SpiceLines

Mint, red currants and green peppercorns make a spicy pot of summer tea.

I’ve been fooling around with basil, mint and thyme.

It's August and the herbs I planted in the garden a few months ago are exploding. The basils—purple, Thai, Genovese and lemon—are towering over the well-worn brick path, full, lush leafed and with tall flowery spikes that have to be pinched back constantly. The mint has run wild, sending out long runners criss-crossing the soil underneath the cherry tomato vines clambering up the bamboo tutuers. In other beds, the thymes—lime and lemon—have masses of delicate leaves on their wiry stems. The lemon balm looks like a fluffy lime green cloud, and lemon verbena, a touchy herb hard to grow herb, at least for me, is strong and vigorous.

In the midst of this aromatic jungle, I’ve fallen in love with herbal teas. Not just the usual mild tisanes using a single herb, but stronger more flavorful brews, fragrant with spices like saffron and green peppercorns, sweetened with summer fruit like raspberries and peaches.

I love to experiment with different mixtures in my Zen glass teapot, a lovely minimalist thing with a flat top and bamboo handle. It looks exquisitely fragile but is actually made of tough tempered glass. On even the hottest days, the sight of bright green mint, red currants and green peppercorns steeping in this transparent vessel is cooling to the senses.

Here are a few things I’ve discovered:

1. Don’t use boiling water -- it will literally cook the delicate leaves. Instead heat the water in a tea kettle until you see the first wisps of steam escape the spout.
2. Put all the ingredients into the pot, pour in the hot water and walk away. Do something else for at least 20 minutes—paint your toenails a luscious shade of pink, call your mother (good for at least 20 minutes), order that black asymmetrical Armani jacket you saw on line. Never mind how you’re going to pay for it. Or where you’ll wear it.
3. When you return, the tea will be fully flavored and still deliciously warm. If you let it continue to steep over the next hour or more, the taste of the tea will evolve as the individual flavors deepen and come to the fore. Saffron, for instance, takes a while to fully show itself.
4. Sweeten, if you like, with honey or sugar. But taste it first—the fruit may add all the sunny sweetness you need.

Here are a few blends that I love:

Garden mint, red currants, green peppercorns

Use lots of fresh peppermint for the strongest, most refreshing flavor—not those paltry stems sold in clamshells, but a really big handful that has to be stuffed into the pot. Red currants not only contribute a sweet, tart flavor but they turn the tea bright pink. Green peppercorns had a touch of spicy heat.

To make four 6-ounce cups

Ingredients:

A large handful of fresh mint
½ cup of red currants
1 teaspoon green peppercorns
24 ounces fresh cold water
Honey or sugar, if desired

Method:

1. Rinse the mint and currants, but don’t bother to strip the leaves or berries off the stems. Put the mint, currants and peppercorns in the teapot.
2. In a tea kettle, heat the water until wisps of steam curl out of the spout. Pour the hot water into the teapot, replace the lid, and allow the ingredients to steep for at least 20 minutes or longer.
3.Strain, if desired, into a glass teacup. Add honey or sugar to taste. To serve cold, allow the tea to steep for 20 minutes more, sweeten if desired, then pour into a glass filled with ice.

Citrusy Herbs with Basil and Red Fruit

Combine all the citrusy herbs from the garden with the sweet fruitiness of raspberries and strawberries. Add a sprig of basil for complexity. Each of the citrus-flavored herbs has a different flavor profile and when combined in a tea, they create a medley of aromatic flavors-- pungent, grassy, earthy—linked by the bright taste of lemon.

To make four 6-ounce cups

Ingredients:

A few sprigs each of at least three citrus flavored herbs (lemon grass, lemon balm, lemon verbena, lemon or lime thyme)
1 small sprig basil
½ cup raspberries
1 or 2 strawberries, stemmed and cut in half
24 ounces of fresh cold water
Honey or sugar, if desired

Method:

As above.

Saffron with Blackberries and Rosewater

This is based on the delicious the au safran from the Paris spice shop, Goumanyat et Son Royaume. The owner, M. Thiercelin, travels twice a year to Khorasan in northeastern Iran to bring back wildly fragrant saffron which he sells in many different forms, including this tea. The base is a blend of green, oolong and black teas to which unnamed epices, fleurs, fruit--spices, flowers and fruit—are added. I won’t pretend that I’ve managed to recreate Goumanyat’s exquisite tea, but I do like this version, flavored with blackberries and rosewater.

This is one tea that must steep awhile for the flavors to come into balance—the taste is much different after 40 minutes than at 20 minutes. The saffron turns the tea golden.

To make four 6-ounce cups

Ingredients:

Large pinch saffron threads
1 tablespoon green tea, such as Gyokuru Pearl Dew
1/2 teaspoon green oolong, such as Green Dragon
½ teaspoon mild flavored black tea, such as Ceylon
½ cup ripe blackberries
24 ounces fresh cold water
Few drops rose water
Honey or sugar if desired

Method:

1. Put the saffron, the teas and blackberries in the teapot.
2. In a tea kettle, heat the water until the first wisps of steam curl out of the spout. Pour the hot water into the teapot, replace the top and steep for at least 30 minutes. Taste and continue to steep for 10 or 15 minutes more, if desired.
3. Now for the tricky part: add rosewater a few drops at a time. Stir into the pot, then taste. The rosewater should not dominate the flavor of the tea. Rather it should just be a mysterious floral essence lurking in the background, mingling with the aroma of the saffron.
4. Add a little honey or sugar if desired and serve warm.