June is National Iced Tea Month

 Here Comes the Month for Iced Tea

June is National Iced Tea Month in the U.S.

By Cal Orey

It picks you up and calms you down, warms you and refreshes you. With black, white red, green, and herbal varieties, there’s a tea for every taste, and now this time-honored superfood is trending as the drink of choice for health-conscious people of all ages and cultures.

Spring

It’s the Season: Once winter days are almost over, it’s time for renewal and to make your home and body lighter for warmer days ahead. It’s common for me to brew a pot of white tea in the afternoon and a chamomile flower blend at night to welcome sleep during the Daylight Savings Time change. Healthful sandwiches paired with teas, vegetarian entrees, and green salads with tea-infused dressings come into play. It’s the ideal time to shed extra unwanted pandemic winter pounds and get a move on with lighter fare.

Healing Seasonal Teas: Detoxifying green tea and citrus tea (hot or iced) are popular during this time of lightening up. Organic spring jasmine, chamomile citrus, organic white peony, and rooibos blends are superb springtime teas that are perfect for the season of fresh beginnings. Superfoods with Tea: Apricots, artichokes, carrots, and spinach.

Summer

It’s the Season: Summer is a time to get a light touch and change of linens, clothes, opened screen windows, and fresh air, it’s time I relax in the morning with a cup of flavored black tea (for the caffeine boost) so I can get more physical and be more active in the longer days and nights of summertime. Iced tea makes a splash during this season of sun and frolic. Brewing black tea and infusing it with fresh citrus including limes, oranges, and lemons, in a pitcher filled with ice is a must-have. Pairing a glass of iced tea with summer fruit mini scones or cucumber tea sandwiches and fresh vegetable and fresh fruit salads to grilled fish is ideal. 

Healing Seasonal Teas: Fruit teas (such as blackberry and strawberry), white peony with fruit notes, and iced black tea are summer favorites to help the body cool down and feel energized. Other fruity profiles include blood orange, citrus hibiscus herbal, mango black, and peach fruit teas are ideal for the summertime. Superfoods with Tea: Blueberries, peaches, pineapple, and tomatoes.

Iced Tea with Citrus and Mint

This recipe is California-inspired from when I was in my twenties and lived in Fresno, a farming region in the central state where orange groves are plentiful. During the hot summer afternoons I’d drink iced orange pekoe  -- a grade of orthodox black tea  -- to get energized o I could enjoy riding a ten-speed bicycle accompanied by my soulmate with paws, a young and healthy black Labrador retriever, Stone Fox, who had dark brown soulful eyes and a smile to melt your heart. He’d run free through orange groves, and we’d race until we were whooped. From my backpack, I’d treat myself to cold tea in a plastic container and let my dog drink water from a hose or fountain outdoors to refresh ourselves.

4 cups water (fresh tap or filtered)

5 tea bags, orange pekoe

Granulated white sugar or honey to taste

Lemon or orange slices

Fresh mint

Bring 2 cups water to boil and pour it over tea bags. Cover and brew 3 to 5 minutes. Remove tea bags and add 2 cups cold water. Stir. Pour into chilled, ice filled tea mugs. Add sugar or honey to taste. Garnish with lemon slices and mint. Serves 4.

Excerpt from The Healing Powers of Tea 2018. All right reserved. Reprinted with permission from Kensington www.kensingtonbooks.com

Cal Orey, M.A. Is an author and journalist. Her books include the Healing Powers Series (Vinegar, Olive Oil, Chocolate, Honey, Coffee, Tea, Superfoods, Essential Oils, and Herbs and Spices) published by Kensington. (The collection has been featured by the Good Cook Book Club.) Her website is http://www.calorey.com.

June is National Iced Tea Month! The Healing Powers of Tea #1 Bestseller! (Again)

 By Cal Orey

Bestseller on Kobo (May 10, 2024)

 #1 in Nonfiction, Health & Well Being, Health, Reference

For centuries, people all around the world have enjoyed the simple, soothing pleasures of a good cup of tea with a good teaspoon of honey, and nowadays there is more reason to so do. Tea(s)—all kinds--especially with honey, but together they pack a punch of nutritional and health benefits. 

            Medical doctors, nutritionists, scientists and beekeepers are now confirming what healers have been saying for since biblical times—teas and honeys have a variety of healing powers.

 Here are my favorite tea and honey marriages—but there are infinite combinations for both you and me to try. There is no right or wrong combination and what’s sweet to you makes honey-tea beverages a sweet sip. Read on -- and pick one or two!

