Tea Ice Cream

Last week I re-discovered my Ice Cream Maker. My children found boxes of homemade ice cream mix while raiding my cupboards and asked how we could make it. It had been so long since I had used the ice cream maker that they didn't even know I had it. After double checking I had all the ingredients and that we could find all the parts to the machine we gave it a try. For something that required no cooking I must say it was mighty tasty but it left me wondering wanting to give real homemade ice cream another try. It had slipped my mind again this week while nursing myself and a couple kids through the latest greatest flu bug when I got a call from my mother. She is always finding interesting recipes and calling me to tell me about them and this time it was about a recipe for ice cream made with tea as the flavor base. Owning a tea company has its advantages because I have access to just about any flavor and type of tea you could imagine and suddenly my ice cream horizons seemed endless. What would I try first? Plain green tea would be to plain. How about using one of our wonderful flavored green teas like Blackberry, Raspberry or Passion Fruit? Then there are the black flavored teas that are just begging to be experimented with like Chocolate Mint, Earl Grey, and so many others. I am going to make it my goal this summer to make as many difference ice creams as I possible and rate them all here. I am starting this experiment with my odds and end of tea that I should clean up and what a wonderful way to use them. This ice cream can be made with any tea except herbals because they will likely cause your custard to curdle.

I browsed thru many recipes online and then referred to my personal library to see what I wanted to use as my base recipe. Eventually I found my "How to Make Ice Cream" book from Cook's Illustrated. I trust them implicitly to give me a recipe that will be full proof because that is what they do. As a side note if you don't have a subscription to Cook's Illustrated you are missing out on the best cooking magazine period. This recipe is adapted from their master ice cream recipe.

Tea Ice Cream

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

3/4 cup sugar

4 egg yolks

5-6 teabags or 5 teaspoons loose tea

Combine milk, cream, 1/2 cup of sugar in a heavy 21/2 quart saucepan. Heat on medium until mixture comes to 175 degrees stirring occasionally. Add tea, cover and remove from heat to allow to steep for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes strain through a fine-mesh strainer to remove tea leaves if you used loose tea, otherwise just remove teabags.

While milk/tea mixture is steeping beat 1/4 cup sugar with egg yolks in a medium bowl until mixture turns a pale yellow and thickens so that it falls from the spoon in ribbons.

After the milk mixture has steeped it needs to be warmed back to 175 degrees. Take 1/2 cup of the milk mixture and slowly trickle it into the yolk/sugar mix while stirring briskly with a whisk. Once the milk is incorporated into the yolks repeat the process this time whisking the yolk mixture in with the remaining milk mixture. Reduce heat to low and bring mixture to 180 degrees, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes. Custard should thicken but not be curdled or boiled.

Remove saucepan from heat and pour through a fine-mesh strainer into a nonreactive bowl or container. Place bowl in an ice bath to quickly chill to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate custard for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.

Pour custard into ice cream maker and churn until frozen but a still a bit soft. I personally like to eat it at this stage but you could place the ice cream in an non reactive container to seal and freeze until firm. Flavor will start to degrade after 2 days.

Note:

For green tea ice cream made with Matcha you will skip the steeping time and just stir in 2 tablespoons of Matcha into the sugar and yolk mixture before mixing it with the milk and cream mixture.

Tea of the Week: Papaya

No winner last week, I guess my inability to get to socializing on the net is showing. I did get into Twitter and FaceBook this week, I just need to get back in the habit of being there daily again! The new Tea of the Week is Papaya, as you can tell I'm thinking about spring! I am so done with winter. So please leave a comment to win a free 4 ounce bag.


Though the exact area of origin is unknown, the papaya is believed native to tropical America, perhaps in southern Mexico and neighboring Central America. It is recorded that seeds were taken to Panama and then the Dominican Republic before 1525 and cultivation spread to warm elevations throughout South and Central America, southern Mexico, the West Indies and Bahamas, and to Bermuda in 1616. Spaniards carried seeds to the Philippines about 1550 and the papaya traveled from there to Malacca and India. Seeds were sent from India to Naples in 1626. Now the papaya is familiar in nearly all tropical regions of the Old World and the Pacific Islands and has become naturalized in many areas. Seeds were probably brought to Florida from the Bahamas. Up to about 1959, the papaya was commonly grown in southern and central Florida in home gardens and on a small commercial scale.

