Ginger and Genmaicha are back in stock and tastier than ever.

People always tell me that they don’t want to brew up a pitcher of iced-tea because they won’t drink it all in one day. I now have a solution for them. Try making tea-pops or Tea-ice cubes! It is a really easy, healthy and affordable way to have a refreshing treat without all the calories like high fructose corn syrup popsicles have. Just put the tea in some popsicle molds with a few pieces of fresh fruit or if it sounds good mix it with a little orange juice or lemonade to add a little sweetness, freeze and enjoy your tea-sicle. You can also put the tea in some ice cube trays and make tea cubes. Put these tea cubes in your lemonade, smoothies or even a nice cocktail for some extra flavor. The uses are endless for iced-tea, you just have to open your mind and take some chances. One more extra use for iced-tea, make some rice with it. Just replace the water with tea and you have a delicious rice made with tea.

Have any ideas for day old iced-tea, write them in the comment section.

Tea is Fun!

Quinn

We make risotto every once in a while around our house and we usually use chicken broth for the liquid.  Not this time though, we steeped up a pot of Organic and Fair Trade Darjeeling 2nd Flush and used that as the liquid.  It turned out really well.  The risotto was a nice brown color and had subtle hints of tea flavor.  I’m not a nutritionist or anything, but I think this is a healthier way to make risotto.  Give it a try and let us know what you think.  Recipe is below:

Darjeeling 2nd Flush Risotto with spring veggies

Ingredients:

1 cup of risotto

half a chopped onion (we used 4 spring onions from the garden)

2 cloves of garlic, minced (we used 3 spring garlic bulbs)

handful of asparagus

handful of pealed fava beans (blanched)

half a bag of frozen peas 

Pancetta, diced

Parmesean

Darjeeling 2nd Flush black tea (available at Foxfire Teas)

Organic Tea Seed Oil (available at Foxfire Teas)

Directions:

1. heat large skillet over med. heat

2. add 2 tbsp tea seed oil and 1 knob of butter 

3. Let butter melt and add onion and garlic (saute for 5 minutes, stirring frequently)

4. Add risotto and follow directions on back of risotto package

 *Replace suggested liquid with Darjeeling 2nd Flush black tea (steep a 36 oz pot ahead of time and cover with a tea cozy so you have hot liquid throughout the process.  

*We added the peas, asparagus and fava beans towards the end of the process to avoid over cooking them. *While the risotto is cooking, crisp up the pancetta in another pan and top the risotto with it at the end.

*Enjoy!

I got this recipe out of the cooking magazine Saveur (March 2008).  The recipe says to use coffee beans, but we tried Golden Yunnan black tea (we also tried coffee).  It turned out really delicious.  We served it over ice as an after dinner drink.  It might be really nice over some vanilla ice cream as well.  Recipe is below:

The 44 Cordial (Orange and Coffee Flavored Rum Liqueur)

Poke 44 1″ deep slits all over a medium sized navel orange with a pairing knife; stuff some of Foxfire Teas Golden Yunnan black tea in each slit.  Put the orange along with a scant 1 cup sugar (just over 44 tsp) and 1 liter white rum (roughly a quart), into a widemouthed jar with a tight-sealing lid (check and see if the orange fits first).  Store and let steep in a cool, dark spot, swirling the jar occasionally, for 44 days.  Remove and discard the orange and strain the liqueur through a cheesecloth lined strainer.  Transfer to a clean bottle and store in the freezer until ready to drink.  Serve neat or over ice.  Makes about 4 cups.

Organic Bancha green tea has arrived.  Harvested in the Autumn and Winter, Bancha green tea is an everyday green tea with a roasted aroma.  delicious. 

A customer of ours just sent this hilarious tea video from a UK rapper that raps about the delights of tea. Check it out here:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1488655367/bctid1590219625

Foxfire Teas is now accepting credit cards.  Thanks for all your patience.  You can still pay with cash or check, but if you happen to forget either of those, the credit card machine will come to the rescue.

Sleep Disorders.  Just read this article on msn.  Yeah for green tea.  Tea is Fun!

http://health.msn.com/health-topics/neurological-cognitive-health/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100204275&GT1=31036

Hey Everyone. Just wanted to let you know that our May tea sale is going over really well (see picture).                                                                  People are lined up as far as I can see.   Only kidding.  This was a picture of the Obama rally this past Sunday.  It was a ton of fun and super sunny.  Good thing I loaded up with iced-tea for the walk downtown.

I just read this article on how red wine and tea may help reduce blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetics.  So if you know anyone who has type 2 diabetes, please pass this along to them.  

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402212428.htm

We just got these delicious tasting Ancient Tea Flowers in from Yunnan, China.  They are slightly sweet and have a taste of honey and nectar.  We have a very limited amount available, so hurry over and get some Ancient Tea Flowers.  

