We just had our first real snow storm of the season! It always creates a special buzz in our house. With this definite sign that winter’s on the way, I get particularly excited for everything that a new season brings, and last night my mind was on this drink.
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Have you gotten a matcha latte at the local coffee shop and loved it? Want to skip the lines and make your own matcha drinks at home? We’ve rounded up two delicious drinks and one dessert option, and as you’ll see, we’re not purists. These are our favorite delicious and simple uses for matcha powder.
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We love boba tea! Have you tried it? The boba, or bubbles, are made of large tapioca pearls, usually a dark color due to caramel coloring. You can add them to any drink for a bit of chewy texture, but we’re purists and always have ours with tea.
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This all started with my love of shamrock shakes. I definitely don’t drink as many of those as I should. So, when I walked into a cafe near Saint Patrick’s Day and they had a “shamrock latte special” I just gave them my money.
Continue readingIt’s flower season!
Edible flowers are such a beautiful and tasty ingredient. Below is a roundup of past posts that highlighted the use of flowers in the kitchen.
Chive Blossom Fritters (look at that bee bum!)
Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Icing & Rose Petals
I’m pretty sure I’ve mastered homemade kombucha, and I’m sharing my new favorite recipe below. Follow our instructions and you’ll create a nice citrus-flavored kombucha with a light floral aroma. yay!
To review, the true definition of a tea is any drink made by brewing the leaves from Camilla sinensis. As we discuss in this post, there are many varieties of teas. They differ based upon the type and quality of the tea leaves and how they were processed after being harvested. My understanding is that everything else, would be an herbal tea, and thereby considered a tisane.
And now, let’s turn to the fiery ginger tisanes. They are lovely any time of year, but particularly perfect during the long cold winter months. They’ll warm you up from the inside out and may even help to sooth some of those nasty winter blahs.
When writing posts like this, I would love to tell you all of the claims made about an ingredient or exercise, but the scientist in me can’t bear to make a claim without citing the primary literature… so I’ll just leave it at this, I believe that some cultures and practices carry with them an ancient wisdom.
In Ayurvedic medicine, ginger is believed to be a “universal great medicine” and an Indian proverb says that “everything good is found in ginger”.
Pictured in this post are two ginger tisanes that I love. Ginger Soother by Ginger People can be opened and drunk hot or cold. I always drink it cold and usually on the go. It’s delicious and not too fiery if you’re still warming up to ginger (puns!).
My other go-to are the dehydrated honey ginger crystals in single serving pouches by Prince of Peace. I’ve found them in grocery stores, Asian markets, and online. I always drink this one hot – just boil water and pour of the crystals – it creates an immediate ginger tisane that has a bit more of a ginger kick than the Ginger Soother. These are awesome because they’re easy to pack for camping and other travel.
If you’re looking for a new habit this winter, start drinking a mug of ginger tisane in the evenings (and definitely during your Monday meditations). xo
Kombucha seems to be a drink that can divide a crowd. People either love it or hate it. Sarah and I are strongly in the love camp! I drank my first bottle about a decade ago, knowing nothing about it, but being drawn in by the cute bottle (and wanting to taste anything named “Wonder Drink”!). The flavor of that first bottle was odd, yet addicting, and ever since I’ve loved trying new flavors and brand.
Fast forward all these years, imagine my delight when I was biking down the bike path in Boulder and sidewalk chalk signs pointing me toward’s Rowdy Mermaid‘s kombucha taproom! During Sarah’s first visit to Boulder, we stopped in to sample the goods. Fast forward a year, and during another of Sarah’s visits, we were introduced to Upstart Kombucha while walking down Pearl Street. We’re partial to Upstart’s rose bud variety, but will take any bottle in a pinch! Needless to say, kombucha culture (haha!) is going strong here in Boulder. We’re lucky to have some many local brands at our fingertips and love them all! Even so, we couldn’t help but get in on the DIY kombucha craze, and the nudge to do so came when our mama gave us this book for Christmas.
The internet is full of information about kombucha, including many sites and youtube videos that walk you through the process of making a batch at home. Consider this post an introduction to kombucha and a starter brewing guide. If you have questions and/or comments, please get in touch!
Bubble, or boba-milk, tea was always one of my favorite treats when I’d pass through Chinatown while going to school in Philly. Although, admittedly, in those days I would usually substitute coffee for the tea, but a theme’s a theme, so we’re talking tea today.
Have you had a cup of bubble tea yet? What do you think? Have you seen it and just wondered what the heck was going on with those gelatinous black balls and the extra-large straws?
Today we’re here to provide a warning : tea-infused vodka may be an acquired taste… and we haven’t quite acquired it yet, but we’re trying (I’m drinking some as I type!). On a scale of 1 to 10, we’re giving this one an “ehh”.
So, the idea is simple, take some vodka, add some tea, let it sit, then strain, and then make a cocktail. But for how simple it is, and for how much we love tea and vodka, somehow we aren’t loving the results. And this isn’t some crazy idea schemed up by us, Absolut sells a tea-flavored vodka!
