Cranberry Infusion Tea

The word cranberry originates from the German word ‘kraanbere’ and became ‘cranberry’ in the mid 1600s, named by John Eliot who was a missionary who ministered to the American Indians. Before the word cranberry we called this beautiful red berry, Fenberry in England.

Historically, Cranberry grows best in wetlands as the berry needs to be in perpetually moist soil. The cranberry vine itself can survive snow and ice and has evolved to be able to withstand the wet substrate that it thrives in becoming frozen. The best time for harvesting cranberries is the autumn as the sunshine of the summer increases the redness and plumpness of the berries. The cranberry vines will always be interspersed with more pinkish or white coloured berries which have not received as much sun.

The majority of cranberries produced in the world are processed to produce either Cranberry juice or sauce and it is common practice to blend the juice with other sweeter juices to reduce its astringent flavour.

100grams of raw cranberries contains approximately 16% of the recommended daily intake of vitamin C and 17% of the recommended daily intake of manganese. There are studies being carried out in America and England for possible benefits to the cardiovascular and immune system from cranberry polyphenols, but there is no guarantee that these studies will prove positive benefits.

We buy our Cranberry Tea direct from Sri Lanka and it was sourced by a dear friend of mine, Lal Alawattegama, who has been an invaluable aid to our tea purchases over the last few years. When I received the sample from him it wasn’t long before I went into the office to fetch the other members staff to enjoy this delicious, astringent, healthy and enjoyable brew. The base tea that is used is a clean black Ceylon OP1 and the addition of the red safflower petals and fruit pieces make the dry leaf a feast for the eyes.

Ingredients: Black tea, sweet cut apple pieces, cranberry pieces, hibiscus sepals, orange peel, rosehip shells, safflower petals and cranberry oil.