We wait all year long to decorate our Christmas trees, unwrap presents and engage in some festive baking. Since medieval times the scent of cinnamon along with cardamom, nutmeg, ginger and cloves is how we know its Christmas.  

So if you are obsessed with cinnamon rolls as we are and love the flavours of chai, with this recipe you can taste Christmas all year long.

What you need:

Dough

• 580g all-purpose flour
• 100g granulated sugar
• 6g fine sea salt
• 84g butter
• 235ml lukewarm milk
• 7g instant yeast
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk

Filling

• 190g powdered brown sugar
• 5 tablespoons Tea Drop Traditional Chai Latte Powder
• 84g butter

Frosting

• 115ml Heavy cream
• 90g powdered brown sugar
• 3 teaspoons Traditional Chai Latte Powder

How to rock and roll?

1. In a large bowl add flour, salt, softened butter and eggs.
2. In a separate bowl warm up the milk and add sugar and yeast and stir till it dissolves. (Warm milk not hot -  we do not want to kill the yeastlings)
3. Begin mixing the flour mixture by slowly adding the milk mixture to it. You can use a standard mixer bowl to speed up and the process but we did it the old fashion way and used our hands to knead the dough. (this takes time and can get messy)
4. Knead the dough till it loses its stickiness and doesn’t stick to the surface.
5. Roll up the well kneaded dough into a ball and let it sit in the bowl covered with a plastic wrap. Let it rise for an hour or until doubled.
6. Now whisk together the brown sugar and the Traditional Chai Latte powder
7. Lightly flour a work surface and roll the dough out into a large and thick rectangle with even edges.
8. Spread the softened butter evenly over the dough.
9. Sprinkle evenly the chai sugar.
10. Tightly roll up the dough, forming a thick log and cut into 12 evenly sized pieces. Each about 2 inches thick.
11. Lightly grease a baking dish and fill it with the rolls. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 30 minutes.
12. Remove plastic wrap. Bake the rolls in a pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown at 170 ˚C.
13. In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk together heavy cream, Traditional Chai Latte powder and powdered sugar until smooth.
14. Go ahead and drizzle on your chai cream frosting over the freshly baked rolls while it’s still warm.

        Happy Holidays! 

If you love all things mint, then this is the drink for you. We paired our Tea Drop peppermint tea with everyone’s favourite cocktail “mojito” and voila!  A refreshing peppermint tea infused mojito for the weekend.  

What you need

• Tea Drop Peppermint tea
• Mint leaves
• Lime wedges
• Honey
• White rum (optional)
• Club Soda
• Ice cubes

Note: Play with your quantities to suit your taste.

How to 

• Brewing the tea: Brew 3 Teaspoons of loose-leaf peppermint tea for 3 -4 minutes in 230ml at 99 °C
• Add mint leaves, lime wedge and honey into a cocktail shaker.
• Use a muddler and crush to release mint oil and lime juice.
• Add the brewed tea and rum to the mixture and shake.
• Strain and pour into an ice filled tall glass.
• Top up with club soda.
• Garnish with mint and serve.

Peppermint Tea

Our peppermint tea is a premium hand-crafted blend using only the freshest peppermint leaves. It has been packed in small batches to maintain superior flavour and freshness. Taste the difference with Tea Drop today!

 

Iced tea popsicles are cold brewed iced teas and can be enjoyed all year round.

Here is an easy to make iced tea popsicle recipe for a deliciously refreshing summer treat. These homemade healthy popsicles only need 3 ingredients. Your favourite tea, cold water and a sweetener of your choice and of course a popsicle mold.

How to choose the right popsicle molds

There are a lot of various kinds of different molds for popsicles. It doesn’t matter what shape you use. These iced tea popsicles will taste amazing. You can even use a paper cup by pouring the tea brew into it and just insert a stick. It’s that simple.

