A simple pleasure…
A cup of tea is a simple pleasure. Fragrant steam enlivens the room while you sip warm delicious flavors of many kinds. Even the experience of making tea is a kind of calming pleasurable ritual. Putting on the water with the wooshes, clicks, and clinks offers a kind of cozy ASMR experience. Adding the loose leaf tea to a filter or opening a bag packet releases the first notes of the fruity, malty, herbal, floral, or spiced aroma. You breath in calm as you prepare the cup or the teapot. Once your tea is in hand you’re graced with a little intercession between the regular and mundane world and a world of charm and marvelous delights.
Winter tea blends pop into the stores around November, and by January it’s usually pretty easy to capitalize on some great sales on leftover inventories. I’ve discovered some flavors I love by experimenting with on-sale bagged tea. Even better, look up teashops in your local area and take a little detour to go browse their seasonal selections. Loose leaf teas nearly always make for a better, more fragrant cup, and you’re more likely to find something unique stocked at teashop. Bagged and boxed teas tend to be subject to trends, whereas local businesses or even teashop chains may offer proprietary blends. In the teashops it’s possible to find blends that have special ingredients like dried fruit or spices. A knowledgeable proprietor can also help you pick out teas that might be good for health or other effects like alertness or relaxation. My tip: ask for their winter blends.
Blending tea…
Another option for winter tea is to blend your own. Have you ever passed by an herbal medicine or Chinese medicine shop? If you peek in the windows you may see large opaque labeled containers lining shelves. Typically these containers hold dried roots, leaves, seeds, mushrooms, and other plant parts. It can feel a bit intimidating, like stepping into a potion supply store. There are usually many shelves of possible ingredients. I find it best to plan for a visit to an herbal supply shop similarly to the bulk food section at the grocery store. You generally need to have a list of items you want to buy and some approximate volumes.
As for the blends themselves, it’s a bit of a creative process. There are numerous online resources which can direct you on proportions and mixes, but I find it’s best to know what sort of tea you want first, identify the key ingredients to achieve that sort of tea, and then add extra bits as desired. For example, I often want a refreshing tea. For me this means peppermint as a key ingredient. I might add other ingredients like dried orange or hibiscus or vanilla bean if I want a more complex flavor. For calm, chamomile is my key ingredient. For digestive support, I like ginger. For detoxing, dandelion root and nettle root are often recommended, but I like them both in other ways: nettle after a meal for a cleansing feeling and dandelion as a caffeine alternative because it has a dark bitter rich flavor. Of course, you can find bagged teas with just the ingredients I mentioned, but tea is almost always better with the dried or fresh roots and leaves instead and it’s easier to add flavors using loose leaf (or root, etc.) options. You can also adjust the concentration of the tea if it is loose.
Keep in mind that fresh ingredients can be used in teas (or infusions) as well. Fresh peppermint leaves are amazing for a delicious tea. Fresh fruit and berries can add citrus, tartness, sweetness, and even somewhat floral flavors. Raid your spice cupboard too. Add whole cloves or nutmeg to black tea for a wintery flavor. Ginger and turmeric root can be added to a pot of water to make spicey teas that are delicious by themselves or that can be enhanced into a chai blend with added black tea and cinnamon bark. I love to sweeten beverages, including tea, with dried fruit like raisons and figs. It’s a subtle sweetness that’s very nice without becoming a dessert.
It’s so much fun to experiment with teas. Even if your blend doesn’t turn out great for sipping it will probably scent your home fabulously for yourself and guests to enjoy.
To choose a type of tea to blend, I would suggest looking up tea recipes with the following kinds of categories:
- Immune Support
- Sleep/Calm/De-stress
- Detox/Kidney Support/Liver Support/Blood Cleansing/Thyroid Support/Hormone Support
- Ailments (i.e., list the ailment you would like the tea to support, such as acne, fatigue, or inflammation)
- Recovery/Soreness/Muscle Relaxing
- Energy/Brain Function
- Happiness
Or try one of the recipes listed here as a starting point: https://www.feastingathome.com/herbal-tea-recipes/
Cleansing, detoxing, and dieting…
‘Tis the season for calorie counting, detoxing, and cleanses. Teas and herbal infusions offer untold and understated benefits in these processes. Tea is hydrating. It can deliver medicinal support. It’s warming. It’s low or no calories to consume. And it’s a wonderful experience to share with others. Have someone over for tea this winter! Invite them in and serve them a cup of calm, a cup of friendship, a cup of coziness. They will love you for it!
Cozy amplification…
Finally, to amply your cozy tea sipping experience, try to winter ambience from my post on winter ambience or this Quiet Medieval Winter video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7LboIeQN3c
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