00

I do not know your feelings on children drinking tea. My earliest memories involve an amber substance in a baby bottle, so there you go. No, it wasn't Jameson's!

I do know I drank tea as a child, both hot and cold, bag and instant. While I was in college, tea wasn't available cold like it is today (I went to Penn State and the only tea you could find outside the cafeteria was in the coffee machines in the student union...Ick) so I drank lots of Pepsi. LOTS...the back seat of my AMC Javelin would clink from cans and bottles.

I had tea parties as a child. I had crackers that had butter and jelly, tea and sometimes mom gave me gingersnaps for my little plates. The snaps were always too big for my tiny plates, but at least my dolls never went hungry...nor did my brother when he was home from the Navy who would indulge his baby sister by trying to handle those tiny cups. Now he has to do it for his granddaughter, Meghan....I bought her a tea set for her 5th birthday next week!

I have several ideas and websites that will help you get a very nice children's tea party under way.
First, let me say children are not much for planning. They like to do things when they want. I think that is great and it should be encouraged because as they grow into adulthood those opportunities to do what they want unstructured will disappear. Let them be children as long as possible.
However, if you would like to plan a child's tea party for say, a birthday, halloween, or just because that child of yours is the sweetest thing that ever walked the Goddess's planet, then by all means let's plan.

Pick a theme. Halloween? Birthday? Victorian? For this example let's do a Beach theme since summer is just around the corner.
Make some invitations. These could be bought or made. It is quite easy to purchase pre-folded invitations ready for the printer at your local meglamart. However, let your child decorate the invitations rather than send them through a cardshop program. Lots of suns and beach chairs, flipflops and umbrellas and of course, teacups. Fun!
Make sure to put a few cut outs in your invitations of the sun or some sprinkles of confetti so that the person opening the invitation will know the party is going to be full of surprises.
Perhaps you can add that the children could come in a beach type outfit.

For food for the party, keep it simple whether it is for just you and your child or for your child and her friends. PB&J sandwiches cut into shapes, or perhaps a little more grown up sandwich like egg salad made with cream cheese on the small deli breads used for cocktail parties, trim the crusts before assembling and cut diagonally. Their small size are perfect for both the party and small fingers.
Remember that a small size is important in an adult's tea party, just think how much smaller you have to make these things for a child's party.

Make a plate of fruit wedges and grapes. Pears and apples can be dipped in orange or pineapple juice to keep them from browning. Make a dip for the fruit by mixing a small container of peach yogurt with a tablespoon of sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla and 1 oz of cream cheese. Whisk until smooth.

Cookies and cakes are easily done. You can make a tiny version of your child's favorite cookie or most stores have the tiny or mini cup cakes these days.
Try this recipe:
I would suggest getting a Jiffy mix cake , whatever flavor you like. Theses small cake mixes only make a one layer cake.
Make this mix, but spread the batter in a square pan, 8x8, and bake at 350 degrees (325 for a glass pan) for 20 minutes and check for doneness.
When cool this little cake can be cut into squares 1-1/2" by 1-1/2" or use a 1-1/2" circle cutter. Place these on a cooling rack set over a baking sheet or wax paper.
Whisk 1 cup of 10x powder sugar into 2 tablespoons of milk until smooth, add a drop of food color to liven it up a bit. If this glaze is too thick to drizzle, add milk a drop at a time until it is of the right consistency.
Place the glaze in a zip bag and nip a corner, very small nip.
Drizzle this over your little cakes getting as much or as little of the glaze as you want on them, leave some plain to sprinkle powdered sugar on for a different look.
Let the glaze set and move to the serving plate. If your child wishes, while the glaze is still wet, she can sprinkle edible glitter on them.
IF there is any left, store loosely covered. You just made a quick version of peti fours without the jam inside!

On to the beverage of the day...(fanfare please) TEA!
If you do not wish to serve your child tea because of its caffeine content, no worries. I have recipes for tea without ANY caffeine.
Since this is a beach theme, how about mint tea? Or Lemonade 'tea'?
If your child is set on having regular tea, then the way to go would be iced green tea or decaf tea. It is a beach party and not many people (except me) have hot tea in the summer.
If you go into a healthfood store, any organic market like WholeFoods, EarthFare, etc, there is an herbal tea bar. It is a place that you look at all of the teas available and pick the one you want. You bag it and tag it. Another way to go if you do not mind having leftover teabags in your house is buying Celestial Seasonings Mint Magic for the Mint tea, there are other ingredients in this particular tea, however it is caffeine free and a very good tasting tea. From the same company, Lemon Zinger makes the best lemonade I have ever tasted. Again, it is caffeine free.
Another great thing about Celestial Seasonings is that their boxes of tea have some of the prettiest artwork on them and the blank artwork is available for printout for your children to color.

