Tag: Adagio Teas

Bonus Post: Twenty Thousand Leagues Tea

Posted April 27, 2023 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Teas / 0 Comments

Since there’s an extra Thursday this month, I get to do a bonus post! Usually I make a cocktail for my bonus recipe, but since Captain Nemo doesn’t keep alcohol on the Nautilus (much to the distress of Ned Land), I decided to take the opportunity to create a new tea blend.

If you’re new around here, you may not know that I have a set of custom tea blends on Adagio Teas. I used to make a new one for almost every menu, but now I have over 50 blends! So these days I only make a new tea if I feel truly inspired.

I loved the idea of an ocean-themed blend, so I started with White Tropics, which is a white tea flavored with pineapple and coconut. Those fruits are perfect since they’re both mentioned in the book and also have distinct flavors that come through even in a delicate white tea. For added depth, I mixed in my favorite green tea: Citron Green, which has notes of lemon and orange. I love how the citrus plays off the tropical flavors without completely overpowering them. For a flavor boost, I added dried coconut, dried pineapple, and lemon balm.

I always recommend serving herbal and white teas cold since the flavors are so delicate. This one is SO delicious! The lemon hits you first–smooth and soothing–followed by hints of the juicy tropical flavors at the end. Just the thing to calm your nerves after defeating a giant squid!

Sound delicious? You can order it here!

Bonus Post: Peter Rabbit Tea

Posted April 28, 2022 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes, Teas / 1 Comment

Since there’s an extra Thursday this month, I get to do a bonus post! I specifically scheduled my Peter Rabbit menu on a month with a bonus Thursday, because I new exactly what I wanted my extra menu item to be: a brand new tea blend!

In the story of Peter Rabbit, Peter’s mother gives him chamomile tea after his adventure in the garden, so naturally this tea has a chamomile base. I added some white strawberry tea because it’s one of my favorite flavors to mix with herbals (it comes through well without being overpowering). I topped it off with a sprinkling of lavender—just enough for a soft floral note.

I always recommend serving herbal and white teas iced since the flavors are so delicate. This one is SO refreshing! All the floral, fruity flavors come together to make a perfect springtime blend.

Sound delicious? You can order it here!

A Patriot Tea Party: Almond Cookies, Queen Cakes, and Berry-Flavored Tea

Posted July 4, 2019 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes, Holidays / 0 Comments

Happy 4th of July, folks!

I hope you’re all enjoying a relaxing day with family, friends, and good food. I definitely am! We’re off visiting my husband’s side of the family today, and we’ve got a weekend in Indiana planned with my family next week. In fact, a visit to my family in June gave me the idea for today’s post, which is dedicated to Felicity Merriman, the American Girl doll inspired by the American Revolution.

I first got my Felicity doll when I was just a little girl (six? maybe seven years old?). We did EVERYTHING together, so much so that I’m actually surprised she survived my childhood in one piece. But survive she did, and my mom kept her safe in storage for years until I had a house with room to store her. Last month, I finally got to take her home! As I went through her box of accessories, it got me reminiscing about all the good times we had. The funny thing is, I had been stressing about what book to feature on the blog in July, but when I realized that my scheduled posting day fell on Independence Day…well, a Felicity recipe was just too perfect to pass up!

For today’s recipe, we’re recreating teatime at Miss Manderly’s house from the book Felicity Learns a Lesson. In the story, Felicity must learn to balance her patriot sympathies with her new friendship to a loyalist named Elizabeth. At teatime, Felicity has to choose between drinking tea (which her family is boycotting) or refusing and thereby endangering her friendship with Elizabeth. Her quick solution is awfully clever, and I want to commemorate it today by recreating Miss Manderly’s tea table: an inviting spread of queen cakes, hard biscuits, and black tea.

I used an almond variation on my own sugar cookie recipe for the hard biscuits, but it was trickier to find a queen cake recipe. I wanted an authentic colonial recipe, but it also had to have instructions that would make sense in a modern kitchen. In my search, I stumbled across the blog The English Kitchen, which sounded promising. The recipe there was perfect: quick, easy, remarkably tasting…and not much altered from the colonial version! The only change I made was adding nutmeg, since some variations on queen cakes call for mace (which comes from the same plant), and bits of brown spice are clearly visible in the queen cake illustration in Felicity Learns a Lesson.

Then came time for the finishing touch: a custom tea blend! It’s been a long time since I’ve created one of my custom Adagio teas, so it was fun to stretch my tea-making muscles again. This red, white, and blue inspired blend is flavored with raspberries, blueberries, and almonds to make a rich tea with a distinct hit of juicy berries. I love it with a little sugar and milk.

So fire up some fireworks and put on the kettle. It’s time for a Patriot Tea Party! 😀

NOTE: This post is not sponsored by or affiliated with Mattel, Pleasant Company, or the American Girl brand.

