Chai Tea Muffins with Chai Streusel
Both coffee and tea pair very well with freshly baked, homemade muffins, but they don’t usually make their way into the muffins themselves. Coffee cake and coffee cake muffins, for instance, are not coffee flavored – they are just meant to pair with coffee. Coffee and tea can both be fantastic flavors for baked goods, muffins included, and you’ll get plenty of tea in these Chai Tea Muffins with Chai Streusel.
The muffins are made with strong chai tea, which gives them a black tea and spice flavor. I recommend brewing double or triple strenght chai tea for this recipe so that you get as much tea flavor as possible. That being said, the muffins are also packed with chai spices, like cinnamon, allspice, ginger and cardamom to ensure that you get a well-rounded chai flavor in every bite. They’re moist, tender and topped off with a spiced streusel topping that adds a nice buttery crunch, as well as a little extra spice.
As you might expect, these pair extremely well with a cup of hot chai tea or with a chai tea latte, but they also pair well with a regular cup of coffee.
Starbucks Teams with Oprah for New Teavana Oprah Chai Tea Collection
Can you think of a celebrity with his or her own line of tea? No? The next time someone asks you that question – which I’m sure happens all the time – you can answer Oprah. Oprah has teamed up with Starbucks’ premium tea brand, Tevana, to create her own line of chai tea. The partnership was announced at the Starbucks annual meeting last week. Oprah is the first celebrity – and a very big celebrity at that – to really align herself with a Starbucks brand in this way, and Teavana is the first brand that she has aligned herself with so directly.
“I looove tea,” said Oprah Winfrey. “My daily tea ritual is a vital part of my morning. Savory and spicy chai, with its deep flavor, has long been a favorite of mine. When Howard Schultz offered to have me come into the Starbucks tasting room and create my very own tea blend, I thought that sounded like such a unique opportunity and fun to the tenth power.
Oprah herself created the tea blend Teavana’s head teaologist, Naoko Tsunoda. It has a base of black and rooibos teas, with spices that include cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and cloves. It will be available as a loose-leaf tea and as a tea latte at Tevana stores before for Mother’s Day, so you can start looking for it in a few weeks. Proceeds from the sale of the tea will go towards the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation, which provides funding for the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls – South Africa and is dedicated to helping its graduates attend colleges and universities. The foundation will support additional youth education through Girls Inc., National CARES Mentoring Movement, Pathways to College and the U.S. Dream Academy. You can find out more details of the tea’s creation and these charities at Steep Your Soul.
5 Sweet Starbucks Secret Menu Holiday Drinks
Drinks like the Eggnog Latte and Peppermint Mocha are holiday favorites that Starbucks fans look forward to all year long. They’re not the only holiday drinks out there, however, and you can build even more perfect-for-the-holidays drinks by getting a little bit creative with your Starbucks order. These are 5 custom “secret menu” holiday drinks that are well worth ordering at Starbucks, all in grande size. Try to order them by the ingredients, as not every barista is going to know one of these concoctions by name.
Candy Cane Frappuccino – Who doesn’t love the occasional candy cane around the holidays. I stir them into my hot chocolate, but you can build a whole candy cane flavored drink, too. Order a grande vanilla bean frappuccino with one and a half pumps of peppermint syrup. It may not look like a candy cane, but you’ll get that same festive, minty flavor. The only thing missing is the red and white swirl, but you can always bring your own candy can in for garnish!
Apple Pie a La Mode – Everyone loves hot apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. To get this in drink form, order a grande steamed apple cider with 4 pumps of gingerbread syrup. Top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of ground cinnamon from the condiment bar. It’ll taste just like a hot slice of cinnamon-spiced pumpkin pie – and the cold vanilla whipped cream on top stands in for the ice cream that makes this “a la mode.”
Tea for Downton Abbey Fans
You might get the urge to pour yourself a cup of tea while watching Downton Abbey. Earl grey or English breakfast might satisfy your craving for a cuppa – but you might just want something that fits in even better with the show. The Republic of Tea just released English Rose Tea, a special Downton Abbey edition for all the fans out there.
The herbal tea is made with a blend of hibiscus, rosehip peels, apples, raspberry, vanilla and rose petals, for a blend that is both sweet and flora. It’s also caffeine free, so you don’t have to worry about being kept up all night after watching the latest episode – and if you stay up late wondering what is going to happen next, you can’t blame it on the tea.
