That other stuff in our tea
So what adornments do you like to put in your teas?
My standard things to try are:
milk, sugar, honey, maple syrup (cuz my mum in law makes it), whiskey, rum, minty simple syrup, lemony simple syrup, orange rind, cinnamon, and whole black pepper kernels.
My default, except for chai, is plain. For chai it’s milk- no sweetener, sometimes creamer… but sometimes completely plain. Although ROT has a chai honey I wanna try. A drizzle of maple sugar in my maple sugar black. I don’t drink herbals solo so you can consider them adornments- especially when it comes to matcha. You can also consider chai spice mix (sans tea) an adornment for me because I love mixing them w/ several teas. That way I can get the flavored chai I want in the tea/spice ratio I like. And I occasionally make tea cocktails and smoothTEAs as well as use alternative steeping liquid like coffee (which I do at least weekly) and apple juce during fall/winter. In the summer I make unsweetened tea lemonade by adding lemon juice to my iced tea.
Hmm. I guess I might have started by indicating that I always try new teas without adornments first, and only experiment later.
Ditto. I’m really getting into authentically preparing tea, as in drinking as the locals do. But sweetening chai is just something my teeth aren’t letting me do. My tastebuds don’t really object, my teeth do because they feel like their rotting. Someone suggested brown sugar so I’m gonna try that.
Not a darn thing. It’s very, very rare that I put something in my tea. If I do, it’s almost always honey.
i always try my tea unsweetened first. but i 95% of the time add sugar. i do sometimes use honey but im out right now :( i usually get it at the MD Renascence faire from the bee folks booth (http://www.beefolks.com/) and only in my cinnamon tea do i add cream or milk
OMG, I didn’t know the Bee Folks had a web site! I love them! :-) I always visit them in the spring at Marching Through Time.
they are so awesome!! they have the coolest honey. my fiancee makes mead so we have one of the 80$ buckets of their butter bean.
Silk Soy Creamer, maple syrup, coconut cream, and you have just inspired me to try harissa in tea. Perhaps Lapsang Souchong and Harissa would make an inspiring combination. Or Harissa and chai.
I’m fascinated by the idea of trying liquors in teas, but that is likely not going to happen. :(
Black pepper! In—-teresting! What tea do you use for a base? I’m thinking that’s worth some experimentation.
I had a blend tea that I didn’t much like, I think it was Russian Trader or something. I mean it was a good black tea and all, somewhere in the 70s (rating, not decade). And just for Ss and Gs I dropped a few kernals in the press. This was after having some spiced coffee that also had black pepper corns in it. It came out okay, I suppose I might have warmed up the corns in a pan first to get that oil running…
Hmmm…I have some keemun at home that might be peppercorn friendly…and a little extra time on my hands this evening…
It worked … made some Keemun Encore (Adagio) this morning and tossed in maybe a half teaspoon of mixed red/white/black peppercorns … gave it just a bit of a sweet kick.
9 out of 10 times, I don’t add anything. If I do it’s milk, honey or cane sugar, but that’s mostly if it’s either been oversteeped or if there’s something in the flavour that I think might benefit from it. Sometimes with a flavoured tea I’ve found that a pinch of cane sugar can bring the flavour out more.
Other times I get inspired for some more unusual experiments, like enhancing a vanilla tea with a bit of vanilla sugar, or adding chili to a chocolate tea (in theory. Went about it all wrong and the result was disastrous)
Perhaps chocolate tea and harissa. I think that would make a nice combination. I’ll let you know about my harissa/tea experiments.
I don’t know what harissa is? (But it sounds like a great female name in a fantasy story!)
It is a Moroccan pepper paste made of chili peppers, bell peppers, salt, tomato, olive oil and preserved lemons. It is quite delicious. I think it would combine with chocolate or savory teas perfectly. Here’s the harissa I use:
So sort of like salsa, then? I can’t really imagine salsa in tea. I’m not sure I could make myself do that. Do let us know how your experiment works out. :D
Not like salsa at all. It’s a very thick smooth paste. I’ll let you know what I think.
It’s a recipe ingredient. Not something to eat on its own. So it looks a lot like Thai curry pastes used in cooking, just a little chunkier. I know that it has oil in it, but you can’t really taste or see it.
How do you have hummus without chickpeas? In my family hummus is made by grinding chickpeas into a slurry and adding garlic and olive oil (and occasionally a sprinkle of paprika.) Without chickpeas there is nothing but garlic powder, lemon juice, and oil.
@Carolyn, I’m not sure- I was just trying to get a grasp on the the texture of what you were talking about, I’m VERY texture oriented.
OK. It took me a while to think this through. Eventually I had to go home and look at it. It is the consistency of fruit preserves (like marmalade or blueberry jam).
Haha thanks for humoring me Carolyn:) Ya know, for as weird as I am about texture (I think of it as similar to my tongue being autistic), I’m shocked I love matcha so much.
I have a nasty cold and am gonna put a bit of rum in a hot toddTEA later.
This thread (a great one! I’m thrilled w/ the response!) is a broader view of this one
http://steepster.com/discuss/39-you-put-what-in-your-tea let’s incorporate this into the discussion. For those of you that didn’t post there, what are your thoughts?
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