Saturday, January 26, 2013

Tea exchange III


A lot of lovely teas in this round of tea exchange. I have received a great selection:

  • Christmas bells (dried apple, prunes, rosehip, organic hibiscus, cardamom, orange peel, coconut, cherry, clove, blue mallow flowers)
  • Magic Aloe (rooibos, peonies, pineapple, lemon, organic mint, orange peel, flavors, greater burdock and great mullein flowers)
  • Irish Cream (Ceylon tea, chocolate and Irish Cream flavor)
  • Marzipan tea (black marzipan-flavored tea)
  • Istanbul tea, containing dried apples and lemongrass 
  • Alpen tea
I liked the Istanbul tea best because it was so fruity and refreshing.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Travel wishes

I started this year with a fascinating trip to India, but my travel curiosity did not stop there. I made a list of couple of places I want to visit in near future. If not this year, then in the next three years.



I would like to visit

  • Helsinki
  • St. Petersburg 
  • Baltic capitas: Tallin, Riga and Vilnius
  • Athens
  • Istanbul
  • Cairo
  • Tokyo
  • Jordan

Which places would you like to visit this year?

Tea exchange II



Green tea cookies


I made these last week as a present for a friend. The recipe can be found here, although I used stevia instead of sugar. It is assumed that stevia is 20 times sweeter than sugar, so instead of using half a cup sugar, I used 3/4 tablespoon of stevia.





Friday, January 18, 2013

Looking for a new mug


I am looking for a new mug. Here are my favorites so far. 



1 & 2  | 3 & 4 | 5 | 6 & 7 | 8

Thursday, January 17, 2013

New teas in

This month I travelled to India and decided to treat myself with (what else than) several Indian teas.

Some of them were bought in the marketplace: Assam, White and Green. They are packed in foil bags. Unfortunately, the sellers were not able to explain much about these teas. I have tasted only the white tea, which did not disappoint. The leaves are nicely curled and unbroken. I need to play with the amount of tea per cup of water to reach the optimal taste. The tea I made last evening was a bit too strong.

Some of the teas are supermarket finds and the special place among them is reserved for the organic Tulsi Chai Masala. I bought it even before learning about what tulsi is and after finding out I feel even better about the buy.


Tusli is a Hindi word that means Holy Basil. This is a sacred plant for Hindus with several beneficial properties attributed to it. In Ayurvedic medicine, it is known as the elixir of life as it is believed that it balances different processes in the body, increases the adaptability to stress and acts antiseptically.

I really liked the Tulsi Chai. It has the black tea as a base and it contains all the usual Chai spices, such as cardamom and cloves. The spices in combination with tulsi result in a strong, kind of a peppery taste that leaves me feeling energized. I drink it as it is, without adding milk or sugar.


I also tried the Organic Green Tea from the tin and loved it. It has a rich green tea flavor and the coloration is very light.

I also bought Indian Masala Chai and Darjeeling packed in two types of lovely wooden boxes. I suspect that in this case, the producer might have wanted to put the emphasis on the package, not the contents, but I won't be able to tell more before trying the teas.


Sunday, January 13, 2013

Tea supplies

This is Martha Stewart's drawer for tea supplies. Very nice!



Found here.