#tea blend

"Naudia Winkle's Apple Delight" Tea Blend NOW AVAILABLE!

Naudia Winkle is a feisty shopkeeper with a sixth sense, and comes from the webcomic "My Magic Grandpa". She loves apple pie and apple cider, and this apple tea with cinnamon, vanilla, and almond does the job nicely. It's great with a sweetener alone, or with cream or lemon. Cream/milk gives it an apple pie taste, while lemon gives it more of a cider taste. This is a delightful rooibos tea with no caffeine.

Homemade Christmas tea blend made with tea leaves, dried orange peel and warm spices such as cinnamon, clove, star anise.

I decided I wanted a pretty tea today, so to celebrate my new flower haul, we're trying out a sweet blend.

Herbs used:

Chamomile flower (Matricaria chamomilla)

Blue cornflower petals (Centaurea cyanus)

Hibiscus flower (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis)

I did not measure these in specific amounts, as I was mostly experimenting with flavors. The majority was chamomile, with slightly less cornflower. If you're working with hibiscus, know it is a pretty potent flower so a little goes a long way. For this blend I only used one or two dried flowers.

[Those few dark red bits are the hibiscus to give you an idea. I broke them up into smaller pieces.]

I poured boiled water, enough for a couple full cups (I use large tea mugs), and let it steep for at least 5 minutes. Typically with hibiscus-heavy teas, it only takes a few minutes or it can get really potent really fast, but since there wasn't too much I was happy to let it go for a while longer. Chamomile, I've found, is happy to be steeped for however long you want and it doesn't tend to get bitter. (Within reason of course--don't steep it for like 30 minutes or anything.)

The result was a pretty golden tea with a faint red tint (would have been darker if I'd used more hibiscus). This is a really pleasant tea. Dominant chamomile flavor, which has a sweet honey taste, with a hint of something earthier from the cornflower and overtones of the sour hibiscus. I highly recommend it with a pinch of honey to enhance the chamomile flavor. Will absolutely make again and play with the ratios more.

It would be a decent tea to make with a bad tummy, as the chamomile is soothing, while hibiscus is known to support heart health. Cornflower is a newer one to me, but it can be made into a tonic that supports digestion, and has been used historically to aid with rheumatic complaints. In the quantities I'm using for all these herbs, they are not at all medicinal doses. On their own, I've heard cornflower makes a really lovely, mellow tasting tea, though I admit I'm a little disappointed the petals don't make the tea blue.

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Vanilla chai black tea

Cinnamon stick

Honey

Cleanse your space, mind and body. Ground yourself and set your intentions.

Steep your tea and add the cinnamon stick and honey to your glass.

Pour hot tea over and let steep for 5 minutes. Stir clockwise to set intention and counterclockwise to release what no longer serves you. Tap glass to seal your intentions.

Enjoy! 🖤

For the past week we've had the new project Boundless Box from Boundless Theatre here in town! It was an awesome time for the two activities we managed to attend, making cyanotypes and tea blending. We made the cyanotypes with Dave on the weekend, and went to have a couple cups of tea this morning by myself. Brought the rollator both times.

It was really fun, and it's always so great to see more free creative activities available. We also talked a little about accessibility, since a wheelchair wouldn't have been able to go inside the box (I was using my powerchair the first time we saw the box at the park and I couldn't go check it out), and I recommended a suitcase ramp because I think it'd work quite well.

They're going to be doing two more locations this summer -

Fri 4th Aug – Wed 9th Aug: Mystery Location, Lambeth, London