tea time and tee time

Winnie the Pooh author A.A. Milne said it best when he noted how one of the fun things about being disorganized is always making exciting discoveries in your own cluttered little world.  Like while cleaning out stacks of old magazines, I found an issue of the lovely TeaTime  from two years ago, featuring its enticing Golfer's Tea.  It's a black and green tea blend with lemon (click for the recipe), sort of in the realm of the Arnold Palmer iced tea/lemonade classic but I'd guess the jasmine green and mint give it a nice twist.  TeaTime's Fruit Shots sound like a delicious and healthy pair-up with a chilled glass of Golfer's Tea, whether you're out there on the links or whether you're like me and have no idea where the nearest course is....

a twist on lemonade

June is National Iced Tea Month (as opposed to January, which is National Hot Tea Month), and then there's always the warm weather classic:  a tall cool glass of lemonade.  Next time you make a pitcher of lemonade, however, think about substituting one cup of well-steeped, chilled Tazo Cucumber White for a cup of water.  It tones down the lemonade's sweetness with a nice herbal cucumber note, as does adding a garnish of fresh basil or rosemary, or even a slice of cucumber along with a wedge of fresh lemon.

Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June.  -- Al Bernstein

Pictured:  Still Life with Lemons on a Plate -- Vincent van Gogh, 1887 (Van Gogh Museum/Wikimedia Commons)

curious cucumber

Well, it's been a stretch between posts and how did it become mid-September -- but before summer ends I wanted to take note of a tea that tastes somewhat summery whether hot or cold.  It's Tazo Cucumber White and though it's not new, it's new to me; it's a blend of white tea, lime peel, dandelion leaves, Black Darjeeling, cucumber, peppermint, lemon myrtle, natural flavors and lime essence oil.  I really like its almost herbal, mellow limey taste (and I'm not a white tea fan at all so perhaps the touch of Darjeeling is a boost), but I have noticed that other internet reviews vary from dislike to love to vague confusion.  I think it's good served iced with a wedge of cucumber and honey or a few leaves of fresh basil; also good brewed hot and sipped straight or with honey; and I'd imagine that it's a natural for the teatime favorite of little cucumber sandwiches.  Or this Kraft Tazo Cucumber White Golden Shortbread Recipe sounds rather interesting too....

(Cucumber Image from Wikimedia Commons) 

the lime in winter

While most of the world around you is sniffling and snuffling with winter colds and sipping hot beverages, why not mentally travel elsewhere (like an island paradise) via a hot steamy shower and a glass of the following limey iced green tea?  (Coconut oil lotion and sounds of the rainforest and/or tropical beach waves CD backdrop highly encouraged.)

1 large glass full of ice
1 cup strongly steeped green tea
1 tablespoon raw sugar or 1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice 
lime wedge

Add lime juice to the green tea and stir.  Pour over ice and garnish with lime wedge; sweeten with raw sugar or honey to taste.