What's Happening at Culinary Teas

Things here are back to a more normal pace, I've been working on getting more teabags in stock. Teabag sales went up quite a bit last year, so I will be adding more in the next few months...look for new additions in our newsletter! Candie is working on reconciling last years accounts and getting ready taxes ready, so that means alot of rocking out orders by myself (Kid Rock and tea, what a combo!). The only important things I have out of stock are:
618B Amaretto due back on 3-28
Tibet Rhodiola due back on 4-5

Home Front

Little master Ethan got his Bear badge in Cub Scouts, he's so proud! Rascal (our Yorkie) got his first yearly adult shots and got very sick, but is better now. Hubby has actually been perch fishing for me it's a miracle! I try to get him to do it every year but he loves fishing for bluegill. Everyone have a great week!

Tea of the Week: Boysenberry

All I can say is wow...what an end of year we had! I want to thank all our customers (new and old) for your patronage. Candie and I are unbelievably lucky in this area. We are finally back to a more normal pace. As you know we take off the week between Christmas and New Years to be with our families. Then the next week I had the flu, so we were more behind than normal. I want to thank my wonderful customers that had patience with me those two weeks... you guys rock!!!

Getting in the groove again, we have a new Tea of the Week, Boysenberry. Please leave a comment to get a 4 oz bag free. We've just put up the Valentines Teas, these are teas we only blend this time of year. We have quite a few chocolate blends, but our Chocolate Covered Strawberry and Chocolate Rose are exceptional!

In the late 1920's, George M. Darrow of the USDA began tracking down reports of a large reddish-purple berry, he enlisted the help of berry expert Walter Knott. The inventor of the boysenberry is believed to be Rudolph Boysen, who experimented with various berry crosses in Napa, California in the 1920's. In 1923 his cross of a blackberry, loganberry and raspberry successfully grew and bore fruit. Darrow and Knott learned that Boysen had abondoned his experiments and sold his farm, they went and found several frail vines in a field choked with weeds. They transplanted the berries to knotts farm and he began selling them at his farm stand in 1932. When asked what kind of berries they were, knotts said 'boysenberries' after their originator.

I've been drinking a lot of Oolong lately, trying to get off those Holiday pounds. Also got a mini trampoline called a Rebounder for exercise, it's actually a lot of fun! Just trying to make it a habit...I forget how many days does that take? Hope everyone has an awesome week!

Tea of the Week: Cream Earl Grey

I want to apologize for my sporadic posting, with the Holidays coming I have a feeling it will be like this until the first of the year. We are dragging our husbands in for packing so that will help. I am glad to see that people can still afford a little luxury like tea! The winner for 4 ounces of Pecan Pie tea is Kevin....Congrats hope you enjoy! I've sent you an email to get your snail mail addy. This weeks tea is one of our best sellers, Cream Earl Grey. Please leave a comment to win 4 ounces.

Earl Grey is world reknown as a classic English tea – probably as famous as Tower Bridge or Big Ben, and if you are fan of Earl Grey and have not tried this, you are in for a treat. Cream Earl Grey has a taste that is smooth with vanilla overtones, which stand out above the premium bergamot flavor – the signature taste of Earl Grey. This is a tea that would complement a meal or any aristocratic occasion for that matter! One has to think that Charles Grey (1764-1845) would have approved of this delicacy.

As you can tell, this is a quick post, things are going very well here and we are busy as can be. The Holidays seem to creep up and come really fast this time of year. I hope everyone is doing well!

Tea of the Week: Pecan Pie

Last weeks post just totally got away from me, sorry about that! By the time I realized I was late, it was too late. This weeks tea is perfect for Thanksgiving, it's Pecan Pie a flavored black tea. It's 20% off this week. To win a 4 ounce bag please comment and let me know what is your favorite Thanksgiving tradition.

