My 2012 Tea Resolutions

Go for the exotic.  With the world, or in this case Tea, at my fingertips I have a tendency to get stuck on just one Tea.  In this case the Tea has been Golden Monkey; which serves as my happy wake-up call each morning.  It pains me to think of waking up to anything other than this beautiful Yunnan black tea with its light and delicately surprising fruity notes; it just makes the start of my day great.  But like I said, this year I want to dip into my exotic collection of Teas on a daily basis, instead of coveting them away for once a year special occasions. 

One might think that it is the expense of these Teas that has held me at bay; however it really has been a timing issue.  Exotics like A Li Shan,  Phoenix Pearls or even a Dan Chong Oolong, have flavor profiles so immense that I find I like to take my time, from the begin of the cup to the end; as I follow along the winding exchange of floral and fruity notes.  Maybe my New Year’s resolutions is better defined as, I intend to take my time in the morning to smell the Tea leaves and enjoy my exotic Tea collection.  Let me know your 2012 Tea resolution?

Tea Infused Oil

This is the time of year when I go a bit baking crazy.  I have always spouted, how much I love to bake due to its inherently relaxing nature.  However in my reality, this never happens, a typically spontaneous baking moment usually consists of at least two separate trips to the store because:

A. we forget some ingredient and

B. forgot some additional ingredient not previously seen on the list. 

This was just the case the other night when Taylor and I ran out of ingredient number one, oil.  The recipe was for this totally yummy Carmel pumpkin cake by Willow Bird Baking (which is my favorite blog spot currently). 

This got me to thinking, of course about Tea.  Why can’t we add chai tea to the recipe to give it some zing?  Typically when I bake with tea, the recipes call for either water or milk, which I use to steep the tea.  Note you have to get the water or milk hot to steep the tea leaves.  I use one teaspoon of tea leaves for every ¼ cup liquid. Then I let it cool back down to room temperature before adding it to the other ingredients.  My problem with this recipe is that there is no water or milk, yikes.  What’s a tea fanatic to do?  How about infused oil?

Recipe for Tea infused cooking oil

• 4 cups Use a light,  flavorless oil like canola, safflower or light olive oil

In a small sauce pan add 2 cups oil and 5 to 10 teaspoons of your favorite tea depending on how strong you want the flavor.  Heat to 140°F, you can test this with your tea thermometer. Let oil and tea steep together for 5 minutes; remember to stir so you don’t burn the oil.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Strain oil into a glass jar and discard tea.  If the oil is not flavored enough simply reheat your first try, adding new tea leaves and repeat the process.  Once you have reached the perfect tea flavor level, mix with the remaining 2 cups of oil.  Use in your favorite recipe.

I am making this gooey pumpkin cake again, but this time I am using I chai to be nice, infused safflower oil. 

I would love to hear about any wonderful tea infused oils you’ve made.

Tamara

2012 Holiday Tea Blend

So this is the time of year when everyone is coming up with their newest tea blends for the holidays, and since I like to fancy myself as a trend setter I am no exception.  Although I am truly bored with the same old classic flavors year after year; things like chocolate, mint, cinnamon, gingerbread, pumpkin, and eggnog.  I haven’t quite figure out what to do yet, however I am inspired from a pie I recently made that included luscious berries and thyme. The thyme gives the flavor profile a little zing.  So this got me to thinking about my truly favorite holiday seasons flavors and foods, which coincidentally also equates to the most fattening foods that I eat all year.  We are still in the TEA room brainstorming, but I think it is safe to say that this year I want to design a bold after dinner tea full of flavor with a zinger surprise; reminiscent of a 40-year old port.