Little Woods Blog

Tag: coffee cherry tea

  • 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

  • Tea Debut: Oasis & Cerise Citron

    Tea Debut: Oasis & Cerise Citron

    On Friday in the shop, we stocked the shelves with our two newest blends. Andrea and I were both smitten with coffee cherry tea and quickly envisioned blends that would play off its earthy cherry notes.

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    Oasis is a delicious combination of coffee cherry tea (cascara) by coffee flour, coconut flakes, elder berries, and indian sarsaparilla. The elder berries add a depth of flavor and round out the bright cherry note. When hot, the steamy scent of the coconut flakes carry you into the tea and lingers on the tongue. The sarsaparilla lends a creamy vanilla quality to the entire mouth feel. It’s a warming cup of tea that take cream and sugar well or stands alone with ease.

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    Cerise Citron, “lemon cherry” en francais, was inspired by the tart side of the coffee cherry tea. A fresh lemongrass scent is layered with lemon balm and sumac – a surprising citrus flavor. The brewed cup ends with a twist of spices and non-traditional tea botanicals like galangal root and pink peppercorns. Not spicy, just a touch to open all the flavors. We love it iced and cold brewed with nitro on tap.

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    The first batch of both blends are small lots, but we’ve ordered in ingredients to blend more and have it on the blending schedule for late next week. If we run out, we’ll take back orders with everything shipping on the 20th. First come first serve for the time being. If you are local and aren’t sure when you can make it in and want to reserve some, order online and select local pick up.

    And remember, now through Sunday night, Coffee Cherry Tea, Cerise Citron, and Oasis are all on sale, 20% off.

    Until next time

     

     

     

  • Experimenting with Coffee Cherry Tea

    Experimenting with Coffee Cherry Tea

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    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.

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

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    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)

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    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

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    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)

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    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.

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    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

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    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