Rose Petals in Tea?

I have long been using and experimenting with edible rose petals in my Creamed Raw Honey...but only recently, when I procured a lovely hand operated food processor, have I been able to make the domestic leap of faith and bring the naturally scented buds into my everyday life!

Rose petals in tea? OH YES!


Looks just like a Puerh! 

I'm awaiting my black tea on special order, and I've been getting a little restless. So, I broke down and bought some Lipton Black Pearl* to tide me over till my Chinese black teas arrive!

A thought stuck me: I do have all those lovely rose petals waiting for the springtime flow of honey to begin, why not try it in my tea?...Hmmm.

If Tea Masters can do it, well why not Alicha McHugh? (Subtle irony there...) Voila! I LOVED it and you can too! Here's how...

There is a delicate balance between the black tea's need for boiling water to compel it's flavors forth, and a dried rose petal's release of bitterness in too hot a water temperature. THUS, you must do two things. Test the water temperature for exactness (this is part of the art of tea and delight of exactness, so no eye rolling, please!) Between 190 and 195. OR you might boil the water, pour it over your black tea and then a few moments later, drop in 1 & 1/2 tsps. of processed rose petals...I mean processed as in granulated but not to a powder.

Secondly, any inherent bitterness from the rose petals can be easily dismissed with a bit of my very own Rosenilla (locally, of course) or NuStevia or such and a touch of milk. I would shy away from Almond/ and Soy milks...I don't think the rose would mesh well...but that is, after all, my vantage point!

Keep steep time to whatever you enjoy for the black tea you've chosen. Like herbals, the rose petals will be fine with a longer steep time.

*As roses are not for the dainty or subtle, I'd start with a non-descript, simple but heavy black tea that can handle cream, regardless of creaming or not...therefore, I wouldn't like a "Breakfast Tea" proper, or a Scottish Breakfast, but perhaps an Earl Grey...Hmmm, grapefruits and roses? (Nose wrinkling)

Either way, if you are game, please share your DUEing adventures with Roses and Teas in the comments below! Love hearing from you!

A LOT OF TEA DRINKING...

Hi All! Just some shameless self promotion...and a bit about tea!

 

Well....My very first novel is available for purchase! This saga of Dinah's life (daughter to Jacob and Leah) is available in both paperback and ebook form at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com!

  

 

NOW...
What does this have to do with tea?
So glad you asked!
 

Besides being pretty much all I drank while writing this Historical Christian Fiction story, I would like to showcase a new tea delight I recently found (by way of a friend and fellow tea lover!) It's at the White Hart & Blackwater Coffee Co. in Downtown Lynchburg, an amazing Puer Chai Latte with Lavender,
YES Lavender!
(Here's a little known secret...I make Lavender Creamed Honey with actual French Lavender...and I can't eat it because I don't really care for Lavender! Go figure! SO even if a tea, or flavor, or say...a book...isn't your "cup of tea" don't be afraid to try it! ~ Sorry, had to throw that in there)

I also found a rooibos specialty tea call the Red Tea Latte down at
The Muse, in the Wyndhurst area of Lynchburg, VA!

The way these two cafes infuse their tea makes it robust enough to be Lattes! And there is no doubt about it, THESE TEAS and their kind staff helped me through the final hours of editing and revision!
Thank you to you both!
 

Well, thanks for checking in! Come over to facebook for the public page on Alicha McHugh "Like"/"Share" for updated publishing information and quotes from the book! That's all for now!

Have a fabulous Christmas Season and a wonderful NEW Year!

     

New Venue! I'll be back!

Hi All~

I have a new venue in my life! Local Creamed Raw Honey! I'm blogging about it, promoting it and most of all SELLING it to the Central Virginia area! So if you like to try some or reorder, just email me at address given on the side!

Here's the address of my newly started blog on said Local Creamed Raw Honey:

http://mrsbeeslcrh.blogspot.com/

Until my next great tea find or I finally find a moment to tell you about the 2 processes of white tea and what makes each a great find, happy steeping!

Green Tea and Red Wine

I'm posting the following brilliant link on the effects of ~EGCG found in green tea and a particular something found in Red Wine (which is apparently also found in peanuts, according to the article)~ on Alzheimer's patients. It seems specifically those in the early stages, it actually stops the disease in it's tracks!

Another thing I gleaned from my tea books, when you drink green tea before and after enjoying wine, it limits negative effect on the liver! Yay! Of course, please remember to enjoy in moderation.

http://www.naturalnews.com/039084_green_tea_red_wine_Alzheimers.html

Oriental Beauty a "MUST" Adventure in Tea!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Tea companies and shops are working overtime to earn your business with floral and fruity blends. But I must say there's no other tea that tastes like romance to me than the Classic Oolong called Oriental Beauty.

Many tea tasters say this particular tea tastes like roasted peaches or buttered bread...I think it's as unique and unlike any other tastes around. I never really liked comparing tea taste to foods...I think it ruins the occasion to celebrate the tea's own flavor!

