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!
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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.
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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! 😉
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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. 😉
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Posted November 21, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Teas / 2 Comments
Of course, we all know it had to be waffles. How could I create a Stranger Things tea that DIDN’T taste like Eleven’s waffles?
But how to achieve it? My mind immediately went to caramel tea. If I added just the right amount, it would combine with other flavors instead of overpowering them. Combining it with cream tea made the most sense, since it would mellow out the flavor without losing sweetness or richness. But how to get the actual WAFFLE flavor?
This part was trickier. I thought of doing an English Breakfast tea, but Adagio doesn’t offer that yet in their custom tea creator (Dear Adagio: If you’re reading this, add it!). Irish Breakfast was the closest comparison, so I used a little less than I originally intended, since the Irish Breakfast blend is a bit more robust than the English version.
It had just the effect I wanted! The normally robust Irish Breakfast hovers in the background without being too strong. In the end, I got a tea that ACTUALLY tastes like waffles. I was so excited! As I write this, the sample I ordered for taste testing and pictures is already almost gone, so that should say a lot about how good it is. 🙂
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Posted October 10, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Teas / 2 Comments
I’ve had this tea blend waiting in the wings for almost a year now. I’ve known for AGES that I wanted to do a Phantom menu, but it took me quite a while to figure out exactly what I wanted to make for it. In the mean time, I designed this tea through Adagio Teas and saved it until I was able to make a Phantom menu. And now that time is here, so we can finally enjoy some Music of the Night tea!
I wanted something rich, indulgent, and romantic, so I went with a blend of chocolate and strawberry tea. For a little extra flair, I accented it with strawberry pieces, cocoa nibs, and rose petals. Brew yourself a cup and lose yourself to the Music of the Night!
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Posted September 26, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Teas / 2 Comments
I know what you’re thinking: there’s no tea in the Amelia’s Notebook series! True fact, but there IS hot chocolate. In Amelia’s Are-We-There-Yet Longest Ever Car Trip Notebook, she mentions that Mel’s Diner has thick mugs of hot chocolate with whipped cream on top. Throughout the series, it’s clear that Amelia has a soft spot for diner food, and I could totally see her relishing a steaming cup of Mel’s hot chocolate.
Before now, I never tried to make a tea blend inspired by hot chocolate, so I really enjoyed the challenge. My goal was to create a sweet dessert tea with the creamy, rich flavor you’d expect from a mug of hot chocolate.
I started with a Honeybush Chocolate base (it’s a little lighter and more complex than regular chocolate black tea, allowing other flavors to shine through). Then I added a little Chocolate Chai to deepen the flavor with cinnamon and ginger. The final addition was cream tea to replicate the flavor of whipped cream. Throw in some cocoa nibs for some extra intensity and sprinkles for fun, and you’ve got a cup of tea just like the hot chocolate at Mel’s!
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