The Best Tea Recipe for Tea Lovers. One of the most preferred beverages that are common among people across the globe is undoubtedly tea. It makes your mood in the morning, rejuvenates you after hectic working hours and becomes the stress-buster when you are gossiping with friends. In short, tea is
The inseparable part of our lives. In countries like India, tea is considered as the national beverage as people simply love it. When accompanied by some delicious snacks such as cookies or toasts, it can make the best times of the lives. Moreover, you don’t need to be an expert cook to learn how to make tea. All you need to do is to buy some items from the store offering Indian grocery online and that’s it.
If you never have tasted tea, just have a cup of hot, delicious, and healthy tea and you will be a tea lover. It has some health benefits too when you drink in a moderate amount. If you visit countries like India, you will find people hanging out at crossroads at tea stores. The number of tea stores is uncountable. People talk about politics, current affairs, stock market, and other diverse topics while sipping cups of tea. It is also a favorite time pass of Indians.
History of tea
The credit of making tea popular across the globe goes to British. The British East India Company popularized tea wherever they went in the world. There was a time when China was the biggest name when it came to tea sales. The British identified the opportunity and started popularizing tea in India and other countries under its control and the rest was history. Before tea, people used to drink coffee, but in no time, tea has replaced coffee in many parts of the world. The taste of tea is sweet and spicy which contains flavored spices and herbs and it also soothes the throat. A hot cup of tea can help in cold and cough and give relief too.
What are the spices used in tea making?
Before we discuss it, let’s discuss which the best tea manufacturers in India are. Even today, most of the tea manufacturers are Asia, Africa, South America and around the Black and Caspian Seas. The major four tea producing countries are China, India, Sri Lanka and Kenya with a total share of 75% of total tea production across the globe. Indian tea brands offer the best quality of tea leaves and Indians export tea in many countries of the world including the USA. You can visit the store of Indian grocery online and you will find many Indian tea brands.
Now coming to the question of what are the ingredients used in the making of tea. A traditional Indian Masala tea has ingredients such as tea leaves, milk and sugar, and tea masala (spice blend). The tea masala consists of many Indian spices such as cloves, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and black pepper. Some people add basil leaves too for throat smoothening. These spices make the tea taste unique and delicious. Remove these spices and you will have an average, tasteless tea. You can make the spice blend at your home or you can buy a ready-made pack of tea spice blend available in the market.
The best tea recipe
There are many ways to make tea. Some boil all the ingredients first and then add milk to it and some add milk and tea leaves first and once the milk is boiled then add spice blend to it. Even black tea, without milk, is also popular in many countries. Some also add lemon to it for health benefits. However, adding lemon and milk both are not recommended.
Let’s get to the recipe of making an Indian Masala tea.
What all you will need?
1/2 cup of milk (no skim milk, remember)
1/3 cup of water
1/3 cups of sugar or jaggery (if you are not comfortable with sugar)
1 teaspoon loose tea leaves of a good brand
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of a special tea spice blend as per your preferences
How to make the tea spice blend at home
Take an appropriate amount of different spices such as black peppercorn powder, dried ginger powder, cinnamon sticks, whole cardamom seeds, whole cloves and make a powder of it. Remember, the amount might not be the same for all spices. It depends on your taste and preferences.
Directions for the tea
First of all, add water and milk in a saucepan and turn on the gas with medium heat. Let the milk boil to the extent that small bubbles appear. Stir properly and then add tea leaves. Keep stirring and then add an appropriate amount of the tea spice blend you have made. When the milk comes to a boil, keep increasing and decreasing the heat and keep stirring. Repeat it five to six times and then turn off the heat.
Your tea is ready to serve. You can serve it with delicious cookies or toasts or any other snacks.
Recommendations
If you have added more black pepper to the spice blend, you might find tea a bit too spicy. In such a case, reducing the amount of black pepper will work.
This recipe must be served hot or it will lose its charm and taste. You can also make cold tea similar to cold coffee, but it has a completely different recipe and method.
Some people might not like the taste of spices and you can remove that part from the tea. Just use the milk and tea leaves and you will still have a delicious cup of tea.