Tea Art

I'm sure most of my loyal readers (all, what, three of you?? Seriously, people, comment!) will wonder what I mean by "Tea Art."

This is something that my best friend Andy figured out. She came over for tea one day, and while I was spooning the tea into the teabags, she thought, "Wow, these teas not only smell good, but they're BEAUTIFUL to look at too!"

So many of the teas that you get from tea bags look like ... well, like dried oregano. Sort of a greyish-greenish colour, chopped up into little pieces, and very "BLEH" looking.

But the tea that David's Tea sells, if you look at the pictures of the tea itself, they're very beautiful. That's why I always post a picture of the tea leaves in my posts. Because not only do they TASTE good, they look good too! If it's a fruit tea, there's actually chunks of the fruit in there, not just "flavouring." When you order a berry tea, it's not "berry-infused leaves" or "artificial berry flavour added" (though there MAY be some of that), but you get actual, honest-to-goodness BERRIES in your tea. There are some teas that you don't even need to put in the steeper, because you can EAT THE TEA!! (I think Forever Nuts is one of those...)

I digress.

So, Andy was walking around a craft store one day when she found some picture frames on sale. These were "recessed" picture frames - the kind where there's a space between the picture and the glass, with a 3D mat. She had a brainwave. Combine the frame with some tea and spray glue, and you've got beautiful art!

I know it seems slightly sacrilegious to put glue over something that is perfectly drinkable. But.... it's PRETTY! And you really only need about twenty-five grams of the tea, which is enough for art, plus a cup to drink.

(These are two of Andy's Tea Arts - Pom Power and Vanilla Oolong)

I went to the same craft store, bought the same frames (although I didn't get mine on sale. Boo!), and brought over some of my tea, and we made tea into art. When we were finished, we drank tea, of course.

The trick with doing this kind of art is making sure you don't use TOO MUCH glue. It makes your art look very tacky if you use too much. If you're particularly sensitive to spray adhesives, you might want to wear a dust mask, or do this outside (though NOT on a windy day!!).

So, here's the "Recipe" for tea art:
1) Buy yourself a frame that can enable three-dimensional art. Also invest in spray glue and tea.
2) Cover the table with newspaper.
3) Take the frame apart into its components - the back piece, the mat, and the frame
4) Make a "template" for the spray glue. Basically, take an 8.5x11" piece of scrap paper (cardboard would work too), put the mat in the centre, and mark VERY LIGHTLY with a pencil around the INSIDE of the mat.
5) Cut the square you've marked out of the middle of the 8.5x11 paper.
6) Take the back of the picture (you know, the paper with the picture that comes with the frame, boldly proclaiming "your picture here" or somesuch. Mine had Gerber Daisies...), and turn it over so the white side is up.
7) Align the template with where the picture is (you may have to hold it up to the light), and place on newspaper-covered table.
8) Spray on a light layer of adhesive.
9) Take off the template, and put the mat around the area where the spray glue was (it should fit neatly over the area).
10) Put a layer of tea on the glue.
11) LIGHTLY spray the tea with glue
12) Add another layer of tea.
13) Lightly spray the tea with glue.

If it is looking a little sparse at this point, you MAY get away with a third layer of tea. It depends on what kind of tea you're using, and how strong the glue is. But trust me, when I say lightly, I do mean LIGHTLY. I used too much glue on mine, and it looks kinda dumb if you look at it too closely. *pouty face*

When the glue has dried (about 15-20 minutes), put the art in the frames, and VOILÀ! Tea art to hang on your wall!

(For those wondering, I used Jessie's Tea, Kiss my Lips, Glitter and Gold, and Pom Power.)

Today's Tea: Gold Rush

Organic Gold Rush from David's Tea

Description: Mulberries are a pretty precious fruit, so you don’t find them in tea very often. After all, mulberry trees are usually reserved for silk making, as they’re the only thing silkworms will eat. No wonder – they’re naturally sweet and rich, with an almost caramel-like flavour. In a word, decadent. Here we pair golden mulberries with creamy coconut and delicate white tea, for a tea that is guaranteed to give you gold fever. Eureeka!

