Green tea ice cream is one of my favorites. Before I worked for Mighty Leaf, I always wondered how they made it so green and tasty. Matcha, a green tea powder made from ground Japanese premium green tea leaves, is the wonder ingredient. Rich in taste and flavor, Matcha is a versatile ingredient that can be used to make beverages like lattes, frappes and ice cream.  Some chefs add  it to gourmet chocolates, or sprinkle it on fish. Think of it as a spice, and use accordingly. If you’re looking for a unique spin on ice cream, with a bit of caramel sauce to boot, check out the recipes below.

Ingredients

Ice Cream

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup half-and-half
6 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons Matcha green tea

Sesame-Caramel Sauce

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
Juice of 1 lime (reserved from above)
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
Warm water, as needed, to thin the sauce

Preparation
You will need an ice cream maker for this recipe. Heat the heavy cream, half-and-half and salt in a sauce pan over medium heat without boiling it and then remove from heat. In a medium bowl whisk together the sugar and eggs. Whisking quickly so the eggs don’t cook, pour the hot cream mixture into the egg mixture.  Return to the sauce pan and cook over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon until the mixture is thickens. Make sure to not let it boil. Once the mixture reaches around 170-180 degrees, quickly whisk in the Matcha green tea powder. Add the custard mixture to a bowl and cool in ice water.

Cover and chill custard in the refrigerator for one hour. Add the mixture to the ice cream maker and prepare according to ice cream machine instructions.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. In a heavy 1-quart saucepan, bring the sugar, water and lime juice to a boil over medium to high heat.

Cook until it’s golden brown, swirling the pan a few times, but do not stir. Do not allow the sugar to burn; the mixture should become an amber color. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat the cream until it’s warm, then add the cream, a few tablespoons at a time, to the sugar mixture. Stir gently with a wooden spoon to blend, being careful not to splatter, as this mixture foams up the sides of the pan. When the sauce is blended, add the toasted sesame seeds.

Because this sesame- caramel sauce will thicken upon standing, thin as needed with warm water prior to serving.

Serves
Serves 8.

Prep Time
20 minutes.

Chef Joseph Humphrey of Michelin-starred Murray Circle at Cavallo Point Lodge in Sausalito, CA was the honorary chef at the James Beard House in New York City on May 15^th, 2010. Mighty Leaf Tea specifically had a “Joe’s” Iced tea commission for him. It was a  2^nd Flush Darjeeling picked and processed recently from the OKAYTI Estates in Darjeeling India. Manufactured for the purpose of iced tea for Chef Joseph Humphrey, this tea yields a darker more muscatel finish with floral and fruity notes. 

Darjeeling Tea for Cavallo Point at Okayti Estate, Darjeeling, India

The evening finished with a Caramel Crème Brûlée with White Chocolate Semifreddo and Chicory Cream dessert.  Mighty Leaf paired it with a Coco Chai Rooibos which is handcrafted, caffeine-free chai tea made from South African Rooibos blended with shredded coconut, red peppercorns and aromatic spices including ginger, cinnamon and cardamom.  This twist on a classic chai tea surprises with its intoxicatingly aroma and spicy but sweet flavor.  

Take a peek below at the night’s menu: 

Hors d’Oeuvre 

Sweet Pea Gazpacho with Citrus Granité 

Smoked Mendocino Sea Urchin on Steamed Brioche 

Baby Artichoke Tempura with California Caviar 

Champagne Louis Roederer Brut Premier 

Dinner 

Creamy Dungeness Crab Bisque with Baked Crabcake, Sunflower Seeds, and Kaffir Lime
Vinya dels Taus Nun 2006 

Petrale Sole à la Plancha with Monterey Squid Ink Risotto and Toasted Garlic–Saffron Emulsion
Ossian Verdejo 2008 

Liberty Farms Pekin Duck Duo > Slow-Roasted Breast and Confit Leg with Roasted Foie Gras, Caramel-Braised Turnips, Fennel, and Licorice
Casa Castillo Valtosca 2007 

