I know the holidays are coming when I start to see fall-inspired baking mixes such as cranberry, apple spice and of course, pumpkin. Thanksgiving is just 2 days away. Do you know what you’re making for dessert?

Why not try this simple recipe for Pumpkin Muffins infused with Art of Tea’s Chocolate Monkey? This delectable dessert tisane is made with fair trade rooibos, pink peppercorn, cacao nibs, chocolate, banana chips and apple bits. Chocolate and pumpkin in muffins are the perfect way to treat your family and friends this Thanksgiving. This recipe yields about 40 mini muffins.

Chocolate Monkey Pumpkin Muffins

You Will Need:

· Pumpkin Mix, which you can easily find at any major grocery store during the holidays

· 2 Large Eggs

· ½ Cup of Vegetable oil

· 1 Cup of Over-steeped (10-12 minutes) Art of Tea’s Chocolate Monkey

· 1 Cup of Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

· 1 tbsp of Cinnamon

· Mixing Bowl

· 40 Cupcake Liners

· Ice Cream Scooper

Instructions:

Follow the directions on the pumpkin mix box. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lay out the cupcake liners onto your muffin trays. Let the over-steeped cup of Chocolate Monkey sit for 10 minutes or until room temperature. Then, mix eggs, oil and tea in a large bowl until the batter is smooth. Add in the cinnamon and chocolate chips, and mix thoroughly. Use an ice cream scooper to transport the batter into the cupcake liners two-thirds full. Finally, place your sheets in the oven at 400 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes. Perform the toothpick test by gently inserting a toothpick in the center of a muffin and pulling it out.                                                                                                                                                     If the toothpick is clean, your muffins are done!

Tip: Once the muffins cool off, add your favorite frosting, and you’ll have cupcakes! I topped mine with buttercream frosting. Enjoy, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

-MELISSA CHUA

Sharing of food and drink has always fascinated me primarily as social ritual. Travelling as a stranger in desolate places, I have taken special note of how refreshments and nourishment are offered as part of cultural interaction.

The way that food and drink function on a symbolic level depends largely upon context. For instance, in a place where the mercury rarely descends below 100 degrees F, there is no more lavish gesture of welcome than a glass of ice-water, further cooled by a slab of peeled cucumber, a crushed sprig of mint leaves, and the piercingly tart juice of tiny limes.

Humans have also historically used foods, spices and seasonings to send messages of status, prestige and wealth, similar to the appeal of luxury designer goods today. Both tea and sugar have a shared history as a prestige import, and this is, in part, why sugar is conventionally part of tea-drinking in the West.

Author John Keay illuminates some of this history in his fascinating book, THE SPICE ROUTE – A History (University of California Press, 2006), where he chronicles the trade boom around stimulants (tea, coffee, sugar) as well as many other kitchen-commodities which, though familiar to us now, were once exotic beyond compare. Salt and pepper, for example, were once as valuable as precious metals.

Poor-quality tea also invites intervention. Since the 1930s, commercially produced tea-bags, filled with “fannings” which are essentially the dust from the broken remains of tea leaves, call out for cream, sugar, honey, lemon. These traditional augmentations cut the raw-feeling bitterness and mustiness of an inferior brew. Tea purists understandably rankle at this, and nutritionists warn against our current sugar consumption.

But the sugar bowl and creamer predate the modern teabag by centuries. Like the salt cellar, these containers for precious condiments once broadcast the worldly affluence of the owner, and thus occupied a place of honor on the formal dining tables of imperialist Europe and Britain.

Times change, and now premium teas from everywhere on earth are available and accessible for brewing and enjoyment. From a historical perspective, this is an unprecedented opportunity to enjoy tea in its most immaculate state.

Because we now are able to experience the freshness of tea, we also have the opportunity to shelve the sugar bowl for baking. Just as an aside—in the quest for a sugar-free alternative, have you ever had even a lovely cup of tea dosed with Stevia? A bit like sipping through a rolled-up ball of aluminum foil.