How do you pronounce Pecan? Pee-can or pay-cahn? If you live in Louisiana, Texas or any of the Southern States the debate can get red hot as both sides of the verbal divide try to claim the nut as their own. But really, there’s no need to argue, there are enough of the nuts to go round! The annual Pecan crop of the United States is usually between 300 – 400 million pounds. Like we said, there are enough to go around. Still, if you are going to argue about them, perhaps we should refer to you as a Pecan, a term that in parts of Louisiana has come to replace the word “nut”, as in crazy person. Ok, but what of Pecan tarts? Well if you’re Canadian, or have ever been to Canada, you may have tried the butter tart, a small round pastry found in every coffee shop from Vancouver to St. John’s. They’re great eh! It’s believed that the recipe found it’s way back into Canada via the Cajuns, French Canadians who long ago settled in and around New Orleans. The Cajuns are believed to have been the first people to concoct the deliciously nutty and buttery Pecan tart by using local nuts and adapting a traditional French tart recipe. We decided to further adapt the wonderful sweet, buttery and nutty flavor of the Pecan Tart and have blended what is slowly becoming one of our office favorites. Brew a pot and taste the sweetness of the Deep South, er, the Great White North. Delicious eh!

The start of the Holiday season, is anyone ever ready for it? I know some years I'm more ready than others and I can see this is going to be a bad year for me. But you have to love all the craziness! This year Thanksgiving will be a little different, my grandson will be going to his other grandparents house. They don't see him often and since his mom is still in jail we decided to let him go. So what will hubby and I do? We are going out to eat with our lovely neighbors! I won't be cooking but if you are, Candie has a wonderful Pecan Pie recipe on her blog you might want to look at. We wish everyone a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving!

Tea of the Week: Black Current

Congrats to last weeks winner of 4 ounces of Holiday Winter tea polwanacracker! Please email your snail mail address to me at denise@culinaryteas.com. This weeks tea is Black Current and don't forget it's 20% off.

Black Currant is also known as Cassis. It is both a propagated and wild grown berry which some claim originated in France. Cassis is a very popular beverage throughout Europe, known for being aromatic in smell and in taste. This particular aspect of Black Currant is very evident on this tea. Black Currant gained notoriety in 1712 for its beneficial properties, which were published by the Abbot Bailly inferring that Black Currant was indeed an aphrodisiac and should be consumed with great care.

Black currants were once popular in the United States, but became extremely rare in the 20th century after currant farming was banned in the early 1900s when blackcurrants, as a vector of white pine blister rust, were considered a threat to the U.S. logging industry. The federal ban on growing currants was shifted to individual states' jurisdiction in 1966, and was lifted in New York State in 2003 through the efforts of horticulturist Greg Quinn. As a result, currant growing is making a comeback in New York, Vermont, Connecticut and Oregon. However, several statewide bans still exist including Maine,Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Since the federal ban ceased currant production anywhere in the U.S., the fruit is not well-known and has yet to reach the popularity that it had in 19th century United States or that it currently has in Europe. Since blackcurrants are a strong source of antioxidants and vitamins, awareness and popularity are once again growing, with a number of consumer products entering the market.

My supplier notes the bulk teabags are selling like hotcakes this year! I wanted to let you know the Cream Earl Grey, Elderberry and Wild Blackberry bulk teabags are back in stock. Also I've added Caramel Cream Rooibos and Chai Rooibos back to the website, they are from a different vendor but just as good as I had before.

Things are going great here at Culinary Teas! I'm starting to stock up on teas for the Holiday season and looking at new products to add. Speaking of that, check out the new Electric Travel Mug we added today. It has a USB and DC adapter great for the car and work! I know I'm grabbing one for my desk...now just to pick a color!

On the home front, leaves and more leaves! We've been raking all week, the trees are finally bare. Hubby says we will be winterizing and putting everything away this coming weekend. I actually had ice on my windshield this morning, I must remember to start the car and warm her up! Have a great week!!!

