Green Tea Kale

Kale Tea.

Every time I cook or bake something I like to see if there is a way to incorporate one of the many teas in my cabinet! Basically anytime there is a recipe that has milk, water or butter, there is a simple way to incorporate the tea! 

I got this Kenya Green Kapchorua tea in my Tea Tim Box. When I first sampled the taste I knew it would be great for cooking. It's low in caffeine and high in Antioxidants! 

I started eating kale in college after I watched a TED Talk about how kale is great food for your mitochondria. Because the mitochondria are the power houses of the cells, it's important that they get something nutritious so that they work well. Kale was difficult to get used to at first but overtime I found out that it really soaks up the flavor of whatever you cook it in. 

I usually add a broth of some sort to the kale to help it cook through and soften. I decided that instead of adding broth, I would add brewed tea and it would have the same effect. It was a huge success! 

Not only is this a fun way to consume tea but its also an easy way to enjoy both the health benefits of tea and kale at the same time!

Just like broth, the tea gave the kale a flavor boost and made it much easier to stomach. Kale gets a bad reputation because of its texture but when prepared well, I think it's very similar to spinach, which I love!

Trader Joe's sells kale already chopped and it's really easy to separate the leaves from the thick stems. I've never really been able to enjoy the stems so I stick with the leaves! 

The combination of sauteed garlic and tea bring out this powerfully savory flavor in the kale. I added mushrooms to my dish because I love them with kale but feel free to add your favorite pairing. I would choose something that can cook fairly quickly. 

Almond Cupcakes with Matcha Buttercream

Buttery Matcha.

You all know how much I love matcha and It's so fun to bake with. I've been drooling over matcha pictures on instagram everyday and decided it was time to make matcha frosting. I know some people don't like frosting but it's my favorite part of any cake or cupcake!

I'll be honest, I don't have every baking tool in the book so sometimes things get a little messy. I finally upgraded with a simple ice cream scoop to help eliminate mess! I originally got it to make cookie dough placement easier (and future ice cream making?!) but found it to be very useful for this batter as well. I filled each liner up with about two scoops. Some liners were a little over 3/4 way full and those are the cupcakes that had a bit of a top. I don't mind this, it actually means more area for frosting! BUT if you're the type of person who likes to have very neat, not overflowing cupcakes I would suggest using a scoop and a half or one heaping scoop! After I had the desired amount in the liner I took a chopstick into the center of the batter and swirled it in circles. This helped the batter settle. 

Ah, matcha buttery frosting. YUM! I decided to use almond and matcha as a combination of flavors because I kept seeing this combo EVERYWHERE. Thinking about the heavy, full flavor of matcha and the fragrance of almond I wasn't sure if they would be good together but I as wrong! The almond flavor in this cupcake is very light and airy which goes so well with the heavy butter and matcha frosting. In my recipe, I talk about "pours" for the almond emulsion. My emulsion is very thick and comes out slowly so when I say pours I mean it literally. Each time I tipped the bottle over my bowl a drop came slowly out. I did it 3 times. You are welcome to do more or less based on how much you enjoy the fragrance and taste of almond!

Ok, so I originally wanted to do a frosting rose on top of the cupcakes. As you can see that didn't happen. I love watching cupcake and cookie decorating videos and I've been wanting to try this one method of making the rose. I thought I had the right tip but when I started piping got this short thin piece of frosting and decided to improvise. One small note, as I started piping I put too much frosting in the bag so my hands were gradually warming up the frosting. You can see in the photo below thinner and thicker lines. I put mine back in the fridge to cool it off before I continued.  

You're probably wondering about these pizza slices. My original plan was to create matcha frosting because the pastel green was perfect for spring. I then put one of these pizza sprinkles, yes they're sprinkles from Tiny Kitchen Treats, on top and I LOVED how it looked! Does an almond cupcake with matcha buttercream and a pizza sprinkle make sense? Who knows, but it sure looks cute! 

So what's the verdict? Matcha donuts are good. Matcha scones are better. Matcha buttercream is queen! 

As many of you may know, matcha is in powder form because it consists of the ground up leaves. This is said to increase the health benefits because you're ingesting the actual leaf instead of brewing it and throwing it away. In powder form, it is also much easier to incorporate into your cooking and baking! So these cupcakes a kinda healthy, right ? ;)

The almond cupcake recipe was adapted from this one

Puerh Donuts with Orange Glaze

Glazed Donuts.

I was brainstorming about what to make with this dark night orange spice puerh blend that Plum Deluxe sent me and a light bulb went off! DONUTS! I reworked my Mini Matcha Donut recipe to create larger donuts and added a glaze!

