What’s in Banana Shake tea?

Banana Shake is an herbal tea blend from Twist Teas, a tea company that’s all about flavours, quality and personality. Twist Teas has a whole range of intriguing blends (see Beetroot Acai Matcha and Choffee Mint), and, also important, an exceptional customer support. Twist Teas blends are available as loose tea and in pyramid corn silk bags, each containing 2.5 grams of tea. Tea bags are big enough to allow tea to fully expand, so you can enjoy the same flavour as when brewing loose tea.  

Banana Shake, an award-winning herbal blend, contains only a few natural ingredients – red rooibos tea, freeze-dried banana, sunflower petals and natural flavouring. It has a deep intense banana scent with deep and sweet notes of red rooibos tea. It smells very inviting. This is undoubtedly a red rooibos blend but crafted in a way to respect both key ingredients, with a personality of a dessert tea.

How to make this tea?

What’s great about rooibos (and most rooibos blends) is that it’s very easy to brew. It’s one of the most forgiving teas out there. Even if you are new to tea brewing, with rooibos you’ll always get the best flavour no matter how you brew it. Bring fresh water to a boil and steep 1 tea bag in a cup of water for 5-10 minutes. Even if you steep it longer, it won’t become bitter.

Banana nots are light, but present in the scent, flavour and ever as an aftertaste. While this is predominantly a red rooibos tea, it’s definitely a banana tea, too. It feels very natural, very pleasant and easy to drink. Although you can drink it with no condiments, to get that proper banana shake experience, prepare it either as a latte, or add 10-20 ml of single cream or full cream milk.

Milk will mellow out the rooibos notes and bring out the milky banana shake flavour. This tea is light, and it doesn’t need any sweeteners as it’s naturally slightly sweet. However, if you do need a sweetener, light honey or regular white sugar are a good choice.

Banana Shake is great tea for afternoon me-time and soothing evening caffeine-free lattes. You’ll like it if you love red rooibos blends, even if you don’t like pure red rooibos tea. You’ll also enjoy it if you love bananas. It’s a light, but very tasty blend, and suitable for tea lovers that don’t like heavily flavoured teas.

Tea Recap

Water or milk? Water or milk

Day or night? Day or night

Hot or iced? Hot or cold

Sweetened or pure? Pure or sweetened.

Caffeine? No

What’s the price? From £5.00 (different options available)

Where to buy? Get it from Twist Teas website.

The post Banana Shake – Banana Flavoured Herbal Tea appeared first on All That Tea.

What’s in T2 Sleep Tight blend?

Sleep Tight blend is a very simple but aromatic blend. It’s blended with lemon balm, lavender and rose petals, all of them popular for their calming and relaxing properties. It contains 91% of lemon balm, and the rest are lavender and rose petals.

If you’re not really a lemon balm lover, this blend may really surprise you. It’s aromatic, super pleasant, without that strong unique lemon balm scent. In fact, none of the ingredients dominates the blend. Instead, they blend into a deep and rich herbal scent with light minty notes and hints of floral dusky rose and soft lavender.

All these ingredients have traditionally been used for their relaxing properties. Lavender is a very common herb in aromatherapy, commonly used for its potential anxiolytic, sedative and antidepressant properties (1). Pure lavender teas may sometimes have a very strong flavour, but when blended properly, lavender will never overpower the blend. Lemon balm or sometimes simply called melissa (Melissa officinalis L.), on the other hand, if quite often used in relaxing sleepy time supplements. Studies suggest it may not only promote better sleep but reduce anxiety as well (2). Rose petals are the third ingredient in this blend. They are commonly used in tea blending, both for flavour and appearance. However, they too may provide several benefits, including improving the quality of sleep (3).

All the ingredients are caffeine free. T2 Sleep Tight tea is available as loose leaf and in tea bags.

What does it taste like?  

To make a cup of Sleep Tight tea, use freshly boiled water and steep one to two teaspoons in a cup of water for 5 minutes.

When brewed, the scent changes completely. Flavour is light, lemony, with hints of lavender. Both rose and lavender are light in this blend, and you may like them even if you typically don’t like rose or lavender teas. This is predominately a lemon balm tea. And here’s the best part. Lemon balm has a very specific flavour that you’ll either like or dislike (lemon grass is quite similar – you either like it or hate it). It’s less minty than mint teas and much more herbaceous with a somewhat lemony note. Most lemon balm teas are heavy and often overwhelming, especially if you make them from pure lemon balm leaves. Sleep Tight is totally different. It’s quite light, not bitter, and very easy to drink. This tea would go well with honey.  

Who may like this tea? If you love herbal aromatic caffeine free blends, you will probably enjoy this tea too. It’s much less herbaceous than a typical herbal blend and extremely pleasant to drink.