Tea of the Week: Holiday Winter

No winner for last week, Candie and I just plain lost track of time! You can tell the weather has turned cooler, we are getting much busier (yah)! This weeks tea is Holiday Winter (a flavored black tea). We've carried it in tea bags for years and our supplier finally came out with a loose tea version. It's wonderfully sweet and spicy; and at 20% off this week! Remeber to leave a comment to win a 4 ounce bag.

We've also put our popular Taste of Fall Sampler on sale this week, 10% off. Get yours while we have all the teas in stock!
It's finally dry enough for harvesting, big old farm machinery everywhere on the roads this week. Saw my dad out in the fields twice on my way to work, he's 75 and still loves doing it! I love this time of year, made a large pot of chili last night. Pretty soon we'll be able to light up the fireplace again. We have a lot less leaves to clean up this year, since the big maple in our yard fell on the house and car this summer...but I'm sure the neighbors leaves will still blow in the yard. Candie is bringing me in some winter squash this week, I haven't had any good squash in years. Everyone have a great week!

Tea of the Week: Buckinham Palace Green Tea

Congrats to Sharon for winning last weeks Sencha Decaf! Sharon I need your snail mail address, you can send it to denise@culinaryteas.com. We have a treat this week, a new tea! Our Buckingham Palace tea is such a good seller when I saw they had added a Buckingham Palace Green tea, I knew I had to add it. Be sure to comment so you too can try this new tea!

When I compared this tea with the regular Buckingham Palace, I think the Earl Grey and jasmine comes a little more to the forefront in this green tea base. When you taste it, let me know what you think! Can you imagine having tea in a Palace, maybe with the Queen? Wow, what a beautiful place! I'd settle with having a cuppa sitting by the statue just looking at the Palace. Here are some links to recipes for tea sandwiches that I like:

Cucumber Sandwich (from Candie's cooking site)
Watercress Sandwich (from What's Cooking America)
Savory Tea Sandwiches (from Great Party Recipes)

Thought we'd try something a little different this week. I searched You Tube and found this cool video on how to make a tea sandwich. Enjoy!

Remember that new computer we got a couple of weeks ago? Something in our system keeps crashing it and we're trying to figure out what. Poor Candie has spent many hours trying to keep the thing working. We had Scott (Candie's hubby and our IT guy) come in today, he thinks he found it...but we'll find out tomorrow! Other than that everything is going well at Culinary Teas. The trees here are starting to get a hint of color, I hope it's beautiful where you're at also. See you next week!

Tea of the Week: Sencha Decaf

Congrats to Marlena (she’s got a great tea blog) for winning last weeks Jasmine with Flowers tea! I need your snail mail addy to get it off to you. I have another one of our top selling teas to feature this week, Sencha Green Decaf. Make sure to comment for a chance to win 4 ounces of this wonderful tea!

Above is a beautiful Japanese tea field, I love the symmetry of it. One of these years I will actually visit one. Just picture the leaves in your cup coming from such a beautiful place. Below is a picture of a Japanese Tea Garden, another place to visit someday. I can imagine sitting there with a cuppa green tea!

All of our decafs are processed using the Co2 Process. The advantage of this decaffeination process is that no chemical solvents are used to remove the caffeine. Also, using the naturally occurring Co2 in a circulation process which carefully uses high pressure and temperature to extract the caffeine, the origin distinct character of the tea is retained in the cup. There is a slight change in the character of the tea due to the process but the end result is an uncompromising cup of tea with no chemical overtones.

On the home front, DH has been fishing every weekend…so there is plenty of fish for meals again. Ethan’s new school schedule is driving us crazy, I’ve never seen so much homework! It seems they want the parents (or grandparents in our case) to do more and more every year. Dogs are rotten as usual, they go to get groomed tomorrow (yah, good smelling puppies again). Leaves are starting to turn colors here, definitely feels like fall this week. They’re calling for frost tonight. You all have a great week!

