Twinings Green Tea - Lemon & Honey

Ever since my sister got me started on Green Tea as a way to increase my metabolism, I have finally been converted to a tea drinker. Prior to this, I would only have a hot coffee in the peak of winter when I needed to warm myself from the inside, otherwise I never drank hot tea or coffee.

Initially it was tough to drink green tea in the summers, but I now end up having my 3 cups in the night after 11pm. I'm a night bird, who is normally up till 2am or later, so it works for me.

In the mornings, I have one cup of hot water with lemon and ginger with honey, so I was quite excited when Twinings sent me a gift pack of their latest - Lemon & Honey Green Tea, that I was hoping I could have in the mornings.

 

The White Box, that you see in the picture, had a really lovely note written on it:

"Not everybody has a discerning taste for tea.
Not everybody has the detailed knowledge about the finest and the oldest tea makers.
And you being the select few with admirable knowledge on fine tea drinking, make us want to celebrate that classic taste.
Since you are now a true Twinings Connoisseur, we would love to honour you with an exclusive Twinings gift pack.
For that refined taste you share with us and your fine disposition as a tea drinker, you are truly valued and admired.
We would be delighted to bring to you more such surprises..
Stay connected with us through our facebook page.
Enjoy your tea time."

Yes, as you may have guessed by these words, I had won a quiz on tea, held on their facebook page, but don't you just love the wording?

The package arrived in the evening and I couldn't wait until morning to taste it, so we opened it up immediately to try this new flavour.

I have to mention, that I am a huge fan of Twinings black tea in Lemon and Lady Grey Flavours and their green tea in Mint and Jasmine Flavours. The Lemon and Honey was a bit of a disappointment though. While I could taste the lemon, the honey was just the fragrance of honey without any flavour or sweetness, that feels quite weird.

Fabindia's Organic Tea has a sweet flavour in their Tulsi - Sweet Rose tea, that is lovely. This honey tea, did not have any of that sweetness. So this flavour ended up tasting like the regular Twinings Green Tea Lemon, with an aroma of honey thrown in. I'll stick to the Jasmine and mint options for now and have Fabindia's Organic Tulsi Ginger Green Tea in the mornings when I want some tea in the cold weather.

Recipe: Badawi Shai (Bedouin Tea from Egypt)

The Bedouin (desert gypsies -  would be the closest translation) who live in the deserts of Egypt and around have a special blend of herbs that they use to make tea and it does not include tea leaves. The tea is a digestive and very soothing. It has multiple healing properties from its many herbs.

Marmareyya is the main ingredient and is from the mint family. It is an astringent, good for the throat and also extremely good for upset stomachs. Even in Cairo, Egyptians drink plain marmareyya tea for stomach upsets.

The Badawi Shai blend includes rose petals, cinnamon, chamomille flowers among other ingredients. While the blend bought from the bedouin is clean and pure, it is very difficult to source (not least because the bedouin in the Sinai peninsula are wary of outsiders)

The blend is available in some herbalist/ spice shops in Cairo and Dahab / Sharm el Sheikh. But most of the time it will need ot be cleaned. The sticks/ stems of the Marmareyya turn bitter when boiled but add bulk to packaging. So do remove these sticks before you add to boiling water.

The recipe is fairly simple.

Boil a cup of water. Add a teaspoon of the bedouin tea blend to the boiling water, cover the pot and turn off the heat.

Let the tea steep for 2- 5 minutes. Strain and serve hot.

If you ask for any tea - shai in Egypt, it will be served with "a lot" of sugar. However I like this tea plain or with a spot of honey. Hence the tea looks a lot darker in this picture (from the honey)

Its especially wonderful in the winters and monsoons (Egypt doesn't really have a monsoon season, I mean the monsoons in India).

 

Recommendation : Organic India Teas

Recently discovered this brand in Delhi. Their teas are all organic. They have regular flavours too.

Since we drink black and green tea and I have a large stock of them, I picked up the Tulsi Ginger.

This is excellent for bad throats and when you feel a cold coming on. Ginger and tulsi are an old Indian home remedy for colds.

Steep 1 tsp of the loose tea for 3-5 minutes in 1 cup of boiling water. Strain & drink with honey. It immediately starts to soothe the throat.


You can even make ice tea from this combination.

They are supposed ot have tea bags too, but I haven't seen them in the stores yet.

Its a quality brand. Their website is http://www.organicindia.com/ in case you want more information on product range and benefits.

This is NOT a sponsored post, its just a product that I appreciate.

Recipe : Karkadih - Hibiscus Drink

This is an Egyptian Specialty. The dried Hibiscus flowers are easily available in the markets of Egypt.

This drink is drunk hot in the winter (as a herbal tea) and cold in the summer as a juice.

It has been medically proven to
be high in Vitamin C (good for building immunity)
soothes colds & coughs
calms the nerves
detoxifies the system
lowers blood pressure

Rinse 1/4kg dried karkadih.
Add one liter water and boil for 5 minutes.
Let it soak in that water for at least 1 hour.
Strain and sweeten with 1 cup sugar.
Bottle and refrigerate.

A few sticks of cinnamon can also be used when boiling the karkadih.

Dilute with chilled water when you want to drink it cold.
Dilute with boiling water when you want to drink it hot.

The taste is similar to kokum juice or birinda juice (consumed in the konkan regions of India)