Thursday, January 26, 2017

Tea Time, New Year's Resolution


I have a confession.  I love tea. I am a "teaholic" so I am making a (late) New Year's Day Resolution.

A few years ago I read on a prepper website about the upcoming (date unknown) apocalypse and everyone must be prepared.  So I jumped on the bandwagon.  I need to be prepared also!  So I checked their provision list.

1.  Water - check - I have well water with solar power on nonexistent sunny days.
2.  Beans- check - I can grow more beans than we can eat or that I can shell.
3.  Rice - check - I bought a 25-pound bag.  Yep.  That will last us a long time.
4.  Important individual food preferences - that would be coffee, tea, and chocolate, not necessarily in that order.  It might be chocolate, coffee then tea.  Or it could be chocolate, chocolate coffee and then chocolate tea...anyway, I prepared for the end of the world.   This is my secret stash.

I told myself it was ok to buy this much since I got everything on sale with coupons, or on clearance.  Plus, tea never goes bad.  It lasts forever.


A bit over the top.  I know.  So the next problem was how to store and drink all of this tea.  Making up my mind which tea I am in the mood for is difficult.  Making up my mind on anything is difficult, plus my mood changes daily.  I  also relish slowly digging through the pile.

This is the plan I devised so I would not look so obsessive.  I cut the front off of each box, put it and the tea into a plastic bag which cut down on needed storage space.  Also, it is easy to reseal them since they are being stored for the apocalypse after all and must last.  The basket on the right is for teas that are individually wrapped.


The baskets fit nicely into the empty spot between the microwave and the cabinets.  This way they are available within easy reach while I am waiting for the water to boil.


So what is my New Year's Day Resolution?

1.  Get organized - nope - already done that, well, at least my teas are straight.  Notice I did not show you my closets.
2.  Buy less tea - nope - who can resist a good sale when you have a coupon, and this is for the END OF THE WORLD.
3.  Buy different teas - nope - I don't think there are any out there I haven't bought yet.

My resolution will be to find new teas by growing them in my garden or learning to forage.  I live in the country, surely there is something edible in all those weeds around my house.  I will share my successes and failures which, hopefully, does not include food poison, with people on my blog.  Yes, I will survive.


16 comments:

  1. As I read, Jeannie, your garden is very large. Mine is a lot smaller. Nevertheless I grow quite a few herbs for tea in it and that is very worthwhile. You have them on hand in summer and they are dried for use in winter. You don´t even need a dehydrator, a sieve is okay. We have 2 kinds of peppermint, lemon balm, thyme and sage. And some plant, whose English name I do not know (Zitronenverbene)Many herbs become wild, like camomile and peppermint. Teas, that are bought in supermarkets often have artificial flavors added. So when I need a special tea I buy it in best quality in a pharmacy. It is pure than and controlled.
    Greetings from a cold place in Germany (it was minus 4 Celsius, would be about 14 degrees in Fahrenheit, I think.)
    Christel

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    Replies
    1. Christel, I googled "Zitronenverbene" and the translation said "Lemon Verbena". Is that it? I don't have that one growing. Do you like it? Does it taste good? Is it a good medicine? Do you use thyme and sage in teas? I have seen them used in cooking. How do you use them?

      I have peppermint growing in my garden also but I just don't think about going out and picking it. I am going to do better.

      I did not know grocery stores added artificial flavors! Ugh! I am trying to eat healthy but it seems to be impossible unless I grow it myself.

      Which do you like the best? What do you recommend I plant?

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  2. You're my long lost twin! My tea cupboard overflows and I keep a canister full next to the kettle on the counter. I'd love to have a place to grow herbs for teas.

