Who Owns that Tea Company?

A common strategy for a big company with a brand suffering from overexposure is to come up with a new name not associated with itself. This is especially true of a company trying to enter a premium market where people want the cache of buying something more exclusive.

Just for fun, here's a list of a few common tea brands with the parent company. Some people may find some of these a bit surprising. It's possible that many people who thought they had found an exclusive little mom and pop brand are really buying from one of the biggest companies in the world.

Lipton. Unilever.

Tazo. Starbucks.

Nestea. Nestle'.

Celestial Seasonings. Hain Celestial Group.

Honest Tea. Coca-Cola.

Tea Forte'. Sara Lee.

Stash Tea. Yamamotoyama Tea Company.

Talbott Tea. Jamba Juice.

Twining's. Associated British Foods.

As for Tozy Tea, it's that corporate behemoth known as Chris and Heidi.

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Cooking with tea - II

If you are looking for a way to play with your food for dessert here is an idea. Brew, cool down, and chill some Northland Blueberry overnight. When you are ready for dessert, say fresh berries of some sort, prep them and have them ready in bowls. Then add Northland Blueberry to heavy whipping cream with a little sugar or sweetener. Next, whip the cream and Northland Blueberry together. Put on berries right away. Don't let the cream mixture set overnight as the water from the tea will separate from the cream. 

 This topping combination also works well on raspberry pancakes. However, since this mixture does not have all sorts of preservatives, it will melt on your pancakes. It's not like the whipped cream in restaurants that stay in perfect form. But don't let the appearance of melting cream fool you. It is sooooooooooooooo good!

Another quick and equally easy recipe is Northland Blueberry cream cheese.  Using softened cream cheese, add some of the Northland Blueberry infusion left over from the whipped cream recipe. Add the infusion to the cream cheese and mix with a hand mixer.  This cream cheese is great on English muffins, bagels, and toast.  Enjoy!!!

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Getting Tea Steeping Times Right

I noticed the other day on a package of lower end tea that it recommended a steep time of 8 minutes. That's a lot more than the 3-4 minutes on our black teas.

Similarly, my dad sampled Up North and said that it was way too strong. When asked how long he steeped it, he said maybe 12 minutes. That's a bit too long, sorry Dad.

Because premium teas are stronger, you don't have to steep them nearly as long. So avoid making your tea too strong by following the instructions and using a timer.

We make that easy by featuring the time and temperature in the top right corner of every package.

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Cooking with tea - I

When you were young and at the dinner table, you may have heard an adult say, “Stop playing with your food!"  Maybe right now you conjure up images from either personal experience or stories that you've heard or read about children playing with their food that would just make parents roll their eyes. But playing with your food is not always a bad thing. Rather, it can about discovering new and wonderful flavor combinations by mixing different foods together that one might not normally put together.

Recently, I've jumped back in to playing with my food full speed. It's a natural thing for me to do, but recently, I've delved even deeper.

A few weeks ago, I decided to make a dish that I used to make a lot while in college, rice with sauteed mushrooms and onions. This time I decided to step it up a bit. Chicken broth was used instead of water (that's normal in this household) and then I cut open a pyramid of our Up North! Tea and dumped it in the broth, followed by the brown minute rice. Meanwhile, I sauteed the small to medium onion in olive oil and then added the mushrooms. In the end I combined both the rice and mushroom mixture and served it with a salad using lettuce and other vegetables from the garden. It was really, really, really good. The earthiness of the mushrooms was complimented by the tea. It all went together so well. I'm getting really hungry thinking about that yummy meal.

So be bold and play with your food!

More cooking ideas to come in future blogs.

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Gift of a Passion Flower

Yesterday, I saw a woman wearing  a flower that I knew would normally not grow in Michigan, at least during the winter. This woman had a knife handle that had been fashioned into a vase and then made into a pin with a passion flower in it. She seemed surprised that I knew what kind of flower she had with her.

At the end of our conversation she gave me the flower to keep. Thank you! I immediately took pictures of it, as I am not sure how many people have ever seen a Passion Flower.