Buddhists say that life is simply a moment, and that life is comprised of moments. Art of Tea specializes in creating teas for every one of these moments, including the craving for a bit of sweetness (when you really want to go there, check out Art of Tea’s new tea-infused gourmet chocolates!).

Blending the essences of natural fruits, spices and other botanicals releases subtler, mellower and more complex sweet notes than interaction with sugar, aloe-syrup or honey, much less the yellow, pink or blue packet.

For the move from fall to winter, Pumpkin Pie (Caffeine Free), Cinnamon Fig, Cherry Amaretto (Caffeine Free), Caramelized Pear (Caffeine Free), Italian Blood Orange, award-winning Lychee Peach and Peach Oolong bring the last bit of ripeness from the harvest and orchard to the cup.

In a holiday mood, or want to get there? Chocolatey-vanilla Velvet Tea, White Coconut Crème, Coconut Cacao Puerh, Hot Sweet Cinnamon and Vanilla Berry Truffle warm as well as sweeten the palate, perfect for sharing with friends around the fireplace.

These blends open the experience of tea in its uninterrupted state—a bit like drinking real tea for the first time.

–Victoria Thomas

Have you tried our new batch of Jasmine Pearls? Art of Tea proudly offers certified organic Jasmine Pearls that are now sourced from a fair trade vendor. Being a green tea lover, I naturally gravitated toward Jasmine Pearls for its exquisite presentation and flavor. This supreme quality, organic green tea is hand-picked in Fujian, China and scented with night jasmine blossoms. The wonderful aroma of the jasmine flowers embodies the tea, which is hand-rolled into tiny pearls. As the silvery-sheened pearls are steeped in boiling water, the green tea unravels into its original shapes of leaves and buds. Jasmine Pearls brew a yellowish- green cup of mild flavor. As you indulge into each sip, the smoothness of the green tea harmoniously blends with the floral and sweet scent of the jasmine to craft a heavenly treat for your taste buds. This is definitely my favorite green tea.

Over a thousand years of traditional tea scenting techniques are still used in creating Jasmine Pearls. Green tea leaves and buds are hand selected and harvested in the spring. They are stored until summertime, when the jasmine flowers begin to bloom at night. The jasmines are meticulously picked accordingly to the color of their petals, which indicates their readiness and extent to bloom. Plucking an open flower means the scent has already escaped, but if you pick a bud too early, it may not bloom in time to impart its scent onto the tea leaves. Every evening, the tea is carefully placed on burlap and layered with fresh jasmine. Layer upon layer, the flowers open up, leaving their scent on the leaves. Every morning, the flowers are removed, and the process is repeated nightly. Once the tea leaves have sufficiently absorbed the jasmine scent, the green tea is dried and hand-rolled into little spheres about 8 to 10 mm. in diameter. Because of their beautiful shape and color, Jasmine Pearls are often called Dragon Phoenix Pearls.

-MELISSA CHUA

Earl Grey and Chocolate are two of my favorite things. Therefore I simply couldn’t resist the idea of combining them to make a CAKE!! I mean, who doesn’t like cake? It’s actually not that hard to make but requires a bit of effort since there are 3 parts – the cake itself, the ganache and the frosting. But the end result is worth it, and your friends will be happy too!

Cake mixture

· 6 teaspoons of Art of Tea Earl Grey tea (finely ground using a mortar & pestle, or any other crushing mechanism! I actually used a meat tenderizer because that was all I had on hand!)

· 1 stick unsalted butter

· 1 ¼ all purpose flour

· ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

· 1 ½ cups packed brown sugar

· 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

· 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

· ½ teaspoon salt

· 3 eggs

· 2 cups buttermilk

First and foremost, preheat your oven to 325°F

Grease two 9-inch cake pans with butter. I usually find that if you dust the buttered tins evenly with flour, it works like a charm and nothing gets stuck to the pan – a little trick I learned from my Mom!

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add the tea powder and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the tea flavors have infused into the butter. Remove from the heat and allow it to cool for 10 minutes.

While the butter is cooking, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Add the brown sugar and salt and whisk to combine.

In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs and buttermilk until combined.

