Cloud County Tea

When I was in Ness last week, the girls and I went to the Prairie Mercantile. I like to look around, and the girls like to buy the coffee candy they sell there.

I always admire the pottery, and think how someday, I'm going to invest in some of these nice pottery soup bowls and cereal bowls, handmade by Kansas artists. I also saw some speckled enamelware I really liked, until I turned it over and saw the tag "Made in China." Oh...never mind.

Then as I was looking at the food items, I saw this single box of tea--the only box they had left. It was tea made by the Cloud County Tea Company, in Clyde, Kansas. The flavor was called Conestoga, as in Conestoga wagon. "Taste the journey", the box coaxed. I wanted to. "Real herbs, real spices, real fruits, the real reason you drink herbal teas", the box whispered.

Since I've had to (mostly) give up coffee, I'm always on the look-out for a tea that will blow my mind. So I bought it, and dropped a few dollars into the Ness City Bank Building fund as well.

When we got back to mom's, I tried the tea, not expecting much. What a pleasant surprise! It tasted really good, made me feel relaxed, and there was no bitter aftertaste. I was happy to learn that someone in Clyde, Kansas really knows how to put together a good tea.

This Conestoga tea contains elderberry, hibiscus, rose hips, blackberry leaves, peppermint, nettle, orange peel and rooibos.

I went online and found out that the Cloud County Tea Company is owned by two women who started the business in 2003 in a converted Baptist church. One of them is an herbalist. In addition to the tea company, they own the Ancient Roots Herbal Apothecary.

The women say "Tea is not what you'd expect in Kansas, and of course we don't grow our own ingredients, but we do all the blending here." They say their tea has no bitter aftertaste because there are no oils in their teas and their teas are "all natural."

Now I'm on a quest to see where I can try some of their other intriguing flavors: Tranquil Trails, Reveille, Prairie Rose, Santa Fe Trader, Meadow Lark, Cherry Lane, Autumn Orchard, Wild Prairie Mist, and Twilight Jasmine.