At the farmers market this weekend I loaded up on stinging nettles with the intention of experimenting a bit outside my comfort zone. I had all kinds of lofty ideas of how I would put these to use, but when it actually came down to it, all I could fathom making with them was tea. I guess this can be attributed to our night of over indulgence at Lumier last night, a wedding gift we have been saving for almost a year now. A dinner like that will send you into a food coma for several days, one where you contemplate how crazy it is to be eating food at that price tag and how lucky you were to experience it once.
I can’t put my finger on exactly what it is that puts this tea among my favorites. Of course the healing properties of nettles are well documented, but it’s the clean earthy flavor that always wins me over. We bought this amazing local wild flower honey recently, and the addition of this made for a truly great sunday afternoon tea drinking experience. Should you come across some nettles at your local farmers market I would really recommend giving this tea a try.
Like most people in this city I have a great appreciation for a good cup of coffee. So much so that for many years this appreciation would result in 3 to 4 cups of the bean juice before noon. I could never have imagined starting my day with a cup of tea, even the black variety. There really is nothing like a hot cup of coffee first thing in the morning to make that 7am wake up call seem manageable. Whether it’s homemade or the perfect Americano at my favorite shop, coffee had always been what I relied on to get me through the morning.
