Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons dehydrated chamomile flowers
- 1 tablespoon coarsely ground dehydrated ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon powdered dehydrated orange zest
- 4 cups boiling water
- Honey
Instructions
- Leave the chamomile flowers whole. They are hollow and open in the water, and a crushed flower spends itself in the first thirty seconds and then settles as sediment.
- Use the ginger coarsely ground rather than as a powder. Powdered ginger clouds the cup and goes soapy, while coarse pieces release their heat slowly and stay where you put them.
- Add the orange zest last and keep to the small amount the list gives. Zest is the loudest thing in this blend and doubling it flattens the chamomile out entirely.
- Steep for three to seven minutes and taste it at three. Chamomile turns bitter once it passes about eight minutes, which is why this brews far shorter than most flower teas.
- Sweeten in the cup rather than the pot so each drinker sets their own. The honey is balancing the ginger heat, and how much heat you got depends on how long yours sat.
- Store the mixed dry blend in a small airtight tin for six months. Chamomile fades first: once the flowers look beige instead of cream, the cup will taste of ginger alone.