T2 Sleep Tight Tea Recap

Water or milk? Water.

Day or night? Day or night.

Hot or iced? Hot.

Sweetened or pure? Pure.

Caffeine? No.

What’s the price? Starting from 18:00 AUD.

Where to buy? Get it from T2 website.

Souces

(1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3612440/

(2) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1876382018309892

(3) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3586833/

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What’s in Sobre?

Sobre is hard to define. It’s a green tea with mint, but then again, it has nothing in common with other green teas with mint. It’s a rooibos tea with eucalyptus, but it also has nothing to do with regular rooibos teas. Sobre is blended with red rooibos tea, Chinese jasmine green tea, peppermint, eucalyptus, freeze-dried strawberries, mallow flowers, blue cornflowers and natural flavouring.

It’s a colourful blend that smells unique. Scent is very intense, deep, sweet, with hints of earthy rooibos and incredible eucalyptus freshness. If you love the scent of eucalyptus, you’ll love the scent of this tea, too. Eucalyptus is not that common in tea blends, which is quite a shame, as it smells incredibly uplifting and soothing. It’s mostly used for respiratory problems, but it may provide many other benefits, including antimicrobial and antioxidant properties (1).

What does Sobre taste like?

Even though this blend contains green tea, it mostly a herbal blend with ingredients that can be steeped in boiling water. Use one teaspoon of tea leaves and steep in freshly boiled water for 2-3 minutes. It won’t become bitter even if you over-steep it.

Although the scent of dry leaves is intense, the flavour of this tea is quite the opposite. Flavour is light, earthy, with a touch of jasmine green tea, and a subtle and delicate fruitiness lingering in the background. There’s also an incredibly fresh aftertaste from the eucalyptus. Red rooibos is a wonderful choice for all these flavours, as it gives a strong and deep base for layering all other flavours.

This is not a peppermint tea even though it has a minty freshness. It’s not a fruit tea even though it has a light fruity sweetness. It’s not a jasmine tea, and it’s not a rooibos tea. It’s a wonderfully refreshing, deep but light herbal blend. Sobre is a very light, very easy to drink tea that offers an instant refreshment.

Even if you are not a fan of strong mint teas, strong rooibos teas, strong jasmine teas, you will probably like this blend. It’s one of those teas you’d imagine sipping on a spa day to freshen up and relax. There’s no bitterness either. It’s not a sweet tea, but it feels sweet. It doesn’t need any sweeteners, and in fact, if feels like adding some may actually ruin the tea.If you do need to make it sweeter, try it with a lighter honey.

Tea Recap

Water or milk? Water.

Day or night? Day or night.

Hot or iced? Hot or iced.

Sweetened or pure? Pure or with a teaspoon of honey.

Caffeine? Yes, but very little.

What’s the price? Starting from 4.75 GBP.

Where to buy? Get it from Biscuit & Brew website.

Sources

(1) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667031321000713

The post Sobre – An Unusual Blend of Green Tea, Rooibos and Eucalyptus appeared first on All That Tea.

What’s in Blackberry Shiso Leaf blend?

Blackberry Shiso Leaf blend is an organic herbal caffeine-free blend with quite interesting ingredients. This herbal blend contains red shiso leaf, rosehips, hibiscus, blackberries and yuzu peel. Both yuzu and red shiso leaf are ingredients that are common in Japanese cuisine. What’s interesting about this blend is that almost all ingredients are naturally tart and zesty. Also, almost all of them have a naturally dark purple or red colour. This is a herbal blend with caffeine-free ingredients, which makes it suitable for any time of the day.

What is shiso?

Shiso or Perilla frutescens var. crispa is a type of plant that belongs to a mint family (1), originating from East Asia. While shiso is actually not that uncommon in European countries, although it’s mostly used as a decorative plant. However, fresh shiso leaves for culinary purposes are becoming more and more available from specialised shops. Other name for shiso is Chinese basil. Leaves are edible fresh, often used for pickling vegetables and can be used for making tea.   

Purple shiso contains anthocyanin, same as purple tea or fruits and vegetables with purple or dark blue colour. In fact, rosehips, blackberries and hibiscus contain them too.

According to studies, shiso may provide:

• antioxidant,
• antibacterial,
• antifungal,
• anti-allergic,
• anti-depressant,
• anti-inflammatory and
• antitumor properties (1).

What does Blackberry Shiso Leaf tea taste like?

To make a cup of Blackberry Shiso Leaf tea, steep 1 teaspoon of leaves in a cup of freshly boiled water for 5 minutes. Brewed tea smells quite delicate with a dominant rosehip note. The colour of this tea is really pretty, it’s dark scarlet, and very deep.