Marin Sun Farms Grass-Fed Beef with Sumac, Coriander, Avocado, Roasted Grapes, and Hazelnuts
Bodegas Mas Alta La Basseta 2004 

Andante Dairy Aria Cheese Baked in Rye Bread, Served with Apricot–Whiskey Coulis and Grapefruit
Equipo Navazos La Bota de Fino No. 15 

Dessert 

Caramel Crème Brûlée with White Chocolate Semifreddo and Chicory Cream
Château Tirecul La Gravière Cuvée Château Monbazillac 2003

The holiday season can be a flurry of frenetic energy.  Family arrives from out of town and needs to be entertained and fed.  Parties begin filling the calendar with ink.  Spice up the table this holiday season with tea-infused recipes.  Chef Vinita Jacinto brings together tea with fall and winter ingredients to whet the appetite and not break the bank.  Try the Green Apple and Walnut Salad with Rainforest Maté dressing paired with your favorite stuffing recipe.  Enjoy the Bombay Chai Brined Turkey with your favorite cranberry sauce or chutney.  Warm up some Ginger Twist Gingerbread and serve a la mode.  These recipes will get you in the holiday spirit!

Green Apple and Walnut Salad with Rainforest Maté Dressing

YIELD: Makes 4 servings

INGREDIENTS:

1/8 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/8 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons honey
¼ cup Mighty Leaf Tea Rainforest Maté tea reduction
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup celery, sliced on the diagonal
2 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, quartered, cored; each quarter then thinly sliced crosswise
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD:

Whisk first 4 ingredients in small bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in oil. Season vinaigrette with salt and pepper. Combine celery, apples, and walnuts in large bowl. Add vinaigrette and toss to coat. Season salad to taste with salt and pepper.

TO MAKE THE RAINFOREST MATÉ REDUCTION:

Use 2 Tea Pouches to brew I cup of tea following the prescribed 5-minute brew time. Then reduce the tea on medium heat to about one quarter cup.

Bombay Chai Brined Turkey

INGREDIENTS:

(for brining a 20-22 pound turkey)

15 Mighty Leaf Tea Bombay Chai Tea Pouches™
2 cups Kosher Salt
1 1/3 cups Light Brown Sugar

METHOD:

Bring one and a half gallons of water to a boil in a large pot. Remove from heat. Add the Tea Pouches and steep for about 20 minutes. Remove the Tea Pouches and add the sugar and salt. Stir until both are dissolved. Cool the liquid.

Submerge the turkey in the tea brine. Refrigerate for 36-48 hours.

TO COOK:

Drain the turkey. Pat dry. Stuff with your favorite stuffing. Tie the legs together. Brush with oil and roast for about 3 hours till the thermometer registers an internal temperature of 175? Fahrenheit. Let it rest at least 30 minutes or more before carving.

Ginger Twist Gingerbread

YIELD: Makes 12 servings

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 cup Butter
1/2 cup Sugar
1 Large Egg, beaten
1 cup Mild Molasses mixed with 1 cup hot Mighty Leaf Tea Ginger Twist infused tea (to make the tea use 6 Tea Pouches™ to 1 cup hot water and brew for 6-8 minutes)

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Beat together butter, sugar, and egg in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. In 3 batches, alternately beat in flour mixture and molasses mixture at low speed until smooth. Pour batter into a greased 9- by 2-inch square metal baking pan and smooth top. Bake cake in middle of oven until a tester comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack.

Serve with lightly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Ever wonder how green tea ice cream is made or the green tea latte you had at Starbucks?  Matcha is the key ingredient, a tea powder made from premium green tea unique to Japan.  Essential to the celebrated Japanese green tea ceremony, Matcha is well- known for its health benefits and rich, intense taste.  Versatile enough for any season, this tea powder is ideal in summer for making green tea ice cream, iced tea lattes and green tea smoothies.

