It’s been a really packed Monday. I’ve been chasing various deadlines, writing an ecofeminist chapter for the Interrogating Folklore and Fairytale in the Anthropocene book that I am co-editing, revising my geocritical article plus listening to/watching a couple of really relevant webinars/forums on indigenous activism/heritage, and another one on Abolitionist Feminist Futures with the great Professor Hortense Spillers (I stan, I stan so much). Those two talks got me all revved up and inspired for this week’s academic work on two different aspects of my current literary and theoretical scholarship.
For now, I’m winding down with a mug of this caffeine-free tea (it’s a really soft, aromatic but robust — because of the spices — drink so I don’t really consider it a tisane) that’s been so restorative for my spirits so I thought it would be a nice thing to share.
Ingredients
- 1-2 tablespoons of dried rosebuds or any kind of edible dried rose
- 7-10 cardamom pods split so that the inner seeds can be extracted. I tend to boil both the pod and the seeds for the flavour, though.
- honey or lakanto or brown sugar to taste
- (optional) 1-2 slices of ginger.
- (also option) 4 black pepper pods
- 1 mug of water (if you’re making more than one mug you may have to adjust the ingredients for more intensity).
Directions
Boil water in a milk pan or whatever pan you have handy. Add cardamom pods (and ginger if you want a bit of heat). Add the roses last. Don’t boil too long, just enough for the flavour to come out. Usually for rose tea I boil the water first and then let the roses steep. For these teas I just add the dried roses a minute (or less) before I turn off the flame.
Strain. Add sweetening agent of your choice. You can drink it like that, or add milk.
Note: You should adjust the dried rose petals/rosebuds and spices according to your taste, everything in my ingredients list is for adjustment. Last night I made this drink with about 1.5 tablespoons of two types of dried rosebuds + 7 cardamom pods + lakanto + low-fat milk. Today, I made it with 2 tablespoons of small dried roses in bloom (the guy who sells these dried flowers at the market has several types), 2 slices of ginger, 10 split cardamom pods and 4 black peppers, plus 1 teaspoon of manuka honey, 1.5 teaspoons of lakanto and some evaporated milk. You get the gist. The rose aroma and taste was really strong last night but the tea was a bit watery. Today I have a more robust tea — think decaffeinated chai with a rose taste and aroma. I like both variations.
Enjoy with good music and tranquil thoughts 🙂