Tough choice? Not for us!
First… Happy Halloween! We like this “holiday” and it’s not because of candy. The tradition is so deep and interesting and we dug in to find that tea is a part of it in some parts of the world, namely Ireland. We’d actually love for this to be a National Holiday with an official day off. Let’s lobby for that.
The last time I posted was Christmas. And here we are with only 55 days till this years Christmas. (Insert cliche: time flies). But before we officially tip into that season, which for us starts at 12:01am (check our website for new blends) we have to enjoy THIS season, or rather… today.
If you have followed us on Instagram or stopped by a market you may have seen our newest TeaLeaf Methi in our “Tea of Day” Stories or holding down the tent at the Fresh Farm Dupont Circle Market. After spending a few years in Africa she is back for a while before heading off to India and I thought it might be nice to fold her into the TeaLove blog and do a cameo. She was up to the challenge! Below is a very nice recipe for Tea Brack and a really great alternative to having candy with your afternoon tea. For us, its a no brainer. Anything with tea is our cuppa. No judgements if you choose the former, but we’re TeaCentric over here.
Please enjoy our first post of 2023 and if you make the Tea Brack, please tag us so we can see how yours turned out.
– Chief Leaf
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Hello! Methi here. It’s Halloween! The pinnacle of the spooky season and one of my favorite holidays of the year. I enjoy getting into the spirit by re-watching classics like Hocus Pocus and The Nightmare Before Christmas. (The Chief Leaf is partial to The Great Pumpkin.) While dressing up as my favorite characters, putting up decorations, and chomping on candy are always fun, this year I looked into the origins of the holiday to find more sustainable ways to celebrate.
Halloween, as we know it, comes from All Hallows Eve, which is always celebrated on October 31st, the day before the Western Christian All Saints Day. This day marked the first day of Allhallowtide, a season in the liturgical calendar that was dedicated to the remembrance of the deceased, especially martyrs and saints. All Hallows Eve coincided with the Celtic pre-Christian festival, Samhain (pronounced SAH-win), a pagan harvest festival celebrated from October 31st – November 1st. Samhain celebrated the change of the seasons. It was believed that during this time that the barrier between the human world and the spirit world thinned, and thus the practice of wearing costumes was adopted to avoid recognition by a traveling soul. Like All Hallows Eve, Samhain also has strong connections with honoring the ancestors and the deceased.
If you are looking for a truly traditional Halloween treat to bring to enjoy on Halloween, we have it. The Pearl Fine Tea’s motto is: “tea cures everything.” We know this. The Irish knew this too. Maybe that’s why they invented Tea Brack (sometimes known as Barmbrack), a delicious sweet bread made with dried fruits and black tea. This speckled sweet bread is customarily made only on Halloween in Ireland and is a party trick and a dessert all in one simple loaf.
Usually, the baker would sneak in a ring (and sometimes other oddly specific yet symbolic items) into the batter, and whoever found the ring when the loaf was sliced was thought to be lucky and would marry within the year.
Old-school symbolic items to be mixed into a Tea Brack loaf:
• A bean: poverty for life
• A coin: wealth or good fortune
• A matchstick: an unhappy marriage
• A pea: will not marry in a year
• A piece of cloth: bad luck and poverty
While I absolutely encourage you to play with your food, it might be a good idea to wrap the ring in some aluminum foil before you drop it into your batter.
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Pearl Fine Tea’s Recipe for Halloween Irish Tea Brack
Yields one 9×5 inch loaf
Wet Ingredients:
- ½ cup of black raisins
- ½ cup of golden raisins
- 1 cup of dried cranberries
- ½ cup of dried prunes, quartered
- 300 mL of hot Sir Walter Scottish Blend black tea
- 2/3 cup of brown sugar
- 4 tbsp of melted salted butter
- 2 eggs
- Zest of one lemon
- Zest of one mandarin orange
- 2-3 tbsp honey for glaze
Dry Ingredients:
- 300 grams of all-purpose flour (roughly 2 cups)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- Spice blend:
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp cardamom powder
- 1/8 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1/8 tsp ground allspice
Directions:
1. Add the dried fruits to a large mixing bowl and submerge them in 300 mL of hot Sir Walter Scottish Blend black tea. Allow the fruits to soak for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
2. There may be some liquid left in the bowl once the fruits are soaked. Don’t throw this out! You’ll need it to keep your tea brack batter moist once all the ingredients are combined.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a 9×5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
4. Once the fruits are fully soaked, add the eggs, melted butter, brown sugar, and zest of the lemon and mandarin orange to the fruit and tea mixture. Mix well until combined.
5. Add the dry ingredients (including the spice blend) to the bowl and stir until a light brown batter is formed.
6. Pour the mixture into the lined loaf pan and flatten the top.
7. Bake for 1 hour until the loaf is well risen and golden in color. Check the level of completion with a skewer through the middle of the loaf. If it comes out clean, the tea brack is fully baked.
8. Brush the top of the loaf with honey to create a glaze. Return the loaf to the oven for 3 minutes to dry the honey glaze.
9. Allow the tea brack to cool for roughly an hour before removing it from the pan and setting it on a wire rack.
10. Serve the tea brack with butter and a delicious pot or cup of Sir Walter Scottish blend and sit back and enjoy!
Blessed Samhain and Happy Halloween!
~TeaLeaf Methi
TeaLove® Blog 
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