We have sourced a super-premium grade Matcha and a convenient Green Tea Latte and Frappe Mix, both perfect for mixing up ice cold tea concoctions that are sure to please.   Enjoy the recipes below.  Try experimenting with Matcha in new ways and let us know if you any recipes you would like to share.

Tea Smoothie or Frappe with Mighty Leaf Frappe Mix:

1 rounded tbsp. Matcha Green Tea Latte & Frappe Mix
1 8 oz. cup of milk or soy milk
4-5 cubes ice

Fill an 8 oz. cup with 4-5 cubes ice and plain milk or soy milk. Pour ice into a blender and add  Matcha Green Tea Latte & Frappe Mix.  Blend until smooth.  (makes 8 oz. cup)

Iced Green Tea Latte with Mighty Leaf Frappe Mix:

1 rounded tbsp. Matcha Green Tea Latte & Frappe Mix
1 8 oz. cup of milk or soy milk
ice

Combine 8 oz. of plain milk or soy milk and add Matcha Green Tea Latte & Frappe Mix and steam the milk using a steamer until it creates a fine froth.  Pour over ice. (makes 8 oz. cup)

Matcha Green Tea Smoothie with Plain Matcha:

1 rounded tsp. Matcha
2 tbsp. sweetened condensed milk
1 cup milk
½ oz of simple syrup or agave nectar
Two full cups of ice

Blend all ingredients together and enjoy!    Makes 16 oz. serving size.

Matcha Green Tea Ice Cream:

2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup Matcha Green Tea
2 cups heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Grated rind of 1 lime
Few drops of vanilla extract

You will need an ice cream maker for this recipe. The recipe has a slight green hue.

In a heavy saucepan, bring the milk and tea to a boil. Remove the mix from the heat and infuse for 1 minute. Put the milk mixture in a clean saucepan, and add the heavy whipping cream, sugar and lime zest. Bring the mix to a boil and stir until the sugar dissolves completely, about 5 minutes. Remove it from the heat, cool, then add the vanilla extract.

Chill the mixture until it’s cold, then freeze it using an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

On June 18-21 foodies, chefs and those who love to imbibe descended upon the town of Aspen to participate in the Aspen Food + Wine Classic. Mighty Leaf served hot and iced tea at this year’s event to great response. During the festival, tea was the retreat or “pause” from all the wonderful cocktails being mixed on-site or glasses of wine being poured. We enjoyed sampling flights of hot tea and discussing the nuances of the flavor profile and aromas.

During the festival, I had a chance to speak with chefs about how they cook with tea. Marcus Samuelsson talked about visiting Japan and how it inspired his green tea doughnuts.

David Burke soaks dried fruit with tea. Top Chef winners also cook with tea. Stephanie Izard braises duck legs in tea and Ilan Hall poaches fish in tea. The variety of cooking with tea responses left me abuzz with ideas. To watch the interviews of chefs talking about how they cook with tea, visit Mighty Leaf Tea on Youtube.

Festival attendees enjoy sampling tea:

Sweet summer is here with bountiful heat.  Iced tea is always perfect for chilling out.  But we also invite you to explore other ways of incorporating tea into summer thirst quenchers.  A renaissance is occurring in the culinary world where tea is showing up for summer in unexpected places like on restaurant menus in cocktails or food .  We decided to put a spin on sangria for summer and developed a  Sangria Tea Collection with a variety of recipes to please any palate.

Enjoy our White Tea Sangria recipe below.  And be sure to check out our Sangria Tea Collection for more sangria tea recipes (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) that also include Red Tea and Chamomile Citrus Sangria.

White Tea Sangria

1 750-ml Bottle Dry White Wine

3/4 cup Peach Schnapps

18 oz. Brewed Mighty Leaf White Orchard Tea (2 Tea Pouches)

1/4 cup sugar

4 Peaches, cubed

1/2 Honeydew, cubed

Stir first 4 ingredients in large pitcher until sugar dissolves.  Add peaches and honeydew.  Chill for a couple of hours.  Serve in wine glasses and spoon fruit over sangria in each glass.