Although most of the ingredients have a naturally zesty and tart flavour, brewed tea is actually a bit more delicate than a pure hibiscus tea would be. It has a lighter, fresher lemony yuzu note with a deeper herbaceous shiso note. This tea is zesty, but it doesn’t need any sweeteners. If you still want to sweeten it, a teaspoon of honey would be a much nicer than regular sugar. Perhaps, the least intense ingredient in this herbal blend are blackberries that blend in into other flavours, rather than standing out. That said, this is a herbal blend, rather than a fruit blend. Although very aromatic, it feels light and very easy to drink. It would be amazing as an iced tea as well.

Blackberry shiso leaf would be a wonderful choice for herbal tea lovers that enjoy zesty notes of hibiscus and rosehips. This tea is great if you want a tea that’s refreshing and has lots of flavour. It won’t become bitter if you over-steep it, so it’s great for both herbal tea beginners and advanced herbal tea drinkers.

Tea Recap

Water or milk? Water.

Day or night? Day or night.

Hot or iced? Hot or iced.

Sweetened or Pure? Pure or with a teaspoon of honey.

Caffeine? No.

What’s the price? Starting from 4.51 GBP.

Where to buy? Get it from Tealyra online shop.

Sources

(1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6337106/

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What is green rooibos?

Green rooibos is made from the South African Aspalathus linearis plant, just like red rooibos or red bush tea. Rooibos is very similar to the real tea. There are green and red types, similar to green and black tea. Red rooibos goes really well with milk, just like black tea, and green rooibos is better served without milk, just like green tea. And then, there’s the flavour. Red rooibos is earthy and rich, while the green rooibos has a flavour similar to green tea, but without the grassiness.

But unlike real teas, rooibos, both green and red, will never become bitter, no matter how long you steep them for. And they are both caffeine free. If you don’t like the flavour of red rooibos, don’t automatically dismiss this type. The flavour is very different, and you may be pleasantly surprised.

Tick Tock Organic Green Rooibos

Although this tea type is available from specialised tea shops, it’s not as readily available in supermarkets or in tea bags. Tick Tock is for sure changing that, by offering both options that can be found not only online, but in Tesco and Waitrose too.

Loose leaf green rooibos loose similar to red rooibos, except, it’s yellow-greenish. Dry leaves have a less intense scent too, not as earthy but more herbaceous and much more neutral. You will need to use a fine-mesh strainer or a disposable tea filter for making this tea. This herbal tea has very small, fine leaves, which makes it very difficult to brew in many infuser mugs or teapots with a built-in strainer.

What does it taste like?

To make a cup of tea, you’ll need 1-2 teaspoons of tea leaves and a cup of water. Steep it for 5-10 minutes in boiling water.

This tea tastes like a mellow green tea, but with absolutely no bitterness. Just like red rooibos, it cannot get bitter no matter how long you steep it for. Flavour is slightly earthy, with hints of boiled greens. Since there’s no bitterness, only a very pleasant flavour, you don’t need to add any condiments.

The best way to drink it is pure, hot or cold. You can also use it as a very neutral base for making iced teas and blend it with other ingredients. As a base tea, it will give colour and depth, but it will be quite neutral and capable of carrying different flavours – from zesty to sweet, even spicy.

If you love green teas or want to find a mild tasting herbal tea with no caffeine, this herbal tea is a great tea to try.

Tea Recap

Water or milk? Water.

Day or night? Day or night.

Hot or iced? Hot or iced.

Sweetened or Pure? Pure or with a teaspoon of sugar or honey.

Caffeine? No

What’s the price? Starting from 2.25 GBP.

Where to buy? Get it from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, Tick Tock website, Waitrose, Tesco or Ocado.

The post Tick Tock Organic Green Rooibos Tea appeared first on All That Tea.

1. Unicorn Drank

Unicorn Drank is blended with green Sencha tea and white Bai Mu Dan tea, blue pea flowers, cornflower blossoms, mango and strawberries and bergamot flavour. What makes it magical are the colour changing butterfly pea flowers. Drink it pure and enjoy a bluish coloured tea or add some lemon juice and watch the colour change into purple. Contains caffeine.

Price: starting from 3.60 GBP for a taster pack
Where to buy: Camden Tea Shop

2. Unicorn Sencha

Unicorn Sencha may not be a colour changing blend, but it’s playfulness, fruitiness and colour make it worthy of the name. This sencha is blended with rhubarb, raspberry and liquorice root, and it’s sprinkled with white and pink sugar unicorns. Sencha teas are amazing for cold brewing, and because of a liquorice root, it’s already naturally sweet. Contains caffeine.