Tea of the Week: Jasmine With Flowers Green Tea

Congrats to Jason Witt for winning last weeks 4 ounces of Earl Grey tea. This weeks tea is Jasmine with Flowers Green tea, which I have an over abundance of due to a mistake from my supplier (nobody's perfect). Go to the website to get yours at 20% off this week! Don’t forget to comment for your chance to win 4 ounces of this wonderful tea!

Jasmine which is from the Persian (yasmin, i.e. "gift from God", via Arabic) is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family (Oleaceae), with about 200 species, native to tropical and warm temperate regions of the Old World. Most species grow as climbers on other plants or are trained in gardens on chicken wire, trellis gates or fences, or made to scramble through shrubs of open texture. The leaves can be either evergreen (green all year round) or deciduous (falling in autumn).

Spring fresh green tea is layered between early spring jasmine blossoms (these blossoms have the most aroma). Air that is slightly warmer than ambient temperature air is passed through the layers of blossoms and tea. The fragrance of the blossoms permeates the new fresh tea resulting in a concentrated heady bouquet of a garden in full bloom. Following this process, some of the jasmine flowers and petals are blended into the tea to enhance the flavor and visual appeal.

It’s been a busy week for us here. Candie and I are by ourselves packing tea again. Actually it’s great to get back to that, but re-organizing everything we do around that has been a challenge. Yesterday our shipping computer died (it’s our oldest), small funeral service for it. Candie and Scott are busy right now getting the new computer set up. My big supply order just came in and I’m off to unpack and do the back orders. Have a great week!

Tea of the Week: Earl Grey Tea

Congrats to silvermage2000 for winning last weeks English Breakfast tea! You need to get your snail mail addy to me so I can get it out to you. I had so many requests this week for our Earl Grey Tea, so that is the tea for this week.

For the past month The Tea Review Blog has been reviewing our teas, look for their button on our teas. Click the button below to go to their review on our Earl Grey.

Since I did the history of Earl Grey in a previous post, I dug up some recipes on the internet that uses Earl Grey tea. Links are below.

• Earl Grey cookies
• Earl Grey pudding
• Earl Grey cupcakes
• Earl Grey ice cream
• Earl Grey rice
• Earl Grey gelato
• Earl Grey shortbread cookies

Earl Grey seems to be a very popular tea to cook with, there are a lot more recipes out there but these are the ones that looked the best to me.

Here’s my scout (Ethan) heading off to sell popcorn this year. It’s been a busy week! Candie and I are getting in the swing of things here at work, since Jen is gone. Hope you all have a great week, I’ll be back next week if the mosquitoes don’t carry me off before then!

Tea of the Week: English Breakfast

Wow, the English Breakfast has gone over so well we are extending it another week! Candie has put up a coupon for an extra 10% off this week, be sure to put in the code SP9909 when checking out.

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. I went to my sisters for a family cookout. My cousins from Illinois came down, what a surprise that was! It was a great time and we got to meet some of her husbands family as well. Below is a picture of my cousins Sharman and Gloria, in the background are Daisy and Apollo two my sisters three Rotts. Man those are huge dogs!

I told you guys I was going to put you on the internet. (Big smile)

Tea of the Week: English Breakfast

Congrats to Katherine Indovina for winning last weeks Summer Punch Rooibos! Katherine I need your snail mail addy to get it to you. This weeks tea is a traditional favorite, English Breakfast. It is robust, full-bodied with light floral undertones (sometimes referred to as "coppery"). When blended with milk, it produces a comforting aroma eerily similar to warm toast and honey. More about this tea.

Today the habit of tea drinking is inexorably linked to the British despite the fact that the British were fairly late on the tea scene in historical terms. Ironically the first mention of tea in English literature is a translation of a Dutchman’s travels to the east. Tea was first brought to England via Holland on Dutch ships. Since tea was becoming an ‘in’ beverage the British government became quite incensed that a tiny nation such as the Netherlands would control the shipment of tea to the UK. In 1651 the British government passed the Navigation Acts which forbade the importation of any products on non-British ships. Traders and Dutchmen, being resourceful continued the trade in the usual manner but for one little wrinkle - The tea was transshipped in Holland onto British ships!

