N.W. Gabbey
I drink tea. There, I admit it unabashedly. Unless the coffee is my single scoop of Leopold’s, make my morning brew the caffeine king’s coy cousin.
While my usual cuppa is an English breakfast or Assam with a squeeze of honey and a splash of milk, certain times call for something lighter, and never in my life have I had a better green tea than Hale Tea Co.’s Des Sables.
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Without slighting any of the four-dozen others in this Savannah company’s copious catalog, Des Sables is truly special in the tea panoply, a green tea that is great and great for you, too.
“Our particular blend is inspired by the Moroccan sand rose,” explained Megan Miller, who became Hale Tea Co.’s owner in 2019. “With that, I wanted to have notes of the rose but then notes of summer fruits.”
If you think that the desert rose is a flower that grows in arid climes, Google it and see the gorgeous flower-like formations of crystal clusters that occur in nature.
Des Sables, literally ‘of the sands’ en français, was one of the earlier blends Miller, herself a green tea drinker, started playing around with, and the medley’s health benefits match the exquisite taste and then some.
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The inclusion of rose petals made sense with the desert sand rose inspiration, and these flowers also contain heavy amounts of vitamins C and E, which promotes healthy skin.
Health benefits of tea
For all of you suffering from the chartreuse layer of pollen coating everything right now, the sunflower petals have anti-inflammatory properties that will soothe your throat and tonsils.
Perhaps the floral star in Des Sables are cornflower petals, which Miller estimates she puts into fifty percent of Hale’s teas.
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“I like to look at cornflower petal as a multi-health power punch,” she said of the pretty periwinkle blooms that reinforce the immune system and benefit the whole body.
“When you taste the tea, I think you’ll hit those back notes of that kind of summery fruit,” she added, suggesting that Des Sables, and all green teas, are brewed at 190℉ and steeped for 3 to 4 minutes.
“When all of those ingredients are combined,” Miller said, “it creates a perfectly balanced, light but complex tea that is both fresh and sensual. It is beautiful either hot or iced.”
Miller loves that the process of concocting Hale’s custom blends calls on both brain hemispheres, and over the last three years, she has done a “complete rebrand” for the “modern tea drinker” in producing the company’s portfolio.
“I have the passion for formulas as much as I have a passion for creativity and design,” she said, “so it becomes a little science experiment of sorts.”
Hale’s teas are sourced globally. She starts with a high-quality base tea, in Des Sables’ case a Chinese sencha, that she grinds down a bit to make it more delicate, and then adds the proverbial pinch of this and pinch of that until she lands on a formula. Most of the flowers are flown in from France, including the rose and the cornflower.
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“I’ve been so lucky,” Miller said of her experience in expanding and rebranding the business. Working with local coffee shop partners has given her direct access to tea farmers and other purveyors world-wide.
“It’s an interesting little behind-the-scenes network that I would have never thought existed,” she added, “but you meet somebody who opens up this whole possibility.”
As well as simply drinking a delicious cup of Des Sables, Miller suggests using it to make a special simple syrup. Her recipe is four cups of water, two cups of sugar, and ¼ cup tea. Bring the water and the sugar to a boil, add the tea leaves, simmer for three minutes, and strain it.
The blossomy sweet syrup can be added to anything, particularly cocktails. Des Sables can also be steeped directly in vodka for about three hours, either removing it or leaving it in, to create an “infused vodka.”
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Miller’s mad scientist turned baker also uses the tea to create a sable cookie: a light little flower that looks like sand and tastes like her delicate tea.
“The recipe that I did requires a flavored green, but the Des Sables is just so good in it,” she said.
Wherever you are right now, it’s tea time.
Hale Tea Co. teas and accouterments are available at haletea.com or @haleteaco on Instagram.
Des Sables Tea Cookies
Makes cookies
2 1/2 teaspoons Hale Tea Co.’s Des Sables Green Tea
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
Powdered sugar
Crush the tea leaves with a mortar and pestle or in a plastic bag with a zip enclosure, until the leaves are finely ground.
Whisk together the tea and sugar, salt and flour in a large bowl.
Cut the butter into 16 pieces. Using your fingertip,s combine the butter into the mixture by rubbing it in until a soft dough starts to form and sticks together when pressed.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Refrigerate dough in bowl for 30 minutes, then remove from the refrigerator. Scoop a tablespoon of dough and press it into silicon cookie molds about 1/4-inch thick (we use a rose mold found here >>).
Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes or until lightly browned.
Flip the mold to release the cookies onto wire rack and let them cool completely. Sprinkle the cookies with powdered sugar and Des Sables tea leaves.
