Deltangam: The first tea for my shop

Since the start of Tea Thoughts, one of the most frequently asked questions is: do you sell tea? I understand to a point since there is the word tea in my name but it is something I have considered a lot.
I chose the name Tea Thoughts because it was alliteration and because at the time I was going to be writing about tea. I kept the name because I loved it and thought it would still fit well. I never desired to include tea in my shop but after the Nowruz box, everything changed!

BACKGROUND
I have often been asked to share more about my own culture and Persian heritage but have always been hesitant for two reasons. In my life, I have experienced negative reactions to this and also due to sanctions, using certain words that deal with Iran put me at risk of being shut down even though I am not in any violation. I have seen several businesses be cut off from their websites/payment processors for simply having the word Persian (not even Iran) on their site. Even when I paid for my blend, PayPal flagged the payment and it took several days to go through because it had the work Persian in it. Shafa mentioned that this happens anytime they use the word Persian. This is obviously a mistake of software but it is a real threat nonetheless and a deterrent for me.

Earlier this year, I did create a Nowruz box where I shared items and information about our New Year traditions and I was so happy that many people enjoyed it. From that time, I started thinking of ways that I could share more and also collaborate with other Iranian owned shops in the diaspora. At that time, what I came up with was 2 different Iranian owned shops in Canada and the US. They both focus on slightly different things and I thought it would be great to create a tea with them for my shop.

The first of which is Shafa Blends, they are located in Rockville, MD and are owned by an Iranian family! I came across them several years ago when they were at a different location and under a different name. I walked into a local mall on my lunch break to get a bite and saw a store called Rumi. I instantly freaked out! I went in to see a beautiful tea and spice shop and the Iranian family that owned it. I would often come during lunch breaks to buy tea or spices. They’re now Shafa Blends but are still creating incredible spice blends and have expanded their tea offerings as well! I was very excited that they were able to help me with the blend.

THE TEA
A blend may be an odd thing to add to my shop since it’s not something I drink a lot of but it’s actually something that is very much part of my tea drinking history. I grew up drinking black teas with bergamot oil which is a blend. I enjoy all the oolongs, white and pu’er teas that I’ve had that are mixed with different flowers. The thing I tend to stray away from are teas with flavorings as they don’t always do well on my palette, I’m very sensitive to those so I mostly stay away. I do enjoy teas that are blended with different ingredients like masala chai type blends!

My idea for Deltangam was at first something I went back and forth on. I wanted it to be a daily drinker type tea that is something like I drink everyday. This was a difficult task because the tea I drink everyday is pretty plain, just a ceylon with bergamot oil but I wanted to make it more interesting without overloading it. I started to brainstorm things that are very common in our culture and cuisine. The base is of course a black tea with bergamot. Not a ceylon which I was originally looking for but a tea that Shafa has and uses in some of my favorite teas. It has a similar aroma to my favorite tea and leaves that are a good size.

The first thing I knew I needed to add was rose. Rose is a very common ingredient, not only in tea but in food! Rose and rose water are included in many of our desserts and we even have our own rose! You will also notice if you search for persian tea blends that rose is almost always involved.

Rose can be controversial though since it has such a fragrant smell. Growing up, you learn tea preferences of family members as you learn to make and pour tea. I remember my uncle has a blend that he always serves and it is very floral and fragrant but my dad on the other hand can’t stand the teas he says smell like “perfume.” To not overpower the tea, rose petal pieces are used to give a hint of rose.

The second ingredient in this tea is ceylon cinnamon. Cinnamon is a commonly used in food but not tea so that’s the twist to this blend! Cinnamon is mostly used in sweet dishes like shole zard (a rice pudding) and to sautee meat in certain dishes. It’s this one ingredient that gives big flavor especially to beef (jn my opinion) and you can tell when it’s used. So why use this in the tea?

I wanted to make this tea blend unique, something you may not find but still have ingredients that are important to Iranian culture and cuisine. It is difficult to import Iranian ingredients so using what we have available is what we used. I also took into consideration the items that Shafa carries and uses in their own blends and spices which was important since I am collaborating with them. Ceylon cinnamon was my choice because it’s my favorite to use. While the fragrance is not always as strong as other cinnamon, the flavor is really nice with a bit of sweetness. In this blend you will find pieces of ceylon cinnamon as it’s more of a bark and easier to break up.

THE NAME
When deciding what to call this tea, I wanted it to first and foremost be something in farsi. I didn’t want it to just be named whatever was in the blend or even Persian blend since that is so common. We have a lot of sayings in Farsi that don’t really make sense in English but have deep meaning and are also used often in everyday speech. I was thinking of some of the most common ones and after consulting with my mom and sister, I decided to use “Deltangam.” This phrase literally translated means “my heart is tight” in English but in Farsi, it’s used to express longing for someone or something.