What you need

• 15g Loose Leaf Tea
• 1l Cold water
• 2tbsp honey or sweetener of your choice
• Popsicle mold

How to make

• Select your favourite tea and measure 15 grams of the loose-leaf tea into a jug.
  We have used Fruits of Eden, Tropical Sky, Mango Magic & Sweet Peach.
• Add 1 ltr of cold water. There’s no need for a specific temperature, cold filtered water from the tap will be just fine.
• Let it steep overnight.
• The next day, strain the tea, discarding the steeped loose leaf.
  Stir in the honey.
• Pour the tea into your popsicle mold and place in freezer until it’s frozen solid.
• Remove from the mold before serving.

We would love to see you try this iced tea cube recipe and let us know what you think – share them on our socials @teadroptea.

 

If you enjoy a cosy cuppa on a cold winter's day - then do we have the perfect winter teas for you!

We’ve just launched our new Moringa Tea Range, a winter selection focused on promoting wellness in different ways through each blend's unique combination of ingredients - with a primary focus on the Moringa Leaf, a natural superfood that will be your saving grace this winter.

About Moringa

Native to South Asia & Africa, the moringa tree is known as “the miracle tree” and for good reason too - almost the entire tree has important sources of nutrition and medicinal benefits that have been used for centuries to heal wounds & treat diseases, though it’s the leaves that are the most popular. This superfood can be found throughout our new range and is rich in antioxidants, vitamins, trace minerals, and all the essential amino acids.

• May help combat malnutrition.
• May Reduce Inflammation
• Lower Cholesterol & Blood Sugar Levels
• Can Protect Against Arsenic Toxicity
• Caffeine free wellness tea
• Contains the most nutritional value compared to other plants.
• Vegan friendly

Our Moringa Range

DE STRESS - The Zen Tea

In a world full of hustles and bustles, just about everyone could use a little down time. Sit with a warm cup of our Zen invoking blend, packed with floral notes and hints of citrus. Light on the senses and bright on the taste buds, the De Stress blend includes relaxing herbs like vervain, lemongrass and moringa. Let your dark days become lighter with our De Stress blend.

REVIVE - Bounce Back to Life

Who doesn’t need a pick-me-up from time to time? Imagine the scent of toasted almonds wafting up from your cup of tea that tastes of sweet cinnamon and light bursts of citrus and toasted nuts. This festive combination of herbs, rich in antioxidants and immune boosting benefits are especially designed to put the pep back in your step and have you bouncing back to life in no time! 

FEEL GOOD - The Perfect Nightcap

The Feel-Good blend is designed for the moments just after dinner and just before bed. This Moringa based tea is packed with rich red fruity elements from red currant to pomegranate and complemented with spice and citrus to tickle your senses and put you in the perfect mood for bedtime. Its light and pleasant aroma will complete your experience and have you feeling good in no time. 

CITRUS CLEANSE - A Magical Awakening

If you like your peppermint, you will love waking up to a cup of our Citrus Cleanse. A combination of Moringa with Lemon Balm and Green Tea are especially designed to relieve stress, cleanse your soul and boost your brain power as you begin a new day. Take one good whiff of its mint and spice aroma you’ll be ready to take on the world.

STRAWBERRY MORINGA - Boost Your Immunity!

Packed with vitamins, fibre and antioxidants, strawberries and moringa are known to boost immunity and improve heart health. Lusciously fruity and fibrous in taste , this Strawberry-Moringa blend is all about all healing. For cold days and chilly nights, a light cup of this brew and its dominant flavours is just what you need to have you feeling fine in no time.

So brew up a steaming cuppa of one of our Moringa Wellness Teas and ensure you stay on top of your health this winter!

Tea was first discovered in China, in the mountains around Sichuan and Yunnan. According to earliest legend Emperor Shen Nung first tasted the drink when some unidentified leaves fell into his pot of hot water.  Tea drinking became an elegant art form during the Tang Dynasty and overtime, this ritual spread across Asia, and later to Europe and America.

Asia is by far the biggest producer supplying 80-90% of all tea, mainly from India, China, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. China is the largest individual tea-producing country, growing more than 38% of the world’s tea. Tea was introduced to East Africa at the beginning of the 20th century and has become an important crop there, particularly in the highlands of Kenya.