Early in British life tea was known as a health beverage and claimed all sorts of curative powers. Afternoon tea was the invention of Anna, wife of the seventh Duke of Bedford. At that time custom dictated only two planned meals per day: a hearty breakfast and a late evening dinner. Anna in a effort to ease the “sinking feeling” began instructing her servants to prepare tea and cakes in the late afternoon. Thus began a fashionable habit which still exists today.

On the home front, everything is getting back to normal since school has started. The last two mornings I’ve gotten up to less than 50 degrees outside, definitely sweater weather! I’ve been researching old teapot cozy patterns this week, seriously thinking about knitting some. If all goes well I might put them up for sale on the website. You all have a great week!

Tea of the Week: Summer Punch Green Rooibos

No winner for last weeks Blue Lady, looks like I need to tempt your taste buds a little more this week. Since summer is going and fall is at our door, I think a great summer tea is in order. Summer Punch Green Rooibos, it's absolutely brilliant with its natural sweetness and the fruity explosion that happens in your mouth. The ingredients that make up this tea include: Rooibos, orange peels, strawberry bits, peach bits, sunflower blossoms and cornflowers. Don’t forget to leave a comment to win a 4 ounce bag!

What is green Rooibos? Regular Rooibos is the oxidized version and green Rooibos is non-oxidized; kind of like white tea vs. black tea. I always tell people that Rooibos health benefits rival that of green tea. So if you’re looking for a healthy caffeine free tea, this is it! Here are the nutrients in Rooibos.

Nutrients	Function in the body	Per 200ml
Iron	Essential for transport of oxygen	0.07mg
Potassium	Metabolic functions	7.12mg
Copper	More metabolic processes	0.07mg
Calcium	Strong teeth and bones	1.09mg
Manganese	Metabolic and bone development	0.04mg
Fluoride	Healthy teeth and bones	0.22mg
Zinc	Normal growth and healthy skin	0.04mg
Magnesium	Healthy nervous system	1.57mg
Sodium	Fluid and acid base balance	6.16mg

There are a lot of studies on the benefits of Rooibos. I drink it in the summer when my ankles swell and it works wonderfully. Hubby likes it in the evening because it doesn’t keep him awake at night.

Sad news at Culinary Teas, my daughter-in-law Jen will soon be leaving us. She has moved to Fort Wayne, so her special needs son can have a better education and doctors. She is still working here until she finds another job, we all wish her the best. Have a great week!

Tea of the Week: Blue Lady

Congrats to Fay for winning last weeks Hermes Orange Green! This weeks tea is Blue Lady, the history of the Blue Lady is amazing! I had no idea that the Blue Lady was such a popular historical figure. I've been putting discontinued items in Clearance this week and will continue to do so for awhile. Next week we will start adding new products again! This is one of my favorite things to do, I get to test out new teas and accessories. Next week I will be adding something to replace our popular Brew n Touch, can't wait to show you.

Of all the recorded ghost sightings in North America, more people report seeing a blue lady than any other apparition. Often appearing only for brief moments these spirits materialize, show their hauntingly beautiful forms, and then disappear. There are many Blue Lady legends and this is one of more predominant ones. "The Blue Lady" of Moss Beach Distillery was featured on a episode of "Unsolved Mysteries".

According to the Coastside legend, some 72 years ago a beautiful young woman met a handsome dangerous man and fell in love. The naive young woman, always dressed in blue was already married but made many trips to the restaurant to be with her lover. She died in a violent automobile accident and it is here at Moss Beach you will now find her searching for her lover.

We’ve named this blended tea in honor of this representative of the spirit world because of its hauntingly sweet flavor. Passion fruit, grapefruit, orange, and grenadine all mix together to create a citrus flavor that is almost as delicate as the ghostly shadows of the spirits. The sweetness of the citrus mélange blends perfectly with the astringency of our high grown Ceylon tea. Brew yourself a pot, pour it hot, or over a glass full of ice and prepare to be mesmerized.

