Honesty and Morocco

It may seem like I enjoy ALL teas on this site. After all, I haven't posted a bad review or anything... Not true. I don't like green tea. I dislike the vegetal, grassy taste and the bitterness that ensues if my timer doesn't go off while I'm steeping it (which it always does—it's a passive-aggressive timer that only alerts me when I'm brewing something that can be oversteeped like rooibos or white tea).

However, I DO love Moroccan Mint green tea, which is named so apparently because Moroccans like green tea with mint (as if no one else does). In fact, this was the first tea I ever truly enjoyed without having to put a ton of sugar into it. Honest Tea, in fact, way back in 2002 before they were bought by Coca-Cola. It's great tea and so far is the only brand I've found that sells actual tea, not sugar water with tea in it (although their new offerings keep getting sweeter and sweeter). On an unrelated note, I really miss their Kashmiri Chai. It was about the only chai tea I liked cold. And boy, was it good... Anyway, I still love their Moroccan Mint tea, although the formula has changed several times since I first drank it. They've switched between cane juice and honey as sweetener, China green tea and gunpowder green tea, and proportions. It's a bit fuller flavored these days, which is fine.

But it costs $6.00 for half a gallon, and in summer I will drink that half-gallon in a day or two. So for a few years now I've been trying to replicate their formula. It doesn't help that they keep changing it, but I've found one that works pretty well. The directions below are for a gallon batch, so adjust according to your needs. You should probably have a very large infuser for this. The dry material shouldn't take up more than half the space in it or your tea will suffer.

My ingredients are:

1 gallon of distilled water (I never actually use distilled water, but I bet if I did it'd be awesome)
6 heaping tablespoons of green tea (actual tablespoons, not the official measure)
4 tsp. peppermint leaf
2 tsp. spearmint leaf
3/4 tsp. lemon juice
6 tbsp. (the official measure, not actual tablespoons) honey


I usually do two infusions for a total of two gallons of tea: one for 3 minutes, and the second for 5 or more. You don't want boiling water, as this is green tea, and the second batch WILL be much lighter than the first, so halve your lemon juice for that one or it'll be more citrusy than minty or green tea-y.

I usually use Dragonwell green tea, but I've gotten good results with Sencha and Gyokuro as well. Stay away from the gunpowder green tea. It is inferior. My last batch used Adagio's Emerald Needle green tea—the tea smells divine and tastes pretty good on its own for a green tea. With the mint it tastes a bit fruity. Maybe too much so.

Also, try substituting lime juice for lemon juice. It tastes less like the Honest Tea version I've tried to copy, but it's very good. You can also just use citric acid if you want, but you'll need such a small amount and every time I try I invariably fuck it up and make the tea way too acidic.

Anyway, once you have it steeped, it should keep in your fridge for a couple weeks at least. I've never had a batch go bad on me within that time frame (or ever, actually, because they don't typically last past that timeframe).


I don't actually like this version hot very much. I prefer straight peppermint leaf with my green tea when I have hot Moroccan Mint. But you can drink it however you please.

Honeybush Tea

I've been on a big rooibos and honeybush kick lately, as sleep is important in my life, and sleeping is about the only thing tea won't help you with.

Now, I've known about rooibos for a long time. Honeybush, however, I've only found out about more recently.

Honeybush from Adagio tea—as you can see I've already used most of it

Honeybush is often lumped in with rooibos when you go to buy it. It brews a similar color, the dried plant looks like a coarser version of rooibos, and it even tastes somewhat similar. In addition, from what I've found online, it's even somewhat similar chemically, containing many antioxidants (but not aspalathin—that is unique to rooibos) and grows in South Africa as well. Unlike rooibos, however, it is not cultivated, so if you drink honeybush tea, you're drinking wildharvested tisane, not something grown on a plantation. This has its benefits (no pesticides) and its drawbacks (no quality control), which I won't get into here.

Like it's name implies, honeybush tastes sweet. Sweeter than rooibos. You don't need to add any sweetener to it—it tastes like it already has a small dollop of honey in it. And like rooibos, it's slightly fruity and tangy. I prefer it, taste-wise, to rooibos.

