Hot Spiced Christmas Tea
If you're looking for a festive drink infused with the sweet flavours of the holidays, look no further than this hot spiced Christmas Tea! It's perfect to warm up a chilly morning or relax on a cozy afternoon and can be enjoyed on its own or as part of a Christmas Afternoon Tea or holiday brunch.
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 93kcal
Cost: $5
Equipment
- Tea ball or infuser
- Kettle
- Knife
- Spice bag
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon loose leaf tea or 1 black tea bag
- 8 cups water filtered
- 1 orange
- 1 apple
- 1/8 tsp allspice whole (around 5)
- 1/8 tsp cloves whole (around 5)
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg freshly grated
- 1 star anise
- 2 cinnamon sticks
Garnish
- 1 orange
- 1 apple
- 4 cinnamon sticks
Instructions
- Prepare your tea bags or loose tea.
- Bring the filtered water to a boil, reduce to a low simmer and remove from the heat. Once the boiling has completely stopped and is at 100C or 212 F, pour it over the dried tea or tea bags.
- Let it steep for 3 minutes. Then, remove the tea bag.
- While it's steeping, create your Christmas spice blend. Combine the nutmeg, star anise, cloves and allspice within an infuser, a cotton spice bag with a drawstring or a piece of cheesecloth tied with kitchen twine.
- Transfer the tea to a heat-proof pot and bring to a low simmer. If you’d like to add honey or other sweetener do it now.
- Cut the apples and oranges into thin slices. Add half the slices of orange and apples (reserve the other half for garnish), the spices (within the infuser) and cinnamon sticks. Allow the mixture to simmer for a minimum of thirty minutes.
- Once the tea, spices and fruit have simmered for 30 minutes, remove the infuser and cinnamon sticks and discard. If you're serving a crowd, transfer the tea to a crockpot set to low.
- When ready to serve, ladle the tea into mugs and garnish with a fresh apple and orange slice. Use a fresh cinnamon stick as a stir stick.
Notes
- Allow the tea to infuse naturally. Although it might be tempting to squeeze the teabags or swirl the infuser around in an attempt to extract more flavour or colour, don’t do it! The pressure will release bitterness into the tea.
- If you're using a tea infuser, fill it loosely. Tea leaves expand in hot water so there should be some space available for them to do so. For large batches of Spiced Christmas Tea you should use two or more infusers.
- To prevent the delicate tea leaves from getting scorched and producing a bitter taste, wait for one minute before combining the tea with the boiling water.
- Use filtered, purified or distilled water to avoid the taste of fluoride and other additives in tap water.
- If your spices are more than two years old, you may need to use more spices to achieve the same flavour and aroma as with fresh spices. Feel free to adjust the spices according to your taste preference. The licorice-like flavour of star anise can be quite strong so can be omitted if you'd prefer a mildly-spiced tea.
Nutrition
Calories: 93kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 25mg | Potassium: 231mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 197IU | Vitamin C: 39mg | Calcium: 98mg | Iron: 1mg