1. Black Tea:  The first tea I was introduced to was basic black tea—which does contain caffeine—and I have enjoyed it plain but realized it did need a sweet flavor boost to it.  Also, Earl Grey and English breakfast teas (perfect for an Irish breakfast, complete with fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, and scones) are part of the Black Tea group.

Best Honey Matches:  Basswood has a distinct flavor that I’ve used in plain yogurt for a rich flavor and it can give black tea a kick, too. Sourwood boasts a caramel taste that can make a common black tea come to life with taste. Earl Grey teams well with avocado, blueberry, and eucalyptus honeys, too. It’s more exotic and exciting than just a simple all-purpose clover honey that comes without pleasant surprises.

2. Green Tea:  Touted for its wide array of health virtues, this Asian tea does contain caffeine, like black tea, but not as much. It’s an acquired taste and that’s where honey comes into play so you can get the best of taste and nutritional benefits. 

Best Honey Matches:  Blueberry honey has a fruity taste which can give a nice kick to green tea, not the most flavorful tea.  Sage honey is mild, a California favorite of mine that brings out the best of green tea.

3.  Fruit Tea—Welcome to lemon, orange, rose hips, and apple teas. These fruity teas are sweet and sometimes tart, which call for a honey sidekick.

Best Honey Matches:  Mild flavored honeys such as sage and alfalfa brings out the best in fruit teas because it doesn’t overpower the fruity taste but maintains the integrity of the fruit flavor.

 4. Herbal Tea—Herbal teas come from a variety of plants other than the tea plant. They are made from the leaves, berries, flowers, fruits and bark of herbs and spices.

Although most herbal teas do not contain the antioxidant properties of real tea, they do possess other good-for-you compounds that can enhance your health and well-being. There is a wide range of herbal teas, including ginseng, cinnamon, licorice, and mint.

Rooibos (roy-boss) is the “new” herbal tea on the block—that is often called “Red Tea.” Like green and black teas, this tea contains antioxidants that make it heart-healthy and immune-enhancing—and it’s caffeine free.

Best Honey Matches: Teaming earthy and warm herbal teas go well with a mild alfalfa, clover, orange blossom, and sage honeys—common honeys that complement distinct herbal flavors. 

5. Oolong Tea—This tea, popular in Asian countries, contains health perks of both black and green teas. A robust flavored-tea that can have a sweet taste lends to different honeys. 

Best Honey Matches: Oolong, not a tea familiar to me, was easy to try with a friendly California orange blossom honey with its citrusy sweet taste. Another oolong mate is tupelo honey its light amber color and herbal, fruity flavors.

6. White Tea—And last but not least welcome to this pale tea. Found in China it is believed to rank number one for its antioxidants. It’s a bit sweet and mellow. It’s the new tea on the block for tea lovers.

Best Honey Matches:  Fireweed honey is light colored and smooth, like white tea—the two complement each other. Wildflower, one of my favorite mild honeys also goes nicely with white tea.

            As a devout tea drinker, I believe your choice of honey and tea is a personal choice—like pairing dark chocolate with different fruits, herbs and spices. The selection also depends on the season to your mood. But popular and friendly honeys, such as clover and orange blossom are suitable any time, any place because they are not too strong and will not overpower teas—all types—and you can’t go wrong for yourself or if you’re serving other people.

Excerpt: From The Healing Powers of Honey and Tea books by Cal Orey, published by Kensington Books, mass market format 2018. All rights reserved.

UPDATE: newsmax.com/tea GIFT BOOK take a peek inside! The Healing Powers of Tea and The Healing Powers of Honey is available in audiobook.

Springtime Feng Shui for Good Vibes

   By Cal Orey, The Writing Gourmet

“In the childhood memories of every good cook, there's a large kitchen, a warm stove, a simmering pot and a mom.” -- Barbara Costikyan

Wherever you are in the world there are challenges thanks to nature...I was taught that rude awakening fact when I was a teenager. It's true. Recently, I've been blessed with a new cat who is slowly but surely blessing each and every room.  Today, he made himself at home on my wooden dining table (much like Hemingway's table adorned with a fluffy feline). So, using a bit of practical magic my help a bit. Into the home and it's time for some feng shui... 

The kitchen is oh-so much cleaner thanks to the mega cleanup and feng shui moves I've been making. Simply put, feng shui is the ancient Chinese art of placement. Its goal is to bring you harmony. By putting stuff in the right spots in your kitchen (and outside of it for a different oasis for your mood in the morning, afternoon, night) may enhance the flow of positive energy and zap negative vibrations. The end result: good health, happiness, and fortune. 

Read on--you, too, can enjoy a well-balanced kitchen that feels good from head to toe like I recall enjoying as a little girl...

