I made a tea advent calendar

I found these advent calendar "bases" last year at Target.  It was the day after Christmas and they were having their big sale and these calendars were .75! I was so excited I bought all the calendars they had.

I had fun giving the calendars away - 2 as thank you gifts , 1 at a tea party, and 1 one on my Facebook page.  I put all kinds of  bagged tea in the calendar.

Use this as a reminder...when you see things on sale scoop them up.  Also use your imagination and be creative.  I am sure these were not meant for tea bags, but I think they turned out pretty good.  You never know what you will find and what you can turn it in to.  

Show me your creative items.  What have item have you repurposed into something else.

I looked on line at Target and I could not find it this year.  But, I am sure if you do some hunting and be creative you might find something that may work for tea bags.

Homemade Pumpkin purée with Ohio Tea Salty Caramel Tea

**POST NUMBER 1,815**

That is a lot of posts since I started in 2013.  Thanks for sticking with me as I have fun tasting and blogging about teas.

I wanted to make my own homemade pumpkin puree.  I had tasted several pumpkin chai teas with real pumpkin puree in it and it totally elevated the tea!

I did some research on line and it seemed pretty simple. 

I took my pumpkin and cut it in half.

Once cut in half I scooped out the pumpkin seeds.  Once the pumpkin is cut in half, it is so much easier to scoop out the seeds.  When carving the pumpkin and cut a hole in the top and you have to stick your hand in the pumpkin to dig out the seeds- it is not as easy.

(side note- I did see if you have cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin to carve it, you can put a hand held blender inside the pumpkin it appears to make getting the seeds out a lot easier)

Once the seeds were out.  I rubbed the outside of the pumpkin with coconut oil and salt.

I put the open side down on parchment paper and put the pumpkins in my air fryer for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

While baking the house smelled amazing!!!  I love the smell of pumpkin!!

The insides scooped out so easily!!

I took some warming spices- all spice, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice and mixed in the blender.  I also then added some pumpkin spice maple syrup.

I did not measure the spices, I just added and went by the flavor as I blended.

The puree was incredible!  I could have just eaten the puree by the spoonful.

The puree can be frozen too.

I then made tea like I normally would, but then added the puree into the tea.  Oh boy!!!  It was delicious, it took it to the next level!

1 scoop of Salty Caramel Pumpkin tea.  I had the water over 200 degrees since it was a black tea.  I also then steep for 5 minutes.

Once the tea is done steeping, I added a spoonful of puree.  I stirred it in and it dissolved nicely.

The taste was fantastic!!!  It just boosted that pumpkin flavor.  I can not wait to try with chai teas and other black teas.

Joe Muggs - Tea of Requirement

On a VERY windy Saturday I headed out to do a little shopping.  In Canton, there is Books a Million book store, and inside that store is Joe Muggs.  A cute little cafe.

https://www.booksamillion.com/joemuggs

I have never been to Joe Muggs, but was excited to try one of their fun teas...they had several to pick from.  The store was not too busy, so I had a chance to talk to the staff, they were super friendly and helpful.

I went for the Tea of Requirement- I had never heard of it before.  But, it appears to be a Harry Potter reference. 

The flavors on this tea were great.  I loved the almond with the vanilla- it had a warming and comforting feel.  The prices are great too!!  You can't really find anywhere that has a large foo foo drink for under $5.  To get a 20 oz chai for $4.75 is practically unheard of.  It is probably a good thing that I don't live closer to Canton...I would be here once a week!!!

This tea gets 5 tea cups from me.  Flavor is on point, staff was friendly, price was great, and cafe was clean.

This may have been my first time here, but it won't be my last.

Christmas Tea Party, I am looking forward to hosting your next party

I’ve got some really fun Christmas tea dishes if you’d like to have a tea and have me bring the dishes for your party.

I can bring the cups and saucers for $10.  I can also bring the salad plates for an additional $10.  I can bring one or the other or both….or none.

