My kinda Chai

There are as many blends of spiced teas as there are kinds of homemade tomato sauces so I warn you in advance, these are only my preferences. Both my grandmothers served me tea from a young age so it has always been a source of comfort - and at times, indulgence. Winter months in New England have me craving the familiar warmth of tea and I love sharing this tradition with my own little girls.

These teas are a few of the blends that I have loved for many years. While I continue to try new brands and often swing back and forth between tea bags and loose tea, these remain my favorites.

My first childhood memory of spiced tea was my mother's Bigelow Constant Comment (still available today). This one brings back memories of my mother's flowered mugs and afternoon snacks. I love that this one brews up strong and robust, even in the decaf version. For cinnamon purists,  try their Cinnamon Stick blend.


Not long after, my mother (Brownie leader, Craft Faire organizer and all-around extraordinaire) was given a handmade Christmas present of spiced tea in a jar. The giver included a recipe on it and while I remember it was labelled "Wassail", I've since heard it called Russian Friendship Tea as well as other names. During my years studying singing I always made sure I kept a batch on hand.  Here is the recipe from that first jar. There are many alternate versions on the web  - some using lemonade powder instead of sugar.

1 1/2 cup Tang or similar powdered orange drink
1/3 cup unsweetened instant tea (lemon flavored is ok)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Mix together, store in a tightly lidded container. Add 1-2 tsp per cup of boiling water and stir. (Can add more or less of any ingredient to taste. Can add more or less mix to boiling water as preferred. This is a fairly sweet drink, almost more of a hot punch.

As winters passed I found more lovely teas to warm me up on the way to the chemistry building on the absolute other side of campus.

From Celestial Seasonings I found both caffeinated and herbal varieties. Nutcracker Sweet (available in winter) has lovely vanilla-cinnamon flavors blended with black tea, soothing without being too sweet.

Bengal Spice herbal tea is a fantastic wake-up cup for folks who avoid caffeine. True flavors of India - ginger, cardamom and cloves - are balanced with deep rich roasted chicory and hints of black pepper.

This tea reminds me of Organic Chemistry II.

It sucked. Seriously. I had to take it twice and still only came out with a D+.

But the tea didn't. I found Republic of Tea's Cinnamon Plum and held on tight. I loved the sweet tang of the plum (made fuller by the addition of elderberries and sloeberries) with the full black tea.

My Sri Lankan roommate introduced me to loose leaf tea that year and I was happy to find that RoT sells this blend in both bags and loose leaf versions.

(Disclaimer: I also heartily adore Ginger Peach tea made by RoT, which comes in Decaf and loose leaf versions but that's not spicy so it gets no love in this post.)

Just realized I'm out of this tea. Hm...


As I settled into married life, my husband and I began exploring herbal medicine as a way to deal with the myriad of bugs we caught at our health care jobs. Herbal medicine is so firmly based in tea that I spent a fwe years focusing on that, forgetting the value of warming spices.

Fast forward many years. Chai is introduced to mainstream America and suddenly, wham, I was overwhelmed with Chai choices. The biggest downer? In the initial years of Chai being sold in US markets, many companies prepackaged the tea bags with powdered milk as traditional Chai is prepared with milk and sugar. Ick. No no no. The prevalence of milk turned me off of the Chai market for years ... until...

It took many years but after trying many brands and flavors I've happily added three new favorites to my pantry (what me, picky?).

.

As I mentioned last winter, my favorite brand of loose tea is from The Tea Spot. I love them. Swoon. In fall 2011 they introduced the loves of my life. Oh ho ... you think I jest? Silly human.

Before you read futher, be aware that these are limited edition seasonal blends. Get em quick before I buy up the rest...

This is their Holiday Spice tea. Nom nom nom. If it wouldn't turn me into a shakey, sleepless maniac I would brew this in mass quantities. Me + too much caffeine = a hot mess. Literally. Hot sweats, nuff said.

Rich, full bodied black tea is blended with clove oil, cinnamon, orange peels and what they mysteriously call "aromatic holiday spices) . I love how smooth this blend in while still being enormously flavorful.

And so what DO I drink in mass quantities? The sleeper hit of my tea shopping adventures ... also by The Tea Spot, Red Hot Chai.

I'm going to go on record as saying: I do not typically like roobios tea. I've tried to like it. Ooooh health benefits, new flavor combinations. Blah ... never happened. I had a brief fling with honey bush but it still just falls flat for me.

