Give the Gift of Tea

While perusing through a community thrift store I stumbled upon an old book of craft projects entitled "Nature Crafts with a Microwave." Now this book wasn't extremely old, since it was a microwave craft book, but it was about 20 years old. It had all kinds of useful tips and information that I had never seen before. It contained tips for drying flowers, fruit and even herbs in the microwave. That got me thinking about another article I had written a few months ago about the best kinds of teas.

What if I could make my own tea using the microwave as a dehydrator? I quickly turned the pages and found a simple recipe for making mint tea. I read the steps and determined that the information is not only great for making mint teas, but could be used to make other types of teas as well, even if the directions were a little outdated.

Homemade teas make great gifts especially when stored in a beautifully decorated jar. I carefully considered the written directions, but I think due to the age of the book, and the amount of space the author had to direct readers about making the tea, it needed a little bit of revision. The following recipe is a revised, updated version of Dawn Cusick's Mint Tea recipe.

Dried Tea Materials:
Fresh tea leaves, or herbs
Kitchen shears
Paper towel
Microwave
Conventional oven
Cookie sheet
Air tight storage jar

Carefully remove the tea leaves or herbal leaves from the sprig. You may use either kitchen shears or simply snap the leaves away from the sprig with your fingers.

Lay a paper towel on the microwave's center rack, and carefully place the leaves on the towel. Make sure that the tea leaves are not lumped together, but rather have room for air circulation.

Cook the leaves on med-high power in one minute intervals. After each minute check to see if the leaves are shriveling and appear to be drying. If the leaves look dry remove them from the microwave. It may take several minutes to complete the drying process depending on your microwave's wattage.

Pre-heat a conventional oven to 200 degrees. Once the leaves appear dry, place them on a cookie sheet, and bake them in a 200 degree oven for 15 minutes. Remove the leaves from the oven and allow them to completely cool. Once they are completely cool place them in an air tight container.

As noted, drying tea leaves and herbs is a relatively simple process. So, homemade tea is a great and easy gift for any tea enthusiast. You can make it an even more spectacular gift by placing the tea in a beautifully decorated jar.

Decorative Jar Materials:

Pint sized flip top Mason jar
Two-inch oval sticker
Permanent marker, various colors
One-inch wide wire ribbon
Scissors

Using a permanent marker, write the type of dried tea leaves you plan to store in the jar in the center of on oval sticker. This is an extremely important step when making several types of teas, and should be completed as the tea leaves are stored in order to prevent mislabeling.

Draw decorative motifs around the outside edges of the sticker or around the tea's name. Simple motifs like ivy vines or small plants work really well. You can use any color marker you prefer, but green and gold are great choices. You may opt to choose a marker color that compliments your ribbon choice.

Cut a 16-inch piece of wire ribbon. Cut the ends on a diagonal. That will keep the ribbon from unraveling as easy and give the ribbon a finished look.

Wrap the ribbon around the neck of a flip topped Mason jar, be careful to center the ribbon around the jar. Tie the ribbon in a square knot. To create a square knot, simply place the right side of the ribbon over the left side, and then bring the left side of the ribbon over the right side of the ribbon. Pull gently to secure the knot.

Tie the remaining ends of the ribbon to create a large bow.

Store the jar in a cool dry place. The tea should last about a year from the date the jar is opened.

References;

Nature Crafts with a Microwave; Dawn Cusick; 1996