Pomegranate Lychee Red Tea, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

Our children learn from watching what we do more than any other way. Some habits and behaviours are just inevitably ingrained in us and we can't change much about them. Other things we pick up on the way and pass on to our kids as part of our daily routines - and what and how we eat plays a big role in family interactions.

So imagine how hard I was laughing when as a reflection of my elaborate tea parties, my daughter began throwing her own daily ritual tea every afternoon. There were a lot of treats around the house back than and they consisted of quite impressive menu for a couple of weeks. But after the holidays were over, the ritual stuck and every afternoon when little miss T comes home from school she immediately rushes into the kitchen, boils a kettle of tea and gets the pot ready, with... fruit!

First it started with blueberries and coconut, and than it became more and more elaborate. I would add the tea leaves, because otherwise it would just be half-cooked fruit juice diluted in water. Some of the inventions are quite out there - and others don't quite work.

This one turned out magnificent, and so I decided to start sharing with you daily teas that turn out here on SmellyBlog. As it turns out, in Asia, brewing fruity teas is widespread custom (bubble tea, anyone?). So miss T is certainly on to something...

In the picture above, is a lychee congou tea brewed with about 2 Tbs of pomegranate seeds. The sweetness of that particular pomegranate made it really delicious. Pomegranate could be rather sour when brewed.