The Remedy to Chilly Weather: Drink More Hot Tea

In a world where everyone seems to be in a hurry to do something or get somewhere, there's an age-old tradition that offers solace, comfort, and a myriad of health benefits: enjoying a hot cup of tea. This beverage has something to offer everyone from lifelong enthusiasts to newcomers to the world of tea.

• Stress Reduction - There's a reason why a cup of tea is often referred to as "a hug in a mug." The soothing warmth and gentle aroma of hot tea can work wonders for your mental well-being. Tea contains an amino acid called L-theanine, which has been shown to promote relaxation and reduce stress. The ritual of preparing and savoring a cup of hot tea can provide a calming break in a hectic day.
• Improved Digestion -  Many herbal teas, such as peppermint or ginger, are well-known for their digestive benefits. Hot tea can help alleviate digestive discomfort, reduce bloating, and ease indigestion. It's an excellent choice after a heavy meal or when you're feeling a bit under the weather.
• Antioxidant Boost - Hot tea is packed with antioxidants called catechins. These powerful compounds help combat the harmful effects of free radicals in your body, which can reduce the risk of chronic diseases and support overall health. Regular consumption of hot tea may contribute to better long-term well-being.
• Enhanced Hydration - Staying adequately hydrated is essential for maintaining good health, and hot tea can be an enjoyable way to achieve this goal. While water is the ultimate hydrator, tea is a close second. The warm, comforting nature of hot tea can encourage you to consume more fluids, especially during the colder months. However, to reap maximum hydration benefits from tea, make sure that it's herbal or decaf.
• Improved Focus and Mental Clarity - The caffeine in tea, though generally lower than in coffee, provides a gentle pick-me-up that can enhance focus and concentration without the jitters or crashes associated with coffee. Hot tea can be a great choice for those looking to stay alert and productive during the day.
• Variety and Flavor - One of the great pleasures of hot tea is its wide array of flavors and blends. Whether you prefer the robust taste of black tea, the earthy notes of green tea, or the delicate sweetness of herbal infusions, there's a hot tea for every palate. Exploring different types of tea can be an enjoyable journey in itself.

One may purchase loose or bagged tea in any grocery store or bodega, but I have found that the best stuff comes from specialty tea purveyors. 

actually, my all-time fave was Chicory Dickory Dock, now discontinued

I discovered David's Tea on a trip to New York. Pre-COVID, this Canadian tea company had two locations in Manhattan, and I particularly enjoyed visiting the one on Bleecker Street in the West Village. The employees at this narrow storefront were always happy to let me smell any of the dozens of brews available and I rewarded their patience with making multiple purchases. And by multiple, I mean one or two ounces of six to eight teas at a time. While they have a great selection of non-caffeinated teas--which is what drew me to them in the first place--my favorite is their high-caffeine Coffee Pu'erh, which I drink sparingly. Though I am no longer able to browse David's in person, I place regular orders through their website. At this point, I have quite an embarrassing stash of their products on hand.

August Uncommon Tea is another favorite tea purveyor with a beautiful selection of tea varieties with intriguing names like Dolomite, Biarritz, and Cult of Demeter. I don't quite remember how I stumbled upon this company; perhaps it was via one of Facebook's fiendishly on-the-nose target ads. In any case, I ordered several samples and fell in love. August does smoked teas particularly well, and Outlaw, a smoky cherry black tea, is a favorite in this house.

The Whistling Kettle is a company we found recently. I responded to a PR email and was rewarded with a sampler of eight of their fall-oriented teas including Autumn Haze, Apple Cider Donut, Gingerbread Cookie, and Pumpkin Cheesecake. Besides seasonal offerings, WK has the entire rainbow of tea offerings from black, green, and white to red (rooibos) and even purple. They also have tisanes, yerba mate, hemp leaf, and chaga mushroom teas. The Whistling Kettle has many intriguing flavors that I hope to explore and will be adding this company to my regular tea-ordering rotation.

Do you have a favorite tea company that I should know about? Leave a comment!