Once the tea butter has cooled, add it to the bowl with the dry mixture. Then add the buttermilk mixture too. Beat until just combined – it is ok if the batter is still slightly lumpy. It’s important not to overwork it as you want the cake to be light and fluffy.

Divide the batter evenly between the 2 cake pans and bake at 325° for 30 -35 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow them to sit for at least 10 minutes before removing the cakes from the pans. Cool on a rack for about an hour.

Once they’re cooled, you can put a plate on top of one of the cakes and flip it over (it’s easier than lifting it and possibly breaking the cake!)

Spread the chocolate ganache over the top of the first cake. Place the second cake on top of the ganache. Using a spatula, cover the whole cake with cream cheese frosting.

Enjoy!

Ganache Recipe

· 4 oz heavy cream

· 6 oz semi sweet chocolate chips

· 1 tablespoon sugar

Put chocolate chips and sugar in a heat proof bowl and set aside.

Heat the heavy cream in a saucepan over a medium heat until it starts to simmer. Then pour it over the chocolate-sugar mixture. Allow to sit for 60 seconds then whisk until all the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth. Set the mixture aside for 20 minutes to allow it to cool before putting it on the cake.

Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

· 8oz of cream cheese

· ½ stick unsalted butter

· 8 oz sifted powdered sugar

· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

· Food coloring, if desired!

Place all of the ingredients in a large bowl and beat until completely smooth! I used purple food coloring just for a little bit of extra oomph!

- Katie Kirby

The royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton last April sparked interest in the British culture amongst Americans. There were a number of articles written about British traditions including highlights misunderstanding afternoon tea with high tea. They were often used synonymously. Both refer to meals with tea, but do you know the difference between high and afternoon tea?

High tea on the contrary to what some people think, does not involve high class. Rather, high tea is served amongst the working class. “High” refers to how the tea meal is served—on high dinner tables or countertops. “High” also comes from the fact that this meal is served later in the day as an early evening meal typically from 5 to 7 p.m. A high tea banquet includes a hot meal, which tends to be fish and chips, macaroni and cheese or shepherd’s pie followed by bread and jam accompanied with tea.

Historically, we believe afternoon tea started in the 1800s in England by the Duchess of Bedford. At that time, there were only two meals, a morning breakfast-like feast and a late dinnertime meal. The story goes that the Duchess felt fatigued and famished during that long meal break, so she invited some friends over to share tea and snacks. Thus, afternoon tea became recognized as the meal served to bridge the gap between lunch and dinner. Also known as “low” tea, afternoon tea is accordingly served on low tables. This light meal or snack usually consists of jam and bread and an assortment of pastries such as scones, English muffins and cakes. Loose leaf tea is served with milk and sugar. The spread is enjoyed in a sitting room oftentimes garnished with lace table cloth, doilies and a centerpiece of beautiful flowers. This tradition quickly became a social gathering mainly for women emphasizing manners and elegance. Today, people love to host tea parties that follow the theme of afternoon tea. Picture the Mad Hatter’s tea party from Alice in Wonderland, and you’ll get a better idea of afternoon tea. Here is a photo from an Art of Tea afternoon tea party hosted by Katie from Art of Tea.

How to Throw An Art of Tea Afternoon Tea Party:

1. Choose a few of your favorite loose leaf teas to showcase. I recommend Art of Tea’s Earl Grey Crème, Earl Grey and English Breakfast. Offer milk and sugar on the side.

2. Prepare a homemade or store bought cornucopia of pastries including scones, bread and jams, and cakes.

3. Choose a low table or coffee table inside, or patio table in the garden. Use a nice tablecloth. Place a doily in the center of the table. Add a vase with freshly cut flowers over the doily.

4. Bring out the fancy china and silverware—teacups, teapots, etc.

5. Don’t forget to invite your friends, and enjoy your afternoon tea, just like the Brits!

-MELISSA CHUA

These tasty bite-sized treats will be a surefire hit at your next holiday gathering. Your guests will be begging for more…at least my guests were!!!