Price: starting from 1.50 GBP for a sample pack
Where to buy: Black Dog Teas

3. Unicorn Brew

A proper unicorn themed afternoon tea party asks for a proper Unicorn Brew. This tea has been blended with keeping in mind what a luxurious tea party should look like. It’s an herbal caffeine free blend crafted with strawberry leaf, hibiscus, rose petals, sprinkles and edible gold stars.

Price: 27.84 USD
Where to buy: Anita Apothecary Etsy store

4. Unicorn Bliss

Unicorn Bliss has a similar tea base as Unicorn Brew – strawberry leaves and hibiscus, with the addition of apple pieces, rosehips, cornflower petals and three types of candy – sugar pearls, sugar stars and sugar sprinkles. This unicorn tea is caffeine free.

Price: from 5.00 CAD  
Where to buy: T-kettle

5. Magical Unicorn Tea

For classic tea drinkers, a classic unicorn tea blended with pure black tea leaves and colourful sugar stars ticks all the boxes. This tea is made unbroken loose leaf black tea and natural cream and caramel flavourings. Sounds like a yummy breakfast blend, doesn’t it? Contains caffeine.   

Price: from 7.00 USD  
Where to buy: Nerdfelt

6. Magical Unicorn Tea – caffeine free

With the same name but completely different ingredients – this Magical Unicorn Tea is a caffeine-free fruity blend suitable for any time of the day. Blended with apple pieces, rosehips, orange peel, mango, pineapple and carrot pieces and colour-changing butterfly pea flowers.

Price: from 3.00 USD  
Where to buy: Savoy Tea Co

7. Unicorn Tea

Black tea with a chewing gum flavour? This unique tea blend would have a quite an ordinary appearance if there wasn’t for little white sugar unicorns. But the chewing gum flavour is anything but ordinary. In fact, this is one of the rarer tea flavours out there. Contains caffeine.

Price: from 14.95 EUR  
Where to buy: Quai Sud

8. The Lady & the Unicorn

The Lady & the Unicorn tea has no colour changing ingredients and no sprinkles, but what makes it magical is the combination of ingredients – green and white tea, rosehips, floral jasmine and fruity strawberry. Playful but refined, and just perfect for sunny afternoon tea parties. Contains caffeine.

Price: from 14.00 USD  
Where to buy: Jolie Tea Company

9. Unicorn Tears

For magical unicorn-themed tea parties, colour changing teas are a must. This colour changing tea is blended with green tea, rosehips, hawthorn fruit, blue cornflowers and blue pea flowers. Add some lemon or lime juice to change the colour into purple. Contains caffeine.

Price: from 18.00 USD  
Where to buy: Par Avion Tea or Amazon

10. Unicorn Herbal Tea

Vibrant, earthy red rooibos, Tahitian vanilla, cornflowers and safflowers and some colourful sugar sprinkles are blended into a colourful and bright caffeine free Unicorn Herbal tea blend. This tea is suitable for all age groups and for any time of the day.

Price: from 4.25 USD  
Where to buy: Red Stick Spice Co

Blue Pea Flower Tea Ideas

The post 10 Unicorn Tea Blends to Try if You Love Unicorns appeared first on All That Tea.

Learn what is butterfly pea tea and how to make this delicious boba tea at home.  

What is butterfly pea tea?

Butterfly pea tea or a blue tea is tea made from dried flowers of Clitoria ternatea plant. When brewed, these flowers give a beautiful blue infusion that’s unlike any other tea. While these flowers have a quite intense scent that may not appeal to all tea drinkers, they have a quite neutral taste. Plus, they are really versatile and go well with either milk or citruses. But what’s really special about blue tea is that once you change the pH value by adding citruses, the colour will change into purple. The more acidity you add, the more purple the colour will be.

Butterfly pea flowers are caffeine free, which makes them perfect for making refreshing summer drinks.

Ingredients for making Butterfly Pea Tea Boba

Butterfly pea flowers: Butterfly pea flowers are sold in tea shops and Amazon. However, not all are the same. With this ingredient, it really pays off to choose quality over price. Lower quality flowers may not always produce a beautiful blue colour.

Pomegranate: Although you can use a store-bought sugar free pomegranate juice, we recommend making it yourself. You’ll only need 3 tablespoons of fresh pomegranate seeds, a blender and a cheesecloth to strain it.

Lime: Fresh lime juice will add more complexity and distinct zestiness. It’s less sour than lemon, so don’t use lemons instead. Lychee popping boba: Popping boba pearls are available from many Asian stores and go super nice with this drink. Popping pearls are filled with liquid and will burst ones you bite into them. They are a wonderful topping for refreshing boba drinks. You can use pomegranate or raspberry popping pearls instead of lychee.

