Vanilla Rooibus Tea with Cacao & Mint

Since I'm hosting the savory tea giveaway from Numi this week, I thought it would be fun to talk a little bit more about tea. 

If you ever come to Seattle, one of the places that you absolutely have to visit is Remedy Teas on Capitol Hill. I am obsessed with this tea house. They carry over 150 organic loose leaf teas in the cafe, including white, green, oolong, black, rooibus, yerba, and a variety of herbal teas. If you are a tea drinker, this place is pure heaven. 

One of my favorite combinations was a seasonal holiday tea they featured several years ago that tasted like chocolate peppermint candy. Let me tell you, I bought out the store. Literally. And over the next eleven months I drank it all. 

Then the following Christmas I anxiously awaited for this seasonal tea to return, but they never brought it back. Several months ago I found myself craving this tea again and I finally decided it was time to just make my own combination. So I did.  

Rooibus is a sweet, caffeine-free tea from South Africa. I love drinking it as an afternoon treat and this combination is perfect with a little almond milk and stevia.  

I was pleasantly surprised by how cost effective it is to make my own loose leaf blend by purchasing the ingredients separately and then mixing them together. A small tin of this blend can usually run around $15, but I found that purchasing the ingredients in bulk and making this myself cut the cost to a little less than 1/3 of the price. I found the ingredients at my local health foods store, but I also provided links below to order online if your store does not have a bulk section or does not carry these items. Since vanilla beans are quite pricey, I kept mine whole and added it to the tea blend to help infuse the tea with vanilla flavor. Storing the tea in a tea tin kept the vanilla bean fresh enough that it still has plenty of flavor to reuse in future batches of tea. 

Vanilla Rooibus Tea with Cacao & Mint

Makes about 15 cups of tea

Ingredients:

1/3 cup rooibus tea

2 tablespoons cacao nibs

2 tablespoons peppermint tea

1 vanilla bean

Instructions:

Assemble the ingredients and store in a tea tin.

The general rule of thumb when brewing loose leaf tea is 1 teaspoon of tea per cup of water, but I tend to like stronger tea so I usually add 2 - 3 teaspoons per cup of water. I am by no means a tea expert, but here are some other helpful tips I typically use for brewing rooibus tea:

• Always use fresh, cold, and preferably filtered water for boiling. (This will help your tea to taste the best.)
• The recommended temperature for making rooibus tea is 205°F, which means you can usually bring the water to a rolling boil and then steep the tea right away. (Some teas are better at a lower temperature so you have to wait a few minutes after boiling.)
• For steeping the tea, I usually opt for my trusty Bodum teapot or tea filters if I am using a travel mug on-the-go. Lately I've been using a tea infuser, which allows me to steep the tea directly in my mug. For some reason this has felt easier than using a teapot, but it's all personal preference. 
• Rooibus tea should steep for 3 - 5 minutes, and then the leaves should be removed.  It's also recommended that the cup is covered during steeping, but if you use the teapot or tea infuser, this usually has a lid of its own. 
• Finally, enjoy your tea! Add some milk of your choice and your favorite sweetener (if desired) and serve hot!

Recipe shared at Wellness Weekend

Numi Organics Savory Tea Giveaway

Photo by Numi

If you've been a reader of this blog for awhile, you've probably noticed that I am a big fan of two things: vegetables and tea. It is for this reason today that I am ecstatic to share my latest and greatest discovery with you: savory tea. 

What the heck is savory tea? I'm so glad you asked! 

Savory Tea is essentially savory blends of veggies combined with spices and tea infusions to create a soothing, comforting beverage. I know it sounds a little strange at first, but stick with me here because your entire world is about to change. 

I was recently contacted by Numi and asked if I was interested in trying their new Savory Tea blends: broccoli cilantro, carrot curry, fennel spice, beet cabbage, spinach chive, and tomato mint. My answer? Absolutely. You had me at broccoli cilantro. 

Over the past month I've been testing these out and let me tell you: I am in love. Living in Seattle means I am subjected to many cold, rainy grey days and I often drink a lot of tea just to stay warm and help me cope with the weather. What I loved about these blends is that they have the same comforting feeling as a hot cup of soup, but are just as easy to prepare as tea. 

I will admit that at first it was a little strange to have a savory cup of tea because I'm used to sweeter blends like rooibus or my mate chai. However, once I knew what to expect, I began to find myself craving these, especially in the late afternoon when I typically want a snack. I don't think these are filling enough to use as a meal replacement, but they did help with cravings. These were also fabulous for traveling because they were convenient to have on-the-go since all you need is hot water to brew them.

I was so impressed with the teas that I asked the nice people at Numi if they'd be willing to let me host a giveaway so I could share these with all of you. I'm happy to announce that 5 lucky readers will get a chance to sample some savory teas of their own!

To enter: you must have a US mailing address (sorry to my international readers!) and use the Rafflecopter below for up to 4 chances to win.  The giveaway will close on Monday, April 1st and the winner will be chosen randomly.  Good luck!

The giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all who entered!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Simple Sun Tea

In our neighborhood we have seven different cats that roam around being adorable and causing trouble.  Lucky for me, my desk sits right next to our kitchen window where 24/7 I have a live show of sleeping cats and feline mischief happening in the neighbor's yard.  Today, that mischief involved a squirrel.

This crazy little squirrel kept jumping from rooftop to rooftop, and made his way to the roof where our neighbor throws old loaves of bread for the birds.  And as he sat, happily munching away, one of the neighboring cats, snuck up right behind him.  I had already seen a close-call chase go down this morning  and was horrified because the squirrel wasn't turning around to notice the feline behind him.