I love this tea! It is "me" in more than just taste. The very chemical make up on the tea suits these last 8-9 months to a "T"! Let me explain!

In order to harness the unusual flavor of the latest season of this fascinating oolong (normal oolongs are harvested in April and May, whereas this one is harvested in June) plantations allow the leafhoppers to munch on tea leaves, puncturing them. The bush releases chemical compounds which makes up the plants defenses. This natural process is allowed for one week and then the leaves are carefully harvested for processing with the added bonus of an amazing taste created naturally!

My Formosa fancy Oolong Ming Xiang came from a great shop for purchasing quality teas in Raleigh, NC. It's called Tin Roof Teas. I got it about a year ago and rediscovered the ounce or so left in one of my tea jars. It wasn't even air tight and yet it still tastes great because a wondrous quality of this grand tea is that it actually IMPROVES with time (aging yes...fermentation, no). I can attest to that! I had several steeping off my 2 tsp / 8oz cup. Even my husband, an unconverted coffee lover, came into the kitchen and said, "Wow! That smells great!"

It's color is deep amber with a flavor that's deep and rich, yet far different from my black teas. This would be ruined with sugar or cream. The taste is at once delicate and bold. A true yin/yang thing going on! It's robust and complex without being overbearing and difficult! If this tea were a friend, it'd be a great friend! And my favorite aspect? It has all the benefits of an Oolong with NONE of the Green/mushroom tastes of earlier harvested oolongs!

So, I highly recommend this tea! And unlike a lot of seasonal teas, this tea is great for anytime of the year, but mostly as an afternoon delight! Thanks for reading!

Strawberry Creme White Tea

Hi All!

So enjoyed my Strawberry Creme White Tea...that I'm now out of it!!!

Ordinarily, I'm very picky about the white teas I buy because often they have some kind of peach thing going on; that and ginger seems to be another popular additive to white teas. Oh and don't forget peppermint! UGH!

So, usually white tea is not my thing.

BUT I must say, that has changed! Not only with the healthy weight control benefits of white tea (referencing white tea's ability to increase metabolism up to 6%, due to EGCG) but also the resulting natural energy boost is fantastic!!! ~ I can't drink white tea past a certain time of day or I end up staying wake until the wee hours of the morning!~

Fortunately there is not a jittery response in one's system, mainly because God made the Camellia sinensis plant with chemical properties that do not counteract the boost so much as balances the boost. (Another post for another day :)

Moving along, I must stress careful attention to your tea's water temperature and steep time. For my first cup the temp. was off by about 5-7 degrees and it was a bitter disaster! SO glad I looked again at the instructions! I was going off a white tea instruction for another company, rather than the one whose loose leaf I was harassing! {White tea temp. can range from 159F to 175/180F Rarely, if ever does it go over the 180 range...and 180 is highly suspect!}

This particular Strawberry Creme White tea comes from Teavana, but I'm anxiously waiting for the opportunity to try the same name tea from a fantastic tea shop in Raleigh, NC. Fore it was there I had the first white tea I ever actually enjoyed. The tea shop's name: Tin Roof Tea's. The white tea that turned my scorn into marvel~ment: White Grape and it's fantastic! My mouth is watering and my mind remembering! Such great quality tea and fashioned in the new way of processing white teas, so it's less expensive than the old way of processing white teas. (ANOTHER POST for another day :)

Teavana's Strawberry Creme White tea is exquisitely subtle. Do not let the scary bright hot pink steeped tea deter you! It's lovely and you can easily make it stretch by enjoying the tea at room temperature by adding to it filtered water.

I'll mention this. It was missing a little something/something and can evoke taste impressions of Kool Aid, if over steeped. But the watering-down mentioned above and the following turn this tea into easily the most memorable in my tea experience! My mother-in-law gave me a lemon zester with a bunch of information about how health lemons (the WHOLE lemon) are for the body. She suggested keeping a lemon in the freezer and just zest it when you need to!

Well that's exactly what I did to this tea and WOW, WOW, WOW!

So great! It has totally taken away my desire for Teavana's Youthberry and Wild Orange Blossom blend! I LOVE this tea and am very much looking forward to comparing it with other white teas I pick up with the strawberry twist to it!

Teavana Eve

In honor of the season of "Eve's", I'm calling tonight "Teavana Eve"!

As, tomorrow I'll be receiving my end of the year, clearance sale priced, Teavana Tea package! SO EXCITED!!!!

This "Heavenly Sale" as Teavana calls it is a marvelous win/win for everyone! They get rid of their stock of tea to make room for the new flavors and tea batches in the coming new year and WE get to restock our favorite "go-to" teas as wells as enjoy trying several flavors that may or may not have done well throughout the year we are leaving behind. All this for 75% off the original price!!!

I am absolutely tickled!

I purchased a white, rooibos, oolong, black and herbal! I shall have more to write tomorrow with a steeped white tea in hand, I should think!