1. Use Eco-friendly Vinegar and Olive Oil Cleaners. For starters, turn on your fave tunes and use the headphone. Brew a cup of iced tea or piece of quality chocolate (70% cacao) and it will boost your energy and mood...Then, it's time to clean your kitchen from top to bottom with natural stuff. You'll be doing you, yours, and Mother Nature a favor. Using nontoxic vinegar can help you to: lose the ants; clean stainless steel, get rid of dust, and keep fresh flowers longer. By keeping it green it will provide you with better health and energy. Tons of good for you cleaning tips for indoors-outdoors can be found in my books--especially the Healing Powers series. Don't forget to freshen up your dried spices. Out with the old and in with the new for more flavor and aroma.

2. Declutter Your Stuff. Ditto. Getting rid of things you don't use will up your energy. It's true. You feel lighter with less kitchen baggage, starting fresh is liberating. I cleaned out both the fridge and freezer. Add a fresh box of baking soda to soak up odors. Then, I tackled the pantry and tossed out olive oil, pasta, rice, soup, gourmet spices (yep, I sadly discovered they don't last forever) and anything else that expired...What's the saying: Out with the old and in with the new.

3. Clean the Stovetop and Oven. This was a chore but it feels right to have the stovetop shine. (My Stepford Wife colors are starting to show.) The inside of the oven is sparkling, too. Writing Gourmet Tip: If you must use toxic oven cleaner, go over it with the natural stuff. Trust me, this is a feel-good must-do before warming up to those cooler days 'n' nights of unforgettable autumn baking and cooking (breads, muffins, casseroles, etc.). Add cookbooks--the Healing Powers Series--9 books will just about do it!

4. Brighten Up with Lighting. During the colder days without sun you'll want to have sunny-type lighting which can up your energy and mood--linked to good health. Go for full spectrum light bulbs. No summer blues or other pesky problems. Speaking of lightening up...

5. Boost Your Mood with Plants. To help wipe out pollutants in your kitchen, fill your space with hardy, happy plants. Your best bet during the fall: philodendrons. They do well in the Sierras unlike Boston Ferns (which I love). Ah, and fresh herbs for summertime light, flavorful cooking is a must! In the window sills, please.

6. Bring on the Water. Fish aquariums provide positive energy in the dining room, especially with a gentle filter Ever notice Asian restaurants and the calming ambiance of fish?

7. Fish, Fish, Fish. Today, I read that goldfish can bring you good luck and prosperity. In fact, nine is the lucky number. The colors? Gold and one black one. (Go smaller rather than bigger in size = less cleaning.) My kitchen/dining room/study all are connected. So, the fish aquarium is a pleasant, calming treat for all three rooms. (Goldfish, betta, mollies, snails, frog, catfish--all small and all happy.)

8. Bring Out the Fresh Fruit. I've got several plump healthful seasonal fruits on display and ready to eat or use in recipes, such as apples, grapefruits, lemons, oranges, peaches, and plums placed in a bowl or two. Fresh artichokes to tomatoes adds a nice touch. According to feng shui wizards a full bowl may lead to a full life. Translation: Display pretty bowls with plenty of pretty fruit. Empty bowls with just a few pieces of not so nice fruit not so good. And oranges? Nine is the lucky number I've read...Put 'em in a wooden bowl and on the kitchen or dining room table. (Note: If they're pricey, purchase the ones in a bag. Save the separate, sweet and juicy ones for eating.)

9. Conceal Knives and Scissors. My father gave me a black and white marble knife block, cutting board, and rolling pin. I love it. But the knives are out of sight. Bad vibes, say feng shui folks. 

10. Hanging Pots and Pans. Today, my cooking stuff is hanging on the wall in an arrangement. But I'm thinking about getting one of those artsy-looking overhead pots and pans hanger. If so, I will not, nor should you hang it over your workspace. Not good energy, or so they feng shui gurus claim. Personal Note: Add a cat and rustic table to get that Hemingway vibe going.

11. Hide the Gadgets. Too many kitchen items can clutter up all that positive decluttering

you did. So, choose your favorites and recycle as you use 'em. Or, you can always get a Kitchen Island. I'm thinking a rustic, wooden Mediterranean type. It would be modest, wooden, but eye-catching, and a great place to stack some kitchen gadgets, and a workspace.

12. Hang Wind Chimes with Crystals. I brought one of mine in from the deck--and put it above the kitchen windows. The one I chose is of a sun with a face. It makes me smile every time I look at Mr. Sunshine. Feng shui  enthusiasts recommend hanging chimes in the doorway to the kitchen or over the stove sings good energy.