Tea Tuesday: Fresh Ginger Tea

Tonight’s Tea Tuesday post was going to be about a chai concentrate E and I concocted.

But that post will have to wait for another day because the mixture we made includes 8 bags of black tea, it’s 10:30 at night, and that’s a lot of caffeine before bed.

Rather than leave you with no Tea Tuesday post, I’m sharing a cuppa that’s a bit more appropriate for this time of night.

This unappetizing-looking beverage is fresh ginger tea.

And it’s delicious, so back off.

I’ve been feeling anxious (lots of work to finish before I leave for my road trip on Friday), and I’ve had a stomachache for most of the day, so E suggested I have a cup of ginger tea. Ginger is good for digestion, which is why people drink ginger ale to calm errant stomachs. I briefly protested, saying that I didn’t have any ginger tea, before I realized E had chopped up fresh ginger for our chai concentrate.

So, how do you make ginger tea?

It’s very simple.

Step 1: Chop up ginger into smallish pieces and crush slightly with the flat of the knife (to release all the gingery goodness)

Step 2: Add hot water

Straight ginger tea is a little strong though, so if you’re feeling wild, you can add honey. Let the ginger steep for a few minutes before adding the honey so that the sweetness doesn’t overpower the tart ginger flavor. This is really a general rule when adding honey to tea — make sure your tea blend has had a chance to fully steep before you sweeten otherwise you’ll lose the tea’s unique flavor and probably some of its health benefits as well.

Unless the health benefit you’re going for is the throat-soothing aspect of honey. In which case, there’s no shame in skipping the tea and just having a spoonful of honey.

When you’re done with that spoonful of honey though, you should make yourself a cup of tea, because tea is awesome, and I don’t know what you were thinking when you skipped it.