Bliss Tub Tea
Blissful Relaxation.
In my latest Sips by box I received some Bliss Tea from Higher Tea. This blend includes St. John's wort and Zhen Mei Green Tea.
St. John's Wort is known to have benefits such as treating depression, reducing inflammation and anxiety! Those sound like the perfect ingredients for a bath - I was sold!
I decided to add in some epsom salts and lavender to help your skin feel smooth and the aroma from the lavender is so wonderful!
One of the perks of the Sips by box is that it comes with these bags to have your tea on the go but they are also perfect to make the tub tea!
It's important to use a bag with a drawstring or some sort of closure to reduce the mess in the bathtub!
I filled my bags about 3/4 of the way full. Leave enough space so that the tea can infuse the bath water.
These make a great gift for any bath loving friends or family!
Would you try these in your tub?!
Blueberry Basil Bourbon Cocktail
Bulleit Tea.
My friend Brittany over at Wight Tea Co. sent me this wonderful tea called Blueberry Basil! Blueberry basil is a mix of South African green rooibos, blueberries, lemon peels, and basil.
Look at these whole blueberries in this tea! I love when teas have REAL ingredients.
You're always welcome to cold brew your tea but I like to brew it hot and let it cool down before mixing everything together!
Bulleit, bulleit, bulleit! Why is this girl so obsessed with bulleit you may ask? One of the reasons I love bulleit is because it's so delicious to have on it's own but it's also great as something in mixed drinks. Bulleit has a great flavor and I knew it would taste great with the flavors of the tea.
Angostura bitters add a hint of the "old fashioned" and so does the brown sugar. I give a range for the bourbon and sugar in this recipe because I think it's best to add in each little by little and make the drink as strong or as weak as you'd like.
I'm personally usually on the higher end of bourbon and lower end of sugar ;)
I chose blueberries due to the name of the tea but they really go well with bourbon! Have them as a snack as you enjoy your drink or place the blueberries in the drink to soak it up!
What's your favorite cocktail?!
Holy Basil Pesto
Tulsi Pesto.
Tulsi tea or "holy basil" is a sacred herb of India. Due to it's nickname, I thought it would be fun to include it in recipe that is majority basil!
These tea bags are very easy to incorporate into an already simple recipe. All you need to do is cut them open and use what's inside!
The flavor of the tulsi blended perfectly into the basil. You wouldn't even be able to tell that you're having a pesto with a superherb packed into it!
Sorry for anyone with a nut allergy but I really love the hearty taste that pine nuts add to the pesto. I've made pesto without pine nuts and it's just not the same!
Feel free to use whatever salt you'd like but I actually used a salt that I brought back from my trip to Italy! I bought this salt in Amalfi. The salt is from the mediterranean sea and it's flavored with lemon and herbs grown on the Amalfi coast!
One tip for the pasta is to stop the blender or food processor and mix up the pesto to make sure that all the pieces get blended well.
Fusilli is one of my favorite pastas and I like to buy this vegetable infused fusilli from my local grocery store.
In terms of the amount of olive oil used, I put a range because I think the wetness of pesto is a personal preference. I put more olive oil because I like to be able to toss the pasta and have it be coated easily in the pesto.
This recipe makes about 1 1/4 cup of pesto and is a great gift to give to family and friends. I made a batch to give to my family and it was a huge hit!
The tea used in this recipe is a Pukka tea which I received in my Sips by box! Sips by is adding new brand partners all the time and I highly suggest the box to any tea lover. I've given my preferences and haven't gotten a tea I didn't like yet!
Do you have a favorite pesto recipe?!
Tea Pop Sampler!
Creamy Pops.
In my last Sips By box I received two different chai teas. I was so excited because the flavors in "chai" are amazing. I love the combination of spices used. I was really excited because these chais were slightly different and it gave me an idea...a sampler!
I had a chai blend from Cozy Leaf and also another tea blend called white chocolate samoa that I added to the sampler.
Here are the 4 teas I used. I used 2 teaspoons of each tea. I think if you use a tablespoon the pops will taste even better!
Cozy Leaf Country Chai Spice
Zhi Tea Cacai Chai
Rishi Masala Chai
The Necessiteas White Chocolate Samoa
Although chais tend to have similar characteristics, each of the 3 chais I used have something that stands out. The Zhi Tea has Peruvian cacao nibs, the masala has black pepper that is very prevalent in the flavor and the cozy leaf has anise!
I added in the White chocolate samoa because it has coconut, caramel, and chocolate which I think can compliment the other 3 chai teas well without straying too much from the classic chai flavor.
With these simple popsicles, feel free to add toppings or things to dip them in. I added coconut to some and also melted some salted dark chocolate to dip the popsicles in!
The milk in these blends gives the popsicles a creamy and more substantial taste than if it was the brewed tea alone. I think you easily substitute cow's milk here for any other type of milk you like.
Each of these popsibles had their own flavor. As shown in the photos above, they all had different colors. I liked them each individually for different reasons but I think the Rishi tea was my favorite because of it's spicy flavor. It was a bit heavier than the other popsicles and I loved it!
