Tuesday, October 16, 2007

My Mug of Blueberry Tea


Remember when I won 3rd place in the Shrinking Violet Promotions book-title contest? Here's what I won: my very own SVP mug with a photo of (shrinking) violets on one side and the quip, "Silence is often misunderstood, but never misquoted" on the other. Thank you, Robin and Mary, for the mug. It is now my new blueberry tea mug.

"What is blueberry tea?" you might ask. "Is it an herbal infusion of blueberries, or is it something more mysterious and suitable only for grownups?" If you were to guess the latter, you would be correct. Here is my favorite recipe for blueberry tea (with nary a berry in sight):

One mug of hot Earl Grey tea brewed to your specifications*
1 shot Grand Marnier
1 shot Amaretto

The resulting brew is citrus-scented and lightly sweet. It inspires me to no end. Some recipes call for Orange Pekoe tea, but that may be because of the mistaken impression that "orange" refers to the flavor of the tea instead of the size of the leaf. It's an understandable error, but someone needs to tell the marketing departments of some of these great tea empires.

If you don't have a SVP mug, the ideal way to drink blueberry tea is in a snifter like one you may have received as a wedding gift:



If you decide to drink blueberry tea from a glass drinking vessel, remember to warm up the glass first with hot tap water so you don't inadvertently shatter your Romanian snifter.

*Tea-brewing times vary according to region and person. I once lived with a friend from a little town near Cornwall who was particular that her tea not be oversteeped. I could understand that, but "oversteeped" for her was different than it was for me. A number of times, I would pour the boiling water over the tea-bag and tell her, "I just poured the water over the tea-bag." Her response was to screech, "Take it out! Take it out! It's steeped too long!"

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting... blueberry tea. I do love my Shrinking Violets mug, and often use it to drink my favored English Breakfast Tea.

tanita✿davis said...

Wow. I actually am somewhat addicted to Celestial Seasonings Blueberry tea... and now I also want your mug!

I love the violets.

Saints and Spinners said...

Jen: I'm a fan of English Breakfast too. Which reminds me-- I completely overhauled our tea cupboard today, and believe I need to have a tea-drinking openhouse in order to winnow some of the stash.

Tadmack: I'm interested to try making Blueberry Tea with blueberry tea.

Thanks to the both of you for stopping by the blog and commenting. I do appreciate it.

Noodle said...

Mmmm. I'm such a tea junkie. I don't like Earl Grey though. I love English Breakfast, and lately I'm into Celestial Seasonings Tension Tamer. I went through the tea cabinet about a month ago, and I'm ashamed to say that I had 17 boxes of different teas in it.

Oh, and I tagged you for a meme if you want to do it! :) I'll email you with the interview tomorrow AM!

Anonymous said...

Once again , I have forgotten my identity.
This past Sunday's NYTimes, the travel section, has a lovely feature on the tea plantations of Darjeeling. The premier plantation is bio-dynamic, with tea selling at something like $555/lb. Hey, hey Steiner, heh heh.

Saints and Spinners said...

Okay, Noodle! I'll do the meme, but I'm not sure if I'll tag anyone. We shall see.

Hey, Anonymous person, does this mean you can't get into your blog either? That's not good! I can't remember my passwords AND your passwords.

abcgirl said...

for a very long time, my favorite tea was Throat Coat tea by Traditional Medicinals. Didn't matter whether I had a sore throat or not, this tea is sweet when you swallow--without any added sugar! However, earlier this year, a friend of mine who works at an Aveda salon introduced me to their "comforting tea" from the over-priced line of Aveda products. Thanks to her staff discount, I can now drink this tea to my heart's content. It's even sweeter! (still without sugar--or booze) mmmmmm.....

Saints and Spinners said...

ABCGirl: I am a devoted fan of Throat Coat tea. I always carry a few packets in my storytelling bag. (I've also got the syrup, too, for when there's no time for tea). I'm glad you get sweet "comforting" tea for a discount, too.

Saints and Spinners said...

P.S. You all may wonder what kind of tea I don't like. Well, I'm not a big herbal tea fan (that is, in lieu of good black tea), but what I really don't like is to be handed a cup of hot water with a a teabag on the side. I like boiling water poured over the teabag or the tea-leaves.

Lone Star Ma said...

That tea sounds good, indeed.

I am not really a fan of the taste of Throat Coat - too licorice, of which I am also not a fan. But I find it very useful.

xxxxxx said...

LOVE the snifter !What a gorgeous glass!