How many of you have cupboards full of delicious teas? The beauty of whole leaf artisanal tea, is that a little goes a long way. Which means, the tea tins and boxes last you forever. Yet, you walk into a store, and your eye naturally gravitates towards a new tea flavour. “Variety is the soul of pleasure” after all!
Ideally, you should use whole leaf teas within a year for its potency, flavour and nourishment. We all know how difficult that can be, particularly in a small household with a zest for buying varied teas! And I just cannot see tea lying around. My hands itch when I see so many and the head starts churning out ideas on how else to use them.
I love cold brewing tea – it makes the tea sweeter, easier and always on hand to drink. I also believe in zero-waste – which means invariably, the used tea leaves get crushed into finer grains and swirled into cold pressed oil for an instant body exfoliator that’s high in antioxidants and caffeine that greatly helps reduce visibility of cellulite and give way to firmer, smoother skin!
But back to cooking – I love to use tea in various dishes – while the obvious one being swirling into desserts like cakes and muffins, they work beautifully well in savoury dishes, particularly the ones that require marinating and slow roasting.
So when I took a sip of Chai Diaries’ rooibos tea, I was floored! My hands itched to give them full justice with delicious creations!
Chai Diaries is an artisanal tea brand that goes back three generations, and still strong. Now established in Los Angeles by Ami Bhansali, Chai Diaries distributes across America and to connoisseurs and gourmands specialty blends and high quality traditional teas. Ami spent years traveling through India on a mission to create a sustainable business that balances between individual consciousness and profitable capitalism.
I’ve worked with three of their tea blends: Rooibos White Choco Chip, Moringa Green Tea (which has tulsi and fennel as well) and Tulsi Green Tea and worked them into a range of sweet and savoury recipes that are all so simple to recreate, but looks super fancy!
Follow them at: Chai Diaries on Instagram