There’s Tea in that Nebula: Vulcan Spice Tea

Posted June 5, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Teas / 2 Comments

Coffee may be the most iconic “organic suspension” in Star Trek: Voyager, but Vulcan Spice Tea is a close second. It’s a reigning favorite of Captain Janeway, who has been known to share a cup while meeting with her Vulcan head of security, Lieutenant Tuvok. I started this blend with spiced mate tea, a high-caffeine Brazilian tea flavored with cinnamon, ginger, and orange. I paired it with orange honeybush to increase the zesty flavor and honeybush hazelnut to compliment the toastier notes in the mate. Definitely the perfect blend to sip while watching the adventures of the starship Voyager!

Three Teas to Rule Them All: Ent-Draught, Breakfast at Bag End, and Sam’s Garden Tea

Posted May 22, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Teas / 0 Comments

Normally I make just one tea for my Book of the Month, but I’ve been known to make multiple teas for books I’m really excited about. I knew The Lord of the Rings would be one of those books long before I even started planning the menu. For one thing, it’s a trilogy, so it’s only fair to have one tea for each book, right? Plus, there are just too many awesome potential teas to choose just one. I actually made FIVE originally, but that seemed excessive so I narrowed it down to my three favorites: Ent-Draught, Breakfast at Bag End, and Sam’s Garden Tea.

Ent-Draught was the most obvious choice, since it’s arguably the most iconic drink in the story. There are two versions, and I decided to make the refreshing, less savory version. Breakfast at Bad End is a slight variation on a hobbit tea I designed for my cookbook (the one in the book uses English breakfast and chestnut, while this one is Irish breakfast and hazelnut). And Sam’s Garden Tea is a tribute to orchard, herb, and flower bed with a refreshing blend of peach, chamomile, and spearmint.

Bruce’s Chocolate Cake Tea

Posted April 24, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Teas / 4 Comments

Chocolate teas are among my favorites, so I when I had a chance to make a chocolate cake tea blend for my Matilda menu inspired by Bruce Bogtrotter’s chocolate cake, I pounced on it without hesitation. Of course, an average chocolate tea wouldn’t do. I wanted something intense and complex, befitting Bruce’s legendary cake. So after starting with a plain chocolate tea as my base, I added chocolate honeybush and just a hint of mocha nut mate. The honeybush opens up the flavors, allowing you to experience their full range, and the mocha flavor makes it all stronger. If there was ever chocolate cake in a teacup, this is it. So drink up—before Trunchbull catches you! 😉

What the Wild Things Drink: A Where the Wild Things Are Tea

Posted March 27, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Teas / 2 Comments

My tradition of making a tea to go with each of my menus came in handy at my son’s Where the Wild Things Are birthday party—we had a custom tea to serve with lunch! I don’t normally get to share my teas with such a large group, so I was excited to create something for a crowd.

I’m always on the lookout for chances to use Adagio’s forest berries tea, since it’s such a unique blend, and this looked like a great time to use it. With that as my base, I added blackberry and cream teas for complexity. Throw in some extra dried raspberries, strawberries, and marigold petals for color, and you’ve got yourself a fun, sweet tea blend that’s perfect for a party!

Midnight on the Moor: A Wuthering Heights Tea

Posted February 6, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Teas / 7 Comments

It’s tea time again here at Wonderland Recipes, and our latest blend is inspired by our current book of the month, Wuthering Heights. Naturally, for this tea I wanted something that would capture the dark, dramatic mood so iconic to this famous novel. Adagio Tea’s Earl Grey Moonlight blend was the perfect place to start. From there, I wanted to add a hint of Victorian flair, so I paired it with some classic Summer Rose tea. Throw in some cornflowers and extra rose petals for color, and you’ve got yourself the perfect drink to complement your midnight reading of Emily Bronte’s classic tale of thwarted romance and restless ghosts, staged in the cold, imposing halls of Wuthering Heights.

Grimm’s Fairy Tales Gingerbread Cottage Tea

Posted January 9, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Teas / 2 Comments

Yaaaaay I am LOVING this book of the month! Making chocolate covered strawberry ballet slippers for “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” was lots of fun and weirdly cathartic (there’s just something really satisfying about dipping a strawberry in chocolate). I also can’t wait for you guys to see the recipe I have planned for this Thursday.

With all fun I’ve had thus far, it won’t come as a surprise that I really enjoyed designing this tea! I decided a while back that I’d base the tea on whichever fairy tale got the most votes in our December poll, and “Hansel and Gretel” blew the others away. I was glad, because I knew if that story won, I wanted to make a tea inspired by the witch’s gingerbread cottage.

It turned out exactly as I hoped: cozy and sweet with a strong spiced flavor reminiscent of a gingerbread cookie. So brew a cup or two and grab a book of fairy tales to read as you sip!

The Grinch Who Stole Tea Time

Posted December 12, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Teas / 1 Comment

Our Tea of the Month is here, and of course it had to be something Christmasy! 🙂 Adagio Teas (the company I use to design my teas) offers lots of festive options, such as gingerbread, chestnut, and a Christmas spiced tea. I’ve used several of these in the past and wanted something different, so I decided to start with their candy cane tea. With the sweet peppermint flavor as a base, I knew I could go in two directions: further sweeten in with a chocolate tea or balance the sweetness with a bit of lemon tea. I tried both and loved it with lemon! Grab a tin of this for Christmas to share with friends, and if you feel your heart grow a couple sizes, don’t worry. That’s normal. 😉