{Gift-Making @ Home} ~ Christmas Tea 2014

In the first half of December I had a dear new friend

over to stay and she and I made my 2014 Christmas Tea.

Recipe found here.

My ratios to make 20 batches of this recipe will be at the end

of this blog post... 

Last Christmas Mr. Husband and I went to an 

Indian store in the town where Mr. Husband had his first house.

By then I had already made my first ever

Christmas tea and we knew that I would need more spices.

And my husband knew the prefect store to get them

in bulk and in good shape!

Rooibos tea was from my Bridgehead stash.

My friend used our biggest knife and cut through the

candied ginger very quickly!

I used up the rest of my candied ginger... will have to order more...

My good friend Em. in Ottawa told me,

after I told her of making my first batch of tea

and how hard it was on my hand,

that I should get a coffee grinder to grind the spices for me.

Brilliant!

I did so and the whole tea making went so much faster

and with no crazy hand fatigue!

(Those cinnamon sticks are not easy to break by hand!)

I made two kinds this year.

The Rooibos tea like last year and new this year

one with caffeinated orange pekoe. 

My friend N. helped with the measuring while

I got all the glass in the dishwasher for a good wash.

I don't do caffeine personally but I trust the new blend will be lovely!

The first gift bag to go was to my dear new friend who

spent the afternoon with me doing this tea making.

It was a lovely after lunch and tea activity! :) 

*

Here's the notes we have from this year's tea making...

I hope to get more detailed notes as the years go along,

providing my life is the same and I will be doing tea again!

*

Chai Tea Mix Recipe

Makes about 12-16 tea bags per jar 

12 green cardamom pods ~ 240 for 20 jars (approx. ⅓ of a cup, or 100 ml)

1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns ~ 10 tsp for 20 jars

1 tablespoon fennel seeds ~ 20 tbs for 20 jars 

(slightly more than a cup, or very slightly more than 250 ml)

1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds ~ 10 tsp for 20 jars

1/2 teaspoon whole cloves ~ 10 tsp for 20 jars

1 4-inch cinnamon stick ~ 20 sticks for 20 jars

3 tablespoons chopped candied ginger ~ 60 tbs for 20 jars (3 ¾ cups)

1/2 cup loose black tea ~ 10 cups for 20 jars 

Note: we did 5 cups rooibos and 5 cups black this year

After spices are ground doing half rooibos and 

half black, the spices in half were 1 cup ⅓ cup each 

*

I filled about 24 small quilted jelly jars and a few tall ones with

this year's batch of tea.