Food for thought.

From my hippie tea tag line tonight:  ain't it the truth, though.

Matcha Latte.

Neat trick: if you have a French press coffee pot, all you have to do is pour your (NOT hot!) milk in, then pump the plunger a few times vigorously to make it foam. Works like a charm. Your milk will remain frothy while you heat it in the microwave.

For One:

- 1c milk
- 1.5 tsp matcha (green tea) powder
- Sweetener to taste (Am not nuts about super sweet, so used just one packet of stevia)
- a dash of ginger.

Add matcha, sweetener, ginger to warm milk, then mix powders are dissolved.  Froth / heat further if you'd like.  (I like mine just a little warmer than lukewarm, myself.)

Soothing.

I'd heard of the wonders of turmeric. Put this to test on a day when I was feeling particularly irritated, cranky, annoyed at the world. 

Golden milk, or turmeric tea, is peppery, but soothing. Calming. Smells lovely, too. Think I'm going to drop right off and sleep the whole night through, thanks to this little tonic.

Here's the recipe I used.  Made enough for two, of course.  Housemate also loved it.

Smoky.

I'd been craving Lapsang Souchong, smoked black tea, for some time. Finally, the little hippie store had it in stock again!

What would I call this? A sort of milk punch? A syllabub? A milky iced tea? Not sure. In any event, it was rich and perfumey. Lovely both sweetened and not. Bubbly, too.

- Brewed Lapsang Souchong (or any other smoked black) tea
- Whole milk
- Plain seltzer
- Sweetener (if desired)
- Orange slice
- Crushed Ice

Fill your glass about 1/4 - 1/3 full of crushed ice.  Add a half and half mix of milk and tea.  Sweeten to taste, if desired.  This is very nice unsweetened, too.  Mix.  Top with seltzer water and twist of orange.

Parfums Exotiques.

After a disappointing engagement with the Bigelow version of chai, decided to head to the local hippie store for some Good Stuff.  Good Heavens!  No Comparison:  whereas the Bigelow tasted like watered down Ovaltine, the Chai-wallah melange was spicy, perfumey, had a bite ... perfect!

With the temps at near freezing today, it was positively balmy compared to the weekend.  Decided on an iced latte at right around tea time tonight.  Enjoyed it at teatime tonight, on the back balcony, watching the warm weather snowflakes fall.

For two:

- 1.5 c. freshly brewed chai, cooled
- 2 T coconut cream
- Sweetener (honey for my tea partner, stevia for me) to taste
- milk
- ice

Shake or beat chai with coconut cream and sweetner until well-mixed.  Fill glasses with ice to about 1/4 - 1/3 full, add chai mix.  Top off with milk, if desired.  Give it all a good stir.  Decorate with crushed cardamom pods, rose petals, even a shake of fresh ground pepper or ginger, if desired.