Ingredients: Organic: mulberries, coconut, white Silver Needle tea. With natural and organic flavouring.

(From David's Tea: Gold Rush)


Steph's Thoughts: 
At first, I was incredibly apprehensive about this tea, as it contains coconut. My experience with coconut in tea has been pretty ... unsatisfactory to this point. So I'm sure you can understand my hesitation.

However, I was pleasantly surprised. This tea has a very, very light flavour, and you can't taste the coconut at all. My first thought upon tasting it was, "hey, it tastes like one of those white freezies I used to eat as a kid." Except without all the teeth-rotting sweetness. This tea has the "grown up" kind of sweetness.

I find it very light, with an initial "barely there" flavour, but there's the sweetness. And then the flavour creeps up on you, but not in a bad way. I think connoisseurs would call it subtle. Either way, it's a nice refreshing afternoon tea.

Today's Tea: Cocoa Canela

Organic Cocoa Canela from David's Tea

Description: This super-chocolatey blend is an homage to Mexican hot chocolate, which is traditionally spiked with cinnamon. First we take carob, cocoa nibs, cocoa powder and chocolate chips for a rich chocolate overload. Then we add pieces of cinnamon for a hint of spicy warmth. And to top it all off we add South American yerba maté for a seriously sweet energy boost. Try it as a latte with a shake of cinnamon and a warm churro for dipping.

Ingredients: Organic: Yerba maté, carob, cocoa nibs and powder, cinnamon, chocolate chips. With organic and natural flavouring.

Allergens: dairy and soy

(From David's Tea: Cocoa Canela)

Steph's Thoughts:
This tea has been on my "to try" list ever since I saw it hit the website. Holy frijole, it was everything I expected and more!

Upon walking into the store, I squeed when I saw that they actually HAD Cocoa Canela. (Those not versed in StephSpeak, a squee is an excited squeal. It can be lengthy or short, but it sounds kinda like, "EEE!" and it's that feeling that you get in your heart when you're hanging out and then all of a sudden, you see David Tennant walking down the street and he notices you and winks and says, "Hello, I'm the Doctor" and your entire heart feels like it's going to burst with excitement. Or, you know, when you walk into David's Tea and there's the EXACT KIND of tea you want sitting on the counter. THAT'S a squee.)

Anyway. Squeeing was had. And then I ordered a mug of it hot. The barTEAsta asked me if I wanted it as a latte, which was totally a yes.With a little bit of sweetener, it was JUST LIKE drinking a mug of superamazing hot chocolate. Except without all of the guilty "OMG YOU'RE GOING TO GET FAT WITH CALORIES!!!!" voice in your head. Because it's tea. And if you use skim milk and low-calorie sweetener? Hello, MADE OF WIN!

This morning, I made a cup of it with no milk and no sugar. Still love it. It has enough sweetness in it that you don't really need any sugar to still be able to enjoy the taste. If you want to drink a cup of "no-guilt hot chocolate" you're going to want to add a bit of sugar. I find that most hot chocolate powders are too sweet, and this way, you can make this tea with your desired sweetness and still get the same effect.

The thing I like about this tea is that it's got the distinct taste of cinnamon. It's not overwhelming, though; it's like it's supposed to be there. It makes me think of Mayan temples and warmth, and the ancient beliefs that chocolate was medicinal. (I'm not debating that belief, though. It makes ME feel better!)

I would also turn this into popsicles too. .... I really do need to start working on my popsicle recipes, because the last ones I made were SO disappointing.

Verdict: Amazingly fantastically made of win!

Today's Tea: Pom Power

Pom Power from David's Tea

Description: Need help getting through the daily grind? Try pomegranates. Doctors have used them for thousands of years to heal just about everything. Warriors in ancient Persia ate them before combat for strength. But we love them because they taste amazing. With tart pomegranate seeds, hibiscus blossoms, and white Silver Needles, this fresh and fruity tea will help you face any of life’s little battles.

