Many years ago, when I flew with Older Daughter to Ohio to drop her off at nanny school, I had my first opportunity to visit Lehman's Amish Store in Kidron. It's a place I'd wanted to see for years and years and years.
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Needless to say, it exceeded all my expectations and I came away deeply impressed.
On that occasion, I made a few small purchases, including a special blend of tea called Bilbo Baggins Breakfast Blend for Older Daughter.
Well, she loved it. She regularly ordered it online ever after (not from Lehman's, but from a different source). The last time she ordered multiple boxes was sometime in November of 2019. By the time she used up what she had and decided to order more, she learned that particular blend had been discontinued.
Bummer.
She was talking about this tea recently, and how much she enjoyed it. Don is always up for a research challenge, so he decided to sleuth out the ingredients of this particular blend. He found it consisted of English breakfast black tea, chai, orange peel, and red clover flowers.
So ... Older Daughter ordered these baseline ingredients and started experimenting. And eureka, she figured out the blend.
Here's the homemade version of the Bilbo Baggins Breakfast Blend tea:
• 1 teaspoon English Breakfast tea
• 1/4 teaspoon chai
• 1/4 teaspoon ("heaping" quarter-teaspoon) of orange peel
• 2 red clover heads
She puts this blend in a tea strainer for a hearty cup of tea. She also adds about half a tablespoon of powdered milk (or a splash of fresh milk) to complete the cup of comfort.
The nice thing about making up a blend like this from its component ingredients is how much cheaper it is. She used some pint canning jars to assemble the ingredients in easy form, and stored the rest of the bulk ingredients in the pantry.
Ah, the alchemy of good tea.
My own daughter is a tea connoisseur and is always mixing and boiling stuff I'm too scared to ask about. Me, I will drink any black tea around but I am more of a coffee person. Have never heard of red clover in tea, although probably Daughter has, but sounds kind of good. I have planted a lot of red clover as groundcover, so I will plan to harvest and dry the flowers. Why not?
ReplyDeleteDelicious! What will she name it? I commend her ingenuity and determination. I love orange peel in many things. I usually drink the herbal Good Earth they seem to be best known for
ReplyDeleteI've been making a bucket list, for traveling in the bus we're turning into an RV. Thanks for the reminder about Lehman's. It's been added to the list. I'm following a caffeine-free protocol, but sure do miss a good cup of tea.
ReplyDeleteMany herbal teas are caffeine free. I have a cup of herbal tea every morning. I mix it together in a half gallon jar and take a teaspoon tea strainer out daily for my cuppa. It is one part of each marshmallow root, dandelion leaf, chickweed, nettle leaf, mullein and I also put in calendula petals for color and for their medicinal properties. It is a bladder, liver and kidney support mixture which I also when adding the mullein , make it an sinus relief tea. The calendula helps the body in so many ways. But most herbal teas are caffeine free so enjoy a cuppa.
DeleteMaybe she should market it.
ReplyDeleteWe love seeing smart and resourceful people! I want to try this tea now.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the tea recipe! Being a tea drinker instead of coffee for almost 30 years, I'm spoiled to loose leaf and usually make my own breakfast blend of two parts black, one part green and one part jasmine! Tasty . . .
ReplyDeleteTons of red clover around here!
ReplyDeleteIs English breakfast tea Earl Grey? I like it, but it gives me a terrible headache so I don't drink it anymore. 50 years ago I received some as a gift and loved it, but it took time for me to realize it was the source of those headaches.
I do spice up black tea sometimes with orange peels and cloves, but mostly love good coffee. Everything nowadays must be decaf.
As an aside about black tea and diy, many years ago I used to work long hours waitressing to get through college, and would wind up going to bed without washing my face. This caused eye infections from sleeping with mascara on and subsequent doctor visits.
I stopped by the table of a lonely Iranian girl one morning in the cafeteria with a greasy antibiotic in my eyes. She told me to wash it out and brew a strong black tea and rinse my eyes with it every time my eyes itches, that it would cure them. That both of her parents were doctors and the people of her country had to rely more on natural remedies because they couldn't afford the medicines we use.
The tea worked faster than the greasy stuff and was much more comfortable, plus very inexpensive.
(Please note... this is not advice to forego seeing a doctor. It is a simple home remedy for a simple problem)
I think of her often, especially lately. We had many Iranian students sent to school here back right before the hostage crisis. I think parents who could sent their children out of Iran to be educated, and to keep them out of harms way. Unfortunately, because of the hostage crisis, many students were attacked. This girl had to move out of her apartment and in with an American family to stay safe.
Anyway, I think of the students I knew frequently now, especially in prayer. I'm praying especially that the people there who know Christ, and many do, gain greater freedom to worship Him, among other things. There are many wonderful people in that country.
English Breakfast and Earl Grey are two different teas. I believe Earl Grey contains bergamot, thus its distinctive flavor.
DeleteYes. I am currently growing a bergamot tree indoors just for the heck of it. My daughter makes Earl Grey flavored tea ice cream sometimes. Also she believes English Breakfast is for wimps who can't handle Irish Breakfast. :-)
DeleteWere you able to wear makeup again after using the black tea? I've looked online about this. The info mostly debates whether it works and why/how.
DeleteAnd I'll bet those wimps who drink Irish breakfast can't handle Yorkshire Gold. : )
DeleteI sense a new “career” path opening up for Older Daughter.
ReplyDelete