Spring is here and we've been having such beautiful weather, it's been making me crave donuts. Not sure why! These aren't traditional donuts that you would get at a bakery, they are baked and much smaller. Although I used a larger pan from michaels they are still relatively small for donuts. 

I chose an orange glaze to compliment the fruity aroma and taste of the puerh blend. The blend has orange peel, rose hips and hibiscus which I think all go together well with orange! Make sure you use an actual orange for the juice, not store bought juice!

Ah yes, the tea infused milk staple. I used 1 cup of milk to infuse but only use 2/3 cup in the recipe because during the heating process some of the milk is lost. 

I made two batches of these donuts to show you the different between "firm" and "spongy." The donuts on the left were the result of filling the molds about 3/4 way and baking for 8-9 minutes. The donuts on the right were filled almost to the brim and cooked for about the same time. They are both still very soft on the inside the ones on the left are just a bit firmer, which in a taste test I actually preferred!

A note on the glaze, as mentioned before, use less juice if you want a more solid glaze. I tried 2 TBSP and I just didn't like the consistency. I like how when I added one additional TBSP (to equal 3) that this is what happened when I dunked the donuts. When you let them sit they still harden but I think 3 TBSP made it easier to glaze. To each their own!

Puerh tea is so interesting and I found this to be a unique opportunity to create a fruity donut with a very flavorful tea. These donuts are definitely sweet but they are super fruity, specifically orange. I suggest making extra glaze for dipping :) 

Green Tea Shrimp

Green Tea For Dinner. 

I've been sitting on this Gyokuro imperial sample from Zhi Tea for a while, not knowing if I wanted to just taste it as is or be a little more adventurous. One Thing that was mentioned by several people on my 2017 Tea Thoughts survey was that it would be fun if I incorporated tea into food! I created a marinade/sauce for green tea shrimp using the Gyokuro!

After taking in the aroma of the Gyokuro I knew that it would be great in a savory dish. After researching a bit I also found out that green tea is often used in seafood dishes! 

Gyokuro is a special tea. The name of the tea means jade dew and it is a very high grade tea. I learned that like Matcha, Gyokuro is grown in the shade which increases it's nutritional benefits. This similarity to Matcha gave me an idea about the recipe. 

Matcha differs from other teas because the leaves are ground up and you are actually ingesting all parts of the tea as opposed to brewing and throwing out the leaves. That is why I decided to not only include the brewed tea in the recipe but the leaves as well! Double the power of the tea!

I've created a simple graphic to help you create the sauce to cook the shrimp in! 

This is a very simple sauce and I will also go through the process of cooking it with other ingredients but feel free to cook with it however you'd like! For this recipe I bought large raw shrimp. 

I decided to use yellow and orange peppers as well as asparagus. I chopped up all of these ingredients as well as some garlic. 

Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet on medium heat, once hot, throw in the garlic and let it simmer. Once the garlic is browned or has become aromatic, add in the raw shrimp. Stir the shrimp until it becomes slightly colored. 

Add in all of your vegetables and stir with the shrimp. Pour the sauce over the shrimp and vegetables. Make sure that it is all mixed in and covered well.

Cover your skillet with a lid and turn it to low. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes checking on the shrimp to make sure it's not overdone. To check to see if the shrimp is done, cut it open and make sure it's opaque. 

This pairs really well with garlic jasmine rice. I have been making this recipe a lot and it was all inspired by a blue apron diner we tried!

This combination was so good because there is a lot of sauce in the shrimp and veggie skillet to pour over your rice. I suggest serving rice and adding a bit of the sauce and sesame seeds. Top it all off with shrimp and veggies! The green tea tastes great with shrimp! Do you incorporate tea in your recipes?  

Portland Rose City Chai Muffins

Black Tea & Rooibos

Bring on the chai! This Portland rose city chai from Plum Deluxe came in the mail, I had one whiff of it, and I KNEW that I needed to make muffins with it! 

The fun thing about muffins is that they have both butter AND milk. I wanted this to be potent so because the amount of milk was less than the amount of butter I decided to infuse the tea in the butter. I think if you wanted the flavor to really come through, you could infuse the butter and the milk. 

Ingredients! 

• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 cups flour, all-purpose
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup Portland Rose City Chai infused milk
• 1 stick unsalted butter. Melt it and cool it. 
• 2 eggs, beat slightly
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

This tea is very interesting to me because it has black tea AND rooibos. These two are a great combination and create a rich flavor. The rose and blackberry contribute a beautiful fragrance to the tea. I love the combination of ingredients and totally understand why this is a hit! 

Directions!