Growing up in the US with Iranian parents was always an interesting experience because I was taught language, culture and traditions from a different land but grew up in the US which has a very different culture. It was always a struggle to straddle being not quite American enough for Americans and not quite Iranian enough for Iranians.

Many of you are probably aware of the revolution currently happening in Iran, I try to share things about it almost everyday to keep it front of mind for non Iranians. This isn’t a new struggle, in fact Iranians have been fighting against the Islamic Republic since 1979. I’ve never been able to go to Iran for many complicated reasons, but much of it surrounds this current government, the way they rule and having a parent who needed to flee. Deltangam is a phrase I use for Iran. It’s a home that is mine ethnically, it’s a home that is mine in the stories my parents have told me but it’s a home I’ve never physically known. It’s something that not only makes me long for it but also breaks my heart. This tea and my love of tea in general is a love letter to Iran, where I hope all Iranians in the diaspora can go back to together one day.

If you’re wondering how to pronounce the tea, you can break down the word:

del - tang - am
Del: heart
Tang: tight
Am: this indicates the possessive subject like I’m

THE BREW
I’ve included brewing instructions on the tea that I think would be a common way to brew tea but also give you a taste of the way Iranians brew their tea. You can see this in the longer steep time of 5-7 minutes. The way tea was brewed in our house was with a modern samovar set up with a bottom boiling kettle and a top tea kettle. You will boil water in the bottom, then pour that water into the top tea pot with tea leaves. Instead of just leaving the top teapot to brew, you keep it on top of the boiling kettle teapot for a long time. I’m not exactly sure of the time but sometimes 10-15 minutes or more! What you get is a very strong brew that you can dilute somewhat with water if you want a weaker tea. For stronger teas, they are generally enjoyed with a sweet either sugar cube, rock candy, green raisins or other confections.

The 5-7 minute brew will hopefully allow you to experience a stronger flavor that you can have on it’s own or perhaps choose to sweeten. However, I encourage you to play around with it and perhaps you like a shorter brew or perhaps you want to use more tea depending on your teapot. I will mention that this tea isn’t really suited for gongfu brewing.

THE TASTE

The aroma of this tea is very interesting because it is somewhat spicy from the cinnamon at the start but you also get floral and bergamot on the back end. The taste has a nice sweetness from the cinnamon on top of a classic earl grey type flavor but more complex due to the rose. It’s nice on it’s own but I suggest you try it with honey or sugar to taste as well!

I don’t expect everyone to like this tea. I’m not a master blender and this is an experiment of sorts. I’ve blended together ingredients that are meaningful to me and I don’t expect that to be everyone’s cup of tea. Although, I do hope you enjoy it :)

THE PRICE
I will be listing this tea for $16 in the shop and each bag has about 1 oz of tea. The pricing here reflects the fact that this is a collaboration and that I purchased the tea instead of sourcing directly. If the response is good, I will restock in larger amounts and also change the packaging to include a 2 oz package size.

First Try at Tea Eggs!

Pre-COVID I frequented a Chinese tea house in DC pretty often called Ching Ching Cha. I’ve written about it before, you can check it out here!

One of the visits I tried their tea eggs and wow, they were good! They have this potent aroma and flavor that really elevated the eggs. Ever since then I wanted to try it but was afraid I would ruin a bunch of eggs.

Fast forward to last week and I found a recipe that was relatively simple and while I didn’t get ALL the ingredients, I got most of them and made a few tweaks.

Here is the original recipe!

One big change is that I made only 4 eggs instead of the 12 in the recipe. The recipe mentions 12 eggs but because you are essentially boiling the eggs then placing them in the broth, I think the number of eggs can vary without causing any problems.

For my broth, here are the changes I made to the recipe based on availability of what I had.

• 4 eggs soft boiled

• 3 star anise

• 1 cinnamon stick

• 4 slices ginger

• 2 teaspoons sichuan peppercorns

• 2 tbsp Ritual from Aera Tea

• 3 Bay Leaves

• 4 tbsp soy sauce

• 2 tsp salt

• A dash of mirin

• A dash of rice vinegar

The method for this is very simple:

• Bring the eggs to room temperature and boil them to your preference of hardness. Put them aside.

• In a medium sized pot, take all your ingredients (minus the eggs) and bring that to a boil. Let it boil for a little bit. The original recipe called for 10 minutes but I left it a little longer until it was very fragrant. Turn it off and let it cool completely.

• Crack the eggs all over to allow the broth to seep in. Place the eggs into the completely cooled broth.