Regions we source our tea

Our blends have been created using the finest ingredients from around the world with tea leaves that have been expertly grown, handpicked, and packed in small batches to provide a premium, fresh tea experience. We source different types of tea from different tea growing regions. China, Japan, India, Sri Lanka and South Africa are to name a few.

White Tea

We source all our white teas only from the traditional region of Fuding County, Fujian. Fuding is one of the main producing areas for white tea in China. It’s surrounded by highlands with spectacular rock formations, caves and towering mountains, including the famed Taimu mountain – known as ‘Paradise at sea’. The region is awash with rolling hills, fresh streams and forests. The hilly territories with their red and yellow soils and the year-round mild climate and consistent rainfall contribute to the unique flavour of the white tea produced here.

Shop our collection of White Teas

Green Tea

Our artisan range of green teas are sources from 3 distinctive tea growing regions. Sri Lanka, Japan & China.

Sri Lanka (Kandy Region) - The tea industry was born in Ceylon when James Taylor started a tea plantation in Loolecondera estate in Kandy in 1867. He was drawn to this medium grown region and it’s not hard to see why, the Kandyan Hills are spectacular - marked by a cool, calming atmosphere and heady fragrant breezes. It is one of Sri Lanka’s most flourishing tea growing regions, but it was also the last Kingdom of Sri Lanka. Known as the central province of Sri Lanka, the tea estates are dotted in the hills surrounding the low-lying valley of Kandy. The altitude is considered ‘mid-grown’, the estates are surrounded by mountains all around, which protects them from wind and helps produce a deeper-coloured, bright and fragrant tea.

Our green teas such as Honeydew Green, Strawberry Green & My Marrakech are directly sourced from Sri Lanka’s medium grown region.

Japan – Our Gyokuro Prestige, Genmaichai & Yuzu Kukicha green teas are sourced from the beautiful Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan. Known to be the largest tea producing region of Japan, Shizuoka is also one of the country’s most beautiful tea-growing areas, framed by the towering peak of Mt Fuji. The region is climatically perfect for tea cultivation, with fresh water, sun, heavy mists and nutrient-rich volcanic soil. There’s sun, extreme temperature fluctuations and heavy mists. This unusual terroir, produce a distinctive regional flavour.

The best senchas in Japan hail from the mountains of Kirishima in Kagoshima. Kagoshima is surrounded by volcanic landscapes and ocean, a beautiful and effective combination for tea cultivation. The endless sunshine and mild climate, along with the volcanic soil, combine to create the perfect conditions for sencha. Our Japanese sencha is made by Yutakamidori cultivar and the tea is processed and grown in a very particular way to ensure quality and avoid oxidization.

China – China is the largest green tea producing country and we source unique green tea blends from directly from origins.

Huangshan Mountain is one of China’s most famous and beautiful, and it’s also home to some of the best green teas in the country. Our Huangshan Mao Feng tea is sourced from this breathtaking region.

Longjing village is situated Hangzhou in China’s Zhejiang province – which has a moderate climate and high altitude, perfect to produce tea and our Longjin Tea hails from this region. The misty fields are nourished by low fogs and running streams. The leaves are picked and roasted on the same day, and the roasters use their bare hands to feel the heat and dryness of the leaves as they roast.

Hunan borders several other tea-producing provinces. The word ‘Hunan’ means south of the lake, because the renowned Dongting lake can be found just south of the border.  Hunan’s subtropical climate is ideal for tea, the rich soil, and small variations in temperature through the day produce a very fragrant and beautiful green tea which is our popular Oriental Jasmine Green and Spring Green tea.

Shop our collection of Green Teas

Oolong Tea

We source our oolong teas from a few different regions of China. 

Fujian Anxi, a county in the southern Fujian province, known to many as the Tea Capital of China. The tea plantations are in the lush mountains and hills, green and sprawling. As beautiful to look at as they are to harvest tea from. The soil is rich thanks to constant rainfall and a moderate sub-tropical climate and yields the high-quality tea that Anxi is famed for. The high altitude and cool climate produce sweeter leaves than the hotter lower-lying regions, and the mountainous terrain allows for excellent drainage.