On a personal note, school started today! I'm so glad to be back to normal, summer vacation is nice but what a relief when Ethan goes back to school. Hubby is finally getting more hours at work, it's been a slim summer this year. Hopefully the economy will recover soon. Have a great week!

Tea of the Week: Hermes Orange Green Tea

Congrats to Gina for winning last weeks Sencha Decaf Tea! This weeks tea is Hermes Orange Green Tea, this one is excellent iced!

Orange trees originate in in India, with some varieties being found in the south east of the country and possibly the island of Ceylon, while other smaller varieties may have originated in forests of the north east of the country or Bangladesh. The varieties of the north east were used as long ago as 7,000 years ago in traditional dishes. Apart from desserts, orange peel and juice has also been used in Indian savory dishes for thousands of years, sometimes to flavor rice, or add an orange tang to certain vegetable dishes.

Archeologists and historians believe that by the beginning of the first millennium Chinese farmers were setting aside land for orchards and growing oranges, apples, figs and a variety of other tree hanging fruit. Certainly at the height of the Zhou dynasty, and in the times after when the states were warring against each other, many of China’s greatest administrators were writing about the virtues of keeping orchards rather than relying foraging for fruit. Oranges and apples in particular were very popular amongst the nobility and orchardists were known to compete with each other for the pleasure of their lord by growing ever larger, sweeter, or more perfectly rounded fruit.

I love doing the research part of this blog, I never knew the history of the orange. I guess we never stop learning!

On a personal note, for the last two weeks Ethan has had summer school for half a day....which has really cut down my work time. School starts next Tuesday and I will be back to my regular hours. Wow hard to believe Fall is coming, the dogwood tree is losing leaves! Have a great week!

Tea of the Week - Sencha Decaf (again :))

Congrats to Beverly for winning last weeks Sencha Decaf! Because I've been under the weather this week and the Sencha Decaf went really well last week, it's still Tea of the Week. Look for some close-out and new items to start coming next week.

Tea of the Week: Sencha Decaf

Congrats to the P. Steele Family who won last weeks Organic Texas Iced Tea Blend. This tea went out the door fast and I have more coming, guess I should add new teas more often! This weeks TOW is Japanese Sencha Decaf, a great staple to have around. More about this tea. It's great to have on hand for people that are sensitive to caffeine and I like it for my grandson, he can drink as much as he wants and isn't bouncing off the walls! Remember NOT to boil your water for any green tea.

A beautiful picture of a tea field with Mt. Fuji in the background. Sencha is a Japanese green tea, specifically one made without grinding the tea leaves. Unground tea was brought from China after Matcha (a powdered green tea). Some varieties expand when steeped to resemble leaf vegetable greens in smell, appearance, and taste. More than seventy five percent of all tea grown in Japan is made into Sencha. Developed in 1738 by merchant and tea-maker Soen Nagatani, Sencha was made by steaming then hand-rolling and drying the leaf on a large, flat, heated pan. During the Meiji period (1868 to 1912), much of the extremely labor-intensive tea-making process was mechanized. However, each step of the mechanized process mimics the traditional handcrafted method and takes the same amount of time from start to finish. Handcrafted Sencha is now extremely rare and found only among competition grade teas. History of Japanese Tea from Wikipedia is an excellent read to learn more. Sencha is very popular in Japan, and is drunk hot in the cooler months and usually chilled in the summer months.

This is what I see sitting on the deck in the evening. The humming birds are always a source of amusement. I think the older I get the more the little things in life amuse me. Sitting with my knitting, listening to the neighborhood kids play, watching the birds, and of course my dogs antics. Less than 3 weeks before school starts, time to start my lists and start shopping this week. I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Tea of the Week: Organic Texas Iced Tea Blend

Congrats to Jason Witt who won last weeks Earl Grey tea! Visit Jasons blog Spirituality of Tea. I have a real treat this week, a brand new tea. My supplier says this one has been selling like crazy this summer, it's Organic Texas Iced Tea Blend. More about this tea.