Sugar: You will need to add a sweetener to balance out the zestiness. Regular granulated sugar will work the best with this drink. Dissolve it in the hot tea, before adding ice. Alternatively, use a lighter honey.

Steps for making the drink

Make the tea: Start with bringing fresh water to a boil. Use about 10-12 dried flowers per cup of water. You can add a bit more or a bit less water, depending on your serving glass. Steep it for 5-7 minutes, or until you achieve a beautiful blue colour. Strain the tea into a clean, empty serving glass. Since butterfly pea flowers are quite big and often unbroken, you can also simply remove them with a clean teaspoon or a fork. Add sugar now because it will dissolve easier in hot tea. Add lots of ice.  

Prepare pomegranate juice: Use blender to blend about 3 heaped tablespoons of pomegranate seeds. Strain the juice into a serving glass with butterfly pea flower tea. You will get about 5 teaspoons of pure pomegranate juice.

Add lime and pooping boba: Squeeze in lime juice and add popping boba pearls. Stir and serve.

Want more butterfly pea flower drink ideas? Check out this Iced Butterfly Pea Flower tea and Milky Butterfly Pea Boba with Matcha Pudding.

Print

Butterfly Pea Tea Boba with Popping Pearls Recipe

Super refreshing boba

Course Drinks

Keyword Blue Tea, Boba Tea, Butterfly Pea Flower, Pomigranate

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 1

Equipment

• Kettle and a cup for brewing the tea
• Blender and a cheesecloth for pomegranate juice

Ingredients

• 12 dry butterfly pea flowers
• 1 cup of water
• 1 glass of ice
• 3 tablespoons of pomegranate seeds
• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• ½ lime
• 1-2 tablespoons of lychee popping boba

Instructions

• Bring fresh water to a boil.
• Steep butterfly pea flowers for 5-7 minutes in hot water.
• Strain the tea into a clean serving glass and add sugar. Stir until dissolved.
• Add ice.
• Blend 3 heaped tablespoons of pomegranate seeds in a blender. Strain the juice using a cheesecloth. Pour it into tea.
• Add lime juice.
• Add popping boba pearls.

The post Butterfly Pea Tea Boba with Lychee Popping Pearls – Super Refreshing! appeared first on All That Tea.

Safflower has its own story to tell.

What is safflower?

Safflower or Carthamus tinctorius L. is a small flowering plant from the daisy botanical family. It has a beautiful yellow, orange or red colour that looks incredibly beautiful in tea blends. It’s much more popular and used in Eastern countries than it’s in the West.

This flower is grown in over 60 countries, with India and China being some of the largest producers. It’s used mostly for making safflower oil, as a dye, flavouring, and as an herbal medicine (1).

You have probably heard of safflower before. Maybe you haven’t used it on its own, but it was undoubtedly a part of some tea blend you tried. In fact, safflower is one of the most popular and the most common floral ingredients in tea blends today. You will easily recognise it by small needle like intense orange-red petals. At first, it may seem like this tea is not doing much in a tea blend except making it look pretty.

But safflower has an appealing flavour and many potential benefits that make this flower more than just a beautiful addition to a tea blend.

Since petals are edible, you can also use them for decorating desserts, cookies and other dishes.

Is safflower the same as saffron?

If you aren’t familiar with both saffron and safflower, these two flowers may look very similar. However, if you take a closer look, you will immediately see the difference. Saffron (spice) is made from dried a dried stigma of the saffron flower, not from the petals. It will always look like a long, dark and intense red thread. In fact, saffron flowers are purple, not red.

Safflower is sometimes called a fake saffron or bastard saffron, and can be used as a spice too, as a replacement for saffron. However, it’s made from whole petals and while they also have a needle-like shape, they don’t look like threads. Besides, saffron is very strong and aromatic, and safflower is much lighter. Their flavour profile and scents are different too. Saffron has a beautiful complex and intense scent, while the scent of safflower may not be as inviting, although it’s strong as well. It has a much stronger herbal note that’s closer to floral teas than it is to spices.  

And last, saffron is one of the most expensive spices. Thankfully, you will only need a tiny amount to add lots of flavour and colour to your tea. With safflower, you’ll need to add much more to achieve a strong flavour. However, it’s also much more affordable.

Safflower health benefits

Safflower may provide many potential health benefits. Surprisingly, it shares many of them with saffron, even though they are two completely different plants.

This unique flower is used as a home remedy for treating anxiety and depression. (2) It may provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties and improve cognitive function in Alzheimer’s disease. Seeds may provide benefits too, such as improving osteoporosis (3) and they are mostly used for making safflower oil, not the tea. However, it’s important to note that more studies are needed to confirm safflower’s potential. One of the primary uses besides helping with anxiety and depression is promoting blood circulation (4).

