Vishuddhi Chai inspired Herbal Tea Infusion
A lip-smacking herbal tea infusion made with every day ingredients from an Indian kitchen. This one tastes like a warm refreshing desi lemonade and makes for a quick caffeine free calming ginger tea.
Servings: 2
Equipment
- Tea strainer
- Microplane or Mortar Pestle
- Any citrus juicer (optional)
Ingredients
- 550 ml Water roughly 2 and a 1/2 cups
- 25-40 grams Jaggery cubes or Powdered Jaggery, 1 and a half tablespoons adjust according to taste
- 1 tbsp Fresh Ginger freshly grated, 1 tbsp
- 2-4 Tulsi/ Holy Basil leaves or Dried Tulsi, 1 tsp
- 30 ml Juice of 2 limes or 1 lemon you may want to add more according to taste
- 1/4 tsp Freshly ground black pepper, just a few cracks optional
- 1/2 tsp Other optionals – Green tea leaves or any tea of choice
Instructions
- Place a saucepan on medium high heat and pour 500 ml water into it.
- As the water heats up, clean and grate the ginger using a microplane or pound it using a mortar and pestle. Add the dried tulsi next or if using fresh tulsi leaves, rinse them with water to remove any dust. Fold and tear the tulsi leaves to release their oils and add in to the water along with the grated ginger.
- Next add the cubes of jaggery or powdered jaggery to the water and adjust the heat to medium. Cover with a lid or a plate and let this mix come to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to low and let it simmer till the jaggery cubes dissolve completely. If using, add any optionals like black pepper and/or choice of tea leaves at this stage.
- While the infusion simmers and reduces, roll the limes or lemon on the counter so that you extract the maximum amount of juice from it. This is optional but it helps. Next, cut across the middle of the fruit to make two halves. Once the jaggery has dissolved, extract juice using a citrus juicer if using or squeeze in the lime or lemon juice into the steaming chai.
- Taste and adjust the jaggery and citrus juice till you find the tea lip-smacking and syrupy. If you add more jaggery, keep the heat low. If you add more lime or lemon juice, turn off the heat. You should be left with roughly 2 cups liquid in the pan.
- Once you adjust the taste to your liking, take off the heat and strain into cups.
- Enjoy this delicious and lip-smacking Jiva Spa inspired Vishuddhi Chai to relax and unwind or any time you want a calming drink!
Notes
If you would like to keep this herbal tea infusion caffeine free, skip the optional real tea.
Take the jaggery, ginger and citrus as base ingredients for this herbal tea infusion and make it a primer for other versions based on your liking.