• Oven should be at 350 -400 depending on hot hot your oven gets. I put muffin liners in the muffin tin and then sprayed the liners. 
• Mix together the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. Once combined, make a well in the center of the mixture. 
• In a separate bowl mix the butter, milk, eggs and vanilla. Pour this mixture in the well of the other bowl. Mix all of these together gently. 
• Spoon mixture into muffin pan and fill 3/4 of the way. 
• Bake 15-17 minutes. I baked mine for 15 minutes and they were perfect! 
• Take the muffins out of the tin and let them cool on a wire rack

While these muffins are baking, your home will fill with the most amazing smell. The berry and almond, are strong and fragrant. 

This tea blend truly makes these muffins as good as they are. There are no chocolate chips or nuts but the taste of the tea blend makes these delicious!

Brewing Puerh Tea.

Puerh.

Puerh is another tea that I was so intimidated by. After reading different brewing methods I was extremely overwhelmed and thought that I may have found a tea that was too "complex" to get it right. I was SO wrong! 

Puerh comes in many forms but I'll only discuss a few. As you can see in the photo above, the pureh comes in a round candy like shape. Puerh is often condensed into either a cake (larger shape), a brick or a Tuo Cha which is like the shape of the one pictured above. 

Puerh is fermented and the one I'm trying for this post is from Zhi Tea. It's called sticky rice puerh. This puerh is from trees in Yunnan, China that are a thousand years old! This particular puerh has another special compenent which is an herb called Nuo Mi Xiang (Rice scent herb). The fragrance, especially to a rice lover like myself, is powerful and makes it more appealing. It kind of reminded me when I tried genmaicha for the first time.  

I brewed this puerh in my gaiwan 3 different ways. Because this was my first time brewing this tea, I only used part of it. Lesson learned. I should have used the whole thing since I like dark tea. I also poured the leftovers from each brew into a glass that I would then sample as my 4th tea. 

Tea wash: As discussed in my post about using the gaiwan for the first time, you need to "wake up" the tea. Pour the hot water into your pot or gaiwan for a few seconds and pour it out. 

1st brew - 10 seconds: Most fragrant. Perhaps because it was the first and "freshest" brew but it certainly smelled the best. The fragrance of the "rice" really traveled up to keep my nose company as I sipped. 

2nd brew - 15 seconds: Surprisingly, even though I brewed the leaves longer for this round the result was the sweetest. This also may have to do with me not putting all of the tea to brew. 

3rd brew - 30 seconds: After 30 seconds, I could really taste the boldness of the puerh. It wasn't quite bitter yet but it was strong and dark. I will opt for this type of brew in the future. Although it wasn't as fragrant, I loved the taste the best.

Combination brew:  I thought it might be interested to try the leftovers of each brew mixed up. In reality, this was just an experiment and the tea for this was diluted and weak. Where as each individual brew discussed above has it's own unique flavor, this one was all over the place. 

I'm glad that I have now documented this puerh session because honestly, it's difficult to enjoy the ritual, take pictures and write notes. I filmed my session as well, you can check it out on my instagram! 

Puerh is said to have some incredible benefits such as detoxifying and lowering cholesterol. It also has a very unique taste and I'm excited to try different ones. It seems that because this tea is coming from ancient teas, each cake or brick will be different. 

My lessons + tips from my first experience:

• Do not over brew

• If using a larger cake or brick, break off the tea gently

• If using a smaller "cake" use the whole thing if you want a bolder flavor

• Give yourself time and quiet to enjoy the brewing process

• Remember to pour out any extra tea from your pot or gaiwan if doing multiple brews so that the tea in the pot or gaiwan isn't continuously brewing

• Don't over complicate and enjoy!

Vanilla Rose Pistachio Cookies

Pistachi Rose.

You may have guessed but I LOVE rose in tea. It doesn't matter if it's buds or petals, I love the flavor and aroma that rose gives to a blend. The Vanilla Rose Tea from Zhi tea is no exception. This blend uses assam as the base tea so it gives it that delicious black tea flavor that I love and that is so good in sweets. 

I wanted to make cookies with this blend and I put my thinking cap on to find what would go well with the rose. Ding, ding ding! Pistachio! It may be because norouz (Persian New Year) is so close but rose and pistachio are a match made in heaven. These are two ingredients that were common to everyday life growing up. 

For this recipe I took an each chocolate chip recipe and tweaked it slightly for my purpose. 