Safflower side-effects

Since safflower may act as a blood thinner, avoid it if you are taking blood thinners and similar medicine.

Interestingly, saffron may provide the same benefits – help with anxiety and depression and could have the same blood thinning side-effects as safflower. Avoid both of them during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

In rare cases, there’s also a possibility of an allergic reaction. If you are allergic to daisies or chrysanthemums, which belong to the same botanical family as safflower, you may be allergic to safflower too.

Can you make tea with safflower?

Absolutely! Both petals and seeds are edible, but it’s the petals that are used for making the tea. You can make a pure safflower herbal tea or blend it with other ingredients. This flower is great for making caffeine-free floral iced tea too.

Safflower tea is easy to make. You will need a freshly boiled water, an infuser or a disposable paper filter, and a cup. If you are using a teapot, choose the one with a removable fine-mesh strainer as safflower petals may be tiny and could easily slip through.

How to make safflower tea?

To make safflower tea, you will need pure dried petals and hot water. Bring fresh water to a boil and steep one teaspoon of dried flowers in a cup of water for 5 minutes. Strain and serve. This tea doesn’t need any condiments, but goes well with a teaspoon of honey. You can serve it hot or iced, both will taste delicious.

It blends well with:

• chamomile, another calming and soothing flower with sweet flavour
• rooibos tea, caffeine-free herbal tea with sweet and earthy flavour
• orange, try brewing it with fresh or dried orange slices
• green tea, usually slightly stronger teas

What is safflower tea good for?

How much you can benefit from any herbal and real tea will depend on many factors, including the quality of the tea, the way you make it, how you store it, what you consume it with, etc.

While it’s difficult to control all these factors, you can choose how you store the tea and how you are making it. If you are looking to enjoy the benefits of one herb, then pure tea may often be a better option than blends. Teas blended with only a few safflower petals will not provide strong (or any) benefits. With most blends, you likely don’t need to worry about side-effects either. However, some blends have more than just a few dried petals.

Pure safflower tea may be extremely refreshing. It’s great for slow sipping too. When introducing any new herb into your diet, it’s important to do it slowly, especially if you are drinking it purely for its potential benefits. In that case, always consult your doctor and make an informed decision.

What does safflower tea taste like?

Safflower tea is very easy to drink. The flavour is slightly floral and sweet, without any heavy or bitter notes. It has the honey-like sweetness of chamomile tea, with light aromatic saffron-like notes. Flavour is different from the scent, which may appear overpowering, so don’t let that prevent you from trying it. It doesn’t need any sweeteners or condiments either. This tea will taste great even when it cools down, so you don’t need to worry about drinking it immediately.

A very light and non-intrusive flavour make it a brilliant choice for many tea drinkers, even if you are very specific about which flavours you like. If you love chamomile, you’ll love this tea too.

Which condiments to add?

Safflower tea is not bitter. However, if you want to add some condiments, try honey. Honey is a wonderful choice for floral teas. You can serve safflower tea with a splash of milk too or use it for making floral lattes.  

Does safflower tea have caffeine?

No, this tea is caffeine free. However, since it’s often used in different tea blends, check the list of ingredients to see if any of them contain caffeine. If you are using pure safflower tea, you don’t need to worry about the caffeine content. This tea is suitable for any time of the day.

You can blend it with other calming herbs, such as hop flower and chamomile.

Final thoughts

With a beautiful orange-red colour, safflower is one of the prettiest edible flowers in the world. It’s also one of the prettiest ingredients for tea blending. But these flowers are much more than just pretty – they taste absolutely delicious and may provide antianxiety properties too.

Sources

(1) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/244486074_Safflower_Carthamus_tinctorius_L

(2) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8853973/

(3) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7344433/

(4) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7344433/

The post Safflower – a very common, but mostly unknown ingredient in tea blends appeared first on All That Tea.

Sometimes, a classic lemon tea is just not enough. Here are the ultimate lemon desserts tea blends you can buy online.

11 Tea Blends Inspired by Lemon Desserts

1. Lemon Curd

You simply can’t go wrong with lemon curd. It’s creamy, has an irresistible lemon scent and flavour, and it’s super versatile. You can use it for making desserts or simply spread it on a slice of bread or scones. Fortnum & Mason knows everything about lemon curd, and about tea too. This blend is a real liquid version of a proper, super delicious lemon curd, blended with gentle green tea, white hibiscus, liquorice root, lemon peel and lemon curd flavouring.

