Author: tealcreektea

As the water comes to a boil I let my mind wander into the purple haze. Everywhere I look are beautiful shades of purple like jumping into amethyst. 

As my Winter’s Night steeps purple fluffy flecks start to fall from the purple sky. The purple fluff lands on the poofy , springy purple ground as it floats by. 

As I sip floating with the purple ground I see purple water on the horizon by the purple light of the moon. Purple dolphins play making gentle arches in the air and the purple birds swoop and dive.

I float on sipping, contemplating and enjoying my purple teascape. 

Lemon Verbena Leaf Aloysia citriodora

Lemon Verbena Leaf has a strong lemon lime like flavor with a fruity and penetrating aroma of bright lemon notes. It contains compounds that fight oxidative stress and research has found that the levels of antioxidants in lemon verbena is similar to that of green tea. Citral is the compound responsible for lemon verbena’s aroma. It (Citral) also has powerful antimicrobial properties. Lutedin is a flavonoid abundant in lemon verbena and its believed to have major benefits in the area of cancer prevention. Lemon verbena also contains polyphenols helpful in reducing inflammation. It’s common use for practitioners of traditional medicine has been as a treatment for a variety of digestive issues. 

I like the brightness and citrusy flavor lemon verbena brings to a blend. It works well in our Spring Petals, a blend I wanted to be bright, sunny and invoke the unfurling of Spring. In our Rei Rei Reishi Thyme it brings balance and uplift to the earthiness of the mushrooms.

I stand face tilted upward basking in the lemony color of your warmth. My world is twinged with fiery orange and roasting red but my favorite is the lemon yellow. I take a sip of my iced tea enjoying its cold ruby red color. The trees sway in the slight breeze their bright green leaves mirroring the verdant mint in my tea. I sip again observing the azul of the sky, sharp and crisp. As I stand the there the colors of nature swirl around me on vivid display. I sigh in pleasure and continue enjoying my Ruby Mint Iced Tea.   

Ingredient Highlight: Thymus vulgaris aka Thyme

Thyme is most often used to season poultry but is has benefits beyond just the enhancement of your turkey. Its earthy, little sweet, slightly minty taste with its peppery undertones adds a complex balancing flavor to our Rei Rei Reishi Thyme Tea.

Thyme has been used traditionally to assist with a variety of ailments such as, bronchitis, upset stomach, intestinal gas and as an appetite stimulant. Thyme contains chemicals that may help with bacterial and fungal infections and minor irritations. It might also help relieve smooth muscle spasms, such as coughing and may have antioxidant effects.

Drug interaction caution: might slow blood clotting (anticoagulant/antiplatelet drugs interact with Thyme).

As the water comes to a boil I drift off feeling the soft mist swirling through my finger tips. Seeing the lavenders, pinks, yellows and blues melting into each other before me. As my Spring Petals steeps I squeeze a fluffy, cotton candy cloud as it floats by. I lazily float on my back, face heaven ward weaving, sliding, melting into the pastel colors of the sunset. Mauves, periwinkles, golds. As I sip the palest trindle of grey starts creeping in. It melts itself around the big poof of clouds mingling with the pastels as they start their slow fade to night. I sip on, contemplating the setting sun and enjoying my pastel teascape.

Ingredient Highlight:

Bee Pollen- Apis mellifera L.

Bee pollen is slightly sweet and slightly floral in taste and helps provide a bit of sweetness to our Ghost Dill Nutritive Tea. Bee Pollen helps relieve inflammation, is an anti oxidant, boosts liver function and strengthens the immune system.  In addition to being a nutritive, Bee Pollen helps reduce stress, increase healing and improve allergies and asthma.  

Screams into the void where no one can hear or care. The beauty of a long commute you can rail against the Universe enclosed in your little bubble and no one cares. No one gives a damn, an eyebrow is not so much as raised. I railed and railed about why do I have to be so strong always? Questioned when Universe? When can I actually stand down. When does “the flow” happen? Cause every direction I turn seems rife with difficulty. How am I supposed to know the way? Where’s the guidance you promised me? HUH?? Ya girl is asking for a little help, a little guidance to this magical path you promised. And just like that the commute was over and I emerge from my protective bubble. A cleanse of these feelings of rage is necessary. I walk into the office and before i even power up the ancient computer I start brewing a pot of water for some Down n Dirty Daily Detox (4D). Going to get my system right and leave the rage of the morning behind me.

As the water comes to a boil I let my mind wander.

I can see it so clearly as if I was there.

A clearing ringed by evergreen trees.

As my Winter’s Darkest Night steeps in my mug,

I notice the green of the trees peaking through the light dusting of

snow.

As I sip I sit in front of the fire pit and watch it dance, keeping me

warm on this beautiful night.