What you'll need: 

• 1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar

• 2 eggs

• 3/4 cup - 1 cup slightly crushed pistachios

• 1 cup Vanilla Rose butter

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 2 1/4 cup flour

• Pinch of salt

To make the tea infused butter, you need to melt 1 cup of unsalted butter. Once melted pour 2 - 4 tablespoons of Vanilla Rose tea into the butter. The amount of tea depends on your taste and if you want there to be a hint of flavor or a punch of flavor!  

Let the tea brew for about 5-6 minutes in the butter. Once brewed strain the butter.

Let it sit and harden. 

Your butter should feel like softened butter, you don't want it to be too liquid so make sure you leave time for it to solidify. 

Instructions: 

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees

2. Cream the butter and sugar

3. Mix in the eggs

4. Add in the flour, baking soda and salt

5. Gently mix in the pistachios

6. Roll dough into 2 -3 in balls and place on a baking sheet

7. Bake foe 10-12 minutes until slightly golden

8. Remove cookies from oven and transfer gently to a cooling rack

9. Scarf down cookies!

My favorite thing about these cookies is that they aren't as sweet as chocolate chip cookies because of the lack of chocolate chips. The pistachios give you a good crunch to contrast with the soft cookie. These are perfect for tea dunking! 

My First Gaiwan!

Gaiwan. 

Since I started my tea blog I've learned SO much about tea culture around the world. Growing up, I was only ever exposed to how Persians brew tea. In my family, tea is not so much about brew time but about brew color and aroma. I love to use glass because then I can see if the tea has brewed to the perfect shade. Is this wrong? Who knows, but it's how I enjoy my tea. 

I discovered Bitterleaf teas on Instagram and they create beautiful tea ware! I've been wanting to try a gaiwan so I purchased this gorgeous moka glazed gaiwan. 

I've seen many people using gaiwans and honestly I was a little intimidated. I'm not an expert in tea and wondered if I would do it wrong. It also didn't help that when I looked up how to use a gaiwan I saw multiple videos that were 20 minutes or longer. Woah, a little out of my league. 

BUT, I decided to take a leap. I started this blog to explore and that's what I'm going to do. 

I found several guides that were much easier and clearer to understand and I started brewing! I learned many things that were truly fascinating! 

Are you thinking, what the heck is a Gaiwan? Gai = lid and Wan= bowl. 

The gaiwan is this cute little bowl with a top. Brewing is actually very simple but I found it to be a very meaningful little ceremony. Like Matcha, the brewing process is more involved and I found it to be so calming and meditative! 

First you warm both your gaiwan and your tea cup. This is something I have never thought about doing but it is genius! If the gaiwan is cold then the water you pour in will drop in temperature much quicker. 

Before your gaiwan cools down too much put your tea leaves into the gaiwan. Now, at this point I have seen many different practices. Some people turn or swish the tea, but the basic idea is to get it spread out and not all stuck together, this way it can brew more evenly. 

The first pour into the gaiwan will be a wash. This is one of my favorite parts. This first rinse or wash is just there to wake up the leaves. This is so poetic and fitting for tea, I love it!

Fill your gaiwan once more and let it brew for a few minutes. Brew time is highly dependent on what type of tea you're using. That's it. Enjoy! My favorite part is using a small tea cup so that every time I fill it, the tea is at a different stage in brewing. 

I've looked at some rituals that were more complicated, but I liked doing it this way. It was simple but most importantly, it connected me to my tea!

If you have trouble meditating, I suggest trying this ritual of tea brewing. You will focus on your tea, gaiwan and tea cup. You will be calm and the cup of tea you drink at the end is so much more meaningful. 

I feel like different gaiwans may start popping up on my shelves, if you have any suggestions drop me a line please! 

Reboot & Recharge Calming Drink

Calm. 

A little over a year ago I started my blog and several months later I started my etsy. Although I'm not yet a full time entrepreneur I'm feeling the downsides of it. Anxiety is something that many entrepreneurs and non entrepreneurs alike suffer from. I feel as though anxiety is sometimes a taboo word. It has a negative connotation. But how else can we support each other if we don't talk about the hard things. I've experienced anxiety myself and have seen those close to me suffer from it as well. 

As you probably read in my previous post about the turmeric face mask, I've partnered with For Tea's Sake to create healthy recipes with some of their wellness blends.  

My good friend Bridgett lives in North Carolina and after a long conversation after work one day where we spilled out hearts to each other, I was inspired to create a calming drink that can help deal with some of the effects of anxiety. 

For those of you who don't know, Bridgett is an incredibly talented calligrapher, watercolor artist, letterer and so much more! Check out her beautiful work here. 

Bridgette described the effects of her anxiety to me and I was determined to try to find a solution for her and anyone who has similar side effects. 

