Tea, the beverage, is the second most widely consumed drink in the world, exceeded only by water. The highest per capita consumption in the world happens in Ireland where they consume some 3.21 cups per person per day.

If you're getting our newsletter, you'll have the secret on how to make your own Green Tea Latte. But what if you're not the green tea type? Impress your friends and brew your Chai from scratch!

Essentially, Chai is just black tea brewed strong with a combination of flavorful spices, and diluted with milk and sugar. Think spiced cider. It's pretty similar. When you brew your own for a while, you'll find a particular combination of spices that suits you, but for starters, here's a good basic recipe:

Chai Concentrate:
2-1/2 cups of water
4-inch stick of cinnamon
12 cardamom pods
16 allspice berries
1 tsp of ground ginger (or 2-3 quarter-sized slices of fresh ginger)
6 tsp sugar (or 2 tbsp of honey)
3 tsp of black (Ceylon or Darjeeling) tea leaves

Add:
2 cups of frothed/steamed milk.

Bring first 5 ingredients to a boil (water – ginger). Reduce heat and simmer, covered, 15-20 minutes. Add tea leaves, and steep for an additional 3-5 minutes. Strain spices and leaves. Stir in sugar or honey until dissolved. Stir in hot frothed milk.

To make single servings, use 1/2 cup milk and an equal amount of chai concentrate. (Concentrate may be stored, tightly sealed, up to 2 weeks.)

You've heard about the number of remarkable properties of tea tree oil: antiseptic, antibacterial, antifungal. It's too good to be true. Maybe you've taken it for a condition, or as a topical medication. Is this the same stuff as the tea leaves left over from your steeping? Could you make your own tea tree oil?

Not unless you live in Australia.

Native to — and found only in — Australia, the tea tree that makes this potent medicine is the Melaleuca Alternifolia, a shrub with pine-like needles. Like its homonym, the Australian Tea Tree has a number of health benefits and uses in modern medicine. Aborigines used a number of tea trees to make inhalant medicine for coughs, colds, or topical poultices for various wounds and infections. Today, tea tree oil is used in the development of many modern medicines as well as available in supplement and topical form in specialty herbal shops and organic markets.

You may already have known about using tea leaves in composting or to revitalize your garden or indoor plants (place used leaves under plant/ dirt. But if you've got no plants to worry over, you can still use your leftover leaves for good!

USE THEM TO REMOVE ODORS
Have you had a trouble with getting rid of the smell of garlic or fish from your hands or cutting boards? How about your garbage disposal? Try getting rid of smells this way: 'wash' your hands with spent green tea leaves, then use them to scrub your cutting board. When you're finished, let them sit in your disposal for a few minutes and then grind and rinse.

PREVENT RUSTING
...on your cast-ironware by wiping it with used (wet) tea leaves. Tannin in tea attaches itself to iron, and creates a thin protective coat on surfaces.

COOK WITH IT
Use your previously-steeped leaves in cooking. Dry the leaves, grind them, and use them in recipes calling for tea — green tea coffee cake, ice cream or biscotti. They'll have a mellower taste than the unbrewed kind. Delicious.

Our otherwordly tea is the product of otherworldly inspiration; physical and spiritual. These are the things that inspired us to bring you tea...

Our outward destination lies in Tanzania, on the Arusha National Park grounds in the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro (Africa's tallest peak). One of the highest active volcanoes outside Latin America, Meru used to be even taller — at least four major eruptions in its past have eroded its summit. Now rimmed by sheer cliffs defining the crater created when the volcano lost its top in 1910 (the most current eruption), the bowl is home to a wide variety of wildlife who are drawn in by the ever present supply of fresh water.

At 4,566 meters (14,979 feet) above sea level, the peak of Mt. Meru is not an easy destination. However, being 700 meters shorter than it's sister mountain makes altitude sickness and sub-freezing temperatures lesser concerns for the adventurous traveler and neophyte climber alike. A number of tours/climbs to the summit of Mt. Meru can be found online and through adventure travel agencies — with no professional mountain climbing training or gear required.

For those who feel the need to run, not walk, Mt. Meru is even home to an annual international marathon. Run at the base of the gentle giant, the course takes the participants through the streets, villages and coffee plantations of Arusha.

Not your cup of tea? Take an inward journey to find the second Mt. Meru. You will not be a lonely sojourner: Meru is the spiritual center of the universe for many great cultures and religions. Tibetans, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and Bon, a pre-Buddhist animistic religion all claim Mt. Meru as a central element in their faith.

In the Tibetan cosmos, our immediate world is conceived as a flat disk. In its center is Mount Meru, the "world mountain". Surrounded by oceans which contain the four continents, including Jambudvipa — our human island — Mt. Meru is the central axis of the universe. On the upper slopes of Mt. Meru are the realms of the gods.

For Hindus, Mount Kailash (in Tibet, North of the Himalayan range) is the earthly manifestation of Mt. Meru. Its roots rise from the lowest hell and its summit kisses the heavens, where on top live Lord Shiva and Parvati. Many make a pilgrammage to its slopes each year.

Whichever path you take, let Meru inspire you to find your own inner peace.