Try this variation of the Change of Season Tea I wrote about the other day. To make this tea I used a 32 oz. glass jar (which originally was a pickle jar):
– Grated fresh ginger. Grate the equivalent of about 2 tablespoons. Put in jar and pour hot water over it, filling jar about 7/8 full
– Dried sweet mandarin/tangelo/orange peel. These are the sweet-tasting peels I save and dry out. If you can’t get these you can buy orange peel at some herb stores but be aware that they may be much more bitter. And of course you can always use fresh peels as well. Of the sweet mandarin peels – use several good-sized pieces, enough to impart a wonderful citrus flavor to the infusion.
– Peppermint. This is a powerful ingredient and I use only about 1 rounded teaspoon or maybe one level tablespoon.
– Dried rose flowers. Rose combines so well with this tea and imparts a divine flavor into it. Use about one level tablespoon.
– Dried apple. Use maybe one teaspoon or perhaps slightly more.
– Rooibos. It has a way of complementing the tea yet adding a new dimension to it. Use about one rounded teaspoon.
– Stevia leaf. Just a pinch of this powerful herb is all it takes. Too much and it actually imparts a bitterness. With just a little bit the floral and fruity accents should really come out.
This tea is a variation of a tea I first obtained from a health food store in Germany called früchte tee (means simply fruit tea, can’t really give the pronunciation English equivalent because of the German “ch” which is a raspy sort of sound formed in the back of the throat, its sort of like “froohhhta te”).
I have to say, this is one of the most amazing, wonderful teas I’ve made in a while. Sipping it now and – wow! It has the therapeutic warming effect of the ginger but there’s the whole fruity and slightly flowery dimension that just makes it sublime. Many früchte teas use hibiscus which is also called roselle, which has a dominating flavor and imparts a deep red color to infusions. By leaving out the roselle I open the infusion up to the more delicate fruit and flowerly accents, and do not interfere with the ginger dominant note. By using the sweet mandarin peel I impart a delicate, floral-type citrus element, which actually complements the rose very nicely. The dominant ginger note is a great base and all the other herbs are more mild, except perhaps the peppermint, which is why I only use a fairly small amount of it. However I feel its important to keep peppermint in it for therapeutic reasons.
One other floral I had considered for this tea was chrysanthemum flower which I did not use however.
One interesting variation of this, based on the first Change of Season Tea I mentioned the other day, is to play with high-grade cinnamon and see how that offsets the other herbs. High-grade cinnamon is to low-grade cinnamon as sweet mandarin peel is to bitter common orange peel. Perhaps in the future I will step down the citrus element, up the apple element and use cinnamon and see how that goes.
I’m also thinking about ideas of incorporating some more powerful detox herbs like possibly burdock root, dandelion root, beet root, or others. But these other herbs present interesting challenges and I feel I will have to use them in a totally different type of infusion which I will explore in the future.
When people come into my studio, I think they often feel like they are in some sort of laboratory. The see all the jars of herbs and stuff everywhere. I like living in a laboratory. I could never live with a clean fanatic, as for me having stuff out and accessible is important to my creative thought processes. I love being in my kitchen surrounded with everything, being immersed in the ten thousand things 🙂
This is one of those infusions which I relish so much I actually don’t want to finish it.
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