Tea for a Blue Moon

Painting fun with Bella Luna tea from Adagio Photo: Elexis Padron

January 31 2018 Blue Blood Moon

​There are two Blue Moons this year. My friend and I set our alarms for 5am this past January 31st to step out and groggily try to view the even rarer Super Blue Blood Moon – the first to be seen from the US since 1866. The next one will be in 2037 so it seemed worth it to try and catch this one.  So there we were, two women in our pajamas on the sidewalk in the blackness of early morning that looks like night trying to take a picture through binoculars with an iphone of a moon that kind of looked like a floating orange. It was very cool though. NASA’s pictures do it far more justice but here is one of ours.

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When I posted the pics on twitter I noticed posts about Blue Moon Tea from Adagio Teas.  They have an herbal blend called Bella Luna Blue that they only sell on the day of a blue moon. It is also blue in color when brewed. Very intriguing. Then, as there is another Blue Moon (though not Blue Blood Moon) March 31st, Adagio reached out to me about this unique tea. I love all that synchronicity! (the next seasonal blue moon will be on August 22 2021!) I gladly took the opportunity for a new tea experience so here we are. The ingredient of this blend that gives it such a beautiful indigo blue color is pea flower.  The other elements of this blend are lemongrass and natural blueberry flavor.
 
SCENT – The dry leaves have a sweet blueberry dessert-like scent with the lemongrass walking around in the background. The pea flower doesn’t seem to add much scent. The steeped tea is also sweet smelling, like a blueberry cobbler.
 
 
TASTE – Pea flower by itself is pretty mild. I tasted some of the dried flowers alone and they clearly had some of the blueberry flavor on them but were very innocuous underneath that. Some compare pea flower taste to an earthy green tea, but I feel it reminds me more of barley tea. In combination with the lemongrass and blueberry flavor the tea is well blended with all the flavors holding hands in harmony. I like it both unsweetened and sweetened with a bit of honey. The honey brought out the blueberry flavor more.

Bella Luna Blue tea

COLOR – I don’t always comment on the color of a tea but it is impossible for me not to comment on this as the blue color is so satisfying. I mean, look at that! Gorgeous. We all know that smell is important to taste but the look of what we ingest has an impact too as evidenced by all of the culinary TV shows we now have where plating and presentation are of high importance alongside taste.  Watching the color develop was like watching a blooming tea open.

We took pictures of the tea in a few different vessels with light from above and from behind, with more or less tea and sometimes there were multiple colors visible including purples and deep pinks like a wild sunset captured in a glass.
 
Then I started playing with the wet leaves. Many artists paint with tea, so it isn’t novel necessarily, but it is fun. This tea reminded me of watercolors. I couldn’t resist splattering and writing with it. I fully believe in playing with your tea and getting creative with the ways even steeped leaves can be used.
 
Bonus: I was also able to get more than one steeping out of a round of leaves. Satisfying. 
 
You can get this lovely Bella Luna Blue tea on the day of the next Blue Moon, March 31st 2018,  from Adagio Teas. I encourage you to set your alarm, grab a friend,  bring some binoculars  and go out into the night to gaze skyward for this rare experience!

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