Nothing about the party has to be expensive. A trip to a dollar store recently showed me that their selection of gift paper would be great for covering a small tea table, or use a beach towel. While at the dollar store look into a "Goodie Bag" idea for the guests to leave with.
A zip bag decorated by your child with markers (Sharpie has some wonderful colors out now) filled with such beachy things as sunglasses, bubbles, a plastic beach cup, maybe a lollipop. There were so many ideas I got just walking around the big dollar mart we have here.

Have fun, use your imagination and enjoy your time with your child. This time with them is so precious, enjoy every minute of it.

Feel free to comment your own adventures or reminisce from your childhood. Let me know either here or by email on how you are wanting to do a party. Afterall, we are all children at heart.

Brightest Tea Blessings!

The rainbow color of teas

2005-04-06T00:14:00.000-04:00

Emperor Shen Nung, Father of Tea

Black, white, yellow, red, green...what is missing here? Purple perhaps or blue?
I may find those with additional digging, but for now let me expound on what I know.

Let's start with the Black Teas.
We have Assam, Ceylon, Darjeeling, Dooars, Keeman, Nilgiri, North China Congou, Sikkim, South China Congou, Yunnan.
Now a note on the delicate Darjeeling. This is usually an expensive tea for many reasons. It is like a wine in that it picks up the vagarities of the region where it is grown and in that way it is identified. The leaves are deliberately broken during manufacture as well unlike the normal black teas that are sorted according to the leaf sizes.
The Darjeelings are also identified by the estates they are grown on in the Himalayas as well as the "flush".
First Flush is April/May: Plucked from the first growth; light and flowery taste.
Second Flush is May/June: Harvested from the second growth; frutier and smoother.
Autumnal Flush Timing depends on when monsoon rainfall occurs: Larger leafed, harvested after the rainy season; rounder in taste.
I bet you thought someone just plucked a bunch of leaves and tossed them in a box for shipment, huh?
Darjeelings are rarely sold unblended because they are so expensive. Leaves that come from a single harvest and are unblended is called a vintage.
So remember that when you buy a Darjeeling tea in the grocery store you may be buying a blend of less than 50% of actual Darjeeling tea leaves.

I want to say it may seem that I left out a lot of teas that seem familiar to you, like Orange Pekoe or Irish Breakfast Tea. Sorry to say that Orange Pekoe has nothing to do with orange flavoring or colors, but with the leaf size and Irish Breakfast and his types are black teas that are blendings.
We will go into the particular blends of teas at another time as we will the leaf sizes.

Now let's do the "colored" teas.

Oolong is a classification all on its own out of Taiwan and mainland China having several varieties. Felt to be the King of Teas by connoisseurs it has by my taste buds overriding hints of Jasmine. Of course I haven't tasted all of the varieties. Some of these varieties you will not find except online.
Formosa Oolong, Pouchong, Pu er, Vinca Rose Oolong, Ti Kuan Yin, Wuyi AND my favorite...get ready...Dong Ding Oolong.
Explanation is ready when you stop laughing.
In chinese, Dong means "cold" or "chilled" and Ding means "top". In Taiwan there is a mountain called Dong Ding and it is there that this tea is grown waaay up on top. At least that is what my tea tasting friend told me.

Green Teas
Bancha, Baozhoang, Dragonwell, Gen Mai Cha, Gu Zhang Mao Jian, Gunpowder (AKA Pearl Tea), Gyokuro, Hojicha, Hyson, Longjing, Matcha, Pi Lo Chun, Sencha.
There are many green tea blends as well such as Jasmine and Green chai.

White Tea
Pai Mu Tan (White Peony)
White tea is the least processed of the tea leaves and it is also the most rare. It is 100% tip of the plant, this is the most tender and delicate cup of tea imaginable. Also one of the most expensive vintages.

