Crazy Tea Chick

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Unmatched Love for Matcha Love

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Benjamin Franklin once said that the only certain things in life were death and taxes. I think if he were around today he’d have to add “oh, and at some point today Emily will drink matcha”. When I say I’m obsessed…it’s a big deal. Especially because of my semi-addiction to iced matcha lattes. Put some matcha powder in a shaker and add some form of milk and ice and I’ll forget my own name. BUT, we have a problem, Houston, when the venti iced matcha latte from Starbucks (the only place in my area that makes them and the only size that even comes close to satisfying me) runs over $5. So my daily fix costs me around $35 a week, which *gulp* runs around $140 a month.

Yeah, I can’t be doing that.

Enter the wonderful product above. Each packet can be mixed with milk and thrown over ice and voila, homemade iced matcha latte. Here’s the fun part (what am I saying, it’s green tea, it’s ALL the fun part): I can get a can of 15 packets from Meijer for usually around $10. Thus (do people still say thus? I’m bringing it back.), for the cost of 2 Starbucks lattes, I can make 15 at home.

Now sometimes I’m away from the house all day and need my fix to go. Or sometimes I want to browse Target while getting my fix. And I don’t mind making an exception every now and then. But discovering this delicious and cost-efficient product will *literally* save me hundreds of dollars this year.

And that’s pretty darn precious.

Matcha: Great for Hot Tea and Even Green Tea Frappuccinos

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Matcha

I’ve been a tea lover for many years – in fact, there’s little doubt in my mind that I had sweet tea in my “sippy cups” when I was a toddler. It’s the Southern way, you know.  I fell in love with green tea when it hit the scene years ago, too. I prefer mine sweetened with a little honey or Truvia and never object to a little mint in my green tea.

In addition to my favorite teas (black, green, chai..), I’ve made Matcha (think of it as the strongest Japanese Green Tea you ever met) part of my daily life. My afternoon or evening cup of hot Matcha tea with honey is something I very much look forward to each day.

Like a lot of people, I began drinking Matcha because of its AMAZING health benefits but I continue drinking Matcha because I love it.

DoMatcha DoMatcha Organic 2nd Harvest Matcha, 2.82-Ounce (pictured above) is just one of the many Matchas you’ll find on Amazon. DoMatcha Organic 2nd Harvest Matcha is 100% authentic Japanese Matcha, directly from the Uji region in Japan where matcha originated 800 years ago.

Unfortunately, Matcha is really difficult to find in stores (impossible has been my experience). However shopping for it online couldn’t be any easier – especially when you use Amazon.

One suggestion I would make, however, is to buy Matcha in a reusable tin (like the one shown here). You want to keep it as fresh and protected as possible.

To make a cup of hot Matcha tea, simply put 1/2 t- 1 tsp of DoMatcha Organic 2nd Harvest Matcha in a Matcha bowl or cup.  Add 1 oz. of hot water and stir to make a smooth paste. Then add more hot water and whisk to a froth, or add milk for a Matcha Latte!  As I said, I like to add honey to mine, but you may enjoy it without any sweetener at all – OR you may want to go with sugar or Stevia.  If you Do add sweetener to your Matcha, don’t feel like you’ve broken any unwritten code of ethic for tea drinkers. Matcha has, shall we say, a VERY strong personality and distinct disposition.

Frankly, I think it requires a little “softening” with sweetener, but I’ll let you make your own mind up.

How to make a Green Tea Frappucino….

1 tsp Matcha powder
2 tsps. Sugar or 2 pkts Truvia or Stevia (I use 2 pkts of Truvia and LOVE the results)
1 Cup of Milk (whole or 2%)
A little Cool Whip for the top.

Optional: You can add a splash of vanilla syrup (found in most coffee and tea aisles) along with the other ingredients if you want it to be a little sweeter.  I read somewhere that Starbucks (in their HEAVENLY Green Tea frappes) uses a “Melon” syrup. I’ve never seen one in stores… if I ever do, I’ll be buying it by the gallons.

Directions: Put a cup of ice into your blender. In order, add the Matcha powder,  sugar, vanilla syrup (if using), and milk.

*** I’ve made these frappes with sugar, Stevia, and Truvia and… for reasons that I couldn’t even begin to explain… using two packets of Truvia is my favorite way to go.

Green Tea Frappuccino

 

 

Lower Your Cholesterol, Naturally, with Green Tea

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Inspiring Green Tea
Everyday Health recently published a great slideshow showing ways to Lower Your Cholesterol in Five Minutes or Less. Click the link to see all the potentially life-saving tips.

One of these tips was of great interest to those of us who love tea.

