Snowed in, it's a chai latte kind of day

Expecting lots of snow what more do you need then a giant cup of tea!

I wasn't going anywhere because of all the snow we were getting this weekend.  I decided to make myself a giant cup of peppermint chai with cold foam.

I was making about 5 cups of chai, so I scooped out 5 t of loose leaf chai and steeped in about 2 cups of hot water, over 200 degrees for 5 minutes.



I then added 3 cups of oat milk to the cup with some ice.
Yes, it is freezing and snowing out and I am making an ice chai...don't judge.


I then took whipping cream and frothed it with some peppermint syrup.


I then poured the cold foam on top of the chai mixture.


Lastly I added some crushed candy canes on top.


This is so easy and delicious to make.
Get creative and use different teas for your lattes.
Add different syrups to your cold foams.
Try some hot and some cold.
Create your own favorite drink!









 

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Harney & Sons Christmas Teas- Holidays, Celebrations, and Winter White Earl Grey


I was after Christmas shopping at World Market.  While there I discovered 3 Harney & Sons Tea that were holidays tea and thus were 50%!

Finding teas on sale is super great time to try teas!

https://www.harney.com/collections/all-loose-tea

I am a big fan of Harney & Sons, if you follow me, you already knew this, lol.

Earl Grey is also my favorite.  The first one here is a Winter White Earl Grey.


This is a Chinese Mutan white tea with bergamot oils, and natural flavoring

I love to make iced tea at work.  If I use tea bags I will take 5-6 tea bags (I am not making a gallons worth)  and steep them for 10 minutes* using the appropriate temperature.  Since this is a white tea, I don't let my water get over 175 degrees.    I may add a little sugar- less than 1/3 C.

*No matter if it is a black, white, green, purple, oolong, pu-erh, yellow, purple, mate, or herbal tea I steep an iced tea for 10 minutes.



I also found Celebration and Holiday tea.
They were great as well.

Celebration Tea:
Black tea, apricot pieces, passion plum flavor, apricot flavor, blue cornflowers, hazelnut flavor, cinnamon spice flavor. Contains natural flavors.


Holiday Tea:
Black tea, cloves, almond flavor, orange flavor, vanilla flavor, safflowers, three types of cinnamon, orange pieces. Contains natural flavors.

I think that this holiday one was my favorite of the three.  The Winter White Earl Grey was a very close second though.


And a year or two ago I discovered White Christmas.  It is a really great white tea too.

White tea, cardamom, white chamomile, almond flavor, vanilla flavor, and cardamom flavor. Contains natural flavors.



Here is more on making a gallon of iced tea.



Making a gallon of iced tea at home.  I always have 2-3 gallons in my fridge at one time. 
 If I use tea bags I will take 8 tea bags for a gallon  and steep them for 10 minutes* using the appropriate temperature.  Since this is a white tea, I don't let my water get over 175 degrees.    I may add a little sugar- around 1/3 C.

*No matter if it is a black, white, green, purple, oolong, pu-erh, yellow, purple, mate, or herbal tea I steep an iced tea for 10 minutes.

Water temp is so important!!  You don't want to bruise the delicate tea leaves.




Once steeped for 10 minutes I strain the tea in the gallon pitcher.  I then fill the remaining pitcher with water and put in the fridge.








 

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Fortnum & Mason Advent Tea Calendar

When I led the tour around England I was gifted this incredible Fortnum & Mason Tea Advent Calendar.  I was incredibly grateful and very stunned.

I took it home and I amazed myself that I waited until December to open it.

https://www.fortnumandmason.com/tea/all-teas


Day 1 was this silver plated tea diffuser, sells alone in the US for $86.00!!!
The individual tea tins sell for around $28.00 US a piece.
The entire advent calendar sold for close to $200.  I am so touched!!


Days 2-25 were full of amazing loose leaf teas.

I have been enjoying them ... and will continue to enjoy them for the rest of the year.



I even used the Earl Grey to make a cheesecake like dessert!  Yogurt, Earl Grey, and tea cookies!



Fortnum & Mason was my favorite of the 7 afternoon teas I did in my 7 days in England.  Everything was top notch!!



The food was delicious!! And it was endless, we could keep ordering if we wanted more of something.


The flying cups on the wall were really fun looking.



I enjoyed the glam of Fortnum's!


The gals who got me the advent calendar also bought me the tea ornament!!!

I bought my self a $5 box of truffles that came in the blue bag below...thinking this would be my ornament for the tree.  Now I have a few reminders of that special day.








Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 

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Hot Pots Crafts in Alliance, Teacup Mosaic

My sisters and I try to do something together at Christmas time instead of giving gifts.

Last year we went to lunch and then did Stan Hewitt and we also did an afternoon tea together.
The year before that we blew glass in Cleveland and made ornaments.
This year was lunch and mosaics.


We went to Hot Pots in Alliance and we loved it!!!!
We so wish this was closer!!!
They have so many kinds of crafts and things to do.  You can also have parties here and bring in your own food.

https://hotpotspottery.com/

We wanted something we could do in a day, since it was about an hour drive to get there.
We decided on mosaics.

It was a bit overwhelming looking at all the options...then I saw a giant teacup.


You select your wooden base and the price is on the back.  
The price includes everything- the glass, the glue, and the grout.

The glass to select from is a bit overwhelming too. 


Did I take on too much?
Did I spend too much?
Maybe!

It took over an hour to complete and I spent $60.  Gulp!!
I figured we usually go out and spend more, so I had budgeted $80 for the day....
Plus, I didn't really like any of the smaller things and I figured if I was going to do a mosaic, I wanted it to be something I really wanted.
And I have to say, I really do like it!!


We each selected our items and then had to laugh, we each matched our item.
I was a purple teacup, my older sister was a teal bird, and my younger sister was a green turtle.


I was laying it all out and then realized that took too long.  I ended up gluing as I went. 
They also give you snippers and you can cut the glass to different shapes or just make them smaller.  I appreciated this, as I did not want all my shapes to be the same.


You can see all the other crafts you can do.
Pottery painting, glass fusion, candle making, wood decor, glitter tumblers, a splash room, and then what we did the mosaics.




FINALLY!!
It is all glued.  Now I can take it home and grout it there.


See how we match our mosaics?


They sent us all home with white grout and black tint.  We could tint the grout as dark as we wanted.  I went for a grey tint.  My sister went with a brown grout...there are other options.


Grouting was the easy process, cleaning it took awhile. 
I wish they had had small teacup...for one reason I would not have spent $60, the other it would not have taken so long.

We were all thrilled the way they turned out.
I just need to figure where mine will go until I get my tea shop.









 

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