Treat

I love tea...all kinds but especially the red bush (rooibos) tea from South Africa that my mom sends me. It is caffeine free, low in tannin, loaded with anti-oxidants and has a soothing effect on your digestive system.

The stuff is insanely expensive here because it has gained enormous shi shi status in the last few years. It's been "discovered." You can purchase it either as looseleaf in some high end tea "boutiques" or as teabags with every imaginable flavoring added. I like it plain...well, not exactly.

My latest favorite way of having it is with a spoonful of homemade "chai" mix stirred in after it has steeped for a good ten minutes.

Chai Mix

One 12 ounce can of sweetened, condensed milk
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg
mix and let sit overnight

A lightly sweet, creamy treat, great in any tea.

When the package of tea arrived, one corner had been carefully opened and taped closed again...a hole just big enough for a drug-sniffing dog's snout. I suppose customs had to make sure that every parchment teabag hadn't been carefully opened, the contents emptied and replaced with prime, homegrown, smokeable stuff and the edges carefully glued back together.