The sky is a blaze with stars and the mysterious glow of a half moon.

I listen to the wild life rustle in the trees just beyond the light of the

fire.

I sip, contemplate and enjoy my teascape.

I started life as a devoted, green goddess, everyday coffee drinker. I couldn’t or wouldn’t function without having at least two cups in the morning. A habit that only broken when I got pregnant. My loving husband would only allow me decaf once a week (eye roll), it was pure torture, torture I tell ya. A voluntary torture that continued while I nursed. When I went back to coffee its hold wasn’t as strong, oh I still loved the way it smelled when it was brewing and I still loved its taste but I no longer needed it to function. I guess that was the opening the Universe needed to start whispering to me about making teas. I mean I was taking all these classes on herbalism and herbal medicine anyway why not make use of that knowledge. Okay so I actually thought I was going to use that knowledge to be a herbalist with a community based practice not craft tea blends. But whatever, make teas, sure. By the way, why would I, a devout coffee drinker, ever make teas? Seriously Universe, tea? Okay, yes, I wanted to use herbs to support my systems for better health but what does that have to do with tea? Yes, I would like my family to be healthier internally, especially my 4 year old, who seems to think food is some sort of medieval torture device. But again Universe, what does any of that have to do with tea? Universe basically laughing at me now, how did I plan to get all this herbal goodness into myself and my family, particularly the family member who seems to be sustained by air alone? As much as I’d rather not admit it the Universe raised a good question. How was I going to consume all that herbal goodness? Shrug, you know what? No biggie, we’ll take supplements, lots and lots of supplements multiple times a day. Ugh, but, I hate taking pills, my husband is incapable of swallowing a Benadryl without unnecessary drama and then there’s the 4 year old, no clue how I’d get him to swallow a supplement when I can’t get him to swallow actual food. Well this is where the Universe chimed in again, rather loudly I might add, TEA! What about tea? Oh wait, I can use tea to take the herbs I want to get the medicinal benefits for myself and my family. I can mix the herbs I want for the effects I want and drink it. It’ll taste good, be easy to make and even the 4 year old will want some. So that’s how I went from having to have multiple cups of coffee a day to wanting multiple cups of my specialty blends of tea. Small side note: I now crave my teas the way I used to crave my coffee. My body tells me which tea it wants each day. Funny how that worked out uh Universe.

…about tea preparation

I found through trial and error a few things that will impact the flavor of your tea. I admit some of these should have been obvious since I am also an avid coffee drinker but for whatever reason it wasn’t.

I found that water type, water temperature, tea bag material and ingredients can completely change your tea’s flavor.

Lets start with water type -I preface this by saying I haven’t done any scientific analysis- however I find I get the best flavors with well, spring and distilled waters. Why I don’t know, maybe its my preference, maybe it really does have to do with what compounds (trace minerals, purifiers and such) are in the water. However, the temperature of your steeping water maybe more important than the water type. The water temperature helps your flavors bloom, too hot and you scald the herbs – not a good taste, too cold and the herbs don’t release all their goodness. Again, I haven’t gotten scientific but, I use an old fashioned tea pot on the stove to heat my water so I know about how long to heat it and at what temp to get the results I want for a good cup of tea.

I’m not sure how many people pay attention to what the tea bag is made out of but I’ve found different materials flavor the tea blends differently. I believe that the tea bags aren’t supposed to contribute a flavor during the steeping process and I might be weird but I can taste it in my tea. I started out using various paper style tea bags (unbleached, natural, etc.) but could always detect a pulpy aftertaste in my brews. Weirdly something I didn’t experience with paper style coffee filters, though in general coffee has heavier flavors. Anyway, I moved to these woven cloth like tea bags that are made to meet European Standards. I thought who would know more about how to make a proper tea bag than the Europeans. I feel in love with these tea bags, no weird flavors to muddy the taste of my tea, sturdy and large enough to handle the amount of ingredients required for my blends without tearing. I love these bags so much I use them for myself at home and for Teal Creek Teas.

Last but certainly most important are the ingredients used to make up the blends. Their treatment in the growth cycle, their treatment in the harvest cycle and their treatment in the processing cycle will all impact the flavor of the ingredient. I work with suppliers whose processes and ingredients I trust. The suppliers I use now for Teal Creek Teas are the same suppliers I used when I was only making tea for myself and my family. I will not use ingredients for my business tea that I would not use for my personal tea.

You can trust that whatever materials and ingredients are being used for Teal Creek Teas are the same materials and ingredients that are being used in my home for my family and myself. I will not give you, my tea family, anything I wouldn’t give myself.

Note to self: find out what tea bags are made of before posting- need to be able to say whether or not they have microplastic in them