Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is Starwest Botanicals Organic Lemongrass.  This stuff is a key ingredient in my “Jacks Morning Blend Tea” which you can find outlined below.  It also is the star in my 321 Tea, recipe also in this write up.

I decided to list it as an item of the day when I came up with my 321 tea due to my own procrastination, it was a happy accident.  One day I looked into my last jar of Jack’s Morning Blend and sighed as there was but a bit of dust in the bottom.  Same as the day before!  So, I just went out an grabbed a handful of mint from the garden for tea.

Finally I stopped piking and went upstairs to make a new batch, and realized strait away that I had piked out also on ordering new herbs!  Very little mint, some chamomile, bit of lemon balm, decent amount of green tea and a ton of lemon grass is what I had to work with.  So I scrapped the mint and lemon balm and changed the ratio.

I came up with what I am now calling “Lemongrass 321 Tea”  Simply 321 is for a 3-2-1 ratio of three ingredients.  Here is how you make it, all parts measured by volume, not weight.

Jack’s Lemongrass 321 Tea

• 3 Parts Lemon Grass
• 2 Parts Green Tea
• 1 Part Chamomile

This may seem way similar but it is totally different and far beyond simply removing the mint and lemon balm.  First the star of the show is now the Lemon Grass, moved to first chair violin position it dominates the blend.  With a wonderful lemony taste and a grassy for lack of a better work character.

The Green Tea is in second chair now, bringing tannin and balance and a bit of caffeine to the party.  Everything is rounded out by the buttery finish of the Chamomile, which is about the only thing really similar to the original morning blend.  This is another one of those teas you have got to try.

Note that  you could substitute blackberry leave in the above 321 blend as well to go caffeine free but I have yet to try that.  Personally I think it would be good but not as close a substitute as the morning blend because the green tea in this plays a much bigger role in things.  For those that want the original morning blend recipe here is that one as well.

Jacks Morning Blend – Nine Mile Farms Tea

• 2 Parts Peppermint
• 2 Parts Chamomile
• 1 Part Lemon Grass
• 1 Part Lemon Balm
• 1 Part Green Tea (caffeinated) OR 1 Parts Blackberry Leaf (decaf)

Let me tell you though why when there are so many options I choose Starwest Botanicals Organic Lemongrass over other brands.  It as always comes down to quality and value.  First at under 16 dollars a pound it is cost competitive with anything out there including many non organic options.

The big thing to me though is the product itself.  I have tried a lot of lemon grass that is supposed to be “cut and sifted” that looks a lot more like the siftings than the cuttings!  Not this stuff it is large and in charge, cut to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces with almost no dust at all, not even in the bottom of the bag!

And folks a pound of lemon grass is a LOT of lemon grass, and this stuff does make a great tea all by itself by the way.  Don’t get me started on the packs of dust sold as “lemon grass tea” for 3-4 times the cost of buying this in bulk.  Not to mention that ground up powdery crap clogs up infusers and french presses and ends up with a bunch of it in your final product as well.

I like this so much right now I am working on a formula for a Lemon Grass Ginger Mead, but that recipe will come down the road and likely make use of some orange and lemon zest.  In any even check out Starwest Botanicals Organic Lemongrass today, I think you and your family will really enjoy it.

Remember you can always find all of our reviews at TspAz.com

P.S. – When it comes to whole herbs and spices in bulk there are a few companies you can never go wrong with and they are…

• Starwest Botanicals
• Frontier Co-op
• Davidson’s Teas

All are exception both for quality and value.  If you browse all of the Spice and Tea sections of TspAz.com you will find these three companies dominate everything.  As always with everything I recommend it is the quality to value ratio.