How to turn an ordinary tea into a delicacy.

Thyme

Everyone knows a genius Caucasian invention. Tea with thyme is good not only for its taste, but also for its ability to pacify various unpleasant processes, such as coughing and stuffiness in the nasopharynx. Like any beautiful invention, tea with thyme loves to be tampered with or simply spoiled out of ignorance. Here are the rules which must be followed.

Take the right tea for this blend – black Indian or Ceylon, good quality, of course. The sour taste of Chinese black tea or the floral, light spirit of highland Indian varieties like darjeeling, not very suitable for thyme.

Thyme, of course, must be special – tea. Culinary spice or, heaven forbid, apothecary sachets are only good for bad cafes. Look for tea thyme at the markets. The more carefully it will be selected – all branches, sticks and dry inflorescences will be removed – the cleaner and brighter will be the aroma which should not have any earthy aftertaste , more delicious infusion and, of course, a higher price.

Thyme for tea is sold in Armenian stores, which are very plentiful in New York, for example, in the same store called “Armenia” on Pushkinskaya Square.

Sagan Daila

The Siberian name of the plant, botanically called Rhododendron Adams. It is little known outside of the Altai and Western Siberia, which is, of course, a terrible omission. Because the tea with it in addition to being very good warms, relieves pain and generally gives vivacity – has some fantastically perfect taste. Tasting properly brewed sagan dalya tea is possible only in special tea houses with a very advanced assortment or with friends from Siberia. Or, easier still, by making your own tea.

You can buy sagan-dailya in stores and on websites selling pharmacy herbs.

It should be brewed in combination with a strong, vigorous Ceylon tea, green tea not too bright so as not to interrupt its flavor, for example of the “gunpowder” variety, or with Chinese red tea, an analogue of our black tea.

The flavor of sagan daly is very strong, so it’s worth stingy and not to put more than 4-5 leaves on the teapot, they will be enough to dramatically change the taste and aroma of tea.

Uzbek mountain tea

A mixture of thyme, saffron and cardamom is a kind of tea drink drunk throughout the Central Asian highlands, from northern India to Turkmenistan. The original drink is called kava and it comes from Kashmir. Kava is made in the following way.

Pour cold water on two or three cardamom pods, a pinch of saffron, a cinnamon stick, a piece of vanilla pod, a few cloves of cloves, a couple of peas of black pepper – the set and amount of spices, of course, in each home is different. Then we add sugar and heat it until it comes to a boil. Green tea is poured with this sweet and spicy boiling water and boiled for 5-10 minutes on low heat.

Sugar or honey, crushed walnuts can be added to the ready tea. This recipe, with variations, has spread throughout the surrounding regions, and in Uzbekistan has been reduced to three ingredients. You can look for this mixture in the markets, in the rows where they sell spices, Uzbek red rice, yellow carrots, dishes, cauldrons and other Central Asian goods.

Or you can make your own by mixing about five parts thyme with two parts cardamom and one part saffron. This mixture warms and clears nasopharynx perfectly, especially if you add to it a bit of good tea. Uzbek green tea or its analogues, i.e. simple twisted Chinese green tea, or highland Indian varieties like darjeeling are ideal.

bay leaf

An excellent addition to the green tea, very common, for example, in Kalmykia. Tea with bay leaf is like a thicker, more substantial, spicy tea, which is certainly important in the fall. You can choose to put 1-2 leaves together with the brew in the teapot or brew a full-blown Kalmykian tea:

Boil a mixture of equal parts water and milk, adding a little salt. Pour this mixture into a slab of green tea with a bay leaf and boil it for about five minutes on medium heat. For maximum authenticity, a little butter should be added to the tea.

Juniper

An excellent complement to an aged Chinese black tea, such as puerh. Puer itself is the perfect drink for cold and dank weather, very invigorating and warming. Juniper berries enhance the smoky, smoky note of the tea, reminding of the unattainable, alas, for most city dwellers pleasure of listening to the raging elements outside the window, sitting by the fireplace. The technology is simple – add 5-6 dried juniper berries to the brew in the kettle. You can buy these berries in a drugstore or on a website that sells herbs.