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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Gluten-free Pumpkin Spicewalla Chai Masala Streusel Muffins

One of the most important things in my kitchen is my collection of herbs and spices. Without them, food would be bland and uninteresting. I have never been brand-loyal--I buy everyday spices that are the most affordable, but once in a while I splash out for a blend that seems too delicious to pass up. I'm always open to trying new things, so I was pretty pleased when Spicewalla offered to send me a selection of their spices to play with. Four were savory blends, but I cracked into the two sweeter items right away. The first thing I did was to make golden milk with their Golden Milk blend (Turmeric, Cinnamon, Ginger, Black pepper, Nutmeg, Roasted Coriander) warm hemp milk, and a dash of maple syrup for sweetness. I like to make a base mixture first, combining a few heaping teaspoons of spices with non-dairy milk to make a very runny paste and keeping that in the fridge. Then when I want a bit of warm golden milk before bedtime, I mix a few spoonsful of the paste into about half a cup of hemp milk and warm it in the microwave, adding a bit of maple for sweetness. (A half cup is plenty, as I don't want to drink too much liquid before going to bed at night.) Spicewalla's blend has all the right elements for a tasty and soothing sweet-savory beverage.

The other spice I used right away was the Chai Masala blend, though not to make chai. (Did you know that since "chai" means tea, saying "chai tea" is like saying "tea tea?") I thought it would be perfect as the spice in some pumpkin muffins. And damn if I wasn't absolutely right! Spicewalla's freshly-ground small-batch blend of ginger, cinnamon, green cardamom, black pepper, clove, and allspice was the perfect seasoning for these ultra-moist muffins. Like pumpkin spice, but with a little bit extra. While plain muffins are nice, muffins topped with streusel are even nicer, texture-wise. I also added chopped walnuts to the batter. Chopped, toasted, pecans or almonds would work as well, or you can omit both the streusel and the nuts. Up to you. 

Did you catch the words "gluten-free" in the title of this post? Since 2019, I've been on a mostly gluten-free diet, which I have found is a big help in losing weight. Sometimes, though, I crave a sweet treat that's not a piece of chocolate (though nothing is wrong with that!), like a cookie, cupcake, or muffin. There are several good gluten-free flour blends on the market, but I am not particularly crazy about the texture of ones that are primarily rice flour; I find it to be gritty. Almond flour makes a tasty wheat flour substitute, but I find that makes things too dense. A combination of GF flour and almond flour is just perfect, and what I used in this recipe. (If you're ok with gluten, you may substitute 1 3/4 all purpose white flour for the GF and almond flours.)

I know, enough talking. Here's the recipe.

Gluten-free Pumpkin Spicewalla Chai Masala Streusel Muffins 

For the muffins:

3 large eggs

1 15-ounce can pumpkin purée

1 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour 

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (optional, only if your flour blend doesn't already include xanthan gum)

3/4 cup finely ground almond flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons Spicewalla Chai Masala spices

1 stick butter, softened

1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts, optional

For the streusel:

1/4 cup Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour

1/4 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon Spicewalla Chai Masala spices

pinch of salt

2 tablespoons butter, melted

To make the muffins:

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease one 12-well or two 6-well standard-size muffin tins.

Whisk together the eggs and pumpkin purée. Set aside.

Whisk together the gluten-free flour (with additional xanthan gum, if needed), almond flour, sugars, baking powder, salt, and Spicewalla Chai Masala spices.

Using a hand or stand mixer, whip the butter until fluffy. Add in the flour mixture and combine until it looks like wet sand. Add the egg/pumpkin mixture a bit at a time, beating well after each addition. The final mixture should be light and fluffy. Stir in the walnuts, if using.

Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, filling each cup to the top. Let the batter rest for 10 minutes.

To make the streusel:

Combine all of the ingredients until it forms crumbs. Sprinkle about a tablespoon onto each muffin, pressing it in so it sticks. 

Bake the streusel-topped muffins for 22 to 25 minutes, until the middle springs back when lightly touched. Let rest for 5 minutes before removing muffins from the pan. 

12 servings

Posted on Minxeats.com.

I received a collection of spices from Spicewalla, including the Chai Masala spices, but I am not being otherwise compensated for this post.

