Making your own herbal teas from the garden

Herbal teas are not really teas in that they’re not made from tea plants. Herbal teas are brews of herbs and flowers that are steeped in water the same way that tea is made. The primary difference between a “standard” black tea and an herbal tea (aside from the leaves used) is that black tea is dried and fermented, while the herbs in other teas are usually just dried.

The Chicago Tribune had a great piece recently about how to make your own herbal teas at home. Sun-dried herbs are easy to come by – just take a trip to your garden (or your neighbor’s garden), take a few of the leaves that you like and leave them out in the sun between paper towels to dry. Good choices for making your own herbal teas include peppermint, calendula (pot marigold), bee balm and rose petals – all of which are quite common. It’s best to grow your own so that you know no pesticides will have been sprayed on the plants before you use them

Starbucks revamps pastry menu

You might have noticed a change in the pastry case at your local Starbucks over the past few weeks. In an effort to cut costs while increasing overall quality, Starbucks has completely changed the way that they do their pastries. Previously, Starbucks used a variety of regional bakeries to stock their stores. This meant that you could find different types of pastries in different areas, according to what was popular there, and that the ingredients that went into the items varied widely.

Starting today, Starbucks is using fewer bakeries, each of which will produce and ship more items. This consolidation also allowed Starbucks to tinker with its recipes and refocus on slightly healthier options with all natural ingredients. They cut out corn syrup from their Marshmallow Dream Bars, eliminated the artificial flavorings from berry muffins and real egg whites are making an appearance in a heart-healthy breakfast sandwich. Starbucks says that its new options have “15 percent fewer calories, 5 percent less fat and 8 percent less saturated fat” than previous items.

Time Out Chicago has done a taste test of the newest items on the menu, if you want to see how they stack up. Not all of these items may be available in your region, but some are nationwide.

Zagat ranks Starbucks as no. 1 coffee

The newest Zagat ratings are out, and Starbucks ended up with the Number 1 Best Coffee ranking in the Fast Food and Quick Refreshment category and the No. 1 Most Popular Quick Refreshment Chain overall. Its competitors included Dunkin’ Donuts, McDonald’s, Peet’s Coffee & Tea and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, just to name a few of the 28 establishments that also fill that category.

Zagat’s ratings are not done by food professionals, but are compiled from user-submitted reviews of the restaurants and eateries that they regularly (or irregularly, if they’re bad) visit. This makes the Zagat reviews significant because they offer companies some insight into how the consumers are enjoying their products.

Zhena’s Gypsy Tea PINK Acaiberry Green Tea

Zhena’s Gypsy Tea PINK Acaiberry Green Tea is part of the PINK Tea for Women’s Health line from Zhena’s Gypsy. The line includes teas made from superfruit berries, including cherries, pomegranate, cranberries and cacao berries, that are high in antioxidants and other beneficial compounds. Additionally, a portion of the proceeds from the sales of tea in this line go towards The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

The Acaiberry tea reminded me a lot of the Tazo Passion tea, except that the flavor of the green tea base actually came through the fruitiness slightly. It gave the tea a very clean, refreshing feel. Overall, the flavor was very fruity, somewhere between a strawberry, a kiwi and a grape – which boils down to it having an acai berry  flavor, which is quite hard to pin down if you’ve never had it before. A great summertime tea, this one, like the Strawberry Kiwi Tea I tried not too long ago, also makes good iced tea. Unlike the Strawberry, which was excellent plain and sweetened, I would prefer this one completely unsweeted for iced tea so that the subtle flavors of the fruit can come out.

Zhena’s Gypsy Tea Strawberry Kiwi Green Tea, reviewed

When I opened up the tin containing the tea bags, I was hit with a familiar smell. Zhena’s Gypsy Tea Strawberry Kiwi Green Tea smells a lot like strawberry Jolly Ranchers – bright and sweet with a floral, strawberry scent – and a lot like it would make a wonderful pitcher of iced tea. So, I made iced tea and it did not let me down. The tea, although it smells like Jolly Ranchers, does not taste candy-like in the least. It does keep the floral strawberry notes, but they are much mellower and more subtle in the brewed tea. The kiwi came through in a very slight tang in the finish.This tea was excellent sweetened, as both honey and sugar played up the natural sweetness of the tea’s ingredients.

It’s a green tea and, as with many green teas, I found that it lost a bit of its softer, floral flavors when it was too diluted with water/ice. So, if you plan to make iced tea with it as I did, it’s worth planning ahead to give the full-strength tea time to chill overnight before serving, so that you will get the full effect of this sweet, summery tea on a hot day.