What is Chai Tea? With so many different types of tea on the market today, the concoction of ingredients used to make chai tea certainly isn’t common knowledge. Even the most avid tea drinkers may not be able to offer a full description of what exactly goes into the drink. Chai tea has four main elements: black tea, milk, sweetener and spices. The spices, however, vary between countries and across regions, which means that chai tea won’t necessarily taste the same in one part of India as it does in another. Some spices are used widely across Asia, such as cinnamon, ginger and cardamom. Fennel seeds, black peppercorns and nutmeg…

I spent this past weekend handcrafting my loose-leaf herbal tea blends using the herbs I’d grown and dried myself. I have to say that I’m pretty pleased with this year’s selection. For starters, I have made 10 blends this time compared to the one blend last year. But more importantly, some of these new recipes yeild some of the best herbal teas I’ve ever tasted (and I’m a big herbal tea drinker). In particular, the Floral Fantasy Tea and the Spiced Anise Tea are outstanding. All herbs were grown in my own garden using organic growing practices (no chemical fertilizers or pesticides whatsoever). I handpicked the herbs so only the…