Happy 4th of July weekend. We hope the summer heatwave isn't melting your malai off; stay hydrated; you know a great way to stay hydrated? Sip on Chai. It doesn't have to be caffeinated black tea, creamy pink Chai, or even caffeinated green tea; it can be a simple as sipping on Iced Malhar Kadha with honey and lime - your very own turmeric tonic or Iced Butterfly Blue Brew, make it a Color-Changing Chai by adding hibiscus flowers or lemon juice. You can even turn it into a kid-friendly slushy! Find amazing recipes for Aprajita - Butterfly Blue Brew HERE.
If you are a true tea lover and can't start your day without a cup of Karak Chai, we have good news for you.
People sip on Chai in some of the hottest regions in the world because drinking hot Chai actually helps regulate body temperature.
So the beverage makes you sweat, and spices like ginger and fennel cool you down from within.
If you aren't adventurous enough to have a steaming hot cup of Sanyukta Bharatam on a warm summer morning, try our limited edition seasonal blend - Surgrisma - It makes for an amazing Chilled Chai-filled with cooling spices. We love experimenting with our blends; sugrisma was actually a happy accident blend that Madura stumbled upon inventing while trying to create a classic Masala Chai.
Speaking of experimenting, we have a tea'licious recipe for you in today's blog for a Chai and a tas'tea pairing.
An intriguing combination of herbs and spices make for tea'ncredible noms.
That being said, we are always trying to incorporate Indian flavors into our tas'tea parings. This week we are going blue in honor of the 4th of July weekend; we include a festive Blueberry Green Tea.
We all know Aprajita Herbal Tea makes for the perfect Red White and Blue Summer Cooler, and the Berry Black Tea we made last week is a berrylicous iced sweet tea; here is a patrio'tea'c Chai for you Green Tea lovers.
For this brew, we used garden-fresh seasonal blueberries
Anurakti - Marigold and lavender Brew and
Lava Lavender Sugar
Anurakti is The Chai Bar's Lavender and Marigold Green Tea Blend.
It is a green tea spin-off of Mangalyam- Lavender and Marigold Black Tea. The flavors are inspired by Madura's wedding, where the venue was adorned with Marigold and Lavender flowers.
We source our green tea leaves from a green tea farm nestled in the foothills of the Indian Himalaya mountain range. The Chai Bar's blends are so much more than aroma, flavor, and taste; they go beyond with The Chai Impact.
We put a lot of love and time into finding our suppliers and partner farms.
The tea farm we source our green tea from does a lot to give back to the community of the laborers and smallhold farmers.
They provide educational scholarships, employment to women, eco homes, waste management, they have also built a local hospital in the village for healthcare, and more.
Not only are their social pursuits commendable, but also, their tea selection is only the choicest. Golden tea leaves are plucked fresh, hand-sorted, rolled, smoked in wood fire smokers, and sent straight to us.
We carefully prepare small batches of each tea by hand, blending the leaves with botanicals, herbs, and spices.
The result is unique, high-quality tea, custom-made to perfection.
Anurakti is a unique blend because it has the earthy flavors of green tea combined with floral notes. All our blends are free from artificial flavor or color, so each ingredient has the opportunity to shine.
Aroma: With primary notes of lush lavender, this wonderfully refreshing aromatic floral blend with a touch of natural sweetness and subtle tones of citrusy marigold is reminiscent of a bike ride through the grasslands so inhale and inhale some more.
Taste:
Head Notes: Saffrony marigold and herbaceous lavender;
Body Notes: Spicy yet vegetal with a floral and cinnamony flavor profile that lends a fuller taste and balances out the mild astringent flavors of strong brewed green teas;
Tail Notes: Citrusy undertones of spice.
Tea'p: Serve this floral blend on the rocks, or carry most of the benefits of lavender tea all day. Brew, store overnight in a glass container, add milk and ice to your travel mug and take with you wherever you go.
Lavender and blueberries are a match made in spring-summer heaven. The aroma and flavors complement each other, building the beauty of this recipe.
LAVENDER BLUEBERRY GREEN TEA
INGREDIENTS
2 TBSP Anurakti Lavender Marigold Green Tea
4 TBsp Lava Lavender Sugar
1/2 Cup Fresh Blueberries
1 Tsp Lemon
INSTRUCTIONS
- Muddle together blueberries, sugar, bring to heat on a medium flame, simmer, allow it to cool.
- Add a dash of lime juice to the blueberry syrup
- Heat 8oz water to 200° F (93° C) or bring to a boil and let it cool for 15-20 seconds.
- Add 2 tsp. Anurakti Chai, blend, simmer for 4 mins.
- Strain and Chill
- Mix Blueberry Lavender Simple syrup with Chilled Anurakti
- Serve over frozen blueberries
The taste pairing we have chosen this week is unique; we first thought of the idea when we saw a video about artificial food flavoring.
Apparently, Coriander seeds, that's right, the seeds of the coriander, otherwise known as cilantro plant, are actually used in artificial blueberry food flavoring.
Being Indian, we use Corriander seeds every day. We use them in curry base, stir fry, lentil soups, flatbreads; almost every Indian dish uses coriander seeds.
So obviously, we had to try making lavender blueberry coriander muffins.
Now look, we are Chai experts, but we like to leave the baking to baking experts, so we went ahead and googled it.
We found this lovely recipe by Deb Perelman from The Smitten Kitchen,
The only thing we changed was that we added was cilantro berries (which were mentioned in a side note) and Lavender Sugar instead of plain cane sugar.
Here it is.
Please visit her website for more delicious treats.
INGREDIENTS
- 5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter, cold is fine
- 1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces or 100 grams) sugar
- 1tsp ground coriander/ celantro seeds / (also called berries)
- 3/4 cup plain unsweetened yogurt or sour cream
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (7 grams) baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
- 1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups (215 to 255 grams) blueberries, fresh or frozen (no need to defrost) (previously: 3/4 cup, see note up top)
- 3 tablespoons Lava Lavender Sugar
INSTRUCTIONS
Heat oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with 9 paper liners or spray each cup with a nonstick spray. Melt butter in the bottom of a large bowl and whisk in sugar, cilantro seeds, yogurt, and egg until smooth. Whisk in baking powder, baking soda, and salt until fully combined, then lightly fold in flour and berries. The batter will be very thick, like cookie dough. Divide between prepared muffin cups and sprinkle each with 1 teaspoon Lava Lavender sugar, which will seem over-the-top but, I promise, will be the perfect crunchy lid at the end. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until tops are golden and a tester inserted into the center of muffins comes out clean (you know, except for blueberry goo). Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then the rest of the way on a rack. These, like most muffins, are best on the first day. We've found through extensive "research" that if you run them split open under a broiler on day two with a pat of salted butter, it's so good that you're going to forever hope for more blueberry muffin leftovers.
You can find the full recipe HERE.
Now try these blueberry cilantro lavender sugar muffins, pair them with Anurakti Lavender Marigold Green Tea with Blueberries, and let us know how you plan to celebrate your fourth of July weekend.