Ingredients: Silver Needles white tea, pomegranate seeds, hibiscus. Natural and artificial flavouring

(From David's Tea: Pom Power)

Steph's Thoughts:
It's pink and it tastes a little like candy!

Sorry, it's been a rough morning. Hence, drinking tea that makes me at least giggle a little.

The thing that I appreciate about this tea is that I can drink it completely sugar-free. When you're trying to cut down on your sugar intake, this is a VERY GOOD THING. This is also a tea that you can let steep while you drink the whole cup. You don't have to remove your teabag halfway through. I put it in teabags rather than letting it sit in the steeper, because this is a tea that tastes just fine if you let it sit "too long." And really, I haven't come across a white tea that I can't let steep forever and ever. The flavour just gets bolder, but not bitter.

Pom Power is definitely a fruity tea and it has a slight aftertaste, but it's not a BAD aftertaste. It's like .... a flower on your tongue. That might be the hibiscus. This is another good, smooth tea. It's also a tea that tastes good hot or iced. I might recommend it iced, though, because of the fruit. Also, it's a really funky colour.

This might make a really good sorbet, if I could figure out how to make sorbet-in-a-bag, since I don't have an ice cream maker. Actually, this would make a FABULOUS tea popsicle. I think I might have to scrap my first attempt at tea popsicles, because they taste icky. Boo. BUT this tea, like I said, would make a great tea popsicle. I think I'm going to go do that now.

(Oh, it also makes beautiful tea art! .... I haven't posted about that? I should post about that. Maybe that's what I'll do tomorrow!)

Today's Tea: Simply the Zest

Organic Simply the Zest from David's Tea

Description: Need a little help getting up in the morning? So did we – until we tried waking up to this sunny maté blend, with lemongrass, lemon myrtle, lemon zest and pretty yellow calendula petals. It’s light, smooth and refreshingly citrusy, with a welcome energy boost from green yerba maté. So steep yourself a little sunshine – it might just make you a morning person.

Ingredients: Green maté, lemongrass, lemon myrtle, lemon peel, calendula flowers. With natural orange flavouring.

(From David's Tea: Simply the Zest)


Steph's Thoughts:
First things first: Now, I HATE strongly dislike citrus teas. They are my least favourite of all teas (except maybe jasmine), and they will typically be the last thing I'll buy. HOWEVER, one whiff of this tea and I'd snatched up a tin.
When you smell this tea, it smells like SUNSHINE. If sunshine had a smell, this tea would be it. I'm not kidding. It smells like fresh, clean, outdoor air. It's like summertime and sunshine and happy and relaxing all in one place! Just SMELLING it is worth buying a tin. They're not kidding about calling this liquid sunshine.

When I brewed myself a cup, the taste didn't disappoint, either. It is definitely a maté, which means that it tends to run on the bitter side of tea. So, add a little (sweetener of choice) and you're golden. It's got more depth than your standard citrus tea, with hints of orange and ... lemon myrtle? I don't know exactly what makes the flavour so rich.

Since I'm not a coffee drinker, I typically turn to pop (or strong black tea) to give me a caffeine boost. However, this one does a pretty good job of giving me a little added boost - must be the maté. I know next to nothing about maté, except that in South America, they drink it out of a gourd with a straw thing, and it's not my favourite thing to drink (too bitter). I do, however, know this about maté - mixed with the right things, it can be amazing.

And isn't that just true about so many things in life? Things can be pretty blah, but mixed with the right things, it brings them to life, or transforms them into how they were "meant to be enjoyed."

Another win for DT (they seem to have a lot of them....)