• Make sure the eggs are totally covered by the broth.

• Let them sit in the broth in the fridge for 24 hours at least. You can leave them for longer! I took 2 out after 24 hours and left the other 2 for another day.

While my eggs didn’t come out as marbled as I would have liked, these were delicious!!!!! They are so fragrant and the flavors of the tea and spices seeped into the eggs well! I think these are a really simple and fun treat! If you have a lot of tea, this is a great experiment. I definitely want to try using other teas as well!

Tearamisu!

Ok, so I guess I'm late the game but holy cow how have I never made tiramisu before??? Or should I say TEAramisu !

I've always loved the taste of tiramisu and thought that I could easily switch out the coffee for tea but never knew how easy it was to make!

From looking at recipes online, it seems like everyone has a slightly different way of making the cream but the way I made it is super simple and takes pretty much no time!

I bought a brand of Lady Fingers on amazon that worked well for me. I will say that one of the most important parts of the recipe for me was to make sure the tea you use for dunking is cool otherwise the lady fingers will crumble so fast. 

A note about the tea you choose: choose something you like. This may be obvious but the flavor is pretty obvious in the dessert so don't pick something you dont like. I would also suggest not picking a super blended tea because there may be too many conflicting  flavors. I used the Nepal Kanchanjangha Noir black tea from Nepal Tea that came in my sips by box. 

If you were wondering why I chose to make these tearamisu sweets in glasses it's because I made them for my sister and her husband for their wedding anniversary! They recently had a sweet babe who takes up a lot of their time and I wanted to make sure they had something special to enjoy on their special day!

One thing I learned in the layering process is that I used wayyy too much cream on the bottom so I wasn't left with much for the top and as you can see below some of the lady finger mixed with the cream. Luckily you get to cover it up !

I broke the lady fingers in half to fit the glass but if you use something larger or place it in a regular serving dish you wont have to do this. 

For the top I  used a combination of cocoa powder and cinnamon! I think you can definitely experiment in this area and top it with other things! I already have plans to make a matcha one! 

Don't let the glasses fool you, there is plenty of marscapone cream and ladyfingers to go around in that glass!

This is seriously such a simple, quick and delicious dessert to make for any occassion!

Black Tea Infused Bourbon Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm constantly trying recipes by one of my favorite food bloggers, A cozy kitchen. I LOVE cookies and I LOVE bourbon so when I saw her recipe for bourbon chocolate chip and pecan cookies I knew I had to try it and had to find a way to incorporate tea into it!

One of the easiest ways I've found to incorporate tea into cookie recipes is if they have butter or milk in them! This recipe calls for melted butter (yasss!) so when you melt it for the recipe, you can just throw some tea in it to infuse the butter and strain it before using it in the recipe. For this recipe I used some black tea from Heirloom Tea Company that came in my Sips by box :)

There are a few glorious things about this recipe. First, it combines some of my favorite things including bourbon, chocolate chips and pecans! I used bittersweet chocolate chips and it's such a great bite of flavor with the nuts. 

Second, I didn't mention this in the recipe but you'll see some salt flakes in my photos and also on the original recipe linked above. The salt flakes were something in the original recipe and I baked these cookies twice using the flakes and not using the flakes. If you are the type of person who like sea salt + sweets, USE THE FLAKES! SO GOOD!

Finally, I want to give credit to A Cozy Kitchen for solving the cookie crisis. The cookie crisis (to me at least) is always wanting cookies but never wanted to bake one or two dozen. In her post she talks about her process which is making this batch, cooking what she wants and freezing the rest. She scoops the dough and places them in the freezer and anytime you want one or maybe two cookies you can just pull that many balls of dough out and enjoy! This was an amazing hack but also super dangerous for a cookie monster like me. Enjoy!

Ceylon Infused Old Fashioned

You may or may not be surprised but I infused my fav ceylon with my fav, bourbon! I then made an old fashioned because I needed a fancy drink that day! 

Let me back up, the idea had always intrigued me but I was given the extra push by my friend Lu Ann from The Tea Cup Of Life who infused oolong into her wine! I saw it and thought how cool it was but how I didn't have wine nor did I really like wine. I decided that the obvious choice was bourbon and that why not infuse my everyday tea with it, ceylon! 

Something important to note, aromas are so important when drinking and the fact that my ceylon tea has bergamot oil in it, is a game changer!

I wanted to wake up the tea leaves before infusing the bourbon so I ran warm (not hot) water over them. You should be able to see just like with another black tea especially, some of the warm liquid showing color of the leaves. If the water is coming out of your strainer clear, turn up the heat of the water a little bit. 

