Reader’s herbal tea and Hugo’s samoussin, our Provence lifestyle

Accueil » Reader’s herbal tea and Hugo’s samoussin, our Provence lifestyle

Book Holder and materials
08/11/2024

Avec le réveil théière Goblin, c'est l'heure de la tisane du lecteur...

Our samoussin reading cushions are made in the heart of the Var in Provence. Our region is famous for its Provençal herbs. It’s easy here to grow all sorts of aromatic plants that are ideal for making herbal teas. The climate and soil concentrate the essential oils and bring out the organoleptic qualities of these plants.

In the garden, I’ve harvested the plants we’ll be using to make delicious herbal teas to enhance our reading time this winter. It’s part of our way of life.

Here, we’ve swapped the traditional English Tea Time for a ‘herbal tea time’ with creative homemade herbal teas. At Aricomagic, we call them ‘reader’s herbal teas’, and to make sure we don’t miss this special moment, we hunted down the iconic Théière Goblin alarm clock kettle years ago. Produced in 1966 in the UK, our Teasmade model D25B Goblin, made in the Leatherhead factory, has all the hallmarks of a museum piece.

This little marvel, which is still in perfect working order, fits perfectly with the concept of Fertile Decoration that is the DNA of the Aricomagic brand.

An object that combines the useful with the pleasurable capable of :

💡 give you light,
⏰ tell the time
🫖 programming the preparation of your infusion at the desired time
and is beautiful to boot 🤩!

Aricomagic's tips for a creative homemade herbal tea and a cosy moment of reading...

Imagine a late afternoon with a steaming cup of herbal tea beside you. An open book rests on your Samoussin Hugo...

Imagine yourself, one late afternoon, curled up in your armchair, a steaming cup of herbal tea beside you. An open book rests on the Samoussin Hugo, inviting you to take a literary break. To complete this picture of sweetness and simplicity, the art lies in making the herbal tea.

Remember to flavour your herbal teas with spices: depending on what you’ve read and where it takes you, add cinnamon, turmeric, star anise, cloves, ginger or pepper. In a small, closed jar, store vervain leaves with a vanilla stick for added flavour.
Add pieces of seasonal fruit: apples, pears, banana slices or clementine peel; it’s subtle but stunning. In summer, because you can drink herbal teas in summer too 😉 add fresh strawberries, peaches or raspberries – it’s delicious!
Think flowers: of course in the garden we’ll be harvesting thyme, sage, rosemary, lemon balm, lime, fennel and verbena. But don’t miss out on rose petals, lavender and acacia flowers. They also keep very well dried and are delicious in herbal teas.
Heat the water to 100°C: unlike tea, which spoils above 90°C for black tea and 70°C for green tea, the water in herbal teas needs to boil.
Cover during infusion: If you use a teapot, close the lid and if you prepare your infusion in a cup, cover it for a few minutes with a saucer. This prevents the active ingredients and essential oils from escaping, so that you can enjoy all the benefits of the plants.

Sculpting the Forest, the perfect book to round off the day.

To savour this moment, take the time to relax with ‘Sculpter la forêt’ by Guillaume Ougier, published by Gallimard. This book is an invitation to reconnect with nature and celebrate the beauty of raw materials. It reminds us of the importance of taking time to live, reconnecting with our roots and finding inspiration in the world around us. Just as Guillaume Ougier transforms wood into objects of art or everyday objects, we can transform the lost hours at the end of the day into special moments to rest and let our creativity wander through the pages.

In his novel ‘Notre-Dame de Paris’, Victor Hugo mentions a ‘Louis XI herbal tea’. He described it as bitter and unpleasant. I bet he would have liked to know that we had created a samoussin in his honour, and that this great lover of nature and plants would have enjoyed talking literature with us over a reader’s herbal tea.

At aricomagic, We’re convinced that every moment spent reading is a precious moment, so creating a ritual around that moment will help you enjoy it even more!

Sophie LANGER

The Magazine

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