Temperature: 350 ° F
You will need:

*64 mini tartlet shells

*1 large baking pan & 1 smaller pan that can fit inside

*2 mixing bowls

*1 electric hand mixer

Cheesecake Layer
* 6 Tbsp butter, softened
* 8 oz cream cheese, softened
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 3 large eggs
* 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
* 1/2 tsp cinnamon
* 3 Tbsp cornstarch
Pumpkin Layer
* 15 oz canned pumpkin puree
* 2 large eggs
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
* 1/8 tsp each: cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg or 3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 cup strongly steeped Tali’s Masala Chai tea
* 1/2 cup heavy cream

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a medium sized bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer. Add the cream cheese and continue mixing. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, vanilla, cinnamon and cornstarch. Spray the smaller pan with cooking spray. Spoon cream cheese layer into tartlet shells so that they are no more than half full and place into pan. Place smaller pan into larger pan. Fill the larger pan with water to create a 2” bath around the smaller pan. This allows the heat to distribute evenly around the pan in order to prevent the cheesecake layer from cracking. Bake for 25 minutes.
3. While the cheesecake layer is baking you can make the pumpkin layer. To make the pumpkin layer, mix the pumpkin puree and eggs until well blended in a medium sized bowl. Add the sugars and mix until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until well blended.
4. Once the cheesecake layer is done, pour the pumpkin layer over the cream cheese layer and bake another 30 minutes following the same directions with the baking pans. Allow the tartlets to cool completely in the pan to room temperature; then refrigerate. Serve cold.

*Depending on the size of the baking pans, this can prove to be an arduous process, as each batch takes about an hour to make. This would be a great opportunity to have that movie marathon or watch that boxed set of your favorite TV show that you have been putting off. Trust me…these are worth the time to make! This recipe also yields about 18 cupcake sized treats if you start to get a little impatient. I wouldn’t blame you… Happy Baking!!!

- Linda C

With the end of October, we feel many things shift. Depending where you live, the leaves change color and fall, and migrating birds cross the sky. The temperature changes, the days grow short, and business-owners sharpen their pencils as we move into Q4. It is a time of reckoning.

As it turns out, for millennia, people in diverse cultures have found this time of year especially significant, specifically the period between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice. For instance, both the Celts and the Maya—high civilizations perched at opposite ends of the pagan world– honored this season as the time of the year when the barrier between the realms, seen and unseen, briefly became permeable.

Both cultures believed that during this “thin” time, both the living and the dead could “cross over”. Echoes of these beliefs, which included the wearing of masks for safe passage when crossing between worlds, pranks, and offerings, persist in the secularized holiday of Halloween. And, some of the resonance and profundity of the season, I feel, explains the contemporary adoption of Dia de los Muertos and its rollicking, yet poetic imagery far beyond its original Mexican roots.

I find this to be a contemplative time of year, and of course I find tea to be an excellent companion for this contemplation. My favorite of the moment is a rare Margaret’s Hope Darjeeling, which is about as profound as a cup of tea can be. Our pick this year from Margaret’s Hope is what’s known as the “first flush of the first flush” among tea-growers and tea-pickers. This tea hits the palate with a burst of fresh nectar, like biting into a perfect apple. The feeling I get from this tea, which is available only in limited quantities, is a feeling not of closure and ending, but of promise: first buds, and dormant energy waiting to burst out. It is, incidentally, fitting to enjoy this tea, with its apple-like essence, as the Jewish New Year 5772 unfolds.

While the frost may not literally be on the pumpkin where you live, the wheel of the seasons has just made a major turn. From all of us at the Art of Tea, May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year!

The Neem tree is an evergreen native to India and other parts of Southeast Asia. For centuries in these countries, Neem has been called “the village pharmacy”, because its leaves, bark, seeds and oil are used as a mainstay of traditional healing and Ayurvedic treatments. More than 150 bioactive substances have been identified in different parts of the Neem plant, many of them offering antiseptic and astringent qualities.

Because Neem has long been such an important presence in the culture of India, Gandhi often held his prayer-meetings beneath the generous, spreading canopy of a Neem tree, and also ate Neem-leaf chutney daily.

