Tea of the Week: Mango (naturally flavored black tea)

I want to congratulate Katrina for winning 4 ounces of Canadian Ice Wine Tea! I will be emailing you today to get your snail mail address. To win 4 ounces of Mango Tea leave a comment on this post! If you would like to learn more about this tea, click on the link.

Mangos originated in Southeast Asia and India, where references to the fruit are documented in Hindu writings dating back to 4000 B.C. Buddhist monks cultivated the fruit and in fact, the mango is considered to be a sacred fruit in the region because it is said that Buddha himself meditated under a mango tree. The mango belongs to the same family as the cashew and the pistachio nut.

Mango seeds traveled with humans from Asia to the Middle East, East Africa and South America beginning around 300 or 400 A.D. Mango trees need a tropical climate to thrive, and today a majority of the mangos sold in the U.S. are grown near the equator in countries like Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Guatemala and Haiti.

The fruitiness of the mango blends well with the black tea resulting in a cup that is refreshing iced or hot. Here is a great recipe to try! This has gone over great at some of our family gatherings.

Ingredients
1 1/2 quarts cold water
6 heaping teaspoons Mango Tea or 6 teabags
Sugar
1/4 cup mint leaves
Thinly sliced mango
Directions
Bring water to a boil, put tea leaves in an infuser or tea sac and steep until tea is dark, about 5 minutes. Remove tea. Add sugar to taste and stir until sugar is dissolved. Place in pitcher and add mint leaves. Pour over ice and garnish with mango slices.

Hope everyone had a great week! Our new babysitter is working out great, Kaitlyn is 12 and lives across the street...this is her first sitting job away from home. Ethan is thrilled she plays video games with him and is helping on his reading this summer. I don't know what the weather is like where you live but it's been a pretty cool summer here so far. There's been a black lab puppy mix running the neighborhood for a couple of days and Ethan found him yesterday, made for an interesting afternoon. He got along great with our dogs and you know what comes next....of course Ethan wants to keep him. We were very lucky though the neighbors son came and got him for their kids, they live in the country and the puppy will have a very good home. Have a great week!