Tea Time

My sweet friend, Eliz Guyer, owner of Laughing Tree Cafe and Laughing Tree Teas invited me to the cafe to blend a special spring tea.










Eliz's got a million different flavors to choose from.

Eliz suggested we brew up a spring time detox tea. "Let's use Nettles and dandelions,' she said.  

Laughing Tree Tea, Fruit Tea

Ummm weeds, I ask? "These are so nutritious! They have nutrients you don't get during the winter. It's a way to get the nutrition of spring," Eliz tells me with her customary laugh at the silliness of life and in this case, me.

Turns out stinging nettle tea is good for allergy relief and is good for your skin, bones and urinary health. Dandelions reportedly help detox the body.  While you can grow both of these in the Cedar Valley, Eliz depends on an organic, fair trade supplier to supplement her 2 acre herb patch.

First she put a teaspoon of the nettles in one cup and a teaspoon of dandelions in another cup.

Eliz adds about 6 ounces of hot water and let's the dried leaves steep for about 7 minutes.  

We smell our steaming cups. Eliz says the nettles cup has a "grassy smell" and the dandelion cup smells like spring. Next we taste each of the teas to get the flavor profile.  I'm no help, the teas taste pleasant, if a little one dimensional.  Eliz, with an educated palate pronounces the teas complimentary.  We both agree they need some zip.

So she pulls out a bag of dried lemon peel from her cupboard of flavors.

Now we repeat the hot water, brew, wait, smell and taste.

Ah, now that's lovely. I can definitely taste spring. But still just a wee bit flat, we agree.

Now Eliz pulls out the big guns....Stevia.  At first I think she means the stuff in little packets.  But she's talking about a dried version of the plant.

She adds a half a teaspoon to our mixture. We brew, wait, smell and taste.  At first I'm in love.  Eliz however wrinkles her nose. "Too sweet," she says.

 "No, wait! I love it," I beg.  

Laughing Tree Tea's official Tea Log

"Take another sip," Eliz says.  When I do and then another, I agree too sweet.  "You have to be careful with the Stevia. It doesn't take very much. A lot of people don't like the annise after-taste of the Stevia sweetners, but you don't get that with the plants. This is natural, it doesn't have the after taste," she says.

After each blending session, Eliz records the combinations so that she can replicate them

So back we go to the mixing pot.  Eliz mixes one part Nettles,one part dandelion, one part lemon peel and just a pinch of stevia. Hot water, wait, sniff, taste.....ah perfection!

Laughing Tree Tea's newest tea Clari-Tea is crafted. 

Everytime I drink one of Laughing Tree Teas now I'll think of how Eliz thinks about her work "I joyfully hand blend loose leaf teas to enhance life's everyday moments."

You can find Laughing Tree Teas at the Laughing Tree Cafe in the Waterloo Center for the Arts, 225 Commercial Street, Waterloo, or The Markit in Grundy Center or brewed daily at Cottonwood Canyon in Waterloo or Cedar Falls

Eliz does custom blends for customers to address health issues or because they have favorite flavor combinations.  Call her to order your custom blend at 319. 610. 7252 or email Eliz at eliz.guyer@gmail.com.  

As we settled into the cafe's beautiful chairs to sip our tea, 
looking out over the beautiful Cedar River, I asked Eliz why 
she does what she does.

Each of us has an inner compass that tells us when we’re on

 the right path. How do you know when your inner compass

 points True North?

I don't know if there is a "true north." That's too goal 

oriented.  You've got to have goals, but you need to say, 'I'll 

try this path and we'll see how it goes.  You know when you're

 on the right path when you smile and laugh and you attract 

people you want to be around and people who build you up.

Wendell Berry writes often that we are “given” our lives; 

meaning “we ourselves did not make these things, although 

by birth we are made responsible for them; second, that the 

world and our lives do not come to us by chance.”

What are you given?

"What I choose to suck out of life! I've been given a little bit 

of sass and sweetness. Enough sass that if someone says,

 'You can't do it!'; I'm going to do it. Enough sweetness that

 I'm going to enjoy what I'm doing."

How do you care for what you are given?

I choose to cultivate joy. I laugh a lot. I make stupid, stupid

 jokes. We often associate that you can't laugh and be

 responsible adult.  But you can!

What sustains you and gives you hope?

Every time I hit a low I learned that if I just give it another day or two, or just take another step, it works out. I found people to help me celebrate failure. It's OK to not be perfect and make mistakes, as long as I rebound and keep working on it.

Want your own special tea, or the newest Clari-Tea?  Just give Eliz a call, 319. 610.7525 or stop by Laughing Tree Cafe.

Wishing you a lovely weekend!