#tea

Bee Cool

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During these hot August nights, it can get mighty warm inside the hive. The bees will gather outside on their front porch to spread out and cool off just like people were want to do before air-conditioning.  This is called “bee bearding” and is a normal activity for the bees.

We may not sit on our front porches anymore but we can keep cool with a cold glass of iced tea made with HONEY ICE. It will cool the tea and slowly sweeten it as it melts. During extraction of honey from the honey frames, the wax cappings that cover each cell must be cut off. Before the cappings can be melted down into bee’s wax, it must first be washed in clean water. This water is very sweet and can be frozen into honey ice for those hot summer nights!

Bees also cool the hive by fanning their wings at the hive entrance. In the picture, you can see individual bees on the lower edge of the entrance with their stinger end pointing up. These are fanning bees but there is so much congestion at the entrance, it probably isn’t doing much good.

You can make your own Honey Ice by mixing a small amount of honey into water and freezing it.

Farewell Tea

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My daughter Katelynn and I enjoyed a farewell tea to celebrate her trip to Peru. She has taken a 6 month volunteer position with a non-profit organization called Seeds of Hope -Peru. She will be the International Volunteer Coordinator for the organization.

For our tea, we enjoyed the Pineapple Blooming Tea from the set she presented to me on my birthday earlier this year. This snugly wrapped bulb bloomed into a cluster of three dainty, yellow chrysanthemums sitting atop a basket of green tea leaves. The citrus tone of pineapple did emerge in our cups to transport us to our own tropical retreat. Our Kansas humid weather helped to encourage this illusion!

While in Peru, Katelynn promised to look for local Peruvian tea for me. My research finds that Peru has had tea plantations in the past but these have mostly been abandoned. There are a few small tea farmers who are trying to rekindle the trade but there are many obstacles to this endeavor. I look forward to visiting my daughter in Peru and searching out a local tea grower and hopefully a few beekeepers too. Stay tuned for those adventures.

Sweet Spot

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Everyone has a favorite place to spend time; mine is in the apiary enjoying a cup of tea while my bees busily zip from flower to flower gathering nectar. This special place or “Sweet Spot” is the inspiration for the blog, “Robin Bee Tea”. Here I can share with others this unique little corner of Kansas and a good cup of tea, even if it is only through pictures and words.

For those of you who like stories, this Sweet Spot location is actually the concrete slab atop what we call a “cave”. This is an underground, rock lined room, which will remain cool in the summer. Before rural electricity, it was used to store the milk and cream from the dairy cows to keep it cool.

A cool retreat on a hot summer morning

My maternal grandmother was born in the house that once stood next to the cave.  Years later, my paternal grandparents acquired the house and my father grew up on this homestead. Now I’m the 3rd generation to call it home. My husband and I built our house about 300 feet behind where the original house once stood.

I consider this Sweet Spot my outdoor breakfast nook, surrounded by a miniature cottage garden and the apiary nearby. The old walnut  tree stretches out its branches to become the leafy roof of this outdoor room and perfectly shades the nook from the early morning sun. In the summer, I look forward to spending time here each morning.

This morning, the tea I enjoyed at the Sweet Spot was Mandarin Silk, an oolong Tea from Art of Tea which is perfect for supping among the flowers. The Taiwanese oolong is blended with marigold petals and Lemon Myrtle, a flowering evergreen plant found in central and south eastern Australia. The scent from the open tea tin promises, and delivers, delights for the tea sipper.

  • A honey bee getting her tea
  • 7 honey supers on this hive!

Thanks for sharing my Sweet Spot and enjoying a cup of tea with the bees and me.

Blue Jasmine Fairy Tea

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Trying a new tea is always an adventure. The London Tea Room, recently featured a new tea called Blue Jasmine. This tea not only tasted superb, but it’s whimsical nature cried out for fairies and elves to be sitting at the table.

Blue Jasmine is a blend of green tea scented with Jasmine from Yunnan, China and the addition of Butterfly Pea Flowers (Clitoria ternatea) from Thailand. These little flower gems have been used for centuries in Southeast Asia as a tea and natural food dye.

But its blue color isn’t its only enchantment. With a touch of fairy magic, this tea can be transformed from sea blue into a lovely lavender hue.

Not to dispel the marvel of this magical feat, but the science is basic chemistry, as in an acid/base titration. The addition of an acid, such as lemon, changes the pH and thus the color of the brew. Science just takes all of the fun out of magic, doesn’t it!

Blue Fairies in the garden

The London Tea Room

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The London Tea Room in St Louis, Mo is a wonderful little tea shop to enjoy an afternoon pot of tea and a chocolate croissant with friends. Their food menu includes in-house baked delights such as thick quiches, Cornish pasty, cookies, croissants and scones. It’s difficult to choose from one of their numerous available teas, but once that is done, it is fun to browse the many tea related items in the shop while waiting for the pot of tea to brew.

Bloom’n Blueberry

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Just like the bursting fireworks at the 4th of July, this Blooming Blueberry Flowering Tea is showing its patriotic colors. And just in time for blueberry season too!

The blooming tea is from a set of 12 given to me by my daughter, Katelynn, on my birthday this year and I “Light” one each month. So much fun to see what will unfold from the tightly, hand-wrapped green tea leaves. This bloom erupted with two crimson globe amaranth flowers, one at the base and the other topping an arch of sparkling jasmine flowers. The blueberry flavor is perhaps more imaginary than authentic but still a delightful tea.