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  3. Yes, Jeannie, this is lemon verbena (aloysia citrodora) and it is my favorite. Unfortunately it is sensitive to frost and so in our climate can only grow in summer or in a pot you put indoor in winter.
    I buy a new plant (3€) in spring and it grows very quickly. A nice bush it is . Such a wonderful lemon aroma, like candies. Very well liked in France. For tea and for cosmetics. (French: verveine) Thyme and sage (salvia officinalis) are used in the kitchen (bouquet garni)
    and for teas. Sage is good when there are problems with common colds.
    We use sage to gurgle with. But the infusion should be well warm otherwise it has a bitter taste. Both plants are not sensitive and good stand-bys in a garden. When you want to dry herbs (e.g. peppermint), collect them before they start to bloom. And they should be dry. (Not after rain)By the way, I wrote about artificial flavors in teas. Of course I do not know bout products in the US. Could be different there. The table of contents on the package will tell.
    I would like to send a picture about herbs to your e-mail adress,
    if you don´t mind. Will name it "herbs".
    Temperatures are rising, sun is shining, so we are looking forward to the week end.
    Christel

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    Replies
    1. I will be ordering a lemon verbena plant this year. This I must plant and learn to use.

      Using sage to treat a common cold is something I have never heard of but I am going to add it to my medical list. Searching for herbs that heal has become important to me since our medical service here in the US has severely deteriorated in the past few years. Hopefully, it is about to turn around.

      Since I have cut the back off of all my tea boxes, I went downstairs to my pantry and checked the ingredient lists. You are right, some of the boxes list "flavor added". What is that? Why is it there? Why do you need to flavor tea? Some brands had it and others did not. I don't like that.

      Yes! Send me pictures! Send lots of pictures! I want to see everything!

      Delete
    2. Yeah, I found out about the flavors and things when I started checking every label due to allergies with the kids. The worst, I found, was Bigelow. They actually add soy to pad out cheap, sub-par tea. Irritating.

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    3. That was what I noticed on Bigelow and had no idea what or why soy was listed on the ingredients. It made no sense, now it does. No more Bigelow, even when on sale and with coupons.

      Delete
  4. Hi Jeannie,

    You can also dry raspberry leaves, blackberry leaves and if you have strawberries when you hull the tops they can be dried for strawberry tea. Also red clover can be dried for tea and has some medicinal attributes. I like my teas, however I stash coffee. Dorothy

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    Replies
    1. I have wild blackberries growing in the fence row. Right now there are no leaves. I have never tried making tea with them. Neither have I used the strawberry tops to make tea. There are wild strawberry plants invading my flowers. Should I drink them instead of weeding them? I do have white clover growing in the yard which the wild rabbits love. Red clover is planted in the fields as a cover crop around here. Is there a difference in the white and red clover, other than the color of course, I wonder? I see some big adventures for me out into my yard. These I have got to try! Oh, will spring ever get here.

      By the way Dorothy, I did not show my coffee stash. I fear someone might track me down and break-in. For my coffee and chocolate, I will fight!

      Delete
  5. Are your wild strawberries edible or just the tasteless little berries? I've never dried those. I've never seen white clover tea. It may exist. Red clover is the only clover tea I know of. Try googling it. I have also used dandelion root tea, which is very medicinal but it does come with some warnings. Dorothy

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  6. My wild strawberries are tiny, edible but not much flavor. They are covered in seeds and it takes a while to pick enough to use. They work good as a salad garnish but I would hate to have pick enough for jam.

    I googled red and white clover and there is a difference, medically! Who knew! Oh this is fun.

    There are dandelions everywhere in my yard and I dug them last year and made tea. It was pleasantly good tasting. I need to it again...and take pictures.

    I like this New Year's Resolution! While the weather is cold and dreary, I am going to study and make plans. Keep giving me ideas.

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  7. If you have a sore throat, take some hot water and pour it in a bowl where you have placed some sage and let steep for about 10 minutes or so. Strain. Add some vinegar (I like cider vinegar) and honey to sweeten it (and the honey helps to coat the throat) and gargle the mixture. It works well and tastes a lot better than throat spray.

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    Replies
    1. This is something I am trying the next time I have a sore throat, which I hope is NEVER!

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  8. I love tea and I loved your post :)

    I hope you can stop by:

    http://collettaskitchensink.blogspot.com/2017/01/happy-homemaker-monday-13017.html

    Colletta

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  9. How fun! These resolutions should not be to TEAdious! lol! Thanks for sharing with SYC.
    hugs,
    Jann

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  10. Oh, I might be just that bad at collecting tea! lol Great idea to grow tea. Thanks for sharing at Home Sweet Home!

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