Price: 6.95 GBP

Caffeine: Yes

Type: green tea blend

Where to buy: Fortnum and Mason website

2. Lemon Meringue

Inspired by a lemon meringue pie, this powdered tea latte is anything but a typical tea. It’s blended with herbal ingredients with adaptogenic properties – maca, ashwagandha and turmeric, plus lemon peel. It’s easy to make, can be prepared with or without milk, and even used for making your own sweet lemon treats with benefits.

Tasted – Read more about Lemon Meringue tea

Price: from 5.99 GBP

Caffeine: No

Type: herbal powder blend

Where to buy: Tea and the Gang Amazon store

3. Lemon Waffle

There are waffles, and there are lemon waffles. And then, there’s a lemon waffle tea with such an incredible buttery and lemony notes and proper sweetness, it will quite easily become your favourite type of liquid waffle ever. This herbal blend is caffeine free, looks pretty and cheerful, and contains apple and pineapple pieces, lemon verbena, caramel cubes, lemon granules, sweet blackberry leaves and marigold blossoms.

Tasted – Read more about Lemon Waffle tea

Price: from 2.95 GBP

Caffeine: No

Type: herbal tea blend

Where to buy: BRUU website

4. Lemon Pound Cake

Lemon pound cake is a simple cake with a long history and irresistible buttery and lemony flavour. This lemon cake tea blend is made with organic ingredients – green rooibos, an herbal tea with both flavour profile and benefits similar to green tea (minus the caffeine and astringency), marshmallow root, lemon peel and natural flavours.

Price: from 3.00 USD

Caffeine: No

Type: herbal tea blend

Where to buy: Dominion Tea website

5. Lemon Drizzle Cake

Lemon drizzle cake is a pound cake with an addition of a lemon drizzle glaze. Having a sweet buttery flavour and even more zestiness, this classic dessert is one of the most beloved tea time treats ever. This lemon drizzle cake inspired tea blend is as fresh as it gets. It’s blended with smooth Chinese green tea and a range of lemony flavours – lemongrass, lemon verbena, and lemon pieces.  

Price: from 3.00 GBP

Caffeine: No

Type: herbal tea blend

Where to buy: Rosie Lea Tea Etsy shop

6. Lemon Biscotti

Popular Italian crunchy cookies undeniably go well with tea, especially if they are sweet, decadent and zesty. A tea blend inspired by this classic Italian treat features super interesting ingredients blended to give the same distinctive sweet, biscuity and zesty taste – bold black tea base, currants, lemon, tangerine, lemongrass, moringa and blackberry leaves.  

Price: from 1.54 USD

Caffeine: Yes

Type: black tea blend

Where to buy: The Tea Club website

7. Lemon Cheesecake

A list of lemon treats would not be complete without a proper lemon cheesecake. This sweet and zesty blend contains a whole range of naturally sweet and zesty ingredients, including the rare white hibiscus flower, lemon myrtle, lemon peel, sweet liquorice root and – hazelnut.

 Price: from 10.00 CAD

Caffeine: No

Type: herbal tea blend

Where to buy: HotCups Canada website

8. Lemon Sorbetti

Sorbetti or sorbetto, an icy Italian treat, served as an inspiration for an award-winning blend with a 100% lemon soul. This refreshing, crisp green tea is combined with distinctive lemony and fresh organic ingredients – lemon myrtle, lemon verbena, lemongrass and lemon peel, all rounded up a with natural lemon flavour.

Price: from 18.00 USD

Caffeine: Yes

Type: green tea blend

Where to buy: Tea Forte website

9. Lemon Pie

A classic lemon pie is a simpler version of a lemon meringue pie, with the same delicious flavour, minus the meringue. This lemon desserts inspired tea is a blend of fresh, zesty and sweet ingredients – green tea, vanilla, lemon and crème flavour, sprinkled with adorable lemon sprinkles.

 Price: from 8.85 USD

Caffeine: No

Type: green tea blend

Where to buy: Tea Loves You website

10.  Lemon Sherbet

Sherbet, a frozen dairy dessert, tastes absolutely delightful when made with real lemons. It served as an inspiration for a fruity blend of sweet and sour ingredients – apple pieces, rosehips, lemongrass, orange peel and calendula petals finished with a natural flavouring. 100% caffeine free and 100% sugar free and great for making summer iced teas and icy treats.

Price: from 3.50 GBP

Caffeine: No

Type: fruit tea blend

Where to buy: Bird & Blend website

11.  Glazed Lemon Loaf

Dessert teas are more often available as loose tea, rather than tea bags. There are exceptions, though. If tea brewing is something you don’t want to spend too much time on, but still want to enjoy liquified lemon desserts, Glazed Lemon Loaf may be the one. It’s blended with green rooibos tea, liquorice root, calming chamomile, rose petals, apples, orange peel and ginger and it’s caffeine free.

