Banana’s Foster Bread Pudding. Sweet banana bread pudding, diced bananas and traditional foster sauce. Served warm. Goes great with a good tea.
By Theresa Shea and Mary Hammond
Monday, August 27th, 2012 7:00 AM CST
Tea is a great vehicle for flavors, and there are so many on the market, from apple to vanilla. There are three categories for these types of teas: blended, scented and flavored.
Blended: These teas combine non-tea aromatics with tea leaves. An example of this is Chai tea, which most often includes cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger and black pepper blended with a black tea.
Scented: A scented tea gets its flavor from just that… a scent! Jasmine tea is a great example of a scented tea. First the tea is picked, processed and dried. Then thin layers of tea leaves and jasmine flowers, separated by screens, are layered. Some tea manufacturers will replace the flowers several times, and scent the tea for up to a week. If you find jasmine flowers in your tea, it is for show. Higher quality jasmine tea manufacturers remove the flowers because they have an unpleasant taste.
Flavored: Adding flavor is the easiest process of all. A popular flavored tea is Earl Grey, which is flavored with the oil of bergamot — a citrus fruit from the Mediterranean. There are many flavored teas on the market. You can create your own flavored tea by adding flavored syrups, like lavender or mint, after the tea is brewed.
This article was written and researched by Theresa Shea and Mary Hammond. Theresa and her husband, Greg, are tea lovers and owners of Tea Squares on Fountain Square Park in Bowling Green, KY. Mary is the Certified Herbalist at Tea Squares and is an educator of herbal practices, based on traditional folk medicine, indications of historical uses of herbs and scientific information. To have your tea, tisane and herbal questions answered, please email us at info@teasquares.com.
