Oh, how I love a cup of hot tea on a fresh Autumn day, or a tall glass of iced tea in the Summertime! Another thing I love is to create unique blends from scratch. It’s so fun to custom make your own teas! Even shopping for the very best ingredients is delightful.
Once you’ve discovered a nice combination you can call your own, why not use it to make sweetly packaged gifts for people you love? I personally love to use organic ingredients when making a tea blend. The flavour is so much richer and more satisfying, so you actually end up using less. You can either mix loose dry leaves, roots or barks by hand and store for when you want them or pop a few varied unbleached teabag flavours together in your teapot. Tea making is limited only by your imagination…
Here’s a few simple super-yum-ness hot tea cups to try:
- Roasted dandelion root – Lovely with either a squeeze of lime for extra twang, a pinch of cinnamon (excellent for food cravings!) or a little natural vanilla. I also love taking dandelion & chai tea together with frothed almond milk and honey. A nice alternative to coffee, plus your liver will love you for it!
- Horny goat weed – Combines perfectly with peppermint and lemongrass (equal parts). A nice little blend to take on your honeymoon!
- Cacao tea (see Tisano) – I’m currently writing a chocolate book full of raw chocolate recipes and knowing this, my beautiful model friend and fellow Chalkboard Mag writer Valentina Zelyaeva bought me the ‘original’ flavour and sent it from far across the sea for me to try! It is purely raw cacao husks! I love it as it is, but have also experimented by adding other tasty additives to make unique chocolatey flavors such as mint, freeze dried strawberries or even orange zest to make jaffa tea! Adding a pinch of cayenne with or without a dash of maple syrup is warming and my favourite as a spicy-choc tea. Really good enjoyed from a bottomless mug! Alternately, Tisano have many flavours in their gorgeously packaged chocolate tea range so you can select your favourite, if you prefer. Cacao tea is brilliant for weight loss or keeping cravings at bay as it is so deliciously satisfying. Also great for people who love the comforting sensation of a cup of coffee, as it has ‘more body’ than any other herbal tea I’ve tried. Bravo, Tisano!
- Green tea – Add slices of fresh ginger and/or lemon juice or mix up loose leaves, 3 parts green to one of jasmine flowers. Searching out quality green tea is so worth it – less bitterness, more deliciousness! This morning I steeped a simple combo – 1 organic green tea bag + 1 tea infuser full of chrysanthemum. Green tea is best combined with transparent tones, rather than more dominating flavours.
- Chamomile, lavender & passionflower tea – I often enjoy this calming blend before bed and it’s delicious with a spoonful of raw agave. Use two parts chamomile, one part of each lavender and passionflower. Remember, lavender is best kept to ourselves, ladies, as it can interfere with male hormones. My boys love a liquorice blend instead.
- Abi’s ‘Anti-fungal Beauty Tea’ – I really wanted to make pau d’arco tea taste nice! It’s a brilliant herb for eliminating fungus from your blood and is also highly anti-aging! So I combined the herb with an equal part of spearmint, then added a little dried ginger root and a sprinkling of rose petals. Everyone loves it and I’ve used this dainty-looking tea to make up as gifts for my beauty conscious friends.
A few of my favourite cold tea refreshers include:
- Hibiscus and/or rose-hip refresher – Summertime! Nothing like this revitalizing tea brewed two heaped tablespoons to one litre of boiling water. Cool, add 4 tablespoons raw light agave and store in the fridge to pour over ice. Add extra water & sweetener when serving to taste. Kids love this after school! Such a pretty red colour and reminds me of blackcurrant cordial. Mmm.
- Yerba mate – A Gisele Bunchen favourite, this tea is amazing for boosting your energy levels on long steamy shoots in the sun. Make it up using 1 big tablespoon to 1 litre of boiling water. When cool, add honey to taste and flavours to taste- fresh ginger juice, coconut water, lemon or lime slices, even mango juice. Drink over ice or use in a smoothie!
- Mint cooler – Always popular, I love making this drink with fresh leaves; it just has so much more minty freshness on the palate. Take a whole bunch of fresh mint, steep in a litre of boiling water, add raw agave or use a Tisano tea in the brew to make a choc-mint tasting tea to serve along with fresh fruit & quality organic chocolate.
I must go! Could rave on forever… It’s so fun! Once you tap into your inventive self and linger in the organic herbs section, you’ll truly amaze yourself. Don’t worry if you invent a flop. It’s worth it! I invented one yesterday I won’t be re-creating. Dong Qui is not my cup of tea 😉
Love xxx Abigail