Neem is still a vital part of Indian culture, used to address health concerns ranging from bad breath to preventing malaria. Today, Neem is also being discovered and embraced by modern health-enthusiasts in the west, as an ingredient in invigorating teas.

Although the clustered white flowers of the Neem tree are sweetly fragrant, the flavor of Neem tea is very, very bitter, one of the six tastes recognized in the Ayurvedic palette. In this system, taste is important in order to understand the properties and functions of an herb or botanical.

The goal of integrating Neem, whether as a tea or in another preparation, is to balance the energies for greater health. In this system, bitterness is not to be avoided, and in fact is viewed as corrective, purifying, and tonifying, or tonic, to the liver. A real-life analogy might be a craving for a salad of crisp, sharply-bitter, dark greens—dandelion and endive—after snacking on leftover Halloween candy. Too much sweet calls for correction, with a bit of the bitter.

In the Ayurvedic tradition Neem is associated with the dosha known as Vata. Vata is characterized as cooling, drying, reducing, dispersing. A traditional image for Vata is wind moving through space, offsetting the heavy moisture of the Kapha dosha, and the excessive fire or heat of Pitta. With this reasoning, many practitioners of Ayurveda use Neem tea and other Neem preparations as a digestive before meals, and as a slimming aid to reduce fat.

Neem adds a vibrant and detoxifying note to Art of Tea blends “Feel Better Blend” and “Tea For Him”. To balance out the acrid bitterness which defines Neem, “Feel Better Blend” adds Organic Chili Pepper, Cinnamon, Licorice Root, Fennel and Green Rooibos, among other choice botanicals, for a brew which releases stagnation.

Manly “Tea for Him” blends Neem with Organic Orange Peel, Vetiver Root and Assam Black Tea in a malty, yet earthy infusion with a musky-sweet finish reminiscent of sandalwood, ideal for re-energizing after intense exercise and exertion.

Considered the “coldest” of the six tastes in the Ayurvedic palette, Tikta, or bitterness, is also felt to inspire introspection. It is linked with winter, and the beginning of the new year. For any season, the instructive bitterness of Neem is an acquired taste worth acquiring.

- Victoria Thomas

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Throughout history, different cultures consumed special drinks, potions and beverage elixirs during ceremonies, rituals and social gatherings with reasons believing to cure ailments, lift the spirits and even produce immortality. Many of these concoctions derive from the earth in the form of plants, plant roots and herbs.

There is certainly an art to creating these organically-rooted beverages. The kava root can be traced back to several origins, but one of the widely accepted theories on kava takes us back to the early 18^th Century when the Europeans first made contact with the Pacific Islands. Kava was typically prepared by grinding, chewing or pounding, and then, adding the product to cold water for consumption. Today, kava still plays an important part in the Polynesian culture as a social beverage, medicine for various illnesses, and as a soothing relaxant in islands such as Fiji, Tonga and Samoa.

Another group, the Indo-Iranians, who historically inhabited Central Asia, grounded the plant called soma into a liquid. This plant was known to have hallucinogenic properties and was consumed in rituals to grant immortality. These notable drinks weaved their way into cultural traditions because of their believed powers and effects.

About 5,000 years ago, Chinese Emperor Shen Nung was credited for the discovery of tea. Emperor Shen Nung loved to boil his water. Legend goes that one windy night, dried tea leaves from a nearby bush flew into the emperor’s cup of boiling water. After drinking the brewed leaves, the emperor felt rejuvenated and soon discovered the stimulating beneficial effects of the leaves. This is one of the earliest records of tea’s introduction to the world. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage worldwide.

Beverages have become a big part of society because drinks are traditionally served whenever people come together. These drinks create the tone and contribute to the environment of the gathering. In honor of Fair Trade month, here are some Halloween-inspired drinking elixirs that will make your Halloween celebration festive using Art of Tea’s Fair Trade teas and tisanes.

Bloody Orange Cider using Italian Blood Orange

You Will Need:

· 3 tsp. Art of Tea’s Italian Blood Orange

· 16 oz. Boiled Water

· ¼ cup of Grated Orange Peel

· 1 ½ cup of Apple Juice

· 3 pinches of Cinnamon

· Cinnamon Sticks

Directions:

Steep the Italian Blood Orange tea in the boiling water for 5 to 7 minutes. Remove the leaves. Add the apple juice. Sprinkle in the orange peel. Throw in 3 pinches of cinnamon, and mix well. Add cinnamon sticks for an extra kick of cinnamon.