In a situation like this, you have a couple of options.  You can keep watching and hope for the best.  Or, you can look away if you expect the worst.  Well, unless, you are me, that is...  because if you are me, your solution would be to open your window and begin yelling for the squirrel to run. Yes, at 10 am on a Sunday, I opened my kitchen window and yelled at a squirrel like a crazy person.  (And, yes, this really happened.  Who would make this up?)

Sure enough, the cat quickly made its move and that badass squirrel made a break for it -- bread and all.  Impressive little guy.  I guess when it comes to wild animals, they really don't need anyone looking out for them.

Luckily the rest of my day was not as eventful.  I stuck some fresh herbs in a pitcher of water, let it sit out in the sunlight, and then stayed away from my window.  I think my neighbors appreciated it.

Sun tea is for days when you want to keep it simple.  Maybe your kitchen is too hot to boil a cup of tea or maybe you just feel too lazy.  That's okay.  All sun tea requires is some herbs and, of course, sun. After brewing, keep this in a pitcher in your fridge and enjoy over ice.  You can use any combination of herbs you like, but this is one of my favorites.  If you aren't able to drink all the tea, you can also freeze it in ice cube trays to add a nice flavor to plain water. 

Simple Sun Tea
Inspired by Simply Recipes

2 quarts of water
3 cups fresh peppermint leaves
1 cup lemon balm
1/2 cup chamomile flowers

Add herbs to pitcher of water and let sit in direct sunlight for 3 - 5 hours.  Refrigerate after brewing and consume within 2-3 days.

Is coffee a "health food" now?

Coffee is the most complex food known to man. It has 1200 flavor components. The nearest comparison is red wine with 450 chemical compounds in the flavor make-up. In most commercial blends there are 10 to 12 different coffees, from different farms (BBC, http://goo.gl/m2LwD).



Health Benefits of Coffee - MarketWatch video.

Coffee is not usually thought of as health food, but some recent studies suggest that it can be beneficial.

A 2005 JAMA meta-analysis concluded that habitual coffee consumption was consistently associated with a lower risk of Type 2 diabetes. However, caffeine, seems to have little to do with it. In fact, caffeine (C8H10N4O2) is the natural pesticide of coffee beans, paralyzing and killing insects that try to feed on them.

A Norwegian study found that women who drank 1-3 cups a day reduced their risk of cardiovascular disease by 24% compared with those drinking no coffee at all. At an average of 3 kg of coffee consumption per person per year, Americans are well behind world leader Norway at 11 kg (http://goo.gl/qxgg6).

Antioxidants in coffee may decrease inflammation, reducing the risk of disorders related to it, like cardiovascular disease. A typical serving of coffee contains more antioxidants than typical servings of grape juice, blueberries, raspberries and oranges.

References:

Health Benefits of Coffee - WebMD.
Coffee as a Health Drink? Studies Find Some Benefits - New York Times, 2006.

Caffeine (C8H10N4O2) is the natural pesticide of coffee beans, paralyzing and killing insects that try to feed on them

Coffee vs. Tea - Infographic of Health Benefits and Risks http://goo.gl/StIsr

Caffeine is a major source of antioxidant activity in coffee. WebMD, 2011.

Eyes Can Absorb Antioxidants From Green Tea, Which May Have a Protective Effect (In Rats)

Researchers fed laboratory rats green tea extract and then analyzed their eye tissues.

The results showed that different parts of the eye absorbed varying amounts of catechins. The area with the highest concentration of catechins was the retina, which is the light-sensing tissue that lines the back of the eye.

Antioxidant activity lasted for up to 20 hours after drinking green tea extract.

This is an animal study and we have no evidence that the same effect takes place in humans.

References:
http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/news/20100218/green-tea-good-for-the-eyes

Coffee vs. Tea - Infographic of Health Benefits and Risks http://goo.gl/StIsr
Image source: Green Tea leaves in a Chinese gaiwan. Wikipedia, Wikimol, Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Hot vs. cold water steeping of tea: No difference in antioxidant activity

A new popular way of making tea is to steep leaves in cold water.

The study authors investigated whether antioxidant activity of teas is affected by hot or cold water steeping and if this correlates with their polyphenol content and metal-chelating activity.

A set of five loose tea samples, consisting of unblended and blended teas, was analysed following infusion in either hot water (90 °C, 7 min) or cold water (room temperature, 2 h).

Antioxidant activity, measured as hydrogen-donating ability, showed no significant differences among hot or cold teas, except in the case of white tea, where higher values were obtained after cold water steeping.

The antioxidant activity of the teas correlates with their phenolic content and metal-chelating activity. Cold teas were better inhibitors of in vitro LDL conjugated diene formation.

The authors concluded that the potential health benefits of tea may be maximised by methods of preparation.

According to BMJ, drinking hot tea may cause cancer:



References:

Hot vs. cold water steeping of different teas: Do they affect antioxidant activity? Elisabetta Vendittia, Tiziana Bacchettia, Luca Tianoa, Patricia Carlonib, Lucedio Grecib and Elisabetta Damiania. Food Chemistry, Volume 119, Issue 4, 15 April 2010, Pages 1597-1604.
Green Tea Decreases Total and LDL Cholesterol by 5 mg/dL http://goo.gl/AwVDr and http://goo.gl/Ku55O

BMJ Video: Drinking hot tea may cause cancer

Coffee vs. Tea - Infographic of Health Benefits and Risks http://goo.gl/StIsr
Image source: Green Tea leaves in a Chinese gaiwan. Wikipedia, Wikimol, Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 License.