When I have anxiety about one particular thing, everything that I could possibly be nervous about in life starts fueling that anxiety...I start to think of each and every thing that I've committed to that's out of my comfort zone and then worry about failing and how my nerves might be when it comes to that specific moment or leading up to it. Anxiety is traumatizing and can be life controlling. It can make you lose your appetite, make you sick to your stomach, and worst of all, it can make you fearful of taking risks of living life to the fullest.

Have you every felt the same? Luckily reboot and recharge has some wonderful ingredients that help and I decided to add orange peel, fresh ginger and honey (optional). Here is why I chose these ingredients. 

Reboot & Recharge: The combination of chamomile, lemongrass and lemon pieces are sure to calm you. Lemon is often noted as a remedy for anxiety. 

Orange Peel & Honey: In my research of different home anxiety remedies orange is often an ingredient and the peel can give an even stronger effect. Honey is optional if you don't like your tea sweet BUT because of all it's health benefits it's often used as a remedy, balancing you out.  

Fresh Ginger: Bridgett's quote describes it and everyone who I've spoken with about anxiety mentions stomach issues. Ginger is so great for your stomach and fresh ginger in this tea also gives it a little kick ! 

What you need: 

1. A small glass teapot. You can use something else but this recipe is a one to two person serving. I also suggest glass because seeing all the ingredients combine can be a fun way to connect to your tea and get your mind off what is stressing you out!

2. Reboot & Recharge Tea : If you use code NAZA15 you can save 15% off your first purchase!

3. Orange Peel: I used three pieces

4. Fresh grated ginger: I used more in these pictures but I suggest using 1/2 a teaspoon because it is POWERFUL.

5. Honey: Again this is optional but I would use 1 teaspoon - 1 tablespoon depending on your taste for sweetness.

Combine all the ingredients and pour boiling water into your pot. Let it brew for 5-6 minutes. 

When ready to serve, use a strainer so that you just get the liquid!

I also had my older sister taste test this and she enjoyed it! I hope that anyone out there who is reading this will give this a try. If you do try it let me know how you like it! Keep following along because For Tea's Sake will be making a video tutorial of this recipe so it will be even easier to make! 

I recently wrote a blog post for The Rising Tide Society where I discuss how important support systems are for entrepreneurs. I think that is so relevant in the discussion of anxiety. 

I truly hope this drink helps so you can say BUH BYE ANXIETY! 

Chocolate Honeybush Cake w/ Honey Buttercream Frosting

Honeybush. 

Robert's (my guy <3) mother is from South Africa and she introduced me to rooibos tea and the traditions surrounding it. She recently mentioned honeybush which I had never tried but was interested in. Along with the Persian Plum Rose , Blossom sent me a sample of Honeybush as well. 

I used one of my favorite recipes for chocolate cake and adapted it to make it extra honeybush infused! 

This tea was fascinating, it almost looks like mulch and smells very earthy. From the scent, I did not expect the taste in the cake. 

While I was mixing the cake and also while I was baking it, the brewed honeybush had such a strong aroma it was filling the apartment. It was wonderful!

Honeybush infused milk. 

Hot honeybush tea. 

Two layers of honeybush goodness. 

I decided to top this off with a honey buttercream frosting that I've made before and is SO good.

Cake:

• 2 cups brown sugar

• 1 3/4 cup flour

• 3/4 cup cocoa powder

• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 2 eggs

• 1 cup milk infused with honeybush

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt

• 2 teaspoons vanilla

• 1 cup hot Honeybush

• pinch of salt

Frosting: 

2 sticks of butter, room temperature
4 tablespoons honey
1 cups powdered sugar* 

What I like to do is mix the honey and the butter then gradually add in powdered sugar little by little until I like the consistency of the frosting. So it may be less than 1 cup or more based on preference. Don't forget to taste test too because frosting gets sweet fast!
 

Cake Instructions

1.  Prepare the honeybush infused milk by heating the 1 cup of milk. Do not let it boil. Drop 2 tablespoons or more of honeybush into the tea depending on how strong you want it. Let it sit for several minutes. Pour the milk through a strainer and let cool. 

2. Mix all the dry ingredients together. 

3. Add in eggs, yogurt, vanilla and honeybush infused milk.

4. Boil water and pour one cup of boiling water in a cup. Place 1-2 tablespoons of honeybush in a teabag and place in boiling water. Let it brew for a few minutes then pour hot, brewed tea into cake mixture. Gently mix. 

5. Pour batter (will be thin) into two 9 inch pans that are greased and floured. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

6. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes then place on a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, frost with honey buttercream. I used a thin layer to make them almost "naked" but feel free to use more!

Do you have a favorite tea infused sweet?!