I created a new tea last night that I am very excited about!!!
A Cappella - a spicy yet soothing throat tea.
The tea and its name is inspired by a friend of mine who is currently performing on Broadway 8x a week in Jersey Boys! His voice is obviously very important and he must take excellent care of it - after all, the show must go on. Having a number of friends in musical theater, I'm sure this will be one of the more popular blends that I have made.
I tried to make a tea that is spicy and warms the throat/vocal chords as well as something a blend that will maintain upper respiratory health. It's my most complex blend to date, a veritble chorus of herbs, 11 in all.
This blend is going to be my favorite too (as I am one often to lose my voice in the cold weather)
Keep a song in your heart, and tea in your cup and things will always be looking up!
warmly,
Madam Potts
February 22, 2006
February 16, 2006
In the Tropics
Maybe it's the mountains of snow outside my window...or just time for another vacation. My mind has been in the tropics since February began. So, naturally I turned that longing into a source of inspiration. Surely a "tropical" blend is nothing new and many companies have designed much the same (who doesn't want to think about palm trees, right!?)
So I found not one, but TWO tropical blends. The first one has more pieces of fruit (coconut, papya, pineapple). The other is a spicier ginger-infused blend that reminds me of a specific blended drink I had in Hawaii...AloooooooooooooHaaaa!
I have yet to figure out how to add a rum flavoring to these blends. Any moisture in the blend causes the leaves to open up. I'm not sure if that attracts any bacteria or anything, but a less then dry blend sitting in a canister does not appeal to me. I'm not sure if anyone has encountered this problem or can offer any advise as to how to properly use juices and extracts for flavoring, but any guidance in this area would be greatly appreciated.
So I found not one, but TWO tropical blends. The first one has more pieces of fruit (coconut, papya, pineapple). The other is a spicier ginger-infused blend that reminds me of a specific blended drink I had in Hawaii...AloooooooooooooHaaaa!
I have yet to figure out how to add a rum flavoring to these blends. Any moisture in the blend causes the leaves to open up. I'm not sure if that attracts any bacteria or anything, but a less then dry blend sitting in a canister does not appeal to me. I'm not sure if anyone has encountered this problem or can offer any advise as to how to properly use juices and extracts for flavoring, but any guidance in this area would be greatly appreciated.
February 10, 2006
Tea & Chocolate!
Woo hoo! Finally the winter feels like winter. 1-2 feet of snow predicted for the weekend!
Last winter I took a pause from the tea-isms and posted a recipe for hot chocolate. And while I still stand by the recipe as being a good one, this year adding chocolate to your tea seems to be the big thing. As evidenced here, here, here, and so on....
So I will be busy experimenting for myself. I'm sure at this point it will be impossible to do something that hasn't already been done. in the less than sacred realm of tea drinkers, anything goes...or as I have always said, "If you can put it in water, it just might make tea!" ;)
Last winter I took a pause from the tea-isms and posted a recipe for hot chocolate. And while I still stand by the recipe as being a good one, this year adding chocolate to your tea seems to be the big thing. As evidenced here, here, here, and so on....
So I will be busy experimenting for myself. I'm sure at this point it will be impossible to do something that hasn't already been done. in the less than sacred realm of tea drinkers, anything goes...or as I have always said, "If you can put it in water, it just might make tea!" ;)
February 08, 2006
What's in a Name?
I'm glad it wasn't my job to assign a moniker to every animal on the planet, because we would still have some vague specifies trotting around...
Although I have been custom blending my own teas for awhile, for the longest time I never wrote down the recipes. Now I have a nice collection of Mad Brews that I have been able to create consistently and enjoyably...but like my book of poems that I've penned over the years, there are often no names, no titles, no 2 word description that can reference the blend to another person.
Swirling around my head,
like leaves dancing around the bottom of my teacup.
Waiting to be revealed.
Waiting to be named....
Although I have been custom blending my own teas for awhile, for the longest time I never wrote down the recipes. Now I have a nice collection of Mad Brews that I have been able to create consistently and enjoyably...but like my book of poems that I've penned over the years, there are often no names, no titles, no 2 word description that can reference the blend to another person.
Swirling around my head,
like leaves dancing around the bottom of my teacup.
Waiting to be revealed.
Waiting to be named....
February 05, 2006
WhAT ThE???
Tea is hot! Tea is Trendy! Tea is the "It" beverage!
You can just say the word TEA and heads will turn and wallets will open....and if you feel I'm exaggerating, then why would Sanpple be jumping on the bandwagon?
Snapple (yes....Snapple!) will be offering teabags....mixing tea with pieces and bits of fruit and of course fruit juice. ACK!
This is just the beginning of the corporate entrance into the tea trend....or perhaps the beginning of the end...the first step in the downward spiral that happens with over-saturation and over-exposure. Like anything in our pop culture, once the big guns take their shot at something that a select percentage of the population were finding well enough on their own and then brand it for the masses, it loses is authenticity and luster. Mass-marketing implicitly means erasing the delicacy of detail. It means taking the sacred and making it pedestrian. It means taking an idea and making it an image.
Sigh...I can't say with all the hubbub about Americans drinking tea that I am all that surprised that some conglomeration would catch on.
Tea has been around for 1000's of years. For the rest of the world it is wrapped in a ritual or culture that appreciates tea from the province it's grown in, and the way it's harvested and processed to the way in which is brewed and enjoyed.....And then there's America....the fast-food nation....Snapple: the McDonaldization of tea.
You can just say the word TEA and heads will turn and wallets will open....and if you feel I'm exaggerating, then why would Sanpple be jumping on the bandwagon?
Snapple (yes....Snapple!) will be offering teabags....mixing tea with pieces and bits of fruit and of course fruit juice. ACK!
This is just the beginning of the corporate entrance into the tea trend....or perhaps the beginning of the end...the first step in the downward spiral that happens with over-saturation and over-exposure. Like anything in our pop culture, once the big guns take their shot at something that a select percentage of the population were finding well enough on their own and then brand it for the masses, it loses is authenticity and luster. Mass-marketing implicitly means erasing the delicacy of detail. It means taking the sacred and making it pedestrian. It means taking an idea and making it an image.
Sigh...I can't say with all the hubbub about Americans drinking tea that I am all that surprised that some conglomeration would catch on.
Tea has been around for 1000's of years. For the rest of the world it is wrapped in a ritual or culture that appreciates tea from the province it's grown in, and the way it's harvested and processed to the way in which is brewed and enjoyed.....And then there's America....the fast-food nation....Snapple: the McDonaldization of tea.
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