Until now. This tea flipping rocks. I'm not kidding ... it's spices are bold and flavorful with out being  bitter or one-dimensional. Deep vanilla notes and the honey-hints from the red rooibos make this a well rounded full tea that I seriously make by the pot. My children absolutely adore it and I love the healing nature of the Indian herbs and spices used in it.

The newest addition to my crew is my most precious however...

This fantastic Gunpowder Chai tea found at Simpler is a hand blended mix of Gunpowder green tea, fennel seed, nutmeg clove and cinnamon. I love the light clean taste of this tea and really appreciate the way the mellow green tea doesn't overpower the spices. I tend not to be a huge fan of green tea but this is flavorful without being grassy.

This one tea (sipping it as I type) is set apart by the the fact that it is made by hand by Sam Tower, a hard working cop, loving husband and dad and an herbalist who follows my own herbalist path - simpling. Having known their family virtually for years, I feel comfort and company in every cup.

As you might think, using loose leaf tea has many options for producing a good cup. I'll be blogging about tea brewing resources and steepware in my next post but right now, I need to get another pot on. Enjoy!

ETA ... and here it is Loose tea. Tame that bad Girl.

**I am in no way connected or receive reimbursement/product/kickbacks/magic powers from any of the companies mentioned here. All products mentioned were purchased by me, generally using standard shipping which I immediately regretted as it takes too flipping long.**

Tea. It's safer than skydiving.

Oh my. It started out a rough day and it just kept going that way. On the plus side I have a hot new (to me) ride with a sick CD-changer. Yeah, I have a clue what I'm talking about. All I know is that people large and small have been barking/whining/yelling/apologizing at me all day, had a 1 hr drive to a far away dealership where we had to wait around for close to 3 hours yet I managed to trade in my van for a rockin deal on a car I can drive a wee bit and NOW I NEED SOME FREAKING TEA.

I poured myself a nice big honkin mug of tea before we left on The Mission and left it at home. Then I got home, refilled it from the lovely pot, went to help a crying small person and a large person inadvertently dumped it in the sink.

Whimper.

(** intermission music while I go put water on to boil ... **)

Ok water is set to boil and, much as I crave to brew another pot of Thin Mint Green, I think I've had enough caffeine today to power my snazzy new-to-me wheels. Soooo ... I'm making up a pot of Meditative Mind. I'm slightly dubious of any tea that contains alot of small whole rose buds but hey, we'll give it a go.

Since I have some time here while the water boils, then cools for three minutes (yes friends, it says that in the instructions), steep for 3 minutes and then cool so I don't add burned taste buds to my list of fun today, I'm going to see what else I can review before the small people begin screaming again.

Have you noticed that I tend to use exhaustive run on sentences when I'm exhausted?

ANYWAY.

Something I forgot to mention about Thin Mint Green (and some of the other teas available out there) ... you can brew it more than once. I heart this - I do I do.

Jasmine Green Pu'erh - Wikipedia has a ton of info on Pu'erh tea as does Teaspot. I've always been curious about trying some and I love jasmine green tea so I ordered a sample of this one. First impressions - the mini tea bricks are freaking adorable ... honestly, I opened one and just wanted to love it and hug it and call it George. The scent is fantastic ... not too light, not too cloying. The brewing instructions confused me a bit however. The package recommends 2-6 minutes while the website recommends steeping one minute the first infusion, adding 30 seconds each infusion (it can be infused three to four times). I steeped the initial brew for one minute, I think, and it was absolutely lovely. Luuuuuurvely. A nicely flavored green tea with a pronounced but not overwhelming jasmine scent.

On the second brew I couldn't remember what I had done the first time so I did it by the package and brewed it 2m 30sec. Eeeeeeeeeewwwwk. It was so strong and bitter that I could hardly drink it. Interestingly enough, when my husband tasted it he said, "Eeeeeeeeewkk" as well but not because it was bitter. He just couldn't stand what he considered "too sweet" ... the jasmine notes. Right then.

As I said, I really love this tea but I don't really love the tea brick concept. I think I'd really enjoy trying the Jasmine Pearls Green tea to have a jasmine green in my cabinet and the Organic Loose Black Pu'erh to see how I like loose pu'erh tea.

