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#TeaTuesday Dewey Cherry
July 4, 2017
— 1 Comment
Brewing Dewey Cherry
Nothing says summer more than the taste of ripe cherries. I get excited when the various kinds of cherries show up in the grocery store every year. They all make me happy, from the tart to the white Mt. Ranier. The fun of sucking them off the pit never fails to please me. I keep the pits in my mouth for a while because they have their own flavor. All the cherries we eat are imported from other places, so they are pricey by the time we buy them. There is one cherry I can count on all year to deliver that tangy special taste. That is my Dewey Cherry tea from Adagio. I am drinking it this week to accompany all the fruit we are enjoying.
I think it is a pretty good symbolic 4th of July drink because many Americans associate the holiday with George Washington. We may know little about his life, but we have all heard the story of his cherry tree. It is also red in color, so it brightens up the look of the party table. A dessert in itself, it naturally aligns with all fruit flavored sweets such as pie. The slight sharpness of the tart cherry cleanses the palette between samples of sticky sweet samples. It would be the perfect drink for a pie eating contest.
Serving this as a cocktail base leaves the options open. It would be delicious combined with whipped or black cherry vodka, or some rum. I like to make tea cocktails very weak in alcohol so they are drinkable and tasty, but not too psychoactive. I like to micro dose. You could add a splash of this tea to a Pimm’s Cup, designed to be consumed all day while watching tennis matches. The color and taste match well with this legendary beverage.
So, if you are watching Wimbledon today, or celebrating the American Independence (from those fabulous Brits) I can recommend the fantastic fruity flavor of Dewey Cherry to enhance your festivities. Enjoy it straight up or with a little shot of your favorite alcohol. Drink it in good health, gentle readers. Cheers!
Pimm’s Cup
#TeaTuesday Rooibos Jasmine
June 27, 2017
— 5 Comments
my front yard jasmine
my front yard jasmine
my front yard jasmine
I am drinking some iced rooibos tea lightly laced with natural jasmine flavor. Rooibos Jasmine tea is a floral tea for special occasions. I love it, but find it is a taste for which I have to be in the mood. The taste of jasmine is slightly lighter than the typical black jasmine tea. The caffeine free rooibos herb from South Africa has a toasty, nutty finish that also distinguishes it from the typical jasmine tea. I am enjoying it today because I am also enjoying the last of three jasmine varieties that bloom in my front yard over a period of about 2 months. This Asian Jasmine plant is close to the front door and the walkway, so visitors are wafted with the strong scent when they approach the entrance to our home. Come on in and try the jasmine tea.
The thirst quenching qualities of this delightful beverage are awesome. The lingering floral taste is refreshing and invigorating. I normally drink this tea hot because the aroma from the cup is a major part of the experience. The heat releases the smell for the drinker as well as anyone in the room at the time. It is never cloying or overbearing on the floral notes. The perfect amount of flavor picks up, but does not cover, the taste of the herb. Over ice the floral notes come across as much more muted, with less of an aroma. The jasmine hits you after you swallow the cold version of the drink.
I like almost every rooibos and honeybush tea blend based on the fact that the herbs themselves are healthy and delicious. This floral version is great for any time I feel particularly floral. It goes with sweets in my mind, but I suppose I could imagine it with savory foods like goat cheese. I drink it solo for the good feeling of the floral aromatherapy. Try it if you like a caffeine free flower shower in your tea time. It perks me up and makes me feel a little decadent when I taste it because the jasmine flavor is so rich and exotic.
Jasmine
Tea Tuesday, Black Passionfruit
May 23, 2017
— 2 Comments
black passionfruit sun tea
Summer is hitting Arizona this week with temperatures over 100 every day. We need to seek shade and stay hydrated. There are many pleasant ways to accomplish these goals. The one advantage of the strong hot sun is our ability to brew a jar of sun tea in a relatively short time. I brewed a gallon of this delightful passionfruit black Ceylon tea with natural fruit this morning in my back yard. The fruit flavor is not overpowering like some flavored teas can be. It is present more as an aftertaste that lingers on the taste buds. The tea has a tropical style. It is high in caffeine, so I ice it liberally in the glass to tone it down a bit. I still get a mild buzz from a couple of glasses. Some black teas disagree with my digestive system, but this one goes down very well all day. It makes a perfect substitute for hot coffee in the morning on a hot day.