Today's Tea: Cold 911

Organic Cold 911 from David's Tea

Description: Bad colds require badass interventions. Take this tea, for example. It’s a deliciously soothing mix of peppermint, juniper berries and orange peel. Pretty badass, right? If that’s not extreme enough for you, you could try eating raw garlic, or gargling salt water, or inhaling lots of steam. Yeah...we didn’t think so. Probably better just to stick to the tea. With its soothing citrus and mint aroma we can’t guarantee miracle results, but at least we can guarantee it tastes great.

Ingredients: Organic peppermint, organic juniper berries, organic orange peel, natural eucalyptus oils, natural orange oil.

(From David's Tea: Cold 911)


Steph's Thoughts:
This is my go-to tea for winter (and also those pesky summer colds!). This past winter, I survived on nothing BUT Cold 911. Since I love peppermint tea, this is a perfect winter tea. And with the Eucalyptus oils in it, it clears up my sinuses. Not quite like wasabi, but who would want to drink wasabi tea?? OUCH! It does smell a little bit like Vicks Vaporub, but when you get past that, it's really quite a lovely tea. Also, when you're sick, that's EXACTLY what you want!

If you drink it warm, it's soothing. The Hubby also recommends it. Now, coming from me, "ZOMG PEPPERMINT TEA!" is nothing new. Coming from the HUBBY, now that's a different story. He isn't too keen on peppermint tea. This, however, has been his go-to tea for the last week. You see, he had dental surgery, which is causing him a great deal of pain. And since he's not one to dose up on painkillers, he turns to tea. (See why I married him??!) He says that Cold 911 soothes his aching jaw and relieves some of the pressure he feels on his sinuses. Last winter, he made fun of me for drinking a cup of Cold 911 every day. He apologized this weekend, realizing the errors of his ways. He's now a convert. (hee hee!) It smells great, and it tastes great, and it makes you feel better. What more could you ask for in a tea? It's also a great stomach soother. For those of you with finicky tummies, this is one of the ones I'd recommend. David's Tea has a few others as well. (Reviews pending!)

This week, though, I discovered the joy of Iced Cold 911, purely by accident. I brewed myself a cup of tea, hot, and then promptly forgot about it. Doctor Who really was that enthralling. Anyway, by the time I'd come back to Earth and remembered that I'd made tea, it was cold. Rather than nuking it (nuked tea is really kind of disgusting), I decided just to drink it cold. It was pretty fabulous. Refreshing, I think the word would be. It's the kind of tea that you would make into tea-sicles for those really hot summer days when the heat is so oppressive you can barely breathe. It's the kind of tea that you would drink after spending an hour in the garden and needed SOMETHING to cool you off. It's the kind of tea that (were you so inclined) you would put in the mist bottle beside your tanning chair outside. (apparently, you can do that. Huh. Who knew!)

So, hot or iced, this is definitely a win.

Tea-gourt pops

So, today I decided to try something different. I'm not the kind of person who normally "makes up recipes" so today's experiment was a HUGE step outside my comfort zone.

My mom used to make yogourt popsicles for me when I was a kid - basically, frozen yogourt on a stick. I'm sure she added some other ingredients. In any case, they were pretty fabulous!

I had some yogourt that I needed to use up, so I figured, why not flavour it with tea? I brewed some Strawberry Shortcake tea (from David's Tea), and mixed in some sugar, and let it cool. Then I poured half the tea into one popsicle mold, and mixed the other half with the yogourt. (Just in case the yogourt ones tasted gross, I wanted to make some plain ones.)  My popsicle molds makes four popsicles.

