How is it that you enjoy your night time tea? Do you enjoy a cup of herbal in the quiet after the kids go to bed? Do you sip a cup during the nightly news? I take mine out to the front porch and sip my tea while I drink in the night. Listening to the night sounds of suburbia, Killdeers winging through the dark... Sometimes watching a bat fly in and out of the streetlight catchng insects.
Other times I sit quietly with prayer beads in hand and ask the Universe to help plot my course to contentment, pray for the end of suffering and war... or pray for things closer to home and my heart... or I simply give thanks for the blessings I have.
These are prayer beads I made for a friend fighting breat cancer.
Do you have a night time ritual invovling tea?
Tags: Honeybush, Tisane, Tea Culture, Japanese Tea, Chinese Tea, Chai, Pu-erh Tea, Rooibos Tea, Blooming Tea, Green Tea, White Tea, Black Tea, Oolong Tea, Darjeeling Tea
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If you're like me, you drink tea at all hours of the day... right up until (and sometimes past) bedtime. This post is about one of those nights... I love to sit outside, while drinking my favorite cup (or pot in this case) of decaf or herbal, in the summer when the night bloomers are active and take in the aroma of night blooming jasmine... Some orchids, too, only emit their lovely fragrances at night. One of my favorite night time specticals is the opening of my night blooming Epiphylum cactus flowers.
It starts out like this...
Then begins to open...
As the bloom grows larger...
You can literally watch it move and open...
When it is fully open, it resembles an angel with glowing white skirts...
There are diiferent varieties... Some that grow upright, like thick trees with many blooms at once. There are several of these blooming now in my neighborhood. Mine is a vine with flat segments...
When I was a child, we had one that had segments shaped like a triangle that grew into the top of a pine tree in our back yard. We would use a strong flashlight to watch it bloom... There was so much of it up there, we had nearly a hundred blooms in one night... I have friends that have a viewing party when theirs is about to bloom. Maybe next time, I'll have a Blooming Tea Party and serve a blooming tea in honor of it!
Is there something you love to do while enjoying your night time tea?
One of my favorite herbal teas is Chrysanthemum tea. This fragrant tea is reported to have many medicinal values in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Most notably, within TCM, it is claimed that Chrysanthemum tea can help support the immune system, and help keep your body from getting sick. Studies suggest that chrysanthemums contain a high amount of B Carotene. This is converted to Vitamin A in the liver, which can help support the immune system. Drinking the tea is also claimed to have a cooling effect, reducing body temperatures during a fever and soothing a sore throat.
After drinking the tea, if the flowers are squeezed of excess moisture, they can be applied as a compress to help alleviate itchy, dry eyes and TCM uses these compresses to also treat blurry eyes, dizziness and diminished vision. A chrysanthemum compress can also be applied to the skin to help reduce swelling and redness from acne.
I personally drink this herbal tea daily and can say that I feel that the claimed health benefits seem to be factual. As with any form of medicine, do your own research before giving it a try. If you decide you'd like to, California Tea House offers a chrysanthemum blooming tea that you can try called Peri Flower.
Blooming tea is a visually enticing experience. Hand rolled, tea leaves are bundled up together with various flowers into many different shapes. Not only is blooming tea easy to prepare, its dancing leaves will draw center of attention to any summer party.
Ingredients:
1. One blooming or flowering tea ball
2. Filtered water
3. Medium to large see-through teapot
Directions:
Bring the filtered water to an almost boil (about 170 degrees). Pour the hot water into the clear teapot containing the blooming tea ball. Watch the tea ball unravel into a flowery design. Steep for at least 15 minutes. Pour liquid into a teacup and drink. Add sweetener if desired.
Tips:
Blooming tea is typically made of Silver Needle white tea. Silver needle can be steeped for a longer period than green or black for added flavor without tasting bitter. However, once steeped to desired taste, remove liquid from bloom for later use. In addition, fruit preserves are highly recommended as sweeteners rather than sugar. These can be purchased at your local ethnic grocery store. Some great combinations are rose petal preserves or date preserves.
In Southern California the coastal fog rolls in off the ocean on and off throughout June and is known as 'June Gloom' due to the unexpected overcast days after the excitement of Spring and Summer have arrived.
To try and cheer up the gloomy month we bring you 'JUNE BLOOM' and are giving out a FREE Blooming tea with every order. During checkout write the name of the Blooming Tea of your choice in the comments section and we'll include it in your order at no cost. If you don't have a preference, we will pick a beautiful Blooming Tea for you.
