Friday 18 May 2012

Elixir Two: Happy Heart

Celebrating my herbal ally, HAWTHORN. Today we had a couple of hours  free from customers & work. I decided to grab the camera & head off into the garden to attune with the happy Hawthorn who is blossoming beautifully. I also decided to collect some of the new gorgeous little clusters of blossom to make me & dear hubby a tea tonic :)  The leaves are also so vibrant & lush with the most nourishing  pulsating life force permeating throughout each & every one. We have a manicured Hawthorn hedge & a rather more wild naturally growing  Hawthorn tree. I wonder if there is a difference between each, as the flowers & scent of both are different. Perhaps both male & female blossom. I find the matrix of the  Hawthorns branches so comforting, so stabilising, like the network or arteries & veins.vessels carrying oxygen to support life. A wonderful circulatory system. Controlling & conducting the awesome growth of such a beautiful tree.
After capturing some beautiful images of its growth & changing appearance I returned to the kitchen, washed the clusters of blossom I'd collected preparing them for infusion.  Boiling the kettle ready to make some Hawthorn char :) I rinsed my new glass tea pot ready for its fresh Hawthorn tea.
The scent was surprisingly off putting, not at all as pleasant as I'd imagined. The colour of the tea developed into a bright light transparent green. It was brewed for around 10 minutes. Keeping up with old English traditions I thought the tea would be best served in a most eloquent style. Delivered in dainty bone china cups on saucers, an inherited family heirloom - the tea set was many decades ago a wedding present for my Grandmother!!  I in sited my hubby should try our garden wonders. I am delighted he drank two cups, considering he thought the smell was vile & like an old pub urinals!!!  I refrained from smelling mine :) The taste was quite pleasant & refreshing. Hope you enjoy the photographs :)
 Gently & with great respect a few clusters of blossom were picked from the tree, brought into our home to be made into a healing heart tonic for me & hubby.

5 comments:

  1. I just adore your tea pot I've never seen one and would be soo useful. I'm on the look out!
    Love Leanne

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  2. Bless Leanne, thank you so much. I love it too. In fact thinking about it I adore china tea pots, but the glass ones I buy specifically for infusions & 'blooming' teas. Once when working in UAE I had the most beautiful cup of jasmine tea, started off as a closed bud in boiling water, opening into the most stunning flower - served from a clear tea pot!! I was hooked!! Hope you find one, if not let me know & I'll email you the address of my supplier & maybe they'll deliver abroad.

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  3. Oo yes your tea is very green isn't it! I find the colour develops the longer I leave it. It doesn't really matter though, if you are infusing it for 10 minutes it will still be a good medicinal tea.
    Enjoy your lovely hawthorns!

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  4. oh how absolutely enchanting!!xxx

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  5. Lovely post! Hawthorn blossom scent is something you either love or hate. I find when I make the tincture it smells of cherries, although if you leave the top off the bottle for too long people have complained it smells of fish!!

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