Tea of the Day: May 9th, 2012

Ok, I’m trying something new. I make tea. LOTS of tea. I love tea. I drink it all the time, all day, every day. I drink it hot, I drink it cold. Devon drinks it with me, the kitties, not so much. Anyways, it seems like I’m always making an awesome pot of tea but then I don’t remember what I put in it! So . . . I’m going to start posting the recipes to my teas that turn out extra good.

This morning, I made Rosemary Mint Tea.

Rosemary&Thyme

I put a tea bag of Zen Tea (Tazo) in my Starbucks Chinese Dragon to-go mug. I ALWAYS put a crap load of sugar in EVERY batch I make. I hate to even admit this but I pour my sugar shaker to the count of ten (that means as I’m pouring it I count to ten, then stop) so probably a good tablespoon or two of raw can sugar (from the bulk section at Whole Foods). That or I use 3 dippers full of honey. I just bought some sweet clover honey from Longmont, Colorado last night at Whole Foods and some Wildflower Honey, also local from Colorado. I’m going to compare the two. The clover honey is much lighter – light taste, light color, almost golden. The wildflower honey is much darker and has a stronger taste to it. It’s good too, I just use them for different things. If I’m using lots of fresh herbs or using green or white tea, I like to use the clover honey so it doesn’t overpower the taste. The darker honey is good for things like chamomile, black tea, or anything fruity. It adds a good flowery note to the fruity, dark, or spiced tastes.

Blah, I sound like an “I’m-full-of-myself” wine taster after drinking too much. It’s honey. It’s good. And sticky.

But I do really think those things when I’m trying to figure out what to put in my tea. So this morning, I wanted to try some fresh rosemary. I don’t think I’ve EVER seen rosemary paired with anything in teas. I bought a fresh pot at Whole Foods last night and as I was watering, it had THE MOST AMAZING smell. It wasn’t the typical “rosemary” smell. It was almost citrus-y. There is something incredible about fresh herbs. They taste completely different than the dried crap you buy at the store. Most of my ideas for tea pairings come when I water my herbs. They kind of open up and emit their scent more when you water them. I got my idea for tarragon and mint that way, then the next week I saw Tazo had a tea they sold with mint and “a hint of tarragon”! Well.

Back to the recipe, I took a bag of zen tea and added 2 sprigs of my rosemary plant. I didn’t want it to be too overpowering so I put a few pieces of my Golden thyme (aka Lemon thyme) to even it out. It was about to bloom so I pinched off the top inch or so of the two buds that were forming and plopped them in the cup. It was delicious.

Rox’s Rosemary Mint Tea

Rox’s Rosemary Mint Tea

Ingredients

• 1 Zen Tea teabag (by TAZO)
• 2 sprigs ~1″ long of fresh rosemary (young growth if possible)
• 2 sprigs ~1″ long of golden thyme
• Raw cane sugar to taste

Instructions

1. Boil a kettle of water until whistling or to a rolling boil.
2. Place ingredients in the receptacle of your choosing.
3. Pour boiling water over ingredients.
4. Allow to steep for at least 5 minutes. Remove tea bag after no more than 10 minutes. The herbs stay in the tea as it is drank.
5. Enjoy!