-Serves 7 wine glasses.

Hello tea lovers!  I am back from my trip to India and boy, what a trip it was!  While visiting my family, I planned a visit to Makaibari Tea Estate, which is situated in the Darjeeling hills of northeastern India.  Since 1859, Makaibari has produced noteworthy teas while conserving the rainforest in which it is located and reflecting the wonderful soul of the local community.

My parents and sister accompanied me on this adventure to Makaibari, which began with a twenty-hour train ride from New Delhi to New Jalpaiguri and concluded with a scenic, two hour taxi ride that delivered us to the tea factory.  While we were prepared to be housed by village families in rustic conditions, we ended up in two recently-built eco-huts that boasted running water and western-style toilets.  However, our interest in our accommodations was quickly overshadowed by our fascination with our beautiful surroundings – there were tea bushes everywhere we looked and the clouds seemed to rest on the hills.

After a quick cup of tea, I took off to meet with the Estate Manager, as I was going to spend time every day working and sharing all that happens to tea from plucking to packing.  That evening, I was invited to the reporting meeting that takes place at the end of each day. All of the estate supervisors gathered with the manager and in an old fashioned register book, they recorded all that happened that day, how much tea was plucked, and how many pluckers would be needed the next day.

Over the next five days, I walked through the rainforest seeing several varieties of bamboo, birds, deer, herbal plants, and tea, of course.  I worked with the village women to pluck tea, rode on a tractor transporting the weighed tea to the factory.  I worked through all of the tea processes at the factory, visited the health clinic, the school, the owners’ bungalow, went sightseeing, to the local market, and so much more.  The week just flew by! Though my bones hurt, I was aglow from within.

Sadly, shortly after I returned from India, Makaibari was devastated by Cyclone Aila.  Winds with torrential rain approached at over 100 miles per hour.  It tunneled into the hills, increasing its speed threefold and destroying anything in its path. The carnage ended 11 hours later, completely devastating the community.  Fortunately, no lives were lost at Makaibari, but many in the surrounding area were not so fortunate.

The people of Makaibari – the community that I lived with, talked to, ate with, and worked alongside – were just amazing.  My heart goes out to them in this difficult time.  Despite the challenges that lie ahead for this community, I am confident that Makaibari will rebuild and its people will continue to produce their lovely tea, which truly captures the spirit of the place.

Upon my return from India, I was inspired to experiment in my kitchen with my new tea and a popular Nepalese dish that I enjoyed during my trip – Momo.  Momos are dumplings quite like wontons. They are typically made with chicken, lamb, or vegetables, and are steamed and served with a spicy chili sauce.  Here is a recipe that I developed upon my return that marries the food and tea wonderfully. Enjoy!

 Ingredients:

1 packet round wonton wrappers (this is much simpler than making the dough)
1 pound lean ground meat of choice (chicken, lamb, or pork)
2 to 3 green onions, chopped finely
2 Tbsps cilantro, chopped finely
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp minced ginger
Salt and pepper to taste
4 cups of Darjeeling tea brewed for six to eight minutes (green tea also would work)

Directions:

Place all of the filling ingredients in a bowl. Season, and let sit in the refrigerator for about half an hour. Take a wonton wrapper and put one teaspoon of the filling in the center.  Fold to make a crescent and pleat the edges. Make sure that they are well sealed.

Set up your steaming basket, making sure that the base is oiled so that the Momos will not stick to the bottom. Arrange the Momos and steam them for 10 to 12 minutes. In a soup bowl, place four or five Momos and add in the tea. You may garnish with a slice of lemon and a sprig of cilantro.

As mixologists, we are continually experimenting with new flavors and sensations to create simple cocktails with complex flavor profiles to share with the world. Trends play an important part in the creativity and development of new drinks. Today, we see a major movement toward healthier living and longer life. Products that focus on low-cholesterol and a healthy heart have long been prevalent on our supermarket shelves.