Price: from 3.78 USD

Caffeine: No

Type: herbal tea blend

Where to buy: Explore options on Tazo website or buy on Amazon

The post 11 Teas Inspired by Lemon Desserts appeared first on All That Tea.

What is ginger tea?

Ginger tea is an infusion made with fresh or dried ginger rhizome (Zingiber officinale). Ginger is one of the most commonly used spices and herbal remedies around the world. It gives festive notes to Christmas cookies, warming note to Indian chai, and delicious aroma to many Asian dishes. Pickled ginger is used as a palate cleaner when eating sushi, and candied ginger is sold as a snack and as an herbal remedy for treating nausea. Reducing nausea may be one of the most known potential benefits of ginger, but there are many other benefits this amazing root has to offer.

What are benefits of ginger tea?

Ginger may offer many potential health benefits. The most important compounds in ginger are gingerols, paradols, shogaols and zingerone, and all of them are responsible for the unique pungent flavour (1).  

Just like with every other ingredient and tea, benefits will depend on how it was processed. The most commonly available types of ginger are fresh ginger, ginger powder and dried ginger, which may be processed further. The unprocessed fresh ginger has the highest content of gingerols, while dried ginger is higher in shogaols and zingerone (2). How much these ingredients influence the taste is clear when making a tea from either fresh or dried ginger – one will be spicier, fresher and more complex, while the other will be milder, spicy, but less pungent.  

The most common use of ginger is to reduce nausea and vomiting, especially since it’s safe to consume in pregnancy (3) and during chemotherapy (4). Other benefits include treating arthritis (5), cancer prevention (6) and reducing blood sugar levels, especially dried ginger (7). In winter, ginger, lemon and honey tea is often used for reducing symptoms of common cold and flu and for calming cough (8).

5 ways of making ginger tea

Ginger tea is easy to make at home, and there are different methods to use. You may enjoy the benefits regardless which method or type of ginger you choose.

1. Dried ginger

The easiest way of making ginger tea is with dried ginger. Dried ginger is available as a whole root, in slices and in smaller chunks. Dried ginger will be easy to strain, will give a clear infusion and it will be less pungent than tea made with fresh ginger. Another benefit of making tea with dry ginger pieces is that you can easily blend it with other ingredients – black, green and white tea, or tisanes such as dry mint, chamomile flowers or dried berries to create your own tea blend. Drying methods will have a different effect on compounds in ginger and make it more or less potent (9). However, all types will contain beneficial compounds. Try not to use ginger that’s been stored for long, as the potential health benefits will decrease over time (10).

2. Fresh ginger

The best and the most aromatic way of making ginger tea is with fresh ginger. It will be more pungent and spicier than dried ginger, but light and refreshing at the same time, too. If you want to make pure ginger tea, this method may be the best choice. It requires some peeling, cutting and steeping or simmering, so it’s also the most time-consuming. Use about 2.5 cm (1 inch) of ginger root per cup of water, peeled and cut into thin slices. You can either steep it in boiling water for about 10 minutes or simmer it.

3. Ginger juice

A great way to add fresh ginger to any tea is to juice the ginger first, then add it to steeped tea. Pure concentrated ginger juice is quite strong and spicy, and a great way to add both the benefits and a peppery warm note to your tea. If you don’t have a juicer, simply peel the ginger first, grate it, and squeeze out the juice using a cheesecloth or a gauze swab. Even 1 teaspoon will add a lot of flavour, so add it carefully.

4. Ginger powder

If neither dried nor fresh ginger is available where you live, you can make tea using ginger powder as well. However, this method is creating a concoction, rather than infusion. Powder is very difficult to strain, so it’s best used for lattes and creamy drinks, rather than making a clear tea. Use about 2 teaspoons of ginger powder per cup of water and steep or simmer in boiling water. You can blend it with other powders too, such as cinnamon or nutmeg. If you have a fine mesh strainer or a cheesecloth, strain it after 5 minutes.

5. Ginger paste

Using ginger paste is both convenient and easy way of making tea. Since ginger pastes are usually intended for cooking, choose those without ingredients such as oil or garlic. You can also make your own ginger paste and store it in the fridge. Use 2 teaspoon of paste per cup of boiling water, let it steep for 5-10 minutes and strain.

Sources:

(1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3665023/

(2) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10942912.2015.1084633

(3) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7019938/

(4) https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/ginger-benefits

(5) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11710709/

(6) https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/22/12/6599

(7) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4277626/

(8) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1044579X19302135

(9) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4571220/

(10) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665927121000630

The post How to make ginger tea? 5 Methods to Try appeared first on All That Tea.