I had 8 mold and the tea was enough to fill 2 molds. I have to say that covering the popsicles in coconut flakes was my favorite. The white chocolate samoas had coconut in them but still taste great with a boost of coconut.
Next up...boozy popsicles! What are your favorite types of popsicles?!
Wuyi Oolong Lamb
Lamb Tea.
I was super excited to get an oolong tea in my Sips by box. I've been wanting to cook a savory dish with a good oolong tea. I've experimented with chicken, shrimp and tuna. I had some lamb in the freezer and decided to give it a shot!
First things first, white2Tea has such cool packaging :) The clover patch tea that was in my box is described as having an intense floral fragrance and a mineral mouth feel. Growing up in an Iranian household, lamb is very familiar to me and I like it very much. Lamb is very intense because it's rich and fatty. Although this oolong is also described as intense I thought that the floral fragrance and it being a rock tea would be a great addition to the lamb.
I went back to my roots a bit and combined some of my favorite flavors for this marinade. Turmeric and dill are central to many Iranian dishes and I love how they taste on meat.
This tea can be steeped 5x so after my steep for the marinade I decided to steep the leaves a few more times for myself! P.s. this GORGEOUS, hand painted dish is something I scored in Amalfi. It's actually an olive dish but I thought this was a great way to show off it's beautiful design.
A warning about turmeric which you may or not know: do not overdo it. Turmeric has become really trendy due to it's health benefits but on meat too much can be a bad thing. It has a potent flavor and you don't want it to take over all the other flavors! I used a bit more than a teaspoon in my recipe but I think that's a good amount to use.
This is a quick rice called "cateh" that I eat with most of my meals. I think I'll share the recipe one day but because I don't do much measuring except with my eyes and nose it's hard to explain how to cook it!. Also, I know this is like the third recipe I've posted with green beans. I don't just eat green beans, I actually love all vegetables it's only a coincidence! :)
The tea is very subtle in this recipe and If I were to do it again I think I may steep the tea several times and compare the bases! All in all, it was delicious and a simple dinner for any lamb lover!
Bangkok Popsicles
Bang!
May's Sips by box has some delicious tea in it! It's been super hot since I got home from my trip to Italy and I thought that tea popsicles were the perfect solution! The Bangkok tea blend from Harney & Son's that was in my box has green tea, coconut, ginger and vanilla. Um.....can you say YUM or what?! These are all light, summer time flavors in my opinion that would go perfect as a popsicle.
Part of me wanted to just brew this tea, let it cool and then freeze them because it has so many wonderful flavors. BUT, I decided that I needed to add one ingredient to spice things up.
I chose cardamom because it's not only fragrant but also very flavorful. I used to eat these sugar candies that had whole cardamom seeds in them and they were one of my favorite things to have with tea! Even though cardamom is potent I think it goes well with a lot of different flavors.
I've seen so many posts about ice cream that have fancy styled shots and I was on the hunt for popsicle sticks and metal molds. My local grocery store didn't have what I was looking for but something even better! These colorful popsicle molds are so cute AND do you see that straw? You can sip the melting popsicle so it doesn't run into your hand, it's awesome!
I let my tea brew for a bit longer than I said in the recipe and they were quite potent but I liked them. I wanted to make sure that they got a nice color because splitting the tea between all these mold would certainly weaken the flavor.
These are great ice pops, they have a wonderful flavor and aren't heavy. The only thing I didn't like which I'll have to find a solution for is that the bottom of the mold and what turned out to be the top of the popsicle were much more flavorful than the rest of the popsicle.
I've been enjoying these the past few nights and really like how light and refreshing they are. I didn't use very much honey but they still have sweetness to them to make them feel like dessert.
Watch out for another ice cream/popsicle recipe coming very soon! Do you have a favorite tea pop?!
Peach Matcha Cake
Peachy Cake.
Are you sick of the matcha recipes yet? I don't think I ever will be! Something new I've come across is flavored matcha! The Matcha Reserve provided some peach matcha to experiment with.
I was a little skeptical at first about flavored matcha. Matcha is known for it's health benefits so the idea of adding flavor worried me a bit. I was pleased to find out that the flavoring is natural and sugar free! What the flavoring did do was add a wonderful fragrance and taste.
I used a very basic cake recipe here because I wanted the peach flavors to come through really well. I placed almonds on top of the heavy cream in the center and on top but that could easily be replaced with fresh fruit to pair with the peach flavor!
My parchment paper wasn't smooth around the edges to give the cake a little texture. If you want them perfectly round you can follow this tutorial on cutting the parchment paper or simple butter and then flour the pans, making sure to tap off excess flour.
As you probably can tell I'm very fond of almonds. As mentioned before, I think fresh fruit would also go well in the middle. The cake was very tender and what the almonds do is give the cake a nice crunch.