Tea in combination with alcohol is one of the newest health trends to stimulate the palates of consumers in the states. Teas have intense aromatics that arouse the nose as well as ingredients that have well documented therapeutic properties. Many teas possess polyphenols which are active ingredients in tea which appear to have antioxidant and anticancer properties and are also thought to lower cholesterol.

Some ingredients in tea prevent blood clots, similar to aspirin. Other beneficial chemicals in tea include fluoride, which is protective against tooth decay.

In contrast to the often sweet and over ripe characteristics found in the fruit usually mixed with spirits, tea possesses tannin, an ingredient popularly associated with red wine. Tannin has a remarkable ability to balance our palates against the sugar in cocktails.

Tannin also provides complex interaction with the proteins found in many of our foods which adds a unique gastronomic element when tea is used in cocktails. The bitter oils and acids found in different teas provide greater nuance and complexity to our spirited beverages. We have just begun to scratch the surface of teas ability to enhance the spirits we drink.

There are several ways to incorporate tea into alcohol. The two main ways are to either add the tea directly to a drink or steep/infuse the tea into the alcohol itself. By simply adding tea, one can brew their favorite flavors and combine them with the alcohol of their choice (currently the top liquor used is vodka, closely followed by gin and scotch). Through steeping, one infuses the tea essence directly into the alcohol allowing for the extraction of certain desired flavors as well as a product with a longer shelf-life and an easier to pour/more consistent taste.

Many tea-infused products have already hit stores and are making their way to bars around the world. Some of the more popular brands are:

Suntory Zen Green Tea Liquor
Qi Spirits
Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea Flavored Vodka
Aperitea Mixers

Here is a wonderful cocktail recipe incorporating Mighty Leaf tea.

Danielle’s Monkey Mint Tea Cocktail

1 oz. Citron Vodka
6 oz. brewed Mighty Leaf Marrakesh Mint Green Tea (cool)
1 oz. 100% Pom Wonderful Pomegranate Juice
1 tbsp honey syrup* (two parts honey, one part warm water)

Mix together honey, citron vodka, pomegranate juice, and cold Marrakesh Mint Green Tea tea.  Shake well and serve over ice. Garnish with a sprig of mint and a lemon wheel.

I’m a tea drinker who enjoys tea with a little bit of milk.  Not only does it add a nice creamy texture to the tea, it also seems to take the bitter edge off, even without adding any sugar.  And I’m certainly not alone – by one estimate, 98% of British tea drinkers top off with the white stuff.

In my previous post I looked into some of the health benefits of green tea, and found the evidence to be somewhat limited. This isn’t so surprising, given the difficulty of determining the effects of one small part of a large, complex diet. So is it folly to try to understand how the combination of two foods, milk and tea, might affect health? Maybe so, but there is some evidence out there, and the news isn’t so good.

In 2007, Verena Stangl and colleagues published an article in the prestigious European Heart Journal entitled “Addition of milk prevents vascular protective effects of tea.” This study was based on a legitimate observation – if the British drink so much tea, why is cardiovascular disease still so prevalent? The researchers knew that tea causes relaxation of the aorta, a physiological mechanism associated with health (stiff blood vessels cause all sorts of problems).

They then devised a simple experiment – have subjects drink 1) straight tea, 2) a combination of 90% tea and 10% milk, or 3) hot water. By popping on an ultrasound probe on the subjects, they could then see what happened to the aorta. The experiment was small but the results were not – the folks who had milk in their tea had an aorta just as stiff as those who drank hot water. Those who had straight tea enjoyed a very relaxed aorta.

Sort of odd, don’t you think? Why would the simple act of adding milk to tea possibly annihilate the beneficial effects? Remember those catechins, especially the star player, epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG)? It would seem that EGCG is pretty promiscuous – it likes to hook up with whatever protein might be around. It especially likes proline, one of the amino acids.

Wouldn’t you know, one of the most abundant proteins in milk, β-casein, is studded with proline. Indeed, when Stangl looked at the various polyphenols in the tea, the EGCG level in the milk/tea combo was only 20% of the plain tea level.

