I’ve become a huge fan of the site, Find What Feels Good and Yoga With Adriene over the winter months. If you haven’t discovered Adriene Mishler and her YouTube videos, I think you are really missing out on a great way to build a home yoga practice.  Adriene also shares “off the mat” tips and this morning her recipe for Yogi Tea popped up.  

While I enjoy an occasional cup of Chai, I like to forego the milk (or milk substitute) products and cut out sugars.  In my opinion, this tea was totally enjoyable as is without adding either milk or sweeteners. And it filled our home with a warm and spicy aroma. In the YouTube video, the explanation of why each ingredient was selected and how it might affect digestion is shared, but I just enjoyed the warmth and comfort from the brew.  I hope you do, too.

This recipe is the one I played with. It was posted on Organic Authority and adapted from Yoga Yoga. After you play with the recipe a bit, you can tweak the ingredient amounts suggested to suit your own taste.

Ingredients

• 2 quarts water
• 15 whole cloves
• 20 black peppercorns
• 3 sticks cinnamon
• 20 whole cardamom pods (split the pods first)
• 8 ginger slices (1/4 inch thick, no need to peel)
• ½ teaspoon organic black tea leaves (I used 1 teabag)
• Milk (dairy or non-dairy) to taste (my preference – didn’t use)
• Honey to taste (my preference – didn’t use)

Method

1. Bring 2 quarts water to a boil.
2. Add cloves and boil for one minute.
3. Add peppercorns, cinnamon, cardamom and ginger. Cover and boil for 30 minutes (or longer).
4. When ready, remove from heat, add black tea and let cool. Strain tea. (I added the teabag after boiling the spices together for about 3 minutes and then added the teabag, and steeped the tea at a low simmer for about 30 minutes).
5. Add milk and honey to taste.