From Everyday Health:

Research reviewing 20 studies, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, found that sipping green tea reduces LDL by an average of 5.30 mg/dL, though the amount of green tea sipped varied widely from one study to the next. The secret ingredient in green tea to help lower your cholesterol? Antioxidants called catechins. One cup has between 50 and 100 mg of catechins. Get out your mug — across the studies, participants had between 3 and 10 cups a day.

You’ll definitely want to see the rest of the tips. Interestingly enough, there are many everyday things we can do that’ll help keep our cholesterol levels in a healthy range. Things that don’t involve medication… most of us are all for that! See Lower Your Cholesterol in Five Minutes or Less for more information.

Green Tea Review: Triple Leaf Tea’s Ginkgo & Decaf Green Tea

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Triple Leaf Tea Ginkgo and Decaf Green Tea

As you’d expect from someone who runs a tea blog, I drink tea all day long. From the first glass of iced green tea in the morning (as odd as it may sound to some people, I drink iced green tea along with my cups of coffee each morning) to my last cup of hot tea in the evening, there’s a steady stream of tea bags and flowing tea leaves in my kitchen.

I don’t really like to have much caffeine late in the evening, though, so I’ve been experimenting with a few different decafs. One I’ve fallen particularly in love with is shown above, Triple Leaf Tea, Tea Bags, Ginkgo & Decaf Green Tea with Panax Ginsengs & Chinese Herbs, 1.4-Ounce Bags, 20-Count Boxes (Pack of 6).

Healthy and delicious? That’s something I can get behind.

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Herbal dietary supplement. Supports mental alertness & memory. Helps maintain a healthy immune system. Supports natural vitality. Naturally decaffeinated tea to maintain antioxidants. Ancient Chinese medicinals. Now you can enjoy the benefits of ginkgo, green tea and Chinese herbs without the caffeine! Our green tea is naturally decaffeinated using a carbon dioxide process that maintains green tea’s beneficial antioxidants. Research indicates that ginkgo helps promote healthy circulation and oxygen supply to the brain and extremities, and helps support normal mental alertness, concentration and memory. Gingko, Asian and American Panax ginsengs, eleuthero, astragalus, poria, fo-ti and eucommia are traditional Chinese longevity herbs, used to tonify the liver and kidney. They were used to help maintain the healthy function of the immune system, and to help build the body’s vitality, strength and resistance to mental and physical stress. Experts recommend drinking three or more cups of green tea a day. Drink this delicious tea anytime of day, hot or iced, as is, or try adding lemon and your favorite sweetener. Traditional Chinese medicine began in approximately 2500 B.C. Recently, here in the West, people have discovered the value of this ancient system which focuses on aiding the body’s own healing mechanisms through restoring harmony and balance. The Chinese system of herbology has been recorded in ancient texts which are studied and employed even today. This time tested knowledge has been passed on from generation to generation over the centuries. Triple Leaf Tea comes from such a tradition. It is made in the U.S.A. by a Chinese American family-owned business. The company owner can remember stories of his own grandfather selling herbs and teas in his village in China. Today, these traditional Chinese herbal formulas are available to you. We wish you harmony and balance! We use oxygen bleached tea bags. (These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.) Made in U.S.A.

All Triple Leaf Tea is excellent AND nutritious.  I’m beginning to feel like a complete expert on this brand because we’ve tried just about everything they make!

I love my Ginkgo & Decaf Green Tea with honey and a spritz of lemon but it’s actually a great tasting cup of tea without anything added. It’s also great on ice, but I prefer it hot.  Truth be told, even though I had it in mind for drinking in the evening, I often make a cup during the day simply because I’m hooked on the taste. In fact, it’s 10:40 am as I’m writing this review and I’m enjoying a cup right now.

A big, big cup.

Click either picture or the following link for more information about this flavorful, comforting, and ridiculously delicious tea: Triple Leaf Tea, Tea Bags, Ginkgo & Decaf Green Tea with Panax Ginsengs & Chinese Herbs, 1.4-Ounce Bags, 20-Count Boxes (Pack of 6).

Cup of Tea

Inspiring Green Tea: Smooth, Delicious, and Very Aptly Named

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Inspiring Green Tea

Buy Delicious Inspiring Green Tea Online

A few days ago I was scouring a few Dollar-Friendly stores in Owensboro, Kentucky: Big Lots, Dollar General Store, Deal$…  You never know what goodies you’ll find at these incredibly underrated stores. I can’t tell you how many times someone will ask me where I came up with something in particular – only to find out that it was all of $2.50. Really, when it comes to fun little party favors, off beat decorations, and even gift bags – these stores are hard to beat.

