Many of us enjoy a good cup of tea with our breakfast, but why not include tea within your healthy breakfast as well? There are so many quick and easy ways to incorporate tea into your morning meal. Try breakfast with a tea twist!
Do you enjoy yogurt with granola and fruit in the morning? Consider stirring a touch of Matcha into Greek yogurt. Matcha or other finely ground teas can be wonderful in your granola as well. If you make your own granola, keep the temperature fairly low or add it late in the baking process to preserve the fresh flavors and color.
With Matcha, I like to par-cook the grains first, and then mix in the nuts, tea and other spices, finishing at a lower temperature. Mix in your dried fruits at the end. If you use a purchased granola, tossing it with a touch of Matcha can not only add its own wonderful flavors, but it also cuts the sweetness of many too sweet commercial brands. For a real treat, toss a touch of chopped white chocolate in with your Matcha granola, or chopped dark chocolate in with a granola that you’ve added ground black tea to.
Instead of using finely ground tea or matcha, you can also use your favorite full leaf teas, ground just slightly if they are very large leaf. In this case, you can add the tea in with your other ingredients, and bake as usual. You’ll find a recipe below but please consider varying this example to your own personal style, or adding whole leaf or ground tea to your favorite granola recipes.
For the fruit component of your yogurt parfait, consider roasting some peaches, pears, plums or other favorite fruit briefly at a moderately high temperature, after first tossing it with some double strength tea (steeped with double the ratio of leaf to water, not double the time) and brown sugar. Alternatively, just toss your fresh fruits in your favorite tea syrup to accompany your yogurt or to just enjoy alone.
An addition of coarsely or finely ground tea is a welcome change in your fresh biscuits, scones and muffins, or plump your dried fruits in tea before adding them to your recipe. Do you enjoy lox and bagels? Then tea-cured Gravlax (traditional Swedish salmon cured in salt, sugar and dill), is a must. Blend a touch of ginger, Matcha and citrus zest or chopped herbs into your cream cheese for a really special accompaniment to your smoked or cured salmon.
Do you prefer a warm breakfast? Make a fruit compote by cooking down a blend of dried fruits with some double strength tea, a cinnamon stick, citrus zest and some brown sugar, raw sugar or agave. Optionally consider some cracked black pepper or even a touch of chilies for a kick. Serve with oatmeal, whole grain waffles or pancakes. You can whisk a little Matcha and fresh herbs into your scrambled eggs, omelets or frittatas.
When kicking off the new day, always remember to ‘think outside the cup!’
Photo by Julian Landa
note that this article was originally published may 2014
