Little Woods Blog

Category: Brewing

  • Drink Feature: Rendezvous Tea Latte

    Drink Feature: Rendezvous Tea Latte

    What do you get when you mix our Twilight black tea, frothy milk, and a gourmet rose syrup? A rendezvous with pure delight!

    You can stop by the shop during the month of Febrauary to enjoy this decidant treat. Okay, okay, we know not all of you can make it to downtown Ames. Do not dispare, this is how you can enjoy it at home any time of the year!

    Ingredients

    Directions

    1. Bring your kettle up to a boil and steep 1T of Twlight in 4oz of water (about a 1/2 cup).
    2. In a small sauce pan, warm up 1 cup milk over medium-low heat.
    3. Once it the milk starts to steam, whisk. Make sure to not let it boil.
    4. The tea should be ready, strain the leaves or pull out your infuser.
    5. Add 1t – 1T Rose Syrup to tea and pour in milk.
    6. Dust with the crushed rose for added decidance.
    Brianna making our rose simple syrup – want to make your own, get the kit here.

    Our Botanical Syrup Gift Box it makes for a great gift any time of year – it has our three favorite ingredients for making simple syrups: Rose, Hibiscus, and Cardamom (a key feature of our Chai Tea Latte).

    Already know how to make simple syrup and just need the rose? Grab it from our bulk section by the ounce to the pound.

    Until Next Time!

  • Herbal Coffee: Cutting caffeine and boosting flavor

    Herbal Coffee: Cutting caffeine and boosting flavor

    Here is a funny fact about myself. I drink coffee every day. I know, gasp! The horror! How could I as a tea blender and tea business owner?

    Three things you may not know about me.

    1. I started drinking coffee when I was very young because I wanted to be just like my dad.
    2. I was a barista for over a decade.
    3. We are a half block away from one of the best independent coffee roasters in North America (Hi, Morning Bell).

    But the truth? Coffee doesn’t always agree with me. My stomach is prone to what I lovingly call “acid gut”. So I can have a cup in the morning, and that’s it.

    Sometimes I would like another cup. But usually regret it if I do.

    As a tea blender, I’m uniquely positioned to create alternatives to coffee that have a robust, rich flavor that satisfies a coffee craving. There are two types of coffee substitutes: Caffeine. No Caffeine.

    Top Five Energy Boosting Coffee Substitutes

    1. Fireside (Black Tea)
    2. Elder Mate (Traditional -smoked- Yerba Mate)
    3. Pretty Penny Pepper (Phoenix Oolong)
    4. Oasis (Coffee Cherry Tea)
    5. Autumnal Equinox (Oct – Dec) (Phoenix Oolong)

    Top Five Caffeine-Free Coffee Substitutes

    1. Herbal Root Coffee (Roasted Chicory and Dandelion)
    2. Winter Solstice (Dec – Feb)
    3. Roasted Chicory Root
    4. Roasted Dandelion Root
    5. Herbal Root Coffee with Pumpkin Spice (Oct – Dec)

    So how do you make a coffee substitute? Really it’s up to you. The easiest is probably a french press – which is our go-to for both tea or coffee. You may just want to increase the quantity and decrease the steep time for things like coffee cherry tea, chicory, and dandelion root.

    You may want to try blending roasted chicory or dandelion root with your favorite coffee to lower the caffeine and acidity while still getting that coffee flavor. This is pretty common in New Oreleans.

    Brewing Herbal Root Coffee

    Herbal Root Coffee (and straight Roasted Chicory Root) can really be brewed just like coffee. Using a pour-over method is my favorite way if I’m really craving that coffee experience. Usually with a touch of cream and honey. Here. You can see for youself in this video.

    And there you go. All my favorite blends and botanicals for when I’m craving coffee.

    Enjoy!

    Kristin M Roach

  • Recipe: Spiced Mulled Cider

    Recipe: Spiced Mulled Cider

    Every autumn I look forward to a drink that is second only to tea: Spiced Cider! And living in Iowa we have quite a few apple orchards that sell their own delish locally grown apple cider so I have ample supply. There may be a few gallons that even make their way into my deep freeze to take out well past apple season.

    Since I was a kid I’ve loved it steamy and spiced. So after we opened the shop it only took one apple picking season for me to get on formulated my own special blend of herbalism inspired mulling spices.

    Spiced Cider by the Cup

    1. Put apple cider and mulling spice (loose if you have a strainer, or in an infuser if that is your preference) into a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer.
    2. Let steep 5-10 minutes, for a stronger spiced flavor, simmer for 5 minutes.
    3. Strain into cup through a culinary strainer, or if you used an infuser to hold the spices, remove T-sac and pour into cup.
    4. Add a garnish of a cinnamon stick and/or a slice of apple.

    By the gallon: 1/2oz per 1 gallon of cider. Use a laddle to serve.

