Being in a different timezone sucks.

I like Lapsang Souchong, the smokier the better.

Mats

I only drink Rooibos in the winter. It's a good sub for rosehip. Just add lots of lemon and honey, and it will warm ya right up after a day of riding on the slopes or shovelling the driveway.
Alex, what does that word mean anyways?

Which green teas have the best "liquid" color...in terms of "green" ? lol....sorry, I've not been clear.

Colleen

Rooibos means Rooi (the colour red is rood so a red) bos (forest) so a red forest.

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Originally Posted by churley

I spent a little time looking at the Yerba Mate site this morning. Very Interesting!! My Mom likes to drink tea....I think I will purchase some items for her from the site.

X.....my Mom likes to drink flavored herbal teas on occasion but mostly drinks "Green Tea"....do you have any suggestions for which might be a good choice for her ?

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Well I don't really drink green tea myself, but if you're looking for a recommendation on Mate (pronounced MAW-tay), they're virtually all the same. A new drinker isn't going to notice any difference. Some come "con palo" (with twigs) and some have had them removed, but that's just a volume of tea for your money difference and again, not very noticeable to the new consumer. I add just a pinch of sugar to mine, about 1/4 tsp per mug to take the edge off it. if your mum already likes green tea and is accustomed to the tart astringent taste of such teas she may not even want to. Here's some great information on the health benefits of drinking mate. I notice there that they actually list it as containing caffeine which is contradictory to what I've previously read. It does include many minerals which coffee and tea likely lack. It consistently reads to be better than other teas for you. It should be mantioned that traditional wisdom dictates a woman shouldn't drink too much mate during her monthly flow. It can increase the flow uncomfortably as I'm told.

I've made it in a french press coffee maker and a drip filter coffee maker and both work very well, but you have to be sure to stir the leaves around in the filter at about the half way mark in order to soak them all. they also now sell it in designer tea bags with scents and flavours, but tehy also charge too much for these products, so I stay traditional.

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Originally Posted by FUD

I've got a nice mate gourd on an aluminum base, a really big mate made from bull horn with alpaca artwork, and a plain mate gourd with aztek artwork.

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That sure sounds sexier than mine alright. Got any pics?

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Originally Posted by FUD

The tea is generally drank from the gourd by multiple people. Half the gourd is filled with tea and water continually added as needed until the tea taste has virtually completely gone. I usually drink 2 to 3 gourds a day and thought that would keep the tea from going bad but it isn't I've tried putting the gourd in the fridge at night but that doesn't seem to help either. I've taken to using a tea ball in the gourd and just getting 2 cups from the tea ball but I'd like to get back to drinking it the traditional way :(.

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FUD, I know about the traditional practice of refilling the gourd, but I've heard it actually isn't very effective, that for the mate to infuse properly it has to reach boiling temperature. Once the leaves have been soaked and cooled down, it's virtually impossible for a fresh cup of boiling water to reinvigorate them properly. The second cup seems to give something back, but successive cups quickly deteriorate. If you really want to eak everything out of our leaves, boil them in a pot on the stove after you've used them once and you'll be surprised how much oomph they can have left. For me it's usually bombilla in a mug, one time use on the leaves and send them to the compost.

X

As I was making a cup of Rooibos tea I realized that the translation is probably better when taking as: Red Bush.

Rooibos comes from South-Africa and is not really a tea as the teas coming from the East (like Darjeeling). The shrub or bush it is made form is red. Hence the name RedShrub or in plain Southafrican: Rooibos.

To make things even clearer, the only drink that deserves the name "tea" has to come from the tea plant, named Camellia Sinensis.

Black and green tea both come from the same plant (above) but the leafs are treated differently, e.g. less fermented in the green, and more in the black tea (with all variations between, finishing with the white tea, with the least fermented leaf, most expensive of them all, made only from the youngest buds.)

All other "tea" like drinks, made from other plants are to be called herbal drinks. This includes the Rooibos and such, in this case a red bush, with needle like leafs, and strong antioxidant (and other beneficial) properties...

enjoy your tea,
Nenad

Thanks for the translations gentlemen. In any case it's kind of ironic that an African tea is so good to warm a person up in the winter, especially when combined with a few drops of rum :D

Yes...Nenad, Thank you.

Tomorrow is my Mother's 63rd Birthday, she has always been health conscious and enjoys the study of eastern medicine, acupuncture...herbs and such.

Sometimes it is hard to find a gift that is "different"...especially for my Mom! Even though the Yerba Mate will be late for the occassion, I believe she will be delighted.

Once again Gentlemen, I never cease to be amazed at what I learn here. :tu

XXWarm Regards, Colleen

Thx Nenad,

Camelia was the name I was looking for.

And Ilja, there are few more (sub-)tropical drinks, that combined with any spirit, give you the same sensation. :tu

Eeehm, how about coffee with whiskey, cognac or Metaxa? Just to name a few :D

I remember when I had a snow-shovelling job on campus in North Ontario... I'd have to get up at 7 shovel snow for both wings of the Thorneloe College (a part of Laurentian University), residence and academic. That amounted to 6-7 doors plus a long driveway, before 8am. The temperatures went down below -45 and since T-lo was at the top of the hill, the wind was horrible. I'd always want to bring a thermos full of hot rosehip tea and some Sljivovica (*) to keep me warm, but I'd end up forgetting the tea. :w

(*) Sljivovica - Brandy made out of distilled plums. Home-made variety is 100-140 proof on average (50-70% alcohol), and this stuff was distilled by an old Bosnian dude who made it extra-strong. On a good note it kept me warm and good enough to finish the job every morning :y

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Originally Posted by Pinda

Eeehm, how about coffee with whiskey, cognac or Metaxa? Just to name a few :D

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I love the Metaxa, but only above the 7 or 9 stars mark. Below that tis no good...

Nenad

p.s. I love good Sljivovica too, but only if it's "prepecenica" )double distilled)... My dad makes a darn good one :)

Going down Memory Lane::OT

I remember one time I went shore-fishing on the Nieuwe Waterweg near Rotterdam with two friends of mine in winter. It was windy, as always in winter by the sea and freezing cold (for dutch standards, that is Ilja, no -45 ;) ). I was wearing my longjonhs and my thermo-shirt. The last layer of clothing were my thermo-pants, a sort of ski-jumper.

In my luggage I had a plenty amount of bread, hot coffee, a Thermoscan full of mother's soup and half a liter of Hennesy cognac. It all kept me warm during a more than boring day, for I hate sea-fishing.
I was a flyfisherman actually who had promised to come along with my fly-fishing mates. They had a great time.

My great time came later that afternoon, when the three of us were defrosting over a big plate of french fries and steak, in the tavern near the Nieuwe Waterweg.

(Hmmm sljivovica, we call it slibovietsj, tastes the same though....great!)

Fermented mare´s milk, guys, fermented mare's milk. :tu

Mats

If anyone feels like a chat..I'm in the chatroom at this moment.