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The Allure of the Matcha Latte & How to Make a Perfect Cup of Matcha

Matcha is having a good year. If you are unfamiliar with Matcha, it’s a powdered green tea made famous by Japanese Zen monks. It has been used for centuries to create a sense of calm and focused alertness in both meditation and mindful living. We’ve been seeing all kinds of recipes lately using Matcha in sweets, hot drinks, and cocktails. Matcha is also showing up more and more in coffee shops and cafés. Even Starbucks now features a Teavana Green Tea Latte made with Matcha (and a whopping 40 grams of sugar per 12 oz cup). Though I’m familiar with traditionally brewed Matcha, which creates a naturally creamy, frothy, sweet, umami, and tremendously satisfying cup of opaque green tea, I was inspired by the Americanized recipes using Matcha. I set out to make an Arogya-style Matcha Latte, made with homemade almond milk and our ceremonial grade Matcha.

Turmeric Ginger Chai

Something a number of us here at Arogya have in common is a shared interest in visiting India. Our experiences there have also fostered a mutual love for traditional Indian chai, which is a creamy blend of black tea, milk, sugar, and aromatic spices, typically ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, nutmeg, and black pepper. On a cold, rainy day last week, we decided to create our own rendition of a warming, caffeine-free, and sugar-free turmeric ginger chai using our most popular healing blend. The result was a nourishing and calming tonic that’s perfect to sip anytime, as well as when the weather’s hot or cold.

Assam Tea with a Medicinal Kick

During my most recent trip to India in January, an inspiring young man named Lokesh Jadev taught me a delightful, throat-soothing way to prepare Assam tea. Before I tell you more about this spice-up twist on a classic black tea, however, I’d like to share a little but about Lokesh.

Tulsi, an Herb for Everyday Health and Stamina

With so many delicious and healing herbs in the world it would be hard for me to choose a single favorite, but without a doubt Tulsi, also known as Holy Basil, would be high up on the list. Lately, Tulsi has been an herb of choice for my morning quart of tea, which I feel helps me get through the day with ease and sustained energy. If you haven’t tried Tulsi, which we feature in our Calming De-Stress and Detox blends, the taste is reminiscent of mint, clove and fennel. With a delightful aroma and a host of medicinal properties, Tulsi is a wonderful herb to get to know.

Clearing Space in the Chinese New Year

The first full moon of the Year of the Goat is upon us! This full moon is an exciting and auspicious time of culmination, intensity, and celebration. In China it is celebrated with a lantern festival where millions of lanterns are released into the sky for good luck, abundance and happiness in the New Year. What wishes would you send your good luck lantern off into the sky with? Whether or not you actually send off a lantern, this is an important time to investigate your deepest wishes and take action to help align yourself with what you desire for your life. One important way to do this is to clean and organize the home. The feeling we create in our homes helps us align with the greater forces of the universe to bring a sense a spaciousness, peace, and clarity to our hearts and minds. By clearing out old, forgotten things, we make more room for harmony, abundance and joy in our lives. Doing this at the beginning of the Chinese New Year helps set the stage for a year of happiness and abundance. So get a head start on spring-cleaning and align yourself with the positivity you wish to bring into your life.

Restful Medicine! Legs-Up-The-Wall

There are few yoga postures that restore and reinvigorate my whole body and being like Legs-up-the-wall, or what’s called supported viparita karani in Sanskrit. This simple pose, which can be done at anytime, helps relieve and prevent tired legs, lower back pain, menstrual cramps, anxiety, digestive disorders, varicose veins, sciatica, and arthritis.

Savory Lapsang Souchong Tofu

I’ll never forget the first time I encountered the unique, sweet pine-smoked aroma of lapsang souchong tea. I had recently begun my work with Arogya. I walked in on a cold winter day and contently went to pour myself a cup of tea. I noticed a beautiful, warm, and smoky scent drifting up from one of the teapots. As I soon learned, this was lapsang souchong, a traditional black tea from the Wuyi mountain region of Fujian Province.

Lapsang souchong is most likely the world’s oldest black tea.

Oolong Bomb – a Powerful Way to Brew Oolong Tea

At Arogya we have been drinking what we call the “Oolong bomb”. It is inspired by gong-fu style preparation and creates a powerful brew, ideal for enhancing focus and productivity. In China, Oolong tea is well-known for its concentration-enhancing effects, which is why it is a favorite tea of students and executives alike. A normal cup of Oolong contains one teaspoon of tea leaves for an 8 oz. cup. The Oolong Bomb contains twice the amount of tea leaves with half the water.

Celebrating Chinese New Year & Year of the Goat

For me, Chinese New Year is a nostalgic time. It brings back warm memories of my extended family gathered together, eating dumplings, drinking tea, laughing, feasting and receiving new clothes and red envelopes filled with money for good luck. The anticipation of Chinese New Year also brings about a feeling of excitement for the abundance and opportunities to come in the New Year.

Oolong 101

For many, green tea is the gateway to cultivating a love for fine teas. Black teas remain classic and time-honored as they are the teas most ingrained in our culture thanks to the influence of the British. Oolong is a class of teas that finds itself in between Green and Black teas, in terms of flavor, caffeine content, color, and oxidation level.