Bolder Breakfast Tea - This would be the tea I drank a bit of this morning, forgot at home and then had dumped out before I could enjoy it all of it. My first impressions were not super favorable. I didn't really dig the darkness of the flavors or the chocolate notes. This  is a true black tea and has the highest caffeine content available on the site. It is a blend of black teas mixed with black pu'reh and what they call "dark chocolate essence". Huh? Ok. Anyway I was writing the Thin Mint review while I drank my first mug of it, thinking, "Hrmph ... wish this was Thin Mint."

I honestly don't think I gave it a fair shake and I'm so happy that Teaspot samples make a few mugs of tea. I'll get back to you with more on this later when my body can handle a serious jolt of caffeine. For those who like cream or milk in your tea, this may be a nice choice. More to come on this.

And now the tea of the moment...

Meditative Mind - **drumroll** Ok, objectively, this is a gorgeous tea. It contains white tea needles, jasmine green tea pearls and a plethora of real honest to goodness pink rosebuds. It's fragrant and pretty to look at and, yes, very relaxing to drink. That said, I'm on the fence. I'm not big on "floral" and the rose taste isn't my favorite. It's an exquisitely done relaxing tea - the rose is well balanced with the jasmine and white tea without being cloying, bitter or overwhelming. I think I will reserve the rest of this sample pack for nights when I really need to relax. As it sits and cools the rose notes mellow and the jasmine scent lingers for a much more balanced taste.

Ok folks, that's four teas down and one mommy less likely to blow her top. I've been pondering the fifth tea, Climber's High, and I don't think it' a good idea for me to try it. I have high blood pressure so I need to avoid ginseng and licorice root :( I'm not out anything since it was sent along with my order as a free sample but fear not, it will find a good home ;)

Simpling.

In herbalism, the practice of simpling is a learning technique. The student chooses one herb and learns it in as many possible applications and forms as possible. The learning, using, exploring, continues until the student practically OWNS the herb. And then, only then, do they consider learning another. This approach also applies to remedies ... for one who practices simpling, a single-herb tisane may be the first line of treating a condition.

I forget to simple.

I studied herbalism at home for years before my daughter was born, learning by simpling. When I became pregnant I became concerned about herbal safety during pregnancy and was too overwhelmed to seek out a trained herbalist to guide me. Unwilling to let go of my experiences, I translated them into homeopathy ... many homeopathic remedies are derived from the same substances I was already using.

But then I became a mom. When you are a first time mom to a sobbing underweight colicky babe with reflux, food sensitivities, and sensory issues, you need to be super human to not be tempted to throw everything possible at the problem.

I really tried simpling with homeopathy with her but we couldn't find the right remedy. So we tried homeopathic blends. And herbal teas. And mainstream meds. And more mainstream meds. And elaborate elimination diets.

I understand where I got lost and honestly, I don't fault myself at all. She was close to failure-to-thrive and not sleeping for more than 30m stretches.

Then one day I fell asleep next to her ... and she slept 2 hrs. For over a week I slept on the hard living room floor next to her, afraid to bring her into my bed ... but when I finally did, she slept four hours.

It was simple. It wasn't white noise, a swing, Daddy swinging the car seat, driving in the car, music, nightlights, NO light ... it was the simple answer.

I keep forgetting about simpling.

Today I was making apple cranberry sauce in my crockpot. When I broke out my mother's recipe a little while ago I was all cocky about The Best Cranberry Apple Sauce ever. Except that it didn't taste like moms. Maybe b/c hers is cooked stovetop? Regardless, I started letting go of the recipe and just enjoying the ingredients.

Hmmm ... lemon juice. Why lemon? Carrot-orange juice with some orange peel might work.

Macintosh apples were too tart. Let's try some gala and honeycrisp in there to.

Maybe go lighter on the cranberries so I don't need as much sugar?

Needs more texture. Try leaving skin on? Too much ... try leaving skin on one third of the apples. Perfect!

I began to connect with something I had let go of. Anyone who reads this knows I wing most recipes but for some reason this reminded me of that dusty section of knowledge I had patiently gathered. Blackberry leaf, raspberry leaf, catnip, plantain, oatstraw, passionflower, calendula, marshmallow root, slippery elm, red clover, alfalfa, stevia, peppermint, rose hips, garlic, onions, honey, lavender, chamomile, eucalyptus, ginger, cumin, cayenne ... and of course, my precious lemon balm.

What else have I misplaced? What other comforting homespun ways have I put aside? And how can I continue to stay in touch with the comforting, grounding practice of simpling, in all things?