I was asked today how I develop my teas, so I look for the herbal ally first, or the herbs and build the tea around one plant?  

I start with the feeling I want to invoke. If I can’t name the feeling, I’ll start with a color. I’d like to feel purple. A deep, black purple. So warm, full bodied, sexy. Plum with raisins, figs, black cherries, cinnamon, and star anise. I’d put it with a base of chestnut black tea to stand up to those fruits. And as I get to know the flavor profile it tells me its story. The story of women going out in the morning, to pick their grapes, and leaving them on the roofs of their homes to wilt the grapes to make the wine for Cytheria, Aphrodite’s name on the isle of Crete. The wood of the chestnut stands as an altar to Her shrine. 

Use as devotional tea, meditation companion, or to honor the Aphrodite in all of us.