What herbal tea are you drinking today?

[mr.me]

I had some dandelion tea with milk. I'm surprised how similar it tastes to coffee.

[debunix]

Another day, another brew.....even though it's not terribly hot today, I got pretty hot with just a little work out in the yard. So it was time to brew up some concentrated herbal tea, to be diluted with cool water to drink.

Tulsi/holy basil, licorice root, hibiscus, rose hips, cinnamon stick, linden leaf, and lemon grass: sweet, spicy, fruity, just right for an overheated body after a bit of a workout.

[daidokorocha]

Holy Basil sounds like it would make an interesting cup...

I've had Mugwort powder that I use for sweets sitting around for a bit since I haven't made any mochi in awhile and I decided to throw it into some hot water and whisk it about with my chasen. I should have done this a long time ago!

[Rooibos]

I'm just getting ready to make my fourth cup of rooibos of the evening to have with my midnight snack. I am quite fond of Celestial Seasonings Madagascar Vanilla Rooibos. It's just as good, if not better, than some of the loose flavored rooibos teas that I have purchased at tea shops around town. Less expensive too.

[daidokorocha]

I've only tasted regular ol' roobios honestly. I quite like it, but I don't make it very often. I'm very interested in trying the green stuff and I just got some roobios blend in from Adagio and I'll be seeing how it is in about two weeks.

As for myself at the moment, I am drinking a few infusions of Kenkoucha (健康茶) which means "Health Tea". I bought this in Tokyo on the cheap at a department store (Tokyu Hands) and it features the Kumamon mascot of Kumamoto Prefecture on the tin. The tea itself comes from Minamiaso in said prefecture. I do wish I had picked up TWO since it will be another year until I am back in Nippon. If you like grain tea (sobacha, mugicha, hyeonmi cha, etc) then it is highly recommended. It has those lovely roasted bold flavors mixed in with a persistent sweetness and no bitterness to be found whatsoever - a very clean cup of tea. In the tea you will find a blend of 24 ingredients with things like Barley, Job's Tears, Black Soy Beans, Dokudami, Houjicha, Loquat, horsetail, goji berry, gynostemma, mulberry leaves, among many, many others. Very delicious if you ask me. Here is a picture of the contents:

[daidokorocha]

I remembered tonight that my statement about only having had regular red roobois is not true. I feel like with all the time on my hands these days that I've been drinking TOO MUCH TEA. Perhaps it isn't a big deal, but I have been downing large quantities. I don't feel bad or anything, and I haven't been having trouble sleeping at all, but I decided perhaps I should stop consuming a gallon a day as of late. Today, I drank only shincha and bancha and (bagged!) oolong. I decided to play up more on the grain/herbal side, having mugicha, hyeonmi cha, and roobois. I also had some of this wonderful stuff a local tea shop blends that is lavender, pomegranate, lemon myrtle, and roobois. I kind of forgot about it as I haven't had some all summer, but before that I was downing the stuff. I'm nearly out and feel like I should definitely get more.

Lavender is always good. I repeat...mainly while looking in debunix's direction, that lavender makes for good "tea".

[debunix]

Enjoying a mix of lemongrass, lavender, and hydrangea leaf. Wonderful floral/fruity/sweet over those deep lavender notes. Very nice. I will make some variation on this for the office party this week, along with something tasty in a pastry.

[daidokorocha]

Is that a blend you made yourself? If so, where do you get the hydrangea leaf? I always see it for quite a price (such as on Hankook) and I've yet to try it. Either way, that sounds very tasty. I'm glad that you are enjoying lavender in your tea.

[debunix]

Made it up myself--lavender from the yard, dried lemon grass from the health food store, and hydrangea leaf from Hankook. Yes, the hydrangea leaf is pricey, but it only takes a tiny bit--one small leaf or even 1/2 a leaf--for a cup of tea. It goes a very long way.

[daidokorocha]

That isn't half bad then. However, I just remembered that perhaps I could do well looking on a marketplace like rakuten.co.jp. Not sure the quality necessarily stands up to Hankook, but I've found plenty 30g for much cheaper (388 Yen) and I think I'll take the gamble. Seeing as my fiancee has things coming in from rakuten, I'll just flip it onto her order.

[daidokorocha]

So, started with buying some hydrangea leaf on rakuten, ended up exploring the rest of their shop and left with sencha, genmaicha, matcha flavored kuzuyu, gyokuro flavored candies, ume kombucha, and sakuracha, all from a little tea shop in Shizuoka.

I think I'll brew up some pure lavender tea or perhaps mix it with Chrysanthemum, but most likely just pure lavender.

Edit: Actually ended up going with the blend...

[daidokorocha]

Having put genmaicha into the fridge for cold steeping.... I decided to make a few cups of pine needle tea. This is one of those drinks I used to fantasize about trying before I ever got the chance to. I quite often want to "taste the earth", so I'm always happy to try things that smell like the grasses of the hills or the trees in the forests. This all might be a large reason I love Japanese greens so much. So, I was very happy to find that pine needle tea actually tastes as good as I imagined it would.

A part of many traditional (often peasant) cultures that I adore is their way of using most everything in their environment and utilizing every part of their ingredient. It is a shame that so many great parts of our vegetables are just thrown away here in most of the United States. One honestly has to wonder why I can't walk into any old American supermarket and grab myself dandelion greens. I'm happy that this approach isn't abandoned everywhere in the world.

[bonescwa]

I can find dandelions to buy but I think it's a terrible waste of money. It's funny how these things are considered chic now but I remember thinking we were poor when my mom would cut them out of the lawn with a butter knife!

[daidokorocha]

I can find dandelions to buy but I think it's a terrible waste of money. It's funny how these things are considered chic now but I remember thinking we were poor when my mom would cut them out of the lawn with a butter knife!

How is it a waste of money? Dandelion greens are delicious and cheap. They are one of my favorite vegetables. To say they are a waste of money is to say that vegetables in general are a waste of money. Also, I don't know about it being "chic". Have you never had sukiyaki or nabemono in general before? Have you never tasted chrysanthemum leaves? Hardly chic. People have been eating these types of things forever.

[bonescwa]

Because they are free outside