Peppermint Rose

Peppermint is fast becoming among my favorite herbals.  It's such a potent herb that it's been hard not to let it overpower other flavors, but I think tonight I finally got it right.  In experimenting with the rose buds, which are lovely little dried roses, I've found that aside from the pretty color they give the tea and the delicate but almost un-noticeably sweet flavor, I've found it is easily muted by even a little bit of chamomile.  So tonight, I used two heaping tablespoons of rose buds and not even a teaspoon of peppermint.  What I ended up with was a perfect blend of sweet, fragrant, peppermint tea that I am very excited about.  I finished it off with an old bartending trick of a lemon twist so as not let the lemon flavor take hold over the rose.  A lemon twist is made by using just the zest instead of the fruit itself.  I pulled the peel off a slice of lemon and rubbed it around the rim of my glass, then squeezed it into my cup before pouring the tea in over it.  This way I get a little lemon flavor on my lips with each sip and a little more in the tea itself without it being too much.

I'm not familiar with any health benefits of rose tea (not yet anyway), but I have heard of rose oil being used along with intention for opening the heart and its use massaged into the wrist pulse points for relaxation and to relieve anxiety.  You can get small vials of rose oil at Whole Foods, along with lavender oil which is used to help problem skin conditions.

I also found this site today that I'll be reading more into later, it talks about this Canadian company's sustainable tea in Kenya, I found it an interesting read.  http://www.redrosetea.ca

Mint Jasmine

I bought some new tea today!  In keeping with the caffeine free herbals, I bought peppermint, Rose bud, and hibiscus teas to play with.  I bought 3 sizable bags of organic teas for just under $9.00.  I still have a little chamomile, lavender, and jasmine left (this tea lasts such a long time) so I used the last of the Jasmine tonight and crushed it up with the pestle and mortar with about a tablespoon of the new peppermint.  I steeped it for about 5 minutes and am currently sipping my second cup of refreshing, soothing tea.  Sadly, I'm not sure I taste the jasmine, but peppermint is such a powerful, fragrant herb that I'm not sure any other herbal would come out when mixed with it.  Jasmine is such a delicate flavor, it's not much surprise that it's lost against the potent peppermint.

Peppermint, like ginger is used homeopathically to aid in digestion.  It's come to my relief in the past when I've experienced heartburn and indigestion among many other stomach ailments.  It also helps digestion after a big meal.  This is why many restaurants serve mints on your way out, though I'm not sure the sugar helps much.  It's a nice thought though :)