Archive for the 'Tea Fun' Category
Is there a tea you’re just dying to try, but you’re hesitant to actually fork over your hard-earned cash for a sample? Well, have we got a deal for you! Be one of the first 10 people to leave a comment on any of the 100+ posts on our blog, and add a FREE TEA SAMPLE to your next order by January 31st! You’re welcome to say whatever you like, of course, but we’d particularly love to hear what you thought of the post in question, or your personal perspective on its topic.
So why, exactly, are we doing this? Three reasons: (1) We’re adding more and more fun stuff to the blog these days, and we want you to explore it! (2) We really want to know what you think: about our blog, or the tea world in general; and, (3) We want you to try our teas! We’re pretty sure that one of our nearly 100 organic loose teas is just waiting to become your new favorite!
On to the rules. Yes, there are rules, but they’re fairly simple – here goes:
- You must be one of the first ten (10) people to comment on any given post to qualify;
- To claim your free tea sample, just leave us a note in your next order telling us which post you commented on, and what tea sample you’d like us to include;
- You must claim your free sample within seven (7) days of commenting. Comments made prior to January 17, 2011, do not qualify;
- Limit one (1) free sample per order.
We hope you enjoy exploring the Arbor Teas blog, SustainabiliTEA, and that you find a new favorite tea in the process!
January 17 2011 | Tea Fun | 4 Comments »
Is there a tea you’re just dying to try, but you’re hesitant to actually fork over your hard-earned cash for a sample? Well, have we got a deal for you! Be one of the first 10 people to leave a comment on any of the 100+ posts on our blog, and add a FREE TEA SAMPLE to your next order by August 31st! You’re welcome to say whatever you like, of course, but we’d particularly love to hear what you thought of the post in question, or your personal perspective on its topic.
So why, exactly, are we doing this? Three reasons: (1) We’re adding more and more fun stuff to the blog these days, and we want you to explore it! (2) We really want to know what you think: about our blog, or the tea world in general; and, (3) We want you to try our teas! We’re pretty sure that one of our nearly 100 organic loose teas is just waiting to become your new favorite!
On to the rules. Yes, there are rules, but they’re fairly simple – here goes:
- You must be one of the first ten (10) people to comment on any given post to qualify;
- To claim your free tea sample, just leave us a note in your next order telling us which post you commented on, and what tea sample you’d like us to include;
- You must claim your free sample within seven (7) days of commenting. Comments made prior to August 7, 2011, do not qualify;
- Limit one (1) free sample per order.
We hope you enjoy exploring the Arbor Teas blog, SustainabiliTEA, and that you find a new favorite tea in the process!
August 07 2010 | Tea Fun | 11 Comments »
Our amazing food blogger Olivia May (From the Kitchen of Olivia) found this wonderful recipe for Matcha Pancakes. Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, this recipe looks fun, festive, and fabulous! Of course, you know where to look if you are searching for the organic matcha required to make the recipe. Check out the full recipe at the blog Une-deux senses.
March 16 2010 | Cooking with Tea and Tea Fun | 1 Comment »
Imagine buttery sweet combined with salt and smoke. These are the flavor components that form quite possibly the most divine confection to come from my kitchen to date. Boutique caramels, flavored salts and smoked anything are all making headlines as current food trends. Here I combine them together into one sweet indulgence. The smoke flavor is easily achieved using Arbor Teas Organic Lapsang Souchong Black Tea. If you need a holiday gift to delight your favorite foodie, this recipe might just be the perfect treat! Be sure to make enough to treat yourself as well, though. Passing a small test batch around Arbor Teas friends and staff garnered rave reviews but also generated a bit of competition as to who would keep the extras. If you know you have a propensity for hoarding, I suggest doubling the recipe. Happy holidays! Hope you enjoy this Cooking with Tea Recipe from the Kitchen of Olivia!
Smoky Lapsang Souchong Caramels
Adapted from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich
- makes 40 (1-inch) caramels –
2 TBS organic lapsang souchong black tea
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup Lyle’s golden syrup
1 cup sugar
rounded ¼ tsp fine sea salt
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1½ TBS unsalted butter, cut into chunks, softened
Smoked sea salt to garnish
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December 18 2009 | Cooking with Tea and Tea Fun | 3 Comments »
The holidays are a great time to thank those around us for all that they do to make our lives better. It is also a great time to initiate those random acts of kindness that many of us want to do, but often find ourselves too busy to execute. One of my favorite random acts of kindness is to pay for the person behind me in line (think café, movie theater, drive-through, etc.). Not something that I do every day, but certainly a surprise worth doing every so often! When writing a blog post for Arbor Teas I wondered, “What can I do with tea to celebrate the holidays?” Obviously, I can give Arbor Teas as a healthy, socially conscious gift. But what else can I do with tea during these cold months to celebrate those strangers and loved ones that fill my life?
Here are a few simple ideas that I hope to do this holiday season:
- Give a cup (or two) of hot tea to my postman, who always looks chilly on these winter days.
- Boil a mixture of water and holiday spice black tea in a pot on my stovetop to infuse my home (and family!) with its festive holiday scent.
- Use tea in one of my favorite holiday recipes to “spice it up” and then maybe bring it to work to share with my co-workers. For a great example, try From the Kitchen of Olivia’s masala chai tea scones (yum!).
- Host a holiday tea for my family and friends. A tea during the hustle and bustle of the holidays is a perfect excuse to slow down, take a breather, and enjoy the season! Because evenings are generally committed to the typical host of social gatherings at this time of year, mornings often work well for a holiday tea. I plan to keep my menu simple and fill it with items that can be prepared in advance, so I have a chance to slow down and enjoy the tea, too. Menu: Cheesy egg bake (veggie and meat options); scones (perfect timing Olivia!); bread, butter and my mom’s homemade strawberry jam; Sweet cakes and breads (lemon poppyseed is a favorite!); and of course, our Holiday Spice Black Tea.