Basically, the same rules apply to honeybush as they do to rooibos: steep for a long time, drink as much as you want, expect to become immortal, etc. Just bear in mind that you'll pay a premium for honeybush tea over rooibos because it's rarer.

Rooibos

A few years ago (right around the yerba mate craze, I believe) there was another tea alternative that rose to prominence, with all sorts of lofty and baseless claims: rooibos. Also known as "red tea," it has nothing to do with real tea. It's a plant that grows in South Africa and brews a dark amber cup with a slightly sweet, tangy, fruity taste.

Jasmine rooibos tea from Adagio teas—good stuff

I'm not going to knock it. Some sources claim it has more antioxidants than green tea. This may be true or it may not be—rooibos does have a bunch of antioxidants, including one unique to it: aspalathin. Not much research has been performed on rooibos so this may not matter at all—not all antioxidants are equal, and the ones in rooibos may not interact with the human body in the same way as those found in tea. Still, rooibos is caffeine free, tastes good, and studies have shown it IS good for you (if nothing else, it contains several vitamins and minerals, including potassium and magnesium), so you may as well drink it if you like it.

I myself drink it most nights. In addition to having no caffeine, rooibos also acts as a mild sedative. For an insomniac like myself this makes it all the more attractive. Hell, it's nice to have at work, too—helps me deal with all the stress, although some people react more strongly to it and may be a little more sedated than they'd wish.

Rooibos has an extremely low tannin content, so it won't get bitter if you steep it for a long time. In fact, I recommend you steep it for upwards of ten minutes. It pairs well with flavors, too—try a good chaibos (that's chai made with rooibos) and you'll think it's black magic.

Rooibos steeped for 8 minutes

Interestingly, rooibos is also of use in cosmetic products. Like green tea, rooibos helps protect and heal the skin when applied topically, and acts as a mild sunscreen. If you make your own lotions or soaps, give it a try instead of or in addition to green tea. Just remember it'll impart a reddish hue onto whatever you make.

Devil's Brew

I'm up late, I'm tired, and I still have shit to do before class tomorrow. However can I stay up late enough to finish this term paper without crashing on caffeine mere hours later?

I know! Devil's Brew™!

Here's the plan: come spring time, I'm going to go out and harvest some tender Devil's Club (Oplopanax horridus) shoots and possibly roots, dry them, mix with yerba mate (I know I just published a post on the horrors of it but I'm still doing it) and dried blueberries (also harvested locally), and then enjoy.

But why Devil's Club, you ask? Why sir, let me enlighten you! Devil's Club is also sometimes called "Alaska Ginseng." You see where this is going. Devil's Club is related to the American Ginseng plant and has been used medicinally by Native Americans for quite some time. Supposedly it enhances mental clarity/ability and acts as a stimulant like ginseng is supposed to, though in reality Devil's Club hasn't been proven to do so. Still, there's no harm in trying, and it HAS been show to be effective in treating diabetes.

And why blueberries? Because Devil's Club tastes like shit.




I hope to post on a variety of local infusions and concoctions this summer, as I intend to harvest everything from nagoonberries to fireweed leaves. Being able to go out and harvest uniquely Alaskan (or west coast) plants and fruits is pretty neat—I'm able to create many things you could never find in a store. The above idea I've had milling around in my head for a while, but you can't use the Devil's Club shoots after that initial tender stage where the spines aren't hard yet, and I dropped the ball on getting them last spring. This spring will be different, but for now I need to sleep. No Devil's Brew for me (or term paper, thank goodness).

All About Mate (Yerba)

Man, I haven't posted in nearly 6 months. Kinda pathetic, eh? I'd make up some excuse about school and work keeping me too busy, but honestly it's just that I'm lazy. And maybe a little busy with work and school. I'm going to try to post semi-regularly again, but no guarantees (and CERTAINLY no set schedule!).

Anyway, a few years ago a drink called "yerba mate" burst into the mainstream and was touted as a miracle drink, with people claiming it provided a super-duper energy burst (with no ill effects) and that it was better for you than even green tea. I haven't seen it around so much lately, but many are still a little confused about how it stacks up to tea. I'll attempt to illuminate the world (or at least my readers--if any of you are left) below.





