From here to eterni-tea

Our friends Barry and Jill came for a visit a few weeks ago. It ended up being more of a rescue mission since John and I are both having slow recoveries from surgery. When I offered Jill a cup of tea, we discovered we both have a penchant for black licorice, so I brewed us each a cup of Yogi Licorice Mint tea. Yogi is a little pricey, especially since I am a baby and require two tea bags to get enough oomph in my cup.

Jill asked, "Have you ever had that Aveda spa tea that they serve in their salons?" That was all it took. I must have massive amounts of this tea, even though I have never tasted it. "Our tea shop makes a knock off and it's $50 a pound!" Why does this make me want it more?

I figured if the tea shop can make something similar, than surely I could as well, even though I have yet to put my lips to a hot steaming cup of the mystery tea.

I went to my favorite resources: the internet, and amazon. While I won't pay $50 a pound, I will spend $62 on massive quantities of peppermint leaves, licorice root, and fennel. I am frugal, so I used the Basil I have in the pantry. Today I set to making spa tea!

Here are my supplies. Don't packets look like  astronaut food?  I figure I have enough to prepare for tea-Armageddon. All the Brits will be lining up to my fallout shelter.

My inclination is to use it all and make a gigantic batch.  "Why, I'll start a tea company, " says I , but my 'inner grown-up' (bless her, she doesn't show up often) advised making one batch to see how it tasted first.

Here's how it went down: 1/8 C Basil, 1/8 C Fennel (I have 2 pounds), 1 C Peppermint (2 pounds), 1 1/4 C Licorice Root (ditto). Mixed them all together and stashed the tea into a jar painted with trees: a Teatree jar! It must be worth at least a million bucks! I'm so rich, who needs to start a tea company!

Now for the brew. My friend Gena gave me this beautiful orange tea infuser. I poured more than two tea bags worth (I'm rich!) into the stainless steel insert and counted the seconds until it was ready to taste.

Delish!  Jill sent me a sample of her spa tea. I think this version has a bit more licorice flavor to it, so I might reduce the licorice on my next batch, or add Lavender! I'm off to brew some more.  Stop by and have a cup. I have plenty.