Hope this post helps you get started celebrating the holidays with tea! I know there are plenty more ways that tea can help you celebrate – leave us a comment to add your ideas!
December 04 2009 | Miscellaneous and Tea Fun | No Comments »
Tea and scones go together like milk and cookies. One is just simply more enjoyable in the company of the other. Taking it one step further, I decided to meld the two together by flavoring my favorite scone recipe with tea. Masala chai tea offers the perfect balance of aromatic spices that can be imparted to dough through a cold infusion technique. With notes of cardamom, clove, cinnamon, ginger and black pepper, there is absolutely no need to open the spice cabinet or fiddle with many measuring spoons for this recipe. Those holiday flavors you are trending toward this cool weather season are available, conveniently packaged in an environmentally friendly canister, in Organic Masala Chai Black Tea from Arbor Teas. While the ingredients come together quickly, you will need to plan ahead to let the cream steep. The longer the tea infuses the more pronounced the masala chai spices will be. Butter and cream make these scones rich and moist, while cake flour lends a tender, crumbly texture. Hope you enjoy this Cooking with Tea Recipe from the Kitchen of Olivia!
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December 04 2009 | Cooking with Tea and Tea Fun | 2 Comments »
Arbor Teas was delighted to join friends at a special fundraiser on November 7 to support the Clowns without Borders expedition to India, one of largest tea producing countries in the world. Clowns without Borders (a 501(c)3 nonprofit) offers laughter to relieve the suffering of all persons, especially children, who live in areas of crisis including refugee camps, conflict zones and territories in situations of emergency. It brings levity, contemporary clown/circus oriented performances and workshops into communities so that they can celebrate together and forget for a moment the tensions that darken their daily lives. This specific expedition, “Project Muskurahat” (Smile), just left for India and will be working with children affected by HIV/AIDS and poverty in the slums and rural areas surrounding Mumbai. Check out their daily journal entries at http://clownswithoutborders.org/2009/11/india-2009/.
The fundraiser was a wonderful event in which a dozen Southeastern Michigan artists came together to create an informal evening of entertainment at the Wild Swan Theatre in Ann Arbor, MI. The show featured the acclaimed Srishti Dances of India, Wild Swan Theatre, Brass Tacks Ensemble, Sumkali and the Vocal Experiment (UM-Dearborn). Samosas, sweet treats, and Arbor Teas’ Indian Korakundah Estate Nilgiri Black Tea were served throughout the evening!
December 04 2009 | Media and Tea Fun | No Comments »
With immense pleasure we at Arbor Teas would like to introduce you to Nancy Biehn, Chief Executive Chocolatier of Sweet Gem Confections, an artisan chocolate shop located right here in our hometown, Ann Arbor, MI. Over the past few months a sweet collaboration has been forming between Nancy and us—we’ve teamed up to bring you handcrafted, organic tea-infused truffles!
Simply delighted to be a part of this exciting project, I dropped in on Nancy one evening to observe her master craftsmanship firsthand. The display of chocolate mastery I witnessed was nothing short of amazing! She was making a white chocolate, masala chai tea ganache that, when cooled, would be rolled into orbs and dipped in white chocolate. Without missing a beat while attending to all the stirring, cooling and additional stirring that the ganache required, Nancy poured perfectly tempered milk chocolate into shell-shaped molds, turning out the excess onto her parchment-covered workbench in a spectacle that can aptly be described as a chocolate “rain shower.” These shells will eventually enclose earl grey black tea-infused milk chocolate ganache. While those were cooling, she painted a shimmery campfire motif on the tops of a batch of 65% cacao dark chocolate Laspang Souchong truffles. Talk about a multi-tasker!
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November 03 2009 | Cooking with Tea and Products and Tea Fun | 4 Comments »
It’s not uncommon for folks who are passionate about tea to have other culinary interests, and quite often foodies such as ourselves delight in finding new and interesting ways to merge their various food passions. Well, our latest passion is chocolate, and we figured it might be worth sharing some thoughts on the subject of tea and chocolate pairing.
Successful combinations of tea and chocolate can be achieved in a variety of ways. You can look for tea/chocolate pairings that share similar flavor characteristics, thereby enhancing one another. Conversely, you can also find very satisfying combinations where the flavors of the tea and chocolate contrast – these are sometimes the biggest hits. Lastly, look for tea/chocolate pairings where the characteristics of each aren’t necessarily the same, but are compatible or complimentary in some fashion. Along these lines, we offer a few ideas for you to try, but by no means is this list exhaustive – let your palate, your creativity and your sense of adventure be your guide!
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September 30 2009 | Cooking with Tea and Tea Fun | No Comments »
Yixing clay teapots (also called “purple sand teapots”) have been made and used in China for tea brewing for roughly 600 years, and with their recent addition to our catalog, the time-honored tradition of using them to brew cherished varieties of tea can be yours! These very special teapots are produced in the region of the town of Yixing (in China’s eastern Jiangsu province), made of a special “purple sand clay” found in that region.
One of the key elements that make yixing teaware special is the slightly porous finish caused by the purple sand clay they’re made from. With repeated use, this slightly porous finish allows a tiny amount of tea to be absorbed into the pot. Over time, the pot will develop a coating that retains the flavor, aroma and often the color of the tea it has been used to brew. For this reason, many tea lovers prefer to dedicate their yixing teapots to a single type of tea – often oolongs. And here’s an important tip: because of yixing teaware’s porous finish, soap should not be used for cleaning. I nstead, yixing teaware should be rinsed with fresh water and allowed to air-dry.
November 30 2008 | Products and Tea Fun | No Comments »
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