Witch’s Brew on Ice or Hot using Pumpkin Pie

You Will Need:

· 3 tsp. Art of Tea’s Pumpkin Pie

· 16 oz. Boiled Water

· Handful of Marshmallows

· 2 Glasses Filled Halfway with Ice Cubes or Empty Black Mugs to look like a witch’s cauldron

Directions:

Steep the Pumpkin Pie in the boiling water for 5 to 7 minutes. Remove the leaves from the water, and pour the water into the glasses evenly if you prefer a refreshing cool down. Otherwise, pour into the empty mugs to enjoy hot. Stir in a handful of marshmallows for a creamy finish.

Casper’s Cocktail using Cinnamon Fig

You Will Need:

· 16 oz. Steeped  Art of Tea’s Cinnamon Fig

· 6 oz. Milk

· 2 oz. Bourbon

· 1 oz. Amaretto (almond-flavored liqueur)

· 4 Cinnamon Sticks

· 24 oz. Pitcher Halfway Filled with Ice Cubes

· 2 Cocktail Glasses

Directions:

Pour milk into the pitcher of steeped Cinnamon Fig tea. Add and stir in the Bourbon and Amaretto. Mix well, and pour into two cocktail glasses. For a finishing touch, add two cinnamon sticks.

-MELISSA CHUA

Many tea blends in today’s marketplace identify themselves as “Lotus” teas, when in fact they are green and white teas of the Camellia sinensis variety. Art of Tea’s “Lotus Flower” is the actual flower, picked at its peak, intact, perfect, as the basis of a refreshing cup.

Green and white teas may be infused with Lotus essence by stuffing a Lotus flower with tea leaves and leaving them overnight, or by baking Lotus flowers with Camellia sinensis to infuse them with the floral scent. I prefer the purity of just this immaculate flower on its own.

In keeping with the concept of pure enlightenment, the primary virtue associated with the Lotus blossom across centuries of Egyptian, Hindu, Buddhist, Bahá’i and Confucian learning and practice, this elegantly simple offering contains no other ingredients, and is naturally caffeine-free. No additional perfumes or flavorings are added, because they are not needed.

The dried blossom is a thing of beauty, ranging in color from purple, pink or red through a range of yellow and white tones, depending upon the picking season. For a bright yellow infusion with an equally bright flavor, steep for 2-3 minutes. The dried flower is potent enough to be re-steeped four to five times for a satisfying replay.

The Lotus blooms in sacred iconography from India to the Nile delta, across China, Japan, Vietnam, and other cultural stops where Buddha, Ganesha, Shiva and others are revered.

One of the most archetypal thoughts associated with the Lotus is its quality of transformation, arising from mucky, muddy depths to offer a pristine, unstained blossom to the rays of the sun. For this reason, the Crown Chakra, the state of ultimate enlightenment, is often depicted as an unfolding Lotus of a thousand petals.

In some areas of Buddhist thought, the Lotus is also contemplated as a symbol of detachment, the process which is key to releasing one’s self from suffering, and which also facilitates this release in others. This meditation is often depicted in the way that rain collects in the upraised petals of the open Lotus. The petals collect only as much weight as they can bear, without breaking the stem. When the petals are filled with rain, they gently tip and release their burden to the pond, without resistance, regret, or attachment.

Today, water-lilies or Lotus plants are a popular aquaculture plant, adaptable to even the most urban settings. Hundreds of varieties, many fragrant and night-blooming, may be grown in a small tub—I favor treated rain-barrels—which can fit on a small terrace or patio. Even in the midst of the city, the radiant blossoms of the Lotus will attract dragonflies, large moths, bees and other remarkable creatures.

The Lotus blossom is a regal and soothing companion, whether steeped as a pristine botanical brew, or nurtured as a living plant.

VICTORIA THOMAS