π± Wellbeing: Warming, healing & healthy winter hot drinks
In the cold weather, I snuggle up with these non-alcoholic and warming hot drinks, made with easy to source ingredients you can find almost anywhere!
Being Irish and having spent almost 13 years living in Scotland, I have drank my fair share of hot toddyβs over my lifetime. My grandmother, stopped everyday at 12 noon on the dot, to have a nice cup of tea, pulling out her hip flask and pouring a decent shot of brandy into it! In the northern Celtic lands, when you feel chilled to the bone (often) on entering a pub (probably more often) then you will likely to be offered a hot whiskey, Irish coffee, or hot port. Yes, alcoholic hot beverages are very common across Celtic lands both as a basic way of staying warm and considered medicinal!
Throughout my life, when the weather gets chilly, I start to crave a warm drink, with a little bit of spice in it if possible! On other travels: Germany, Austria, France, Hungary and Poland if I encountered a βhot wineβ seller, I was often the first person in the queue. So, finding or preparing warming drinks are part of my winter routine.
Now, as I get older I like to prepare non-alcoholic (yet just as warming!) winter hot drinks. Having had the best Chai ever in India, many years ago, it has become one of my favourites.
Photo of Chai tea, above by Mae Mu on Unplash
Here are some of my top recipes, I like to have non-dairy chai in the mornings and the hot lemon and spice drink later in the day.
Simple vegan chai tea: pour 2 cups of non dairy milk (such as almond, soya, coconut) begin to heat gently. Then and add at least 3 of the spices to taste from the following: cinnamon sticks, 5-8 cloves, peppercorns, crushed cardamon, fennels seeds, crushed ginger, coriander, nutmeg⦠(check here for a full list of spices used in Indian chai). Heat for about 10 minutes, then add 1-2 regular black tea bags - depending on your taste preference and pop in a saucepan. Take the saucepan off the heat, cover and leave it brew for 5-8 minutes. Strain or drain the milk off and pour into cups to serve. Add honey to taste. Or view a video of how to make this recipe.
Note: you can no buy Chai flavoured tea bags, so these can be a quicker way to make this recipe, reducing the need for the range of spices listed above.
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Photo above Johanneke Kroesbergen-Kamps on Unsplash
Hot lemon, spices and honey drink: take two sliced lemon quarters, make a few slashes with a knife in the peel and add a combination of any of the following dried spices: cloves, star anis, peppercorns, cinnamon sticks. Pop your lemon into a cup or mug and pour over boiling water. Let it seep for a 4-5 minutes. Stir in honey to taste.
I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I have over the winter months. Whilst researching this piece I also came across a new type of drink to try, a Turmeric Latte, which I am looking forward to try!
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