Tea of the Week: Bigelow’s Girl Scout Thin Mints Herbal Tea

Knock, knock, knock. And there they are…Girl Scouts, with their adorable smiling faces, asking if you’d like to buy just a few boxes of cookies.

It’s a daunting dilemma having Girl Scouts show up at your front door, especially if you’re trying to watch your calories. You don’t actually want to tell the sweet little girls “no,” do you? For those of you who feel my pain, there’s hope for us and it comes in the form of tea…more specifically, Girl Scout Thin Mints Tea!

In partnership with the Girl Scouts of America, Bigelow Tea Company launched its cookie-flavored teas earlier this year. As the operator of the largest working tea plantation in the US, leave it to Bigelow Tea to come up with a distinctively all-American tea flavor to delight the young at heart. On top of that, Cindi Bigelow, the third-generation President of the company, was once a proud Girl Scout herself!

Next year, I’m hoping that the Girl Scouts come knocking on my door with both cookies and tea. How great would that be? In the meantime (for those of us in the US), be on the lookout at your local grocery stores. Like the cookies, Thin Mints Herbal Tea is a seasonal offering, so it’s a great idea to stock up while you can!Tasting Notes for Bigelow’s Girl Scout Thin Mints Herbal Tea:

BREWING TIPS:  Brew at 212 degrees F for 4 minutes. This tea brews dark and strong quickly so keep an eye out while it’s steeping.

THE BLEND:  A mix of peppermint, chicory, rose hips, licorice root, low-fat alkalized cocoa powder, natural chocolate flavors, and other natural flavors.

THE SCENT:  Of soft, bright peppermint with hints of rich caramel.

THE STEEP:  The color is dark chocolate brown, like coffee! Each sip starts with the smooth taste of chocolate followed by mild mintiness. The chocolate and mint flavors are well-balanced where one doesn’t overwhelm the other. This is great served on its own if you want to taste more of its peppermint base. Enjoy it with a splash of milk to highlight its rich, deep, chocolate flavors. I like the taste of this brew hot, not cold.

GET IT:  The tea is available in grocery stores during the months of March, April, and May this year. It can also be found on Amazon, but not at the Bigelow site. I found my tea at Sprouts, alongside Caramel and Coconut, the tea version of Caramel deLights (a.k.a. Samoas)!

FOOD PAIRING:  Since this is caffeine-free, refreshingly minty, and inspired by cookies, it’s ideal as a substitute for dessert. If you want to indulge, serve this with anything chocolatey like Chocolate Petit Fours, Homemade Chocolate Pocky, or those leftover Thin Mints parked in your freezer (are there any left!?). The touch of mint makes this tea a delicious partner to a few pieces of dark chocolate. This is also great for the calorie conscious who are craving a taste of Thin Mint Cookies minus the guilt.

Pumpkin Rooibos Muffins

After my Pumpkin Tea Set post last week, some readers asked me what would become of my pie pumpkins. Well here they are, transformed into homey, humble little muffins…Rooibos Pumpkin Muffins to be exact. Just when you thought those pumpkins had met their last tea pairing with chai, rooibos shows up in baked form!

Rooibos, also known as red bush tea or red tea, is a plant native to South Africa. You’ll find the short, slim stalks of this caffeine-free herb in many tisanes where it lends a mild, aromatic sweetness and gorgeous coppery orange color. I love that you can enjoy the soothing effects of this tea anytime of day.

Pumpkin and rooibos tea are natural partners—both ingredients evoke the warm, earthy flavors of fall. In this recipe, lightly toasting the rooibos before adding it into the batter helps it to release more of its lightly malty flavor. After toasting, I also give the rooibos a light steeping in hot water to help it soften and release even more of it’s rich aroma and essence.

Whether you are drinking or eating them together, rooibos and pumpkin make a delicious culinary match. I like to enjoy these muffins with a pure rooibos-only blend, as the simple taste of the tea will help the spicy cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove flavors to shine. Enjoy these muffins for breakfast, along with a light meal, or as a simple mid-day sweet treat.

Pumpkin Rooibos Muffins

Makes 10 muffins.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp rooibos, about 4-5 tea bags, lightly toasted for 1 minute in a dry pan

1/3 cup hot water

8 oz. pumpkin purée

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp clove

Equipment:

standard muffin tin

10 cupcake liners

2 mixing bowls

cooling rack

Directions:

1.)  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Rip the rooibos tea bags open, then brew them in 1/3 cup of hot water.

2.)  In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, oil, sugar, vanilla and egg. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.

3.)  Gradually add the dry flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture until everything is just moistened. Mix in the rooibos tea (along with the leaves), until the batter is homogenous. Spoon 1/3 cup of the batter into each of the cupcake liners in the muffin pan.

4.)  Bake cupcakes for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick barely comes out clean. Place on a cooling rack to cool before serving.