For comparison from left to right: Brewed ceylon, non infused bourbon, Ceylon infused bourbon

Next I simply put about a tablespoon of the leaves into the pot and covered it with bourbon. For a drink like Bourbon, I didn't use a lot of alcohol because it's not like wine where you can fill your glass to the top and drink it. I simply poured enough bourbon to cover the leaves. This also proves for a very strong infusion so if you want it less potent, decrease the amount of tea leaves. 

I left the leaves and bourbon to mingle all night and in the morning when I took a small sip, BAM ceylon flavored bourbon. I think that they two flavors paired well with each other and that's why it's so successful. I also think a puer would be ideal for a darker liquor like bourbon. 

I had this strong infused bourbon and thought that it was perfect for an old fashioned. Throw some bitters and brown sugar in a glass then add the infusion! I decided to garnish it with a date because the normal orange rind would interfere with the flavors. Taking nibbles of the date between sips was also delicious! 

Charlie Grey Shortbread Sandwiches

One of my favorite parts of starting Tea Thoughts is all the other amazing small business owners that I've encountered on my journey. Most of these people I've met through instagram, and have formed bonds with. My IG tribe. These are inspirational women who like me, were not satisfied and have gone out on their own to start a business and pursue their passions. Kristen from Tea For Three is a one woman show creating organic tea blends in the big apple! 

I recently purchased her Charlie Grey blend of black tea and bergamot essence, my fav combo! I decided to create some shortbread with this tea and make it more savory than sweet. I have a whoopie pie pan and thought it would be fun to use that to make sandwiches! 

If you don't have this pan, you can always use a round cookie cutter to get the same effect. The other way you can get this effect is by refrigerating your dough in a log shape and cutting off thin pieces. I don't include refrigeration in my recipe because I like it better when the cookies are a but crumbly but if a cookie that stays together better I highly suggest refrigerating the log for 20-30 minutes. 

The downside to baking them the way I did without refrigeration is that they are more fragile but I enjoy the crumbly nature of them. You can see in the photo below the spices in the recipe are present in the cookie. The nutmeg and clove give the cookies a more savory flavor, as opposed to a sweet cookie!

I used two types of toppings for my sandwiches to see which went best with the flavor of the shortbread. I tried a jam and also a turkey and cheese combo. 

I thought that the savory taste of the sandwiches would mean that the turkey and cheese was better suited but I actually enjoyed the jam better on these! 

As sandwiches these are a bit messy once you bite into them but I enjoy a softer cookie to a tougher cookie!

Now, if you try these and decide you like them but want a sweeter version, the transition is easy enough! You could simply add more honey into the batter. I would also suggest substituting the cloves and nutmeg for something a bit sweeter like cinnamon. 

The charlie grey blend is versatile enough to go well with sweet or savory! 

Tea Infused Biscuits & Butter

Tea Biscuits.

One of my favorite things to make when I first started baking was scones! They were one of my favorite foods to have with a cup of tea! When I was trying to decide what to make with my Sips by teas, I remembered that I have never made any biscuits when enjoying tea. The sunset red from teabook was perfect because its a darker tea and has sweeter notes. 

I was of course excited about brewing this tea in my gaiwan! I really love the little packets they came in, perfect for one serving! I wanted my tea to be really strong so that the flavor would be present in the biscuits so I used 3 of the packets but feel free to use as much or as little tea as you like depending on how strong of a flavor you want! 

I did strain the tea but I always like to leave a few leaves in there for fun :) 

This is a really dry batter that makes thick but yummy biscuits! There is baking powder in the batter so these will rise even if the batter is less thick. I think it would be safe to decrease the flour a little bit to get fluffier muffins. Next time I may also either infuse the tea into milk to use in the recipe or simply add milk little by little to loosen up the batter. 

As far as sugar, it's up to you on how sweet you want to make these. I used only one tablespoon in mine which made these slightly more savory and using up to 4 tablespoons would make them sweet, your choice!

Make sure to enjoy these sooner rather than later! I tasted these right when they came out of the oven and also later. They are good in both cases but I really liked when they were warm out of the oven. 

Tea infused butter! I've written about this on my blog before because it's an easy way to get tea into a recipe since most recipes include butter! All you have to do is melt the butter, throw the tea in to brew, strain and then let it cool, it will congeal. As far as brewing time, I always wait until the butter becomes fragrant. 

I used all sorts of delicious teas for my butter, here is the list! 

• Coconut Oolong

• Country Chai

• White Chocolate Somoa

• Lemon Wedge

The tea infused butter is a fun addition and would be a great party appetizer to have the biscuits and the different butter flavors! 

