Tea Tuesdays--Some things will never change!!

I'm so crazy about tea, particularly Japanese green, that I even have to write my tea posts in green, just to keep the feel. Now that's insane!! But there are so many reasons to love tea!! If you want to go back and read from the beginning of my blog posts on tea, want to educate yourself on this incredible beverage, want to see some nice pictures, and just how far I'll go to tell you about tea, go to my other blog, http://www.howdowegettherefromhere.blogspot.com/, and click on To the Tune of Tea Tuesdays. There is a lot to see and read.

Today, I want to give thanks to Lori Overcash and Larry Malone for gifting me with some incredible Assam black tea. Yes, I am primarily a green tea fan, but blended properly, I can really appreciate a great black tea also, and that is exactly what I am going to do with my latest tea gifts. I have enough to enjoy for a long time, and I have enough to share. Hmm...did you hear that? Share!!

I smell a giveaway!!  Yes, you can possibly win some of my pure, black, Assamese type tea and drink it straight or blend it with your favorite dried fruit, spices, or herbs.  What do you have to do?  Just leave a comment, I will take them all and draw a name at random. That person will be the winner. Pretty simple, huh?

The other reason for this post is to tell you my ideas of what I'm thinking of doing with the remainder of my black tea. I really, really have been wanting to make chai. Chai, as you may already know, incorporates, black tea, spices, herbs, milk, and sugar. Oh my goodness!!  It is one of my favorite winter beverages. It is so soothing, smooth, tasty, spicy, and delicious. I drink it as long as the weather is cool or cold, and I won't stop until well into spring. If I don't make chai with all of it, I'd like to blend the remainder with bergamot to try my own Earl Grey or blend some with dried fruit. For the spring and summer, I would blend it with dried, edible flower petals. Do you have any blending ideas? Help me decide. Maybe between us, I can divide it up and make samplings of many things.

I'll end this post by giving you one of many chai recipes you can try on your own. Have a great tea-drinking moment today!

Try This:

Boil 5 minutes, then steep 10 minutes:

1 Tbsp fennel or anise seed

6 green cardamom pods

12 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

1/4 in. ginger root, sliced thin

1/4 tsp black pepper corns

2 bay leaves

7 cups of water (spring or filtered)

Add, bring to a boil, and simmer 5 minutes:

2 Tbsp Darjeeling or Assam black tea

Add:

6 Tbs. honey or brown sugar

1 cup of milk