On top, I was more delicate with the almonds. I tried to sprinkle them gently and some ended up sticking up which I really liked the look of. This matcha is so good I sifted some extra powder on top of the cake. Not only does this give you an extra punch of matcha but also a lovely aroma of peach for the whole cake!
The heavy cream was not super binding but it did the job. It almost turned out like a matcha sandwich!
What I really enjoyed about this flavored matcha was that the peach flavor wasn't overbearing. It lightened the taste of the matcha which is nice because matcha can often have a heavy flavor. Peach flavor is such a wonderful summer flavor and as summer approaches, you want this cake in your oven!
The matcha reserve has 8 different flavors to choose from. You can find flavors from peppermint to blueberry! I think any of their flavors would taste great tn this cake! You can use code NAZANINMATCHA for 15% off your purchase on the matcha reserve website.
Puerh Raspberry Jam
Tea Jam.
I always get a lot of questions about how I choose my recipes. Sometimes it's a random guess or an experience I've had before but most of the time I look at the ingredients in the tea. One thing I love about the Sips by box is that it came with a card that describes the teas, their flavors and sometimes what they go well with!
The rain butter tea as notes of macadamia and hazelnuts and for some reason I thought that would pair well with raspberries!
I had continually seen people making jam on The great British Baking Show and wanted to give it a try. My favorite fruit and jam flavor is raspberry. Jam is pretty simple to make so I decided to use the brewed pu'erh tea as the "water" that I add to the fruit.
The result was delicious! This is not very sweet jam although you can make it sweeter by adding more sugar. I like how rich the flavor is. The tart raspberries and the tea make the perfect jam that is right in the middle on the sweet and savory scale.
Mr. Tea Thoughts likes to put jam in his oatmeal and LOVED this flavor because it was still sweet enough to cut the oatmeal but not super sweet.
Very simple recipe and one that you can make over and over to fill your summer with jam!
Matcha Old Fashioned
Matcha Cocktail.
If you've been reading my blog or follow me on instagram you probably know that I love whiskey! I usually take my whiskey or bourbon neat but if I'm going to have a cocktail I love the simplicity of an old fashioned. I decided to try to incorporate one of my go to teas into one of my favorite drinks!
The Matcha Reserve provided this ceremonial matcha and a peach matcha that I will be baking with soon!
You always want to sift the matcha. In a cake or something with a lot of batter you can probably get away with not doing it but when you don't have a lot of liquid it needs to be sifted so it doesn't clump.
This is a tip for making an old fashioned that really helps with the taste. I like to let the sugar and the bitters sit for a minute so that they really combine well. When the sugar is completely soaked in the bitters the flavor and overall quality of the old fashioned is better !
A word about the orange twist. I think these turn out best when you cut the peel with a pairing knife and slice off any thick white rind so that it twists more easily and soaks up your drink better. Feel free to use the twist as a garnish but I like to drop it in the drink so that the drink gets a little orange flavor.
My final drink is pretty dark in color. The Bulleit bourbon I used is dark and so are the bitters. I also used brown sugar. If you modify any of those or use less matcha then the drink will come out lighter.
So you're probably wondering...what does it actually taste like?! In all honesty, if you don't enjoy an old fashioned this is not the drink for you. It takes the potent and delicious flavor and enhances it with matcha!
Here's my take: at first sip I got that punch of bourbon flavor and then the matcha comes right after. It was a little strange when I first tried it but after a few sips I LOVED IT! It's totally going to be a drink I make more often. I think that if I plan in advance and let the bourbon and matcha to sit and infuse each other for longer the flavor will be even better!
Bolder Strawberry Iced Tea
Strawberry Cake Iced Tea.
You may be wondering why I started with strawberry cake. A while back I got this tea from The Tea Spot and baked with it. The aroma and taste were so rich and sweet like cake that I was referring to it as cake tea!
If I already have a tea that is cake flavored, why not make it a strawberry cake ??! Strawberries add a fresh and light component to this dark tea.
This blend is so interesting because it combines different black teas, pu'erh and chocolate flavoring! See? Sounds like a cake doesn't it ?!
You can look up different tutorials to cut these roses. The way I did it was first inserting the toothpick into the bottom so that you have something to hold it by. Then take a pairing knife and make 4 slices all the way around the bottom. The slices should go down far but not far enough to cut the pieces of strawberry off. Then go around the strawberry and make one cut between two of the bottom petals. Continue to do this all around then split the top of the strawberry. Voila!
I like to put the honey in while the tea is hot so that it dissolves! I really enjoy the honey flavor in this tea specifically because it goes well with the overall sweet flavors. If you choose to not put in any sweetener I would suggest brewing a little less tea so that it isn't as strong.
The raw honey I used has bee pollen on the top and I love how the little specs stayed in the tea as I let it soak up the strawberry flavor.
This is a strong black tea which I love iced! The strawberry flavor comes through well, especially if you put slices in the tea while it's cool.
Strawberries remind me of summertime so they are perfect with this iced tea. Even with the strong black tea, when iced this is a refreshing drink!