I also love to see what they have in the way of tea bags. You’d be surprised by the brands they carry that you simply can’t find anywhere else in town.

On a recent excursion, I found the green tea bags you see pictured above, Inspiring Green Tea: A Refreshing Blend of Antioxidant Rich Chinese Green Tea Leaves, 30 Bags (Tea).

I must have looked like a kid in a candy store when I spotted a brand I wasn’t familiar with on the shelf. I quickly threw two boxes into my cart – one for me and one, of course, for my oldest daughter, the Crazy Tea Chick herself. Usually, I just call her Emily. Or if she’s done something remarkably shocking, Emily Erin.

When I gave her a box, I recognized the same excited expression I’d worn while throwing the boxes into the cart. The tea bag didn’t fall far from the tree in this family.

Inspiring Green Tea is a knock out. It’s very refreshing, delicious, and undeniably “green.”

Product Features

  • 100% Natural Tea Leaves
  • 30 Servings Per Box, Net Wt. 1.58 oz (45 g)
  • A Healthful Blend of Antioxidant Rich Chinese Green Tea Leaves
  • Microwaveable

This wonderful, yet surprisingly inexpensive tea is available on Amazon. Click through any of the links (or the picture of my own box) for more information.

More Praise for the Health Benefits of Green Tea

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Kent & Sussex Summer Raspberry Green Tea

I subscribe to a couple (well… okay… more than a couple) of health-related newsletters. It’s as though highly regarded and well-known doctors come into my home and consult with me on a daily basis. Who wouldn’t want that? Free house calls!

One of my favorite newsletters is the Health Newsletter from Dr. Al Sears.  A recent newsletter was titled, “Why Most Japanese Never Wind Up in a Nursing Home.”

Because I read a great, great deal about health, tea, and green tea – I pretty much knew the reason before I even opened the newsletter.  Green tea… of course!

Here are excerpts from the newsletter:

No one wants to go to a nursing home. In fact, ending up in a nursing home is something most of us dread.

But in Japan – where people live longer than in just about any other part of the world – nursing homes are almost unheard of.

These are people living long, active lives. And they’re doing it from the comfort of their own homes.

I’m writing you today because I believe I’ve figured out how they do it…

When I was researching Japanese longevity, I looked at their overall lifestyles, their work lives, their exercise routines and what they were putting into their bodies.

There was one difference that really stood out… maybe the biggest I’ve discovered.

And it’s very simple.

The best part is you can start using it today to help you feel better and give you more energy.

It’s an antioxidant called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG for short). The Japanese consume it almost every day, mostly in the form of green tea…..

 

In order to benefit from green tea, you need to “up the ante,” so to speak. One, two, or even three cups of green tea a day isn’t enough.  You need to drink at least 6 cups a day to achieve the benefits described above.  If, like me, you drink hot and iced green tea, it’s absolutely no problem.  I make a pot up first thing in the morning, drink iced green tea throughout the day, then make a pot up in the evening for hot green tea with honey.  Heaven.

On a somewhat related note, if you regularly get Green Tea Fraps at Starbucks, did you know that you can order them “Skinny?”  The best part is, they’re just as delicious… actually I like them even better because there’s a delicious matcha taste you don’t get in the “fatty” versions.

And now I’m craving one so badly I’m two minutes away from heading to Starbucks for a Skinny Green Tea Frap.  I love life.

Yogi Tea fortune on tea bag…couldn’t love this more!

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Just had to share this picture. I was making some Yogi Tea (Green Tea Rejuvenation, to be exact) earlier when I noticed the motto printed on this particular tea bag. (Backstory: Yogi Tea prints little fortunes on the paper ends of each of their teabags – such a freaking cute idea.) Anyway, the fortune on this bag simply says, “You are unlimited.” I can’t tell you how awesome those three words are: empowering, encouraging, effective. Puts me in a very good mood. Plus the tea’s absolutely delicious. Moral of the story: Never limit yourself. Second moral of the story: Drink green tea. 🙂

Experimenting with a Knock-off of Smoothie King’s Green Tea Tango

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Hey, don’t hate on my Quagmire glass. Inside is my knock-off version of Smoothie King’s to-die-for Green Tea Tango smoothie, which turned out very, very close to the original. I think I get extra points for having no matcha on hand to use…and no clue what I was doing.