Yerba mate is a plant that grows in South America and is drunk in most of the countries there. I personally don't like it, as it tastes very vegetable-like and sort of grassy like green tea, but some people like that kind of thing. It's actually pretty nutritious and contains a lot of vitamins and minerals, as well as antioxidants and such (though just about EVERY plant contains antioxidants--antioxidants serve to protect the plant from the sun's rays). And because the people in South America are clearly still alive, mate can't be poisonous or toxic or anything.

Even more compelling is the fact that while yerba mate does contain a form of caffeine, it acts differently in the human body. It stimulates without making you jittery, as it affects muscle tissue moreso than the nervous system (which is what coffee and tea affects).

However, as far as containing more antioxidants than green tea (or more effective ones), mate falls short. It's good for you, but it's not green tea. I don't know how it stacks up to rooibos or black tea (there doesn't seem to be any literature), but green tea still reigns in that department. Also, yerba mate has been connected with several forms of cancer, including oral, esophageal, stomach, bladder, and lung cancers. There isn't any conclusive evidence to show that it actually causes these cancers, but I'd recommend enjoying it in moderation or abstaining completely from it until there's more data.



Other resources:

http://pixiemate.com/mate-studies.html
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/yerba-mate/AN01774

The Teaness...

So about a week ago I went on over to Adagio Teas and bought myself $130 worth of tea, most of it in samples. I just got them in today—all 28 varieties of tea plus a free sample of Lung Ching (Dragonwell). I can't comment on all the teas as I only tried five of them tonight, but I will say this: the canisters they come in are REALLY cool. I love them. The prices are very reasonable as well, especially since the Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearl tea I had was, quite simply, some of the best tea I have ever, ever had. Seriously. This tea is amazing, and they're not paying me to say that or anything. I'll post a proper review once that post-orgasmic glow wears off (it's only been a couple hours), but I don't know if I'll be able to type straight with more of that stuff in me.

Sweeteners

What kind of sweetener you use in your tea (if any) can be a very important decision. Generally, you only want a touch of sweetener in your tea to bring out the flavor and soften any bitterness that may be present. An exception to this is chai tea, as you may need somewhat more to bring out the flavor of all the spices.

Still, there are many sweeteners out there and they can greatly affect your beverage.

White sugar is, of course, the sweetener most people are familiar with. It doesn't really do anything to the flavor of your tea beyond making it sweeter. I avoid it, but only because it's refined and processed and all that crap most people don't care about.

Raw sugar will sweeten your tea just the same as white sugar, but it may add a faint molasses taste, and being that it's not processed as much, is marginally better for you than white sugar. Brown sugar is slightly less sweet because it isn't as dense, but it will definitely affect the flavor of your tea.

Honey is a popular sweetener given how much it rocks. It's much better for you than sugar, as it contains minerals, antioxidants, and has antibiotic properties. Raw honey is even better and may help alleviate one's pollen allergies. Once you get into honey, you'll find there are actually many different kinds of honey, but I'll go into that in a later article.

A less popular but totally awesome sweetener is agave nectar. I've seen it come in amber and light varieties—I've only tried the amber, and I love it. It's much runnier than honey, which means it dissolved a hell of a lot easier, and to boot it's also somewhat sweeter than sugar (while honey is slightly less sweet), meaning it takes less to reach your desired sweetness. It's also mostly fructose, which means it has an extremely low glycemic load (the lowest of all non-artificial sweeteners, I believe).

Corn syrup is no good. Avoid it. Molasses I have not tried, but I think it would be too strongly flavored to complement tea well.

Artificial sweeteners are crap and are bad for you. Avoid them.

Use Stevia if you don't want any calories (even though a tiny dollop of honey will only be 5-15 calories). Stevia is actually banned for use as a sweetener in the U.S., but is available as an "herbal supplement." I don't see how that follows, so I can only assume the sugar industry has been giving some government officials pretty sweet deals. Although be forewarned: Stevia's sweetness is a little different than that of sugar's. It's not bad, but it does take some getting used to, as it has a stronger and longer-lasting aftertaste than sugar.


And, of course, you can always just take your tea without any additives, although I prefer just a tiny touch of honey, agave nectar, or raw sugar. Just a small dot on a teaspoon is all.