Warming Tea With Spices and Fruits

Despite the seeming closeness of spring, winter still holds its ground.
In Siberia, frosts are now below 20 degrees Celsius (and at night about -30), and in America there is also a serious cold snap. Please take care of yourself, it's time for a cup of aromatic warming tea.

The process is incredibly simple, everyone can do it! The main thing here is good and quality raw materials. The preparation time is about 15 minutes, of which about 5 minutes will be spent on slicing fruits and 10 minutes on infusing the tea.

The tea tastes spicy, very aromatic, it is ideal for cold weather and allows you to warm up from the inside, fills you with warmth, a sense of harmony and comfort, and also easily helps to recuperate after a hard day!

Apples go well with black and green tea, citrus fruits, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, ginger, hibiscus, rose hips, linden, mint, jasmine, honey, even with black pepper. You can safely experiment and add your favorite spices and herbs to the drink, try different combinations and proportions in order to create your own unique recipe for your favorite drink that suits your tastes!

A little about the benefits of such tea (this is an optional item for reading, here you can move on to the preparation process).

In ancient times, tea was a great rarity in Russia, but our ancestors prepared and drank hot aromatic tea, which was made from local herbs, flowers, leaves, berries and fruits. One of our favorites was apple tea - apple trees grow in our country almost everywhere, they are well kept fresh or dried. During the long Russian winter, tea with apples was an important source of vitamins and other useful substances, it contains a rich complex of vitamins (A, B1, B2, B3, E, P, PP, K), calcium, iron, amino, pectins, fructose, antioxidants ...

Apple tea is an effective prevention of atherosclerosis and stroke. The substances contained in apples prevent the formation of cholesterol plaques and help to quickly remove excess cholesterol. This drink helps to normalize digestion, maintain vigor and normalize blood pressure, increase immunity, and reduce high blood sugar levels. The pectins contained in apples bind bacterial toxins that are formed in the intestines during digestive disorders or poisoning, and also help remove heavy metal salts from the body. This tea will appeal to those who follow the figure, it normalizes the digestive tract, removes toxins, improves mood and has a beneficial effect on the nervous system, and also promotes the breakdown of fats and drowns out the feeling of hunger, as it contains glucose - a source of energy for the brain.

Let's get started!

Apple - 1 pc.

Orange - ½ pc.

Ginger - 2 cm, medium-sized piece

Cinnamon stick - 1 pc.

Carnation - 5 pcs.

Black tea - 3 tsp.

Drinking water - 1 liter.

Honey or sugar for sweetness - to taste (on average one to two tablespoons per mug)

A teapot (and a kettle to make boiling water) or a small saucepan (I'll tell you how to use at the end)

Important points and clarifications.

Tea in this case can be used both black and green. Traditional no additives. I use black tea here, the taste is richer.

If you want to get a tea saturated with the traditional aroma of a combination of apples and cinnamon, then it is better to add just a little orange, just a couple of slices. And slightly reduce the amount of ginger, it feels very good here.

About apples. In general, any apples are suitable for making tea, but preference should be given to local aromatic varieties - they have not lost their taste and nutritional properties during transportation and storage. Sour wild apples, which are difficult to eat fresh, are also suitable for making tea, from which the drink is especially aromatic and healthy. You can also use dried or sun-dried fruits, which are also great for making tea.

From spices, you can also add cloves, star anise, cardamom, be guided by your preferences.

Tea brewed in a teapot should be drunk immediately. If the tea was brewed in the morning, it is better to prepare a new one in the evening.

Rinse the apple well, cut it into 4 parts, remove the core with seeds and cut very thinly so that the fruit gives the drink maximum aroma and taste.

Apple peel is very healthy, so if you are sure that the apples have not been processed for long-term storage before being sold, then it is better not to peel them. Can be washed with a special fruit detergent. If you have doubts about the quality of the skin, for example, the apples were covered with wax, then just peel it. Apple seeds are also very useful - they have a lot of iodine, so you can use apples for tea with them. I removed the core for aesthetic reasons :)

Place the sliced apples in a teapot (I have a French press).

An additional secret: before using the teapot, I advise you to pour boiling water over it, so the tea will brew better and will be even more aromatic.

Rinse the orange well and roll on a cutting board until tender, so that juice forms inside. Then cut across into thin slices. Put in a kettle.

At the end, I folded in layers one by one, alternating with the apple.

Rinse well with ginger. For tea, it can be used together with the skin.

But I brush it off out of habit. It is convenient to do this gently using a spoon or knife.

Then finely chop the ginger and put in a teapot.

Ginger provides a fair amount of pungency and spicy flavor, so if you are not a big fan of it, then it is better to use less of it.

Add tea to the teapot.

Most often, tea is taken in this calculation: for one cup of boiling water - one teaspoon of tea. For those who like it stronger, you can increase the amount of tea (1.5-2 teaspoons per mug).

Break a cinnamon stick into small pieces, put in a teapot.

Put the cloves into the teapot.

This is how our puff cake in a teapot looks bright and joyful. Warms not only with aroma, but also with appearance.

Boil water in a kettle, pour boiling water into a teapot. Close the lid.

Leave for 10 minutes to infuse the tea.
If you do not have a teapot, or you want to prepare this tea for a large company, you can safely use a saucepan.

Put all the ingredients in a saucepan, then pour boiling water over and cook over very low heat for about 5 minutes. Then cover and leave to brew for 10 minutes. It is most convenient to pour into cups through a sieve.

Pour the prepared tea into prepared mugs and serve.

For sweetness, sugar or honey can be added to tea, but so that it does not lose its beneficial properties, it must be added not to boiling water, but when the tea cools down a little.

Supplement your tea with a slice of lemon, fruit or sweets that will help you restore inner harmony :)

It's time to enjoy delicious tea, warm up and relax.

All warmth and pleasant tea!