Tea and Roses - two quintessentially English things that I absolutely love. This space is to share some of my joys and inspirations around tea, roses, flowers and plants in general.
The cakes above were my wedding cakes; we had to have two because my partner, Yvonne, loves all things chocolate and I love all things rosy so, the solution was to create two cakes. The chocolate was a dense, fudgy cake using spelt flour with a chocolate ganache topping and middle layer. The rose was a light sponge, again using spelt and maple syrup with an icing using pure rose essence. They were both of course topped with roses (my favorite of all flowers). It was such a delight to sample both cakes and even guests who had never tried a floral cake loved the rose flavours. Tea for me is an essential part of my day. My standard is a good organic Earl Grey tea with milk but I also love trying different mixes with flowers and herbs. For the best taste and flavour experience, tea has to be made in good china or porcelain with a fine edge. I love chunky pottery but not for tea! Having the water boiling and the cup, teapot or mug heated first makes all the difference I'm not fussed about whether the milk is added first or last but tea has to be made with freshly boiled water to bring out the flavour of the leaves. I recently tried a gorgeous tea from Bluebird Tea Company in Brighton, UK called Love Potion. This delicious delight is made with strawberry, chocolate, rose, candy love hearts, Ceylon black tea, vanilla and calendula and was a special they did for Valentine's Day. This company makes a wonderful selection of teas - when I went in and asked them if they had any teas with rose in them, they showed me around 8 different blends. So, anything that makes your heart sing, this company probably makes a tea that includes it! You can buy their teas online at: https://bluebirdteaco.com/us_en/ |