So the other night I decided that nothing would make me happier at that exact moment in time than a green tea smoothie. However my Smoothie King is on the other side of town, it was late at night, and I was in my pajamas. And lazy. I really wanted to make my own version, but at first thought that seemed impossible since I don’t currently have any Matcha powder. Then (*brainstorm!*), I decided to brew up 2 cups of green tea and experiment. I didn’t write down my steps or measurements as I went along because, quite frankly, I didn’t expect it to be even close to edible, so I’ll try my best to remember exactly how I made the smoothie. I used 2 green tea bags and brewed them in one of my largest mugs. I then poured the tea in a blender and added 4-5 ice cubes.  I know that yogurt is a staple of any good smoothie recipe, so I added about 1/4 cup of plain fat-free yogurt, then added a little bit of soy milk. Technically, you probably shouldn’t even mess with the soy milk, because once I made my drink I instantly decided to add between 1/3-1/2 cup 2% dairy milk, so just stick with that: about a cup of dairy milk. The ice cubes I had added melted almost instantly due to the hot tea, so I had to add 3-4 more ice cubes. The drink was close to perfect, but was just too bitter, so I added sugar. How much you add is up to you, and I really didn’t want to add any because I hate sugar in my drinks, but trust me – this concoction is way too bitter without sugar. I added about 1/4 cup, and since this all brewed up between 2-3 actual smoothie servings, your per-cup sugar serving isn’t THAT bad. Not bodybuilder-healthy, but not horrendous. Now, I’ve tried the Smoothie King Green Tea Tango with fruit added (like the company recommends), and I was very disappointed to realize that all you taste is the fruit – no hint of matcha at all. Now when I order my smoothie, I tell the worker that I don’t want fruit because I want to only taste the matcha/yogurt, and they’re always VERY friendly and happy to oblige – they just usually add a little extra powder to make the texture just right or whatever. Anyway, if you like fruit in your smoothie, feel free to throw that in the blender too, and I’m sure it will taste fine.

Final verdict: Although my mixture isn’t all that green (due to the lack of actual matcha), and it took some tweaking and experimenting to get it right, it was actually DELICIOUS and tasted almost identical to the Smoothie King version. Next time I get a late-night smoothie urge – or feel too lazy to drive 15 minutes – I’ll be doing this again. Yum! 🙂

Annnnndddd… more pictures of my Christmas tea gifts :)

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All right, one more post about my awesome tea-related Christmas gifts, then I’ll be done.

Here’s a beyond awesome tea-towel I received from my mom…it’s kind of similar in color to some adorable Paula Deen tea towels I got last year. You know what that means; I will be redecorating my kitchen to match the colors and theme. No big deal:

 

Here’s something I received from my younger sister – a box of Earl Grey tea (one of my faves!) and a Tazo tea glass with a set of Tazo Tea (one of my favorite tea companies, by far):

 

And lastly, here are two kinds of tea that the same sister gave me – Raspberry Green Tea by The Tea Nation and Pomegranate Tea by the English Tea Shop. I had never tried either kind before, but take it from me – they’re awesome:

My 5 favorite hot teas this month…

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As you may know (scratch that, you better know), January is National Hot Tea Month. I’m not sure how that works in other countries – I would recommend that they celebrate hot tea this month as well, but no one’s asked my opinion. Yet.

Anyway, as a way of celebrating hot tea, I’ve listed my current favorite hot teas below…obviously I’m pretty much crazy about most hot teas, but these are the ones that I just…can’t…stop….DRINKING. 🙂

White Coconut Creme by Tea Gallerie (official website): I cannot, with my great talent at words and description, even begin to describe how good this tea is. It seriously is amazing, and decadent, and reminiscent of a moist coconut cake that my mom makes that is out of this world. Make 2012 the year that you do nice things for yourself, and start by buying some of this tea.

 

Mint Chocolate Delight by Boston Tea Company (official website): Another tea that is delicious beyond words. Reminds me of those tasty after-dinner chocolates you get at Olive Garden when you’re ready to pay. Seriously one of the best teas I’ve ever had the pleasure of drinking.

 

Chocolate Hazelnut Decaf Tea by Stash Premium Teas (official website): This tea is so, so decadent. It’s like you’re drinking a fancy chocolate Starbucks latte, but without the calories or caffeine. There have been times when I’ve wanted something sweet to eat, but I’ve just brewed some of this tea instead. Less calories, and all of the taste.

 

Wild Sweet Orange Herbal Infusion by Tazo Teas (official website): This is one of my 5 favorite teas of ALL TIME, not just for the month. It’s also the only tea that I’ve been able to convince Dill (my soda-guzzling spouse) to drink, and he loves it. As in, drinks about 2 cups of it each night. Success!

 

Mint Medley Herb Tea by Bigelow Tea (official website): I’m a hussy for anything with mint in it, and this tea is no exception to my rule. It’s delicious and tastes wonderful hot. We all know how good the herb mint is for us, and it goes without saying that tea does a body good, so do the math, people…drink this tea. 🙂