The taste is strong enough to pair with grilled foods or spicy dips and finger foods. Since Tuesday is time for tacos in many places, a big pitcher of this iced tea pairs well with the food, and compliments family style or buffet meal service. At our house we go through about a gallon of tea every day between two people. We guzzle it at home and Bob takes a big thermos with him to work. I put the tea jar out in the sun every morning unless it is pouring rain. The cost for a glass of this exquisite tea is about 10 cents. The tea is easy to store and light to ship. All we add is the water. We like it much better than bottled drinks, and we must save a lot of money by brewing our own in the yard.
We enjoy switching the kind of tea we drink each day to keep things exciting. I like shopping at Adagio because the variety is great, and expands all the time. All the products are all of high quality and very good value. I have a bigger collection of teas than most people ( maybe 30 bags on hand now), but it is one of our basic pleasures. Tea is our thirst quenching flavor companion all year, but in the summer we consume more as the temperature rises. I raise a glass of iced tea to you, gentle reader. Cheers!
black passionfruit sun tea
Tea Tuesday Honeybush Mango
May 2, 2017
— 1 Comment
The tea I am drinking today is iced honey bush mango tea from Adagio. This is an old favorite at our house. All the roiboos and honeybush teas deliver flavor punch without caffeine. They come in many flavors to please any palate. I brew it in the sun, and use a light touch on the measurement. I think it is important to suit your own taste and mood when brewing tea. Sometimes in summer I make the teas dark intentionally in order to add lots of ice. In spring I drink them without ice, so I use a lighter dose of tea.
brewing honeybush mango
This tropical delight pairs well with any fruit. This tea brings a high refreshing high note that combines with sweets, both natural and man-made. With the addition of a little passion fruit or pineapple flavored vodka or rum (and a cocktail umbrella) this tea will take you through happy hour in a delightful, tasty, cordial manner. These drinks will pair well with Joni Mitchell or other soprano voices in the background..something light and lilting.
The health benefits of drinking honeybush (Cyclopia) tea are impressive. Both long and short-term wellness benefits include reducing inflammation, and improving the immune system. Consuming this beverage is a delicious way to improve your body’s systems with no adverse side effects. Try it. You’ll like it.
#WeekendCoffeeShare Wildfire
April 29, 2017
— 9 Comments
tiny adobe house
chard
If we were having coffee this weekend I would offer you your beverage on ice. The weather is warming up quickly, and the wind is blowing outside. The jasmine in the front yard is in full bloom so the breeze is heavily scented as it wafts in through the screen door. It is pleasant this morning, but later you will need your parasol and sunscreen. Relax for a while and tell me how your week has been.
We enjoyed our time away last weekend at the Deep Dirt Farm sleeping in a tiny adobe house. It was the perfect celebration of Earth Day for us. The town of Patagonia, AZ is darling. The humming bird center was very cool, but not so populated with hummers. There are more in my yard in Tucson at this point. There are many birds down there we do not have. Our encounter with nature and farming could not have been better. We plan to return in the future. It is an ideal retreat for us.
We picked vegetables from the farm’s greenhouse to bring home then ate a wonderful breakfast in town before leaving. The drive is beautiful because the elevation changes, and the vegetation along with it. The desert plant ocotillo is in bloom now, painting the landscape with brilliant red flowers on tall sticks. I wanted to stop to take a look at them, but there are few opportunities to turn out on the road. We stopped at a winery to take in the view. I tasted the wine, which was pretty good, and we noticed how strong the wind was. Then we looked across the valley to see the Sawmill Fire, just as it began. The dry grass is kindling for the wildfire, which has spread all across the area rapidly. I tried to find news on twitter, but it had not yet become news. We saw the smoke growing as we finished the drive home. It was a spooky and terrifying reminder of Mother Earth and her freaky powers. We had seen burned scorched land from a previous wildfire along the road and I had just remarked that a fire now would be fed loads of dry grass and be hard to contain…and that is exactly what happened. The cause seems to be target shooting by an off duty Border Patrol officer. He caused it and reported it right away, but the fire still raged out of control. It is early in the year for fires in Arizona. This does not bode well for the summer.
If we were having iced tea to take our minds of the fire, I would tell you that I am almost finished with #NaPoWriMo this year. I always say each year that I will continue to do a poem each day on my tumblr, but it hasn’t happened yet. I still need to crank out two more for this month, then we shall see where the poetic muse will reside in the month of May. No predictions. I plan to review teas, and may do it on Tuesdays on Tumblr. That could be poetic perhaps.
ocotillo and dry grass
ocotillo and dry grass
If you want to catch up with other digital beverage drinkers please visit Nerd in the Brain, where the party continues each weekend. Read, comment, or submit your own coffee share post.
Weekend-Coffee-Share-Link-Up-Nerd-in-the-Brain
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