Let me know if you’d like to have a tea.  I’ve got some  great Christmas teas too.  

Vanilla Mint Chai- a black tea, Ho Ho Hoji Chai- green tea, Peppermint Sticks- a black tea, Noel Christmas- a black tea, Winter Wonderland- rooibos tea, Mulled Cider Tea- herbal tea, and more!

I’m happy to work with you and customize the tea for your wants.  It’s can be as educational as you’d like.  

Here are some fun plate options for a Christmas tea.

Let me know if you are interested, I am happy to go over options for tea party.

Smith Tea, Ho Ho Hoji Chai

I am hosting a Christmas Tea at an Inn in December....so, I was testing out some Christmas teas.  My friend, Amy, at work is always up for trying the teas I make.

She's so good about it, I got us these matching mugs, lol.  I got one for our friend Deb too.  We love our cats and our tea too.

This is a green roasted tea, something new and different for me.

I am a huge fan of Smith Tea.  I actually met Steve Smith once while doing a tea tasting at his shop in Portland.  He drank Fez tea with my sister, her friend, and myself.  It was a huge moment for us.

This is a green tea, so you want to keep the water temp to around 175-180 degrees.  You also don't steep as long as you would a black tea.  I steep for about 3 minutes.

https://www.smithtea.com/products/ho-ho-hoji-chai?variant=40170170876039

This is a unique green tea, but I really enjoyed it!!  It has some of those chai notes with the cardamom, Cassia (or better known as cinnamon), peppercorns, and ginger- hence it has chai in the name, lol.  But, the chocolate notes definitely give it the Christmas feel.   The roasted Japanese tea is not something I am too familiar with, but I do really enjoy it in this tea.  The roasted tea adds a honey and woodsy flavor.

I am serving this at my Christmas tea, I look forward to hearing what others think about it!

Ohio Tea at Smells like Snow Coffee festival

A warm Saturday and I wanted to get out a bit.  I decided to head to down town Akron for coffee festival.  I know, it sounds odd for me- but I heard that there would be some tea vendors there.  And I knew Ohio Tea would be there.

Scheduled to be there---Bereka Coffee & Kitchen, Beanhead Brothers, Humble Mornings Coffee Company, Ohio Tea Company, The Pearl Coffee Company & Muggswigz

I hate to drive, but I need to work on those driving fears, so I put on my big girl panties and did it.  The drive there was not bad at all, but then I went from Akron to Canton- and that was not as much fun.  There were lots more exits and vehicles to navigate around- but I did it!!

https://www.ohioteaco.com/

Not only was this a coffee festival, but was also a Gilmore Girls festival.  I loved the Gilmore Girls, so I enjoyed all the fun Gilmore Girls items around the park.

https://www.downtownakron.com/event/smells-like-snow-coffee-festival

There were lots of people out and about.  The lines were long, so I only went to Ohio Tea for tea.  The other lines had over 50 people in them.  I just enjoyed some people watching.

The Ohio Tea booth was fun.  They had their new Tea t-shirts- which of course I purchased one.  I also bought some tea.  I needed some anyway for the Christmas tea I doing in December.

They has a few teas you could sample.  Salty Caramel Pumpkin is one of my favorites, they had that one and the Hot Cinnamon there as hot teas.  Then they also had a cold iced tea to taste.

They had a free photo booth there too.  

I then did pop over Ohio Tea in Canton to pick up the rest of the teas I needed.  I have two Christmas teas coming up in December and I wanted to be sure I had their Winter Wonderland, Vanilla Mint Chai, and Peppermint Sticks.  If you have not tried any of those tea, I highly recommend them!

You can always get a sample tea if you sign up for the Ohio Tea newsletter.  And you can get free shipping on tea, if shipped to the US.  If  you try Ohio Tea you will not be disappointed.  You will quickly learn why Ohio Tea has become my all time favorite tea company.