A blend of roasted & green Kukicha (mostly roasted) with spices & a touch of buttered chestnut essence that is both vegan & nut free! This tea is amazingly good!
Tea of the Week for December 11, 2023!
I usually try to craft at least one chestnut tea every year around the holidays, and this year, this is that tea.
After I finished putting together all the teas for the holiday box, I found myself having to make some last minute changes to my tea menu for November & December, because I didn’t have all the necessary ingredients for those teas. My choices were either a) order those ingredients & wait and this time of year, that often means waiting far longer than you plan or have time to wait; or b) change the menu.
So I changed the menu rather than risk waiting longer than I can afford to wait for the ingredients. This is one of the teas that I changed the recipe on – I was going to go in a little different direction with my annual chestnut tea, but now that I’m sitting here, tasting this tea, I’m glad I didn’t because this is simply delightful! So much better than I ever imagined!
This tea starts with a combination of Kukicha (I used mostly roasted Kukicha, but I added a little bit of green kukicha to lighten the roasty-toasty notes just a little bit). To the Kukicha blend, I added chestnut essence, butter essence (don’t worry, it’s vegan!), a kiss of vanilla & some spice (allspice, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom & nutmeg).
This is a MUST TRY tea. It came out so much better than I thought it would. It’s a pleasantly cozy tea: warm, toasty, nutty, spicy & buttery. It’s also vegan, gluten free, allergen free & all natural!
organic ingredients: green teas, allspice, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, calendula petals & all natural flavors
to brew: shake the pouch to ensure all ingredients are well-incorporated. use 3g of tea to 12oz of very hot water (175°F) – BUT – before you add that water, I recommend that you pop open the cardamom pod so that you can ensure that the cardamom flavor steeps into your cup! Seriously, you’ll thank me! Steep for 2 to 2 ½ minutes. Strain & allow to cool for at least 5 minutes. Enjoy!
serving suggestion: I generally prefer my spiced teas to be served warm – it’s just cozier that way! And this tea is no exception – I like it warm. It’s good as it cools too, so that indicates to me that this would make a nice iced tea too.
It tastes great without sweetener, however, I tend to prefer my spiced teas sweetened just a little bit, it brings out the dimension in the spices, but sweetener is not required to enjoy this – so if you prefer no sweetener, drink it that way!