Ok, so easy solution – just switch from cow milk to soy milk, right? Not so fast – glycinin and β-conglycinin, the major proteins in soy, also have a surplus of proline. Look for Stangl’s newest article, coming out soon in Atherosclerosis, showing that soy milk chomps those catechins every bit as much as cow milk.

Bottom Line: There’s a reason tea tastes less bitter after adding milk – all the catechins just got bound up! If you want to enjoy all the catechins you possibly can, best to have the tea like nature made it – straight up.

I’ve been a bartender and mixologist in San Francisco for 8 years and am involved in running the San Francisco School of Bartending.  In my upcoming posts, we’re going to learn about how to make cocktails incorporating tea.  This post includes a recipe for a Tea Rum Cocktail.  But, first let’s start by finding out more about how the combination of tea and rum came together to play a role in inciting the American Revolution.

Most of us remember learning that the American Independence movement began with the Boston Tea Party.  Fed up the with the British imposed tea tax, in 1773 the colonists stormed onto a ship docked in Boston Harbor and dumped its tea cargo into the water. Other ports joined in on similar festivities culminating with the start of the Revolutionary War ultimately based on the premise: no taxation without representation.

However, most of us don’t know what discord actually led to “no taxation without representation” and even to the Boston Tea Party in the first place.  The discord between Britain and the New World did indeed begin with a tax on a beverage, but it was not tea. It was rum.  It began in 1733, forty years earlier, when the British imposed something they called the Molasses Act.

Molasses is the bi-product of refining sugar cane into fine sugar.  When old world countries such as England and France first settled the West Indies, they brought sugar cane with them from Indonesia.  They then planted the sugar cane on the islands where they found perfect conditions for the plant to thrive.

Sugar refineries were set up on the islands and refined sugar was sent back to the Old World.  At first people dumped the molasses into the ocean, but then they got smart.  Feeling a thirst and lacking the ability to grow grapes and make wine, they realized they could make a crude beer from the molasses, which they then distilled into rum.

Sugar cane and molasses were also transported to the New England States.  The colonists used molasses to make rum which they enjoyed themselves and exported to Africa to pay for slaves.  In fact, rum, not whisky, was America’s first alcoholic beverage. Whisky wasn’t introduced to the states until the late 1700′s.

With the Molasses Act of 1733 the British issued a stiff tax on molasses imported to the colonies from French sugar cane producing islands.  Although the tax was intended to support purchase of English molasses, the colonists preferred the superior quality and greater availability of French molasses.  Rum provided for a large majority of the new state’s export trade. The tax infringed not only on the colonists’ pocketbooks, but also on their drinking habits. So the colonists ignored the tax and continued their purchase and use of French molasses.

This descent was the seed from which future defiance of English law would sprout.  In 1764, the English imposed the Sugar Act which made the Molasses Act more enforceable. Duties began to be collected on the sales of molasses.  Rum distilleries in the colonies organized boycotts of British imports under the banner of “no taxation without representation”, which became a popular slogan. All this occurred before the famous tea party.

So you see it was actually rum, and not tea that spurred on the Revolutionary War.  Wait, let me put it a different way, it was rum and tea.  This historic combination led to the greatest war in American History.  Don’t think that the tea and rum mixture is only effective at liberating a people. It’s also effective as a libation to be drunk by liberated people.

We can toast to our now British allies by enjoying the following recipe for a Tea Rum Cocktail.  This recipe resembles the punch that British sailors drank in the 1600′s. A recipe using tea and rum they adopted from India.

Tea Rum Cocktail

2 oz. Aged rum (smooth and mellow such as Zaya)
2 oz. Mighty Leaf Organic Breakfast Tea (brewed and cooled)
1⁄2 oz Lime juice (fresh)
1⁄2 oz. Demerara sugar (or 3/4 oz. simple syrup or maple syrup)

Shake all ingredients in a shaker with ice.  Strain into a martini glass.  Sprinkle in fresh nutmeg.