Our oolong teas such as Milk Oolong, Jasmine Oolong, Tie Guan Yin, Ginseng Oolong, Oolong Rose, Kiwi Berry & Sweet Peach are sourced from this region.

Our Da Hong Pao tea is sourced from the scenic mountainous region of Wuyishan is home to Wuyi Oolong. Stretching along the northernmost border of the Jiangxi province, the mountains of Wuyi are home to 36 soaring peaks and the beautiful Nine Bend Creek – a river that undulates through the wild terrain. Tea sustains life here, there are tea gardens and teahouses dotted throughout the region, run by the Wuyi mountain people. Wuyishan has become an Ecological Preserve and is now protected from development – there are also laws in place to ensure tea production is environmentally sustainable. The abundance of native forest that flourishes here as a result, has created a beautiful habitat for birds and insects. This has encouraged the production of polyphenols in the tea, which generate a distinctive, rich flavour.

Shop our collection of Oolong teas

Black Tea

Black tea is mostly produced in the tea growing regions of China and India. And other popular black tea producing countries are Sri Lanka, Nepal, Vietnam & Kenya. We directly source our black teas from China, India & Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka – Our black teas are produced in the Kandy & Ruhuna regions in Sri Lanka. Ruhuna’s low-grown long leaf, full-flavoured black tea combines beautifully with the rich and fragrant tea from medium-grown Kandy. The distinctive flavour and exceptional quality of the sweeping coastal Ruhuna leaves add a layer of distinctive complexity to the blend, while the protected, lush rolling hills of Kandy and its full-bodied plants bring richness to the tea.

Our most popular black teas such as English breakfast, Supreme Earl Grey, French Earl Grey, Malabar Chai, Royal Ceylon Breakfast, My Melbourne, South Melbourne Breakfast & Orange Pekoe are sourced from this region.

India – Our Assam tea & Darling Darjeeling tea are sourced from the popular tea growing regions of Assam and Darjeeling in India. Black teas grown in India are typically grown from the camellia sinensis var. assamica tea variety, and have a darker, richer, and more full-bodied character. Low altitude, rich soil conditions, sufficient rainfall and a distinctive climate help these regions to produce some of the finest whole leaf teas.

China - Black teas originating from China have rich history stretching back centuries. These teas tend to be slightly lighter and milder and are lovely when taken on their own without the addition of milk or sugar.  We have 3 artisan single origin teas that we source from China. Keemun black, Lapsang Souchong and Yunnan Golden Tips.

Shop our collection of Black Teas

Pu Erh Tea

We source our Pu Erh teas from Menghai, a county in the Yunnan province of China. It’s tucked into the southernmost corner of the country and shares a border with Myanmar. Menghai’s mild sub-tropical climate and remoteness encourage rich biodiversity and foster the growth of high quality teas. Tea leaves are grown and harvested in counties along the Lancang river here – including ‘wild arbor’, the highly sought after large, soft, silver leaves found on plants that grow wild on the hillside. It’s believed that some of these trees are over 1000 years old.

Shop our collection of Pu Erh Teas

Herbal & Fruit Tea

We source our fresh herbs, flowers, and real fruit pieces from around the world. USA, Sri Lanka & Germany are to name a few. These chosen ingredients use a combination of skill, patience and experience in our picking and sorting methods providing a balanced experience for customers taste buds. Each of these ingredients are focused on promoting wellness in different ways through each tea’s unique combination.

Shop our collection of Herbal teas & Fruit teas.

Rooibos Tea

Indigenous to South Africa’s mountainous region of Cederberg, Rooibos is actually a herb that’s harvested, dried, and brewed into a fragrant herbal infusion. It grows amidst an incredibly bio-diverse World Heritage protected wildlife area, with dramatic 500-million-year-old sandstone formations and 6000-year-old rock art. An appropriately spectacular natural setting for this rich, flavourful and nourishing ‘bush tea’ to hail from.  Smoky, sweet, woody, grassy, vanilla, floral, geranium, honey, herbal and caramel are just a handful of the words that can describe the flavor spectrum of sipping a rooibos tea.

Shop our collection of Rooibos Teas