Tea is Fun!

Have you checked out the latest edition of Men’s Journal?  There is a write up on Portland being a the best place to live and it mentions Little Red Bike Cafe.  If you haven’t visited LRBC yet, I would highly recommend it.  Evan and Ali are super nice and there food is delicious.  You can visit them at http://littleredbikecafe.com/.

Tea is Fun!

Quinn

We will be doing a free hour of tea tasting at Seven Virtues Coffeehouse on 60th and NE Glisan Street on Saturday June 7th from 1-2pm.  Stumptown Coffee, Dragonfly Chai and Earthly Gourmet will also be participating throughout the day with various tastings and movie clips.  So please stop by and say hello and enjoy some tea tasting.  Can’t wait to see you there.

Tea is Fun!

Quinn 

Hurry on down to Foxfire Teas and pick yourself up some Ceylon black tea.  For the next week only, purchase 4 oz and you get 1 oz Free!!!!  Sale ends May 14th.  It’s tasty.

Harmony is back.  It is slightly different than before because we used a different lemongrass.  We will be switching back to the previous lemongrass for the next batch.  The only difference is that it is a bit stronger on the lemongrass.  It is still a fantastic steep.

Hopefully Bliss will arrive in the next few weeks.  I will post here when it arrives.

If you are in the neighborhood of 60th and NE Glisan please stop by and check out this wonderful coffeehouse. I’m here right now drinking a pot of White Peony. Super delicious and prepared just right. It has a wonderful atmosphere and delicious pastries. They also serve Stumptown Coffee. Visit there website at http://www.sevenvirtuespdx.com/

This really doesn’t involve tea very much (unless of course you stop off and have tea somewhere in Seattle), but we were in Seattle last weekend and we had a blast.  We are a couple of foodies and we just wanted to let you all know about the delicious restaurants we went to.  Lola ( a tom douglas restaurant) was a breakfast stop for us.  There homemade sausage was out of this world, and the double smoked bacon was to die for.  We also had the donuts.  Don’t leave Lola without ordering the donuts.  Later that day we found ourselves at the Dahlia Lounge sipping on a cocktail and enjoying the Sea Bar Sampler while sitting at the bar in the lounge.  The sampler consisted of hawaian amberjack sashimi, halibut ceviche, dungeness crab, braised octopus with Kimchi (which i really want to like, but so far I don’t), and smoked salmon with hot mustard. 

After Dahlia Lounge we ventured over to the Zig Zag cafe which was a real treat.  If you go here, make sure you sit at the bar.  The bartenders are really nice and it is fun to see them mix the cocktails.  The Zig Zag has every kind of scotch you can imagine as well as a bunch of other libations.  For an appetizer I would suggest the “Meats”, which is simple and delicious.

For dinner we made reservations at Tilth over in the Wallingsford District.  Wow!  Tilth doesn’t even look like a restaurant from the outside.  It is set in an old house right off of a busy street.  9:00pm was the earliest reservation we could get, so it was late night noshing at its finest.  We started with some pea soup that tasted exactly like peas (which it sometimes doesn’t), then we ordered a few half plates which was really nice.  We got to try more items on the menu which wa sa good thing, because it was really hard to pick just a few.  The tagliatelle with vegetables was delightlful, the duck burgers were ooooh so good, and the flank steak was also perfectly cooked.  The nice thing about half plates is that you have enough room for dessert and it was worth it.  Semolina pudding with fig philoh cigars! Delicious.  We accompanied that with a nice cup of homemade kombucha.  I would highly reccommend going to Tilth the next time you are in Seattle.  Make a reservation to secure a table.

Top Pot Doughnuts for breakfast!  That’s all I really need to say about that.

 All in all, Seattle is a great city filled with an unlimited choice of eating establishments.  It’s still no Portland, but it is a nice place to visit.

Cheers!

Quinn 

I made this dinner the other night that was really good. I bought a top sirloin steak (1 pounder) at New Seasons and made a dry rub using 4 tsp lapsang souchong black tea, a few dried chili peppers, 1 tsp salt and pepper. I put all those ingredients in the mortar and pestle and pestled the heck out of them until it was a nice powdery consistency. I then gave the steak a nice little rubdown with the spice mixture and put it on the med-high grill for 5 1/2 minutes a side. Mixed a drink and let the steak take a little nap for about 10 minutes before I sliced it thin and put it on a bed of romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, sweet red pepper and shaved carrot. Topped it all off with a little ranch dressing and devoured it. It was really delicious. I had a few left overs in the morning, so I fried some eggs, warmed up the steak and put that over a piece of toast with sprouts on it. Sprinkled some hot sauce and ground lapsang on top and presto, steak and eggs for breakfast. Yum.

Tea is Fun!

Quinn