Wednesday, September 24, 2014

The Not-Really-An Art of Tea Making




I’ve worked with Susanna at The Rosemary House for a few months now and I am still amazed by how resourceful and sustainable both Susanna and Nancy (owner of Sweet Remembrances) are in their lives as well as their businesses. It’s encouraged me to adopt new ways of doing things and try to be less wasteful.

One aspect I have adopted is recycling tea. The tea that isn’t used during store hours is often poured into pitchers and makes a delicious iced tea. This inspired me to take all the old tea we have in our house and start creating new tasty concoctions that will substitute the sugary beverage I’m always tempted to buy at the gas station.

So far it’s worked well. I have been able to experiment with a lot of different flavors and herbs to make some interesting tea.

My favorite so far has been mixing ginger, honey, and hibiscus flowers into a tea. Once it’s chilled it is a refreshing drink that is great for digestion and getting through the winter. The bright red color that comes with brewing the tea makes it even more inviting.

I also enjoy mixing herbal teas with traditional green, white, and black tea. Iced raspberry leaf and white tea is great for the afternoon. It perks you up as you’re beginning to feel the three o’clock drag. Green tea also has the same affect. I often drink the green quince or green pomegranate we have on their own or with hibiscus flowers.

Originally I never saw myself as much of a tea drinker. I had always been more than happy to grab some store-made iced tea along the way or even tea bags from (gasp!) Lipton or Bigelow. Now that I’ve started making my own, however, I feel better and look forward to what new flavors I can try.

Let me know if you have any neat blends or ideas. I can always use a new experiment!


1 comment:

Unknown said...

That is a great idea. Never thought about mixing teas but will now have to try it. Thanks for sharing.