This lovely flower also happens to be one of the relaxing and soothing ingredients in our Brahms Lullaby Tisane. When you look at it closely, it is a very intriguing flower. There may even be people out there that might even classify it as being something that looks like some alien being from outer space,but it's not. In fact, it is a delicate flower that blooms for a day and then it's done.

Originally, I thought Passion Flower grew in tropical and sub tropical regions such as Hawaii and California. However, after further research, I discovered the passion flower grows in many places and climates. According to www.passionflow.co.uk there are 587 different known species of passion flower. Many of the plants produce a fruit from the flower, Passion Fruit. However, not all are fruits are edible. So if you are unsure as to whether or not the fruit is edible, proceed on the side of caution and do not eat it. If you ever have the opportunity to head to the Hawaiian Islands, be sure to try some Passion Fruit or at least some culinary treat that is made with this delectable fruit.

The Passion Flower was given its name by missionaries in Mexico, as it reminded them of Jesus Christ's death. Various parts of the flower remind us of the disciples (minus Judas and Peter), the crown of thorns, the five wounds, and finally the vine reminds us of Christ being scourged.

To learn more about the passion flower, please visit www.passionflow.co.uk. They are a great source of information and their website was invaluable to the writing of this blog.

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Pyramid Bags and Iced Tea

A few weeks ago we were in the Detroit area "fancy mall" and picked up an iced tea pitcher at Teavana. After experimenting a bit, it turns out it's a good way to make iced tea.

The pitcher is made of a special plastic that you can put really hot water in. It has a little strainer at the top where you put the tea leaves. Just heat up some water, put it in the pitcher, put tea leaves in the strainer, wait a few minutes, then remove the tea leaves and put the pitcher in the fridge.

I used several different loose leaf teas and herbs--an oolong, peppermint, even a white tea. They turned out pretty well. My only complaint was that the leaves were hard to clean from strainer.

So I took some of our pyramid tea bags and used them instead. I took the strings and labels off and used two bags. I added some sugar and it turned out perfectly.

And it was easy to clean after removing the pyramid bags.

So feel free to use our tea with their equipment. Don't worry, we won't tell anyone.

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Tea and Marathons

Marathon runners rack up many many miles with their workouts and races. They stay focused on their grueling training in the hope of improving their personal best time or even winning a marathon. People have different reasons for running. The possibilities range from loving a great challenge, running like the wind, to the exhilarating feeling they when they finish. No matter what their motivation may be for running, it always comes back to it being something they really enjoy doing.

You may be wondering how marathons link up with tea. Think of this way. Think about what a wonderful day it would be to go from one tea party to the next....

A good friend of mine became engaged a few years ago. Being her matron of honor I helped plan her bridal shower. It was decided that a bridal shower tea would be given. One of my jobs was a to take the bride to a tea room so as to not arouse any suspicion that she might be going to bridal shower.. I told her to dress to a tea (pun intended). This included hat, gloves, the works. After tea, I told her that I needed to stop by work and pick up something that I had left behind and needed in order to finish some teacher tasks at home. Pretending to be unable to find my key, my friend quickly found hers and opened the door. Surprise! There were about 100 ladies, plus children all ready for a bridal shower tea.

So that day we both had a marathon of tea parties. Hey, two parties separated by thirty minutes is not bad at all. Of course, we had all of the tea, tea sandwiches, and oh so many other delectable goodies all over again.

Two tea parties in one day is still my tea marathon record, which I have repeated several times since.

Hopefully, the record will change to three tea parties in one day, which would be absolutely fabulous and dreamy. Every marathon participant needs a goal, even an individual who loves tea and tea parties can have a tea party marathon goal.

Try this, get a group of friends together and and plan a tea party marathon. Have everyone prepare light tea party foods (Remember, you have to pace yourself if you are going to do this all day) that are ready to serve, along with great tea that you will brew after everyone arrives. Think of this as a tea party marathon.