Chai Butterscotch Pudding

The ceviche recipe I posted a few weeks back felt like a great alternate way to use Masala Pop popcorn's Savory Coconut flavor. You know, other than grabbing handfuls out of the bag and stuffing it into my open maw. It's tasty stuff, and pretty different from other flavored popcorns on the market. When we received that sample, we also received two sweet flavors, Caramel Rose and Chai Caramel. The rose is subtle and not overly sweet, sorta kettle-corn-ish, and the chai is a caramel corn with a definite hit of chai spices. I like to create things with food samples, not just hawk them right out, and the first thing I thought of when I tasted the Chai Caramel popcorn, besides a cup of tea, was that it would make either a nice element in a cookie bar crust, or a great topping for a creamy pudding. One infused with the flavors of chai tea.

You can use any chai tea you'd like. I had some David's Tea chocolate chili chai, so I used that to infuse the milk for about half an hour while I walked the dog. (Multitasking!) Once the milk was infused with the chai flavor, I strained out the tea and proceeded to make the butterscotch pudding recipe in this post.

I must say, I was pretty pleased with the result. Depending on the brand of tea you use, the flavor might be a little intense, so you could cut down on the bourbon if you want. Or add more--that's entirely up to you. The popcorn mirrored the flavor of the pudding and added some much-needed texture. I dare say you could also use either of the sweet flavors of the Masala Pop on regular butterscotch pudding, or even vanilla. Possibly even chocolate, if you are so inclined.

Chai Butterscotch Pudding

2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon loose chai tea or 2 tea bags
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided use
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons bourbon
Sea salt

Put the milk and tea in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Turn off the heat, cover the pan, and allow tea to steep in the milk for at least 30 minutes. If you used tea leaves, strain the milk before proceeding, otherwise remove and discard the tea bags.

Melt two tablespoons of the butter with the brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in one cup of the steeped milk. Whisk the cornstarch into the remaining cup of milk and add to the pot. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and stir in the bourbon, the remaining tablespoon of butter, and a big pinch of sea salt. Refrigerate in a covered container until ready to serve, or if you have far more room in your fridge than I do, pour the hot pudding into individual bowls. If you don't like skin on your pudding, press a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding.

When ready to serve, spoon into bowls and garnish with a handful of popcorn.

Makes 4 servings.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



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Blue Chair Bay Rum

Country singer Kenny Chesney has a brand spankin' new line of rums inspired by his island life. Yeah, the man's got it hard! Barbados-made Blue Chair Bay Rum comes in five flavors, including coconut spiced rum, which is the one we've tried so far. It's gooood. Mr Minx isn't even a fan of rum and he finds it to be a quite tasty sipping spirit. Me, I'm a sucker for coconut rum, so this was right up my alley.

Chesney will be at Merriweather Post Pavilion on May 27th for his Big Revival tour, so in honor of his visit to Maryland, we've concocted a special drink in his honor.

Presenting the Blue Chair Bay Coconut Chai.

Blue Chair Bay coconut spice rum has the flavors of cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg in addition to coconut, and it put us in mind of a cup of chai tea. So we blended it with some strong black tea and a wee bit of creamy horchata-flavored rum and a dash of cardamom to make this easy-drinking creamy beverage.

Blue Chair Bay Coconut Chai

2 parts Blue Chair Coconut Spiced Rum
1 part horchata-flavored rum
3 parts cold strong black tea
1/2 part agave nectar
Dash ground cardamom

Combine both rums, black tea, and agave nectar in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously. Strain into a low-ball glass, then spoon over some of the foam from the shaker. Dust with ground cardamom.

Now I want to make a rhum baba with the stuff. Or maybe with the banana rum, which also has a whiff of coconut to it.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



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Fancy Food Show Summer 2015 - Tea

The Summer Fancy Food Show has come and gone and I'm just getting around to writing about it. :) But the summer has been busy with other stuff, and it's always a good idea to cogitate on things before putting them on paper. Or in this case, online.

Judging by the many tea products I sampled, tea is trending. Here are a few products that I really enjoyed.

