Summer School- All About Tea Chapter Three

My summer school is dragging into the autumn months!! Oh well..... we will just keep plugging ahead. Chapter three focuses on herbal teas. This chapter was filled with information I did not realize. For one thing, rooibos is not a tea at all, but the leaves from an herby bush in South Africa.. This was SO surprising to me. I have been buying a rooibos blend for years from a tea shop and had no idea it was herbal. Rooibos can be red or green, depending on the specific shrub it's from. Red rooibos is allowed to oxidize like black tea, and green rooibos is steamed and treated like green tea leaves. This tea has no caffeine and no calories.

Among the many teas in my collection are several hibiscus teas and blends. Hibiscus flowers for tea are not the same as the kind we grow in gardens. It makes a bright pink, beautiful and floral tea with some proven health benefits. Ground up, the hibiscus petals a lot like matcha powder, especially in cooking, giving the beautiful fuschia color and a unique flavor that is unlike anything else.

Mate tea is also not a tea- another surprise for me! It's from a plant that's a relative of the holly plant, and this one has caffeine. It's about the same level of caffeine as a cup of coffee. Mate is also used to make a Brazilian latte drink with cocoa, almonds, and steamed milk. In my collection I have a rooibos and mate blend that is just fantastic. It has little bits and bobs of things like fruit peels, flower petals, chocolate bits and spices. It's absolutely fabulous as a hot cup of tea. It's probably my favorite. I purchased this tea, which is actually a half and half blend of two of my favorites, from a tea shop in the mall, and I've head that they were bought by a huge coffee company and are all being sent to the chopping block. I's so saddened by this news. I can only hope the coffee chain will continue to sell these beautiful teas. My container is quite large and is currently full but it won't last forever, so as long as I still have it, why don't we make a latte?

Rooibos Latte

1 tea bag or 1 teaspoon loose tea

1 cup milk-dairy, almond or coconut milk will work

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon sugar

Combine the milk and water and heat until steaming. Add the tea to the mixture. If using a tea bag, open the tea bag and dump the loose tea into the liquid. Whisk the tea in and simmer for two minutes. Remove from heat and allow to steep for 5 minutes. Whisk in the vanilla and sugar. Strain into cups and serve.

This is probably the easiest latte recipe on the entire planet. No steaming milk separately, no mixing hot ingredients- it's all heated and steeped together then strained into the cup. Super fast!! You need to try this!

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