The recipe that I used (far as I can figure out) goes something like this:

8 teaspoons of tea
hot water, enough to fill popsicle molds
sugar
1 cup of plain yogourt

Steep tea in the hot water. Add sugar to make it sweet. Let it cool. Mix the tea with the yogourt. Make sure it's smooth and not chunky. Pour into popsicle molds. Freeze.

~~~~~~

Upon tasting these, I think something went funky, because the tea was VERY bitter, more bitter than I'm used to it. I didn't like it very much, so I'm going to have to fiddle with the recipe. Perhaps it was the fact that I used my hubby's coffee press because it was the only thing big enough to steep the tea in. There was already a batch of iced tea in the iced tea maker, otherwise I would've used that.
Either way, these have the potential to be the most amazing things ever, so I'm going to keep fiddling with the recipe until I've got it right, and then I'm going to post it here.

On Iced Tea: Tips for Quick Iced Tea

When I was growing up, the process of making iced tea took ALL DAY. First, you had to make sure there was a Becel container full of water in the freezer, preferrably frozen. Then, that there was a clean ice cream pail. The big ones, not the little ones. Then, there was the whole process of boiling the water, pouring it over tea bags, letting that steep for HOURS..... And then you had to mix the tea with the ice and let THAT sit for hours... Anyway, it meant not being able to actually ENJOY a cup of tea for a LONG TIME. Also, it meant that if someone put in too much lemon or sugar, or didn't let the tea steep long enough, you had a whole pail of Not Right Tea.

David's Tea kind of revolutionized the way I make iced tea. See, they have this funny little trick of steeping double-strong tea for the NORMAL length of steep time, and then pouring the steeped tea over ICE. I know this shouldn't seem revolutionary, but they have changed the way I do iced tea.

Want raspberry iced tea? No problem! Give me 8 minutes. You like lemon in your tea? Super! 8 minutes. You want a fruit-tea-but-not-black-tea-I-hate-black-tea-oh-and-no-chocolate-either iced tea? 8 minutes. (Give or take the steep time of the tea.)

Hooray, David's Tea, you have made my life INFINITELY better with this trick.

So here's how it goes:
- Put your kettle of water on to boil.
- Pick your tea. Make sure you have enough to make it double-strong (if you're using tea bags, have 2 tea bags; if you're using loose leaf tea, make sure you've got two scoops worth, rather than just one).
- Put the teabags into a cup to steep, or put your looseleaf tea into a steeper.
**Steph's note** You don't HAVE to have a steeper, but it really does make your life a whole lot easier for this iced tea process. You only end up dirtying one cup that way, whereas if you don't have a steeper, you may end up dirtying two.
- Let the tea steep for its required length of time, or until it is sufficiently strong enough for your liking. Keep in mind you want it double-strong. While the tea is steeping, fill a cup 3/4 full with ice (I tend to use plastic cups or travel mugs, or even wide-mouthed Nalgene water bottles - BPA free, of course). If you are using sugar to sweeten, I would also put the sugar in the steeping tea and make sure it's dissolved at this point.
- Pour your steeped tea over the ice. If you have a lid for your cup (travel mug, water bottle) put the lid on and shake lightly until the ice is gone. IF you don't have a lid for your cup, stirring lightly with a spoon (or chopstick) will sufficiently agitate the ice. If you are using agave nectar to sweeten, it may be added at this stage.
- Fill the cup up with cold water
- ENJOY ICED TEA!!!


Now, keep in mind I have not attempted this process pouring hot tea into a cup made of glass. Somewhere in the recesses of my brain, I remember that cold glass made hot very quickly will cause the glass to crack. I MAY BE WRONG. But that's how my brain works. I really didn't want tea all over the floor, mixed in with shards of glass. That's why I tend to prefer plastic cups or metal travel mugs.

David's Tea sells an iced tea mug made especially for this purpose. As someone who drinks an infinite amount of iced tea in a summer, I figured this would be a worth-while investment, and INDEED! it has been!
(EDIT: David's Tea redid their website, so I can't link from the site. But here's a pic from somebody's blog. Thanks, somebody!!)

They also sell a "Flash Chill Maker," which basically goes through the entire process making a large quantity of iced tea, rather than a glass at a time.

.... Funny, this blog seems to have been turned into advertising for David's Tea..... *facepalm* Sorry. It's where I do the majority of my tea shopping, where I get my supplies from, so it's what I"m familiar with.

Iced tea really is the best thing ever.