Kombucha is a tea-based product that some find hard to drink. Granted, fermented tea does have a lot in common with vinegar, and for the most part, the non-hipsters among us don't go around drinking vinegar. I think kombucha is quite palatable, but it all depends on the flavor. Ginger works really well to mask the fermented taste, for example. What really works to hide the whole kombucha-ness of the stuff is to add fizzy water and sweetener and turn it into soda. Live Soda company does just that in flavors like rhubarb and rootbeer that are actually very tasty. And because the company is based in Texas, they also make a flavor called Pure Doctor that mimics Texas' own Dr Pepper quite nicely. There's just a bit of tangy afterburn with each sip, but it goes down like a refreshing soda. Unlike soda, Live Kombucha Soda has probiotics (Lactobacillus and Saccharomyces boulardii), electrolytes, b-vitamins, and antioxidants.

I also had a rose flavored chai tea latte by Bolani that was scrumptious. It was sweet and creamy, with chai spices and also a fairly heavy hit of rosewater. Not enough to be perfumy, but it was definitely there. It was like drinking liquefied Turkish delight, which, if you're like me, you'd be totally into. They also do black tea, plain green tea, and a mint green tea that can be consumed straight from the package, or warmed up.

Numi Teas has come out with a line of organic, fair trade teas made with turmeric, a spice with anti-inflammatory properties. They also have four new "Indulgent" teas flavored with chocolate. The turmeric teas are on the unusual side, but the chocolate flavored ones are quite a treat. I like to drink them warm, with milk and sugar.

My favorite tea product of the show also involves milk and sugar. Tea-rrific Ice Cream, out of Connecticut, is a line of tea-infused ice creams in six flavors: Ginger Matcha, London Mist (Early Grey with vanilla), Masala Chai, Chamomile, Chunky London Mist (with chocolate and pecans), and Lavender Blueberry. The ice creams are made with hormone-free cream, cage-free eggs, and evaporated cane juice infused with high quality teas, like chamomile from Egypt. I don't even like chamomile tea (nor did any of the people I spoke to at the Tea-rrific booth), but the chamomile ice cream, with its distinct honey notes, was my favorite of the bunch. Honestly, they were all excellent. In fact, Tea-rrific Ice Creams were my favorite product at the whole show. And considering how many things I tried, that's saying a lot.



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Spiced Sweet Potato Snack Cake

Now that the holidays have been over for a while, it's time to resume our monthly stitch 'n' bitch meetings. Every month my girls and I get together to work on knitting projects and to talk about life. All of the meetings so far have been at my house, so I have been supplying the snacks. Usually, there is one savory snack in the form of a dip of some sort, and a sweet treat. The sweet is usually a bar cookie or brownie, and I try to make sure I do something completely different every month.

I keep wanting to make a blondie that comes out with a chewy texture. Seems that the only way to do that is to make bar cookies with a Toll House cookie-type batter. Dry additions are ok, but adding wet stuff, like pumpkin or shredded carrots, changes the texture completely. But I do it anyway. I suppose it doesn't matter that the texture isn't exactly what I want--the end result of all of my various experiments has still been delicious.

I almost ended up with something close to what I was looking for last month. Lots of butter + sugar and not so much flour should make a rich, chewy, vanilla "brownie" sort of snack. But then I found that container of mashed sweet potato in the fridge, left over from something I had made earlier in the week. It was completely unseasoned, and would go to waste otherwise, so it went into the batter, too. I also tossed in the last of a bag of Heath bar chips and some pecans. For flavoring, I was lazy--hey, it was Friday night, after a looong week--so instead of measuring out individual spices, I just tossed in some instant chai mix.

The end result was pretty damn good. While not exactly chewy, the sweet potato-enriched bars were super moist, lightly spiced, with little surprises of nuts and buttery toffee bits. Great served a room temperature, but simply smashing served warm with a dollop of ice cream on top.

These might be a good way to sneak some nutritious vegetables into an item the kids will eat, too.

Spiced Sweet Potato Snack Cake

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup mashed sweet potato
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons instant chai tea mix
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup toffee bits
1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
Powdered sugar, for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9" square baking pan.

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla and sweet potato.

Mix together the flour, chai mix, and salt. Stir into the butter/sugar mixture until well combined. Stir in the toffee bits and pecans. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until just a few moist crumbs cling to an inserted toothpick.

Cool completely in the pan before cutting into bars. Sprinkle a little powdered sugar on top to add a bit of contrast to the shades of mid-brown.



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