Tea for Two

Usually when Mama and I enjoy a formal tea time together (not just grabbing a mug of decaf Earl Grey when the kids are off to bed), we go English--with crumpets or scones, marmalade and clotted cream, or just a good cuppa slowly sipped with care. But Friday night, we opted for something out of the ordinary--Armenian Spiced Rose Petal Tea from my Silk Road Cooking: A Vegetarian Journey by Najmieh Batmanglij. I had the rose petals from Kalustyan's and all the other spices as well, and so we brewed the tea and enjoyed reading through some of our Silk Road books, since it's rather a topic du jour at our house right now. And the tea was so fragrant, with the cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, and rose blending so subtly together. We even liked the leftovers iced, which is good because it's almost too hot to enjoy a cuppa--English, Silk Road, or Chinese--anything but Southern iced!

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Armenian Spiced Rose Petal Tea

4 cups water

one 3" cinnamon stick

2 whole cloves

1/2 teaspoon cardamom

1 tablespoon organic rose petals

2 teaspoons loose black tea (we used 2 tea bags)

2 tablespoons sugar

Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan. Add spices. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

Place the tea leaves and sugar in a teapot.

Fill the teapot, through a strainer, with the boiling spice water and steep for 5-10 minutes. Do not steep more than 10 minutes.

Before serving, pour a cup of tea and return it to the pot to make sure tea is evenly mixed.

Fill each glass with tea. Keep teapot warm

Najmieh Batmanglij, Silk Road Cooking: A Vegetarian Journey