Red Tea
Mountain Red Tea AKA Roobios
Hate to tell you, it isn't a tea. That is it isn't botanically related to the Camillia Sinesis plant that the above mentioned teas are a variety of. No, this is considered an herbal tea.
I threw it in here for fun and I know that many of you have heard of "red tea" by now.
Roobios pronounced Roy+boss, the Mountain Red tea is native to Cape Town, South Africa, and grows on the limestone slopes of Cedarberg Mountains. The bush isn't red, but the color of the tea is.

That about wraps it up for today, but I must leave you with one particular thing I found on one of my reference sites today.
Taiwan and Asia has a novelty tea drink that is a growing trend in the states, called "Bubble Tea".
Bubble Tea sometimes referred to as "Black Pearl Tea" is a infusion of hot tea poured over tapioca pearls. Often milk is added to heighten the contrast of white beverage and black spheres on the bottom of the glass. An extra wide straw is used to slurp up the tapioca pearls, which by this time are soft and flavorless.
Weird, huh? Believe it or not I have the recipe.
If any of you have tasted this Bubble Tea, please comment here on what it was like, I am very curious. I have already found a site online that sells the kits. I do not know why you would need a kit when it is just tapioca and tea, but whatever!

Brightest Tea Blessings to y'all!

Missed a few days...

2005-04-04T10:29:00.000-04:00

Between having fibromyalgia and needing our car serviced, I missed a few days.

Let's see if I can try to make up for that over the next two posts.

I found this quote on a box of, you guessed it, TEA!
"Happiness comes from accepting the present situation, whether it's something you wish to savor as long as possible or change as quickly as you can. Neither is possible without acceptance as the starting point, becausewithout acceptance you are living on the periphery of your life. There at the edges, you cannot fully enjoy the good stuff or do anything about the rest."
-Victoria Moran
Quite apropo, wouldn't you agree?

I tasted a few teas this weekend.
One was Bigelow Teas "Constant Comment - Green Tea". I have had a long standing love affair with the Constant Comment before it was done in the green tea variety.
Personally, I prefer the original recipe.
I will compare the Bigelow Constant Comment to Celestial Seasonings version of the tea that is called Tuscany Orange Spice and say that Bigelow wins against even the mighty Celestial Seasonings.
Green tea seems to be the new way to go for tea makers because there is a niche made by those who think the antioxidants needed to help with heart problems are found only in green tea. That isn't true. Antioxidants are found in all teas. It may lower your bad cholesterol and in men it has been shown to help with coronary heart flow. AND it can help the fight against cancer in that it has a secret cancer fighter called polyphenols. Not bad for a cup of tea, huh?
The green tea has less caffeine, but don't let me stop you from getting hooked to any form of tea.

I think tomorrow after I find all of my books, we will go over the different types and colors of teas. There are green teas and black teas, but do you know there are white teas and red teas? There are yerba mates that have as much caffeine as coffee.
I had a small amount..just a sample size at Earth Fare at James Island of Tropical Fruit tea. I will have to look more into that, but I could tell by tasting it that it was instant and the fruit was overpowering the tea. I won't give it a tea cup scale unless I get some to experiment on, but normally I stay away from instant teas. I am a brewer of tea, not a stirrer of powder.

So on a tea cup scale of 1 tea cup being passable for a beverage to 5 teacups being the creme' de la creme' of teas, I give Constant Comment - Green tea - 2 teacups
Regular Constant Comment - 4 teacups
Celestial Seasonings Tuscany Orange Spice - 2 teacups

For those of your who do prefer Green tea let's take it up a notch.

Stop and Smell the Flowers Green tea
This brews a 4 cup pot.

3 teaspoons of green tea...or 3 tea bags.
10 - 12 fresh lemon verbena leaves...you can find these in some produce departments.
The petals from one unsprayed rose...go to your florist and ask them for one, most grocery store roses are sprayed to lengthen their freshness
Heat 4 cups of water to just a simmer combine the green tea, verbena, and rose petals in a proofed teapot. Steep for 5-7 minutes. Strain into cups, add a mild clover honey if desired.
Remember to stop and smell the aroma of the tea before drinking.

Until later,
Brightest Tea Blessings

Afternoon Tea

2005-03-30T17:48:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-30T01:20:00.000-05:00

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.....

2005-03-28T13:40:00.001-05:00

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

2005-03-27T20:32:00.000-05:00

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?

2005-03-27T00:45:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-25T13:57:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-25T00:35:00.000-05:00

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!

2005-03-23T14:57:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-03-22T14:44:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-21T12:02:00.000-05:00

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.