Fruity Black Tea Pops

Berry Delicious!

When it comes to tea pops, you can get really versatile! I've tried a bunch of different flavors and decided to try one of my favorites, black tea!

I was thrilled to try the liquid leaf house breakfast tea and use it in these tea pops! This tea is in tea bags so it's much easier to brew the tea and include it in the tea pops. 

When I make a smoothies I usually add in some sort of liquid or yogurt and for these pops I just replace that with brewed tea. I used two tea bags where I would normally use one because I don't want the black tea flavor to get lost in the strong fruit flavors. 

I used a blender because frozen fruit is so much easier to work with once it's blended. I love to use mixed berries and a banana for sweetener. 

This mixture comes out pretty thick and is very fruity tasting but with a hint of the black tea flavor. 

Tiramisu Truffles

Unicorn Truffles. 

If you saw my post about the Sips by subscription box, know that I have a bunch of interesting teas to work with! Although truffles are pretty simple and classic, I couldn't resist using the Pinky Up Tiramisu blend to make truffles. With black tea, cocoa, white chocolate, cinnamon and a few coffee beans, how could I not make truffles?!

These take time to make due to refrigeration time but they are so so simple! What you end up with is a perfectly chocolate packed little ball. The tiramisu tea adds that black tea flavor and the cinnamon is an excellent addition to this classic dessert.  

Lesson Learned: Chop, chop chop that chocolate up! I'm not sure what I was thinking leaving it that large. smaller pieces will melt a lot easier and your mixing arm will thank you! 

Rolling: Even though the truffle mixture had been in the refrigerator for hours and had solidified, it melted FAST! I would suggest cooling whatever instrument you use to scoop out the balls to help slow the melting a little bit. 

When choosing your rolling topping, I think you should be a little adventurous! Cocoa is a very common coating but these truffles are hardcore chocolate flavored. Adding in a different type of coating gives them more depth in the flavor department.

As you can see I used some fun sprinkles to roll the majority of my truffles. These are of course from my favorite sprinkle shop, Tiny Kitchen Treats! She not only makes fun names for all of her sprinkles but they actually TASTE good. They taste real. A lot of sprinkles I've bought from the store have a strange flavor to them. 

The tiramisu tea was excellent in these truffles, it was almost like biting into a piece of tiramisu. Flavors were more dominated by chocolate but the notes of coffee were there. This blend has both black tea and coffee so it smells AMAZING and your truffles will hold that aroma as well. Make sure that when you're heating the cream with the tea that you let it get hot enough that the cream is actually brewing the tea or the entire addition of the tea is pointless.  

If you could roll your truffles in whatever flavor you wanted, what would it be?! 

Sips by Tea Subscription Box

Sips on Sips.

One of the best parts of joining the world of tea is realizing that I'm not alone!! Growing up a tea drinker in the US was often lonely. My friends would get so excited to go to starbucks and I would dread it because tea bags can't hold a candle to my beloved loose leaf. I've tried to like coffee, but it doesn't suit me. Then I became a tea blogger...

There are so many wonderful bloggers and businesses who are run by their passion for tea, like me! It seems like I can't even go a few days without discovering someone new. Most recently I've collaborated with Sips by and It's been awesome!

When you sign up for a Sips by account or login with facebook you will be asked about your tea preferences and what I loved about it was how comprehensive it was. It not only asks about teas but also about flavors. If you have a strong preference against a certain flavor for example (fruity for me!) you can note that and it won't be in your box. Meaning you won't get any teas you don't like! Yay!

After speaking with Staci, one of the founders of Sips by, I found out there is also a human element to the creation and choosing of the samples. The algorithm that uses your preferences to make tea decisions is just a baseline. Sips by will also look at these results and make sure they are accurate to the flavor profiles. 

As someone who loves dark sweet teas I was SO happy with my box selections! Tiramisu black tea?? Are you kidding me?? YUM!

I got 2 black teas, one green tea and a pu er tea! This was a jackpot especially because I've recently fallen in love with Pu-er tea and I've never tried a sencha before. 

Probably one of the best parts about Sips by is the true partnership between these brands. Once you are a subscriber you have access to coupons to their brand partners! Let's pretend you got your box and loved a tea blend in it, you can get yourself another batch of it at a discount, just for being a subscriber. How cool is that? 

I'm glad I got this excellent haul from Sips by and boy oh by is it tea time! If you're a tea lover it's definitely time to check this company out! Look out for some fun recipe collaborations between Sips by and Tea Thoughts coming your way soon :) 

You will get 4 personalized teas a month that will make 15 cups of tea (or 45 re steeped) for only $15 ! Start your subscription with Sibs by today!