Festivals, Cranberries and Pumpkins

Two fruits we think of in the fall are cranberries and pumpkins.  One way to include them in our tea rituals is in scones.  There are many recipes on line for both of these tasty fruits.  But you can also include them in your tea.  Next time you are brewing a pot of black tea, put in a small handful of dried, sweetened cranberries.  They are so tart, I don't think regular cranberries would be too tasty.  However, you could make a smoothy, using fresh cranberries, tea, vanilla Greek yogurt, and enough sugar to taste.  Whiz it up until the cranberries are well and truly pulverized.  You might want to add some orange juice, too.

Try adding some pumpkin pie spice to your tea.  You can also make a pumpkin tea smoothie with perhaps 2 cups chai tea, a small container of vanilla yogurt, about 1/4 cup of canned pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, a bit of sugar.  If you are making pumpkin bread or muffins, try grinding some chai tea  and add it along with the dry ingredients.

You folks in the Northwest are having a great week, tea wise.  Oct 1-2 is the Tea Festival Portland.   Go to http://teafestpdx.com for more information.  In the Lan Su Chinese Garden (also in Portland, OR) is a month long celebration of The Essence of Tea.  Seattle is home to the Northwest Tea Festival, sponsered by the Pugent Sound Tea Education Association.  This will be held Oct 6-7.  Please go to www.nwteafestival.com for more information.

Both of these look like wonderful events.  Speaking of which, I am going to our own World Tea East, Tues and Wed in Philadelphia.  This is geared more toward businesses, but I am sure I will find plenty there to experience, from tea infused ice cream to a whole raft of award winning teas.  I will definitely be filling you all in when I get back!