  • Refreshing Summer Tea Blends

    Refreshing Summer Tea Blends

    There is nothing quite like iced tea to refresh your body during the hottest of summer months. But don’t let yourself be limited to just tea. We’ve found many botanicals that are naturally caffeine free, delicious, and can be enjoyed as iced tea or made into a simple syrup and served like an italian soda.

    icedtea-pour

    When thinking about what makes a good iced brew, think about tart and refreshing flavors – like lemonade. We love our Bright Eyes collection of teas for just that reason. You can get it with Black Tea, Yerba Mate, or as just the straight Herbal Blend.  Cerise Citron is our Coffee Cherry Tea Lemongrass Blend. Lemongrass just by itself is also one of my favorite summer drinks. Sometimes simple is the perfect thing.

    Straight Hibiscus makes an amazing cold brew beverage and the color is a complete show stopper. There are several restaurants in town that have been using our hibiscus to make a simple syrup for cocktails and mocktails. An excellent idea that opens up a ton of options. Don’t be afraid to use tea blends for a simple syrup. Many delish cocktails have been made with our Namaste blend.

    icedtea-ontray-withplant

    Mint tea is another summer classic. Mint is fun because if I drink it hot, it will actually make me sweat, but served ice, I’m instantly cold as a cucumber. Which brings another great point. Adding slices of cucumber, lemon, or sprigs of basil or mints from the garden can bring another wonderful diamention to your summer drink selection.

    I love our Eloise Mint or Moroccan Mint Green Tea with a sprig of chocolate mint in it. It’s a fun variety I grow every year in my garden here in Iowa.

    For all our summer tea and botancial brew favorites, visit our online store. We ship quick, daily, and shipping is free for any order over $50.

    Not sure how to make iced tea out of loose leaf tea? Download our printable that shows you all the tips and tricks we’ve come up with serving iced tea at the tea bar.

    icedtea-cupgallon-web

    Until Next Time!
    Kristin M Roach

  • Debuting Little Woods Tea Catering

    Debuting Little Woods Tea Catering

    Little Woods is happy to announce the official launch of Little Woods Catering! We are now taking orders and reservations for brewed tea service for all sized groups and events. Whether you want to indulge your next book club, delight your baby shower guests, or thrill your wedding party of 100 with tea from Little Woods, we’ve got you covered. Our main goal is to provide every guest with a delicious cup of tea.


    Tea Catering Pick Up Menu

    Little Woods Catering Servings Price Cups Addon
    Insulated Tea Carafe
    1.25 liters / 42oz    		 5-6 servings $12.50 $3 add on
    Insulted Airpot
    3 liters / 100 oz    		 10-12 servings $20.00 $5 add on
    Insulated Dispenser
    5 gallons/ 640oz    		 80-90 servings $85.00 $20 add on
    Milk, sweetener & stirs
    (dairy or dairy free)    		 quart $4.00
    Honey Bear $5.50
    Snack Cups $1/per serving — choose from your shop favorites:
    Nori Maki, Stam Oublies, Chocolate Covered Ginger, Chocolate Covered Lemon Peel, Sea Salt Chocolate Almonds & Apricot

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    Note: special pricing applies for premium teas (aka Silver needle, pu’erh, Dark ‘n’ Lush, etc). Please note which premium tea you are interested in and we will send you a quote.

    Be green! Please note: to reduce waste, we do not offer disposable tea boxes. All tea is brewed into reusable insulated servers. We also encourage our tea customers to use their own mugs whenever possible instead of paper cups.

    Tea Catering Request Form

    Please fill out our catering form to tell us about your tea catering needs, and we will get back to you soon to coordinate your service. Thank you for supporting your local artisan tea shop!

    [contact-form to=”info@littlewoodsherbal.com” subject=”Tea Catering Inquiry”][contact-field label=”Name” type=”name” required=”1″][contact-field label=”Email” type=”email” required=”1″][contact-field label=”Phone” type=”text” required=”1″][contact-field label=”Group Size” type=”text” required=”1″][contact-field label=”Event Type” type=”text” required=”1″][contact-field label=”Date of event” type=”date” required=”1″][contact-field label=”Notes” type=”text”][/contact-form]

    Pickup and drop off only, and a refundable deposit for supplies will apply. To inquire on availability, please fill out the form above. If you’re looking for a next-day pickup, the best way to reach a Little Woods is to call them directly at 515-233-3838.

    Catering cancellation policy: Unless otherwise communicated, confirmed catering orders will be charged the full service fee if not canceled at least 48 hours before the event. Beyond that, orders canceled within 5 business days will be charged 50%, at least 5 business days notice is required for a full refund.

  • Experimenting with Coffee Cherry Tea

    Experimenting with Coffee Cherry Tea

    coffee_cherry_tea-icedtea06hi

    Since it arrived, everyone in the shop has been dreaming up new ways to use Coffee Cherry Tea. Of course all the usual tea steeping ways. Iced tea with an elder flower syrup is phenomenal and definitely a favorite.

    Coffee Cherry Iced Tea

    • 7g coffee cherry tea (heaping teaspoon)
    • 4oz just boiled water
    • Steep 5 minutes
    • Strain into mason jar filled with ice and shake
    • Pour over ice
    • shot of botanical syrup (optional)

    Then Jason went and made it into a syrup. Whole. New. World.

    coffee_cherry_tea-italian_soda02web

    At the shop we have an old timey spritzer bottle, so making Italian Sodas and Creamosas was an easy first step.

    coffee_cherry_italiansoda08web

    One of the fun things about Ames is the ISU Surplus Sale — where you can pick up all kinds of old lab equipment. We love using them to measure for our drinks and quantify our blends.

