The View From The Verandah # 16: Tea Obsession

Hey Steemians,

On Today's episode of The View From The Verandah I'm going to make a confession!

Hi. My Name is Shelly and I'm a Tea-aholic!

If you've been following along (or trying to keep up with the random thoughts popping out of my brain, you will know we are about to embark on the Great Keto Challenge (like in only 10 more sleeps!)

As prep I've been trying to slowly cut the "bad stuff" out of the diet or at least drastically reduce it. Two things to go are Alcohol and Coffee. - Actually I could have coffee if I could have it black.. but, yeah... no! Its the milk not the caffeine that's the problem!

So as a replacement I've recently decided to give tea a go. Now I'm not a black tea drinker, and even green tea I only take with honey (no-no on the keto) so I set off to T2 to find out just what I could have.

Source

OMG

Okay this store really appeals to Miss OCD! Little boxes stacked neatly, labeled prettily, and organised the hell out of!

I thought I'd died and gone to OCD heaven.

Okay, it's probably over-commercialised and over-priced. But it's so pretty!

Now as I mentioned.. I'm wasn't actually the most avid tea drinker, but there were contraptions, and tools and things I could collect, I really needed to reconsider my stance on tea-drinking!

It turns out there are plenty of options for people how don't like your English Breakfast or Earl Grey.

I've discovered Fruit Teas...

Technically they aren't a tea at all. These tisanes come from a collection of flowers, leaves and herbs as well as dried fruit and veggies.

They come with names like Pumping Pomegranate, Lemon Sorbet, Packs-a-Peach.. a marketers dream!

But it's the middle of summer, I'm not that keen on hot tea. Fruit Tisanes, it turns out, are perfect for ice tea concoctions.

And here it was time to get all excited again! I never knew there were so many options for brewing tea! Or for drinking tea from! There are a whole lot of handy contraptions for fuss free- brewing and sipping!

So of course, I got a Teamaker, a strainer, a "perfect scoop" (Because a teas spoon just wont cut it) Storage tins for my tea (I'm also obsessed with storage containers), magnetic labels for the storage tins (Yes there is a label obsession) a Jug-a-lot for making iced tea, a tea flask for tea on the go. And of course a myriad of flavours to take home. I think that's this years Christmas present all ready!

Time to get home and start brewing - I always thought I might have had a bit of witch in me!

First the tea into tins - organised and labelled

Then a quick demo of the T2 Teamaker. This is actually a pretty neat little unit and I'd seen something similar at Max Brenner's Chocolate Cafe

Just put in the recommended amount of tea (usually 1 scoop per cup) and let it brew for the time suggested on the box of tea. Then sit the brewer on top of your cup and hey presto, out pours your perfectly brewed tea!

And then of course there's iced tea, and the T2 website has a ton of recipes - for all sorts of tea related goodies actually - but I particularly like the iced tea recipes.

This gets made in the Jug-A-Lot - for some reason I keep wanting to sing.. I Like big Butts! Now Sir Mix-a-lot is not something you want stuck in your head all afternoon!

Making Iced Tea is pretty straight forward and once you get the hang of it, just use your own combinations of teas.

I'll share my favourite recipe - which comes from the T2 website

You’ll need

• 6 teaspoons Pumping Pomegranate
• 6 teaspoons Southern Sunrise
• 4 teaspoons Indian Spice
• Ice
• Pomegranate seeds and orange discs, to garnish
• 2L T2 Jug-a-lot

How to

• Add teas to the infuser of your 2L T2 Jug-a-lot and half fill with boiling water. Infuse for 30 minutes then remove infuser and leave to cool for 1 hour.
• Fill jug with ice and decorate with pomegranate seeds and orange discs. Stir well and serve.
  Makes 2 litres

It took me two and a half days to drink my 2 litres.. and there was still a fair amount of ice left in there when I was done!

So ive pretty much been drinking iced tea now all the time.. Mint is another favourite. I have a brew cooling at the moment whcih is my own invention - Vanilla Slice, Packs A Peach and Southern Sunrise. Smells good - but Ive yet to have a taste.

As I tend not to drink enough water this is another really good way of getting some hydration in as well. And if I want to feel a little bit special at night I pop it in a really big wine glass with some ice and some slices of lemon.

So in usual fashion I haven't eased into the next thing but kinda went a bit extreme again. I figure so long as I'm enjoying it, not hurting anyone and I feel good, what the hey!

Once again thanks for listening.. check out some iced tea if you are after something a bit different and refreshing this summer (or when your summer rolls around next).

Til next time

Steem on with love and light.

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