The oldest known recipe for sweet ice tea was published in 1879 in a community cookbook called Housekeeping in Old Virginia by Marion Cabell Tyree. The recipe called for green tea. In fact, most sweet tea consumed during this period was green tea. However, during World War II, the major sources of green tea were cut off from the United States, leaving them with tea almost exclusively from British-controlled India which produced black tea. Americans came out of the war drinking predominantly black tea.

So, just what do they do in Texas that makes their iced tea so spectacular? To find out, we went straight to the source - or rather, our Master Blender went straight to the source: Brownsville, the southernmost city in the State. Down in Brownsville he met with an elderly woman who claimed to posses the best iced tea recipe in all of Texas. Who was he to argue? He went with her to her home, settled into a porch swing and took out a pad of paper and pencil: “To make one and a half quarts of tea”, she began, “put one quart (4 cups) of fresh cold water in a kettle and put it over heat. When the water comes to a boil, infuse 5 grams of black tea in a teapot.” (We recommend measuring the tea with the Perfect Cup Tea Measure.) “Now,” she continued, “Here comes the tricky part. Don’t pour the hot water gently, really let the water splash down and agitate that tea - get it mad y’all! Then, set the tea aside and let it steep for at least an hour. Once it’s done, strain it out into a pitcher, add ¾ cups of sugar and stir that tea until it’s dissolved. Finally, add a couple of cups of cool water and set it in the fridge until it’s nice and cold. When you’re ready to serve it, garnish with a big ol’ slice of lemon…big enough that y’all can squeeze the juice right out of it! And that’s that!”

To complement that fantastic recipe, we’ve developed what we think is the world’s greatest tea blend for brewing world famous Texas iced tea. Brew a pot for you and yours today. Enjoy y’all!

On the home front, Candie is back from her vacation in Gatlinburg. Her sister renewed their wedding vows and they had a wonderful time. A pretty uneventful week for me, plugging away at de-cluttering and cleaning the house. I knit and sew in the evenings to relax and of course my days are filled with tea! Have a great week.

Tea of the Week: Earl Grey

Congrats to gypsiesthread who won last weeks Blackberry Green Tea! I will DM you and get your snail mail address. This is the first time one of my twitter peeps has won. I want to thank Beatrice, Jason and teatotaler for commenting...you guys are awesome! I've never been much of a writer but I am learning, and your comments are so appreciated! This week we need to kick it in high gear with one of our best sellers Earl Grey Tea. More about this tea.

Earl Grey is a tea blend with a distinctive flavor and aroma derived from the addition of oil extracted from the rind of the bergamont orange. The bergamont (citrus bergamia risso) is a small and roughly pear shaped citrus fruit which is a variety of sour orange native to Asia. Today it is commercially grown in Italy, Argentina, Brazil and the United States.

The Earl Grey blend is named after the 2nd Earl Grey, British Prime Minister in the 1830's, who reputedly recieved a gift of tea flavored with bergamont oil. According to one legend, a grateful Chinese mandarin whose son was rescued from drowning by one of Lord Grey's men first presented the blend to the Earl in 1803. The tale is likely to be a marketing ploy, and has no documented basis in fact, as Lord Grey never set foot in China. Jacksons of Piccadilly claim that they originated Earl Grey's Tea, Lord Grey having given the recipe to Robert Jackson & Co. partner George Charlton in 1830; according to Jacksons the original recipe has been in constant production and has never left their hands. I thought this little bit of history was interesting and I love learning from researching . Captain Picard from Sat Trek always reminds me of Earl Grey Tea.

Well how was your week? My house is back to normal (well fixed anyway), get my car back tomorrow evening (YAH) and hubby is back to work (quiet mornings again). Took my sewing machine to get fixed (it's been in the basement for a few years), so I can hem the grandchilds jeans this year. He's got such short legs and it cost me $8 per pair to get them hemmed last year. Wow, only 4 more weeks until school starts! Summers go by so fast. Remember to take time out for the little things in life and have a great week!