    Coffee Cherry Tea Italian Soda (Creamosa)

    coffee_cherry_tea-steamer02web

    Making the coffee cherry tea into a syrup also lead to a most delicious steamer — milk and syrup steamed together.

    Coffee Cherry Tea Steamer

    1. 1oz shot of coffee cherry tea simple syrup
    2. 8oz milk
    3. Put together in pitcher, steam, dash of cardamon powder

    coffee_cherry_tea-espresso01web

    And then someone was like – let’s pull shots!

    Coffee Cherry Tea Espresso Shot

    • 10g coffee cherry tea, tea cut
    • Red Espresso restricted flow porta filter
    • 30 sec pre-infusion

    So now, the entirety of our TeaEspresso menu that we developed with RedEspresso and yerba mate can be used with Coffee Cherry Tea. I over packed the porta filter, but still had good results. It’s more flexible than white espresso or rooibos. It bulks A LOT. One of the things that’s easy to forget about Coffee Cherry Tea is how fibrous it is.

    coffee_cherry_tea-latte03web

    Coffee Cherry Tea Latte

    • 2oz shot coffee cherry teaspresso
    • 6oz whole milk, steamed
    • shot simple syrup (cardamom is pretty delish)
    • dash apple pie spice on top

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5Tg8ew0eB0]

    At Little Woods we do a lot of careful development of our menu… but sometimes inspiration strikes I drop something on the menu and get super lucky and it works out great… Thus the Tea Spritzer. I had fresh lemon balm from the garden. A new ol’ timey Water Seltzer bottle and we were debuting our new Tea Espresso menu. I wanted to put them all together. Thus the Tea Spritzer is born.

    Coffee Cherry Tea Spritzer

    1. A shot of Elder Flower Syrup.
    2. A Double Shot of Rooibos or coffee cherry tea.
    3. Shaken with ice.
    4. Seltzer water.
    5. Sprig of fresh aromatics like lemon balm or chocolate mint…. holy basil is also great.

    Coffee Cherry Tea (tea cut) we use in our espresso machine 

    Rooibos we use in our espresso machine

    Elder flowers we made our simple syrup with

    Last week Andrea was a guest teacher at Cook’s Emporium and co-taught a class on simple syrups. During the prep for the class we took a ton of photos of how we make our simple syrup for Little Woods, so we’ll be sharing the recipe for that here on the blog soon.

    Up next, our blends! Andrea knocked it out of the park with Oasis, debuting in our brick and mortar this afternoon.

    Until Next Time.

  • Brewing: Coffee Cherry Tea (aka Cascara)

    Brewing: Coffee Cherry Tea (aka Cascara)

    IMG_1976

    This is some exciting news. We’ve partnered with Coffee Flour™ to bring their new Coffee Cherry Tea to the US online retail market place. In addition to selling Coffee Cherry Tea online, we are developing a new line of herbal tea blends featuring this unique ingredient. Our first two are debuting this Friday.

    We’ve decided to show you everything we’ve learned about Coffee Cherry Tea this week. How to brew it, what it is, why it’s awesome. And of course, have a sale. Coffee Cherry Tea is 20% off now through the weekend.

    coffee_cherry_tea-low

    So first things first. What is it?

    Coffee Cherry Tea is tea cut cascara, the fruit and skin of the coffee cherry, but no bean. Unlike all the other cascara we’ve sampled (thanks to our neighbor Morning Bell Coffee Roaster), Coffee Cherry Tea is handled with care during the entire process. No funk. No mold. No, ummm, floor sweepings. Completely food safe. It’s bright and tart. Notes of cherry. A touch of coffee on the finish. It’s flavor straddles coffee and a rooibos with a touch of hibiscus. There’s a little caffeine, less than roasted coffee by the brewed cup.

    Brewing Coffee Cherry Tea

    Immediately we started experimenting with it. We found it does better brewed like tea than coffee. Thursday we’ll be showing you all our experiments – like pulling shots, pour over, aeropress brewing, and making it into simple syrups.

    We wanted to figure out the best steeping ratio, tea:water:heat:time. We sampled it around to a few regulars and our staff. It was a fun impromptu tasting and we captured the final round for the timing.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghjINbqLK4k?rel=0]

    For at home, we found the french press is best… but we always say that. It’s our favorite type of brewing vessel! Completely bias.

    In a french press: 8-9g for a 12oz french press = 1 heaping Tablespoon

    In a tea ball: 5-6g (1 heaping teaspoon) for a 8-10oz mug

    In a tea pot: 1 heaping teaspoon per person and 1 for the pot

    Steep Time: 4-6 minutes

    Water Temperature: 205 – 212F

    IMG_1911

    It holds up to cream well and is divine with a little honey.

    Up next, why we love it — other than just it’s flavor — a sneak peek into the ethics behind this new brew!

    Until Next Time