Camellia Sinensis Blossoms

I have been looking for the Camellia Sinensis blossoms for a long time.  I can not find them anywhere!!  I have looked on line, at tea shops, on Amazon, all over.  And I finally found them on Etsy.  The bag of blossoms was 5.64 and only $2.51 to ship from Australia.  It took over a month to get, but I was okay with that.

Camellia sinensis is a species of evergreen shrubs or small trees in the flowering plant family whose leaves and leaf buds are used to produce tea.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/478079331/camellia-blossom-tea-rare-100-australian?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=camellia+sinensis&ref=sc_gallery-1-2&plkey=4bf2e594a0135ae7617292bf1576b9279588760e%3A478079331&cns=1

The blossoms are super pretty.  I am looking forward to making a tea out of it too.

I had a glass locket I wanted to add the blossoms too.  I also found a sweet little tea pot to add to the chain. And I even found a little "K" to add to the locket.

This is the tea plant.  This one plant produces black tea, purple tea, green tea, white tea, oolong tea, yellow tea and pu-erh teas. That is incredible to me.  But, it is all about where it is grown, when it is plucked, how it is dried, etc.

Virtual Tea Party

A friend from work, said he had a daughter who enjoyed tea.  I was trying to get him to come over for tea- knowing he couldn't, since he lives far away. So, we decided to have a virtual tea party.   They live in a different state, but with technology today being far away does not matter.

I got my giant Moose, Martin, my tea and tea set and got ready to drink tea with my little friend.

I mailed her some tea.

I sent her these three teas.  Her mom made the teas and then she taste tested them while we were on the phone together.

I sent her all herbal (which means no caffeine).  The peach tea was to be added to ice water for iced tea.  The herbal with chunks of fruit, and then the chrysanthemum was an instant tea from Malaysia. 

I even got "semi" dressed up for the tea party.  Her dad said she got dressed up too and had her mom do her hair before the phone call.  

She asked me about each tea and then she tried them.  Her favorite was the chrysanthemum, which is funny, because she was not excited about the flower tea when I first told her about it.

She was excited to add cream to one of the teas as well as sugar.  

She sang me three songs- my favorite was My Eye is on the Sparrow- she rocked it!  She also sang the B-I-B-L-E and Jesus Loves Me.  

She also showed me her stuffed animals, her dog Daisy.  She told me about Noah and the Ark.  She even read me stories from the Bible.

She is adorable!!  It was so fun to drink tea with her!!  We said we would have to do it again sometime soon.

As you can see it sometimes takes just a little effort to make someones day.  I hope in this time that you are looking for ways, no matter how small they are, to brighten someones day.  A simple phone call, a card in the mail, some flowers on their porch, or even a virtual tea party.  Take the time today to reach out to someone.

Find joy and give joy!

Ohio Tea Company, Peach Matcha

I got some Ohio Tea Company Peach Matcha.  I decided to try to make a latte.  I am not a big matcha fan, but I know it is really good for you, so it was hot out....I figured it was a good time to make one.

https://www.ohioteaco.com/Peach-Matcha_p_622.html

I also got this fun matcha bowl at Ohio Tea Company too. 

I poured the matcha in the bowl and added just a little warm water, just enough to dissolve the matcha.  I heated the water to 180.  I then whisked the matcha until smooth. 

I then added almond milk to the bowl and whisked it all together.

When I tried it I got the peach flavor, but it was still really matcha tasting, so I added a couple squirts of vanilla syrup to give some sweetness.

https://matchasource.com/health-benefits-of-matcha-tea/

"What are the Health Benefits of Matcha Tea?

One serving of matcha tea is the nutritional equivalent of 10 cups of regularly brewed green tea

When you drink matcha you ingest the entire leaf and receive 100% of the nutrients of the leaf   

Matcha powdered green tea has 137 times more antioxidants than regularly brewed green tea."

Some health benefits:

High in antioxidants 
Protects the Liver
Boosts metabolism 
Burns calories naturally
Helps prevent Cancer
Protects the Heart
Calms the mind 
Relaxes the body
Boosts mood 
Helps with Focus
Provides vitamin C, selenium, chromium, zinc and magnesium
Lowers cholesterol and blood sugar

Draw Backs, May cause:

May cause stomach upset
Can cause constipation
Other side effects are common with overuse
Caffeine may cause insomnia

This is really refreshing.  Maybe next time I will blend the ice and give it a more smoothie flavor.

My neighbors came over.  Capri came over with a thank you note for the Mango Bubble tea for her birthday.  I made Aubry a peach matcha latte with some coconut milk.

These girls are adorable!  I love their mom and I am excited that they are my neighbors and I hope that they come for tea again.

You are never too young to get into tea.

https://www.ohioteaco.com/Peach-Matcha_p_622.html

Working on my Matcha puzzle.  

We all used to do puzzles with my grandma when we were growing up.  The only rule my grandma had, "You look at the picture before you start the puzzle, but you don't get to look at it again."  Grandma would then hide the lid and we would have to finish the puzzle by memory.   I still do puzzles that way to this day.

I am stumped here!!!

 all these remaining pieces look the same.

But, I am getting there....

I finally finished it!!

Adagio - Almond Oolong

https://www.adagio.com/oolong/almond_oolong.html

From the website. "Combining savory almond with the bright, fruity-floral taste of Taiwanese oolong tea, our Almond Oolong is great on its own, as well as the perfect dessert complement. Smooth, clean and unroasted almond nutty aroma. Full, rounded body and sweet marzipan flavor. The only question now is, is it ok to have two desserts in one evening?"

Adagio has great teas, and you can get a sample that serves 5 cups for $2.00 this is a wonderful way to try there teas and see what you like.

I love almond and I love oolong tea.  Oolong has more caffeine than green tea, but less that black tea.  You want your water to be less than 200 degrees.  You will steep for about 3 minutes and you can get two cups out of one serving. 

Oolong tea pairs really nicely with Asian food.

The almond oolong is really good.  It has really nice almond flavor. It does not have the rolled oolong leaves that you sometimes see, but tit does have the brown more twiggy look.  The tea flavor is really good.  If I were to drink this tea alone, without food I may add milk.  But, drinking this with Chinese food I drank it with nothing added.   I really enjoyed it!

I am excited that my local Chinese restaurant, Ming Hing, is open!  I love their steamed dumplings and Curry Chicken.   I had enough for two meals.  Their food is so delicious!!  And I loved it paired with the almond oolong tea. 

02/10/2021

Still enjoying Almond Oolong

When I make tea in the french press, I put the tea above the press so that I can lift the press when the tea is done steeping, that way I don't over steep it.  Or I put the loose leaf tea a tea bag to steep.

Enjoying a few cups at work.  I put the tea in the tea bag and then on top of the press and added water.

I love the sweet almond flavor of this tea. This does not have the typical Oolong flavor I am used too, but I still really like it.