Warm the hearts of your guests and loved ones this holiday season with these tea recipes that shout “joy to the world!”
Both brews offer a special spin on classic holiday flavours guaranteed to delight the taste buds, but each uses the staples of cinnamon, citrus and cloves to achieve their wintery notes. Surprise your guests with these delightful tea beverages bound to melt anyone’s blue Christmas and kick Jack Frost to the curb.
Black Tea Christmas Recipe
Not only is this black tea mix great to prepare for your guests, but it also makes a thoughtful hand-crafted, last-minute gift idea.
What you’ll need
- 100g (about 20 teaspoons) of black tea
- the peel of 1/2 orange
- the peel of 1/2 lemon
- 6 cloves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 vanilla pod
How you make it
- Heat your oven to 200 F.
- While the oven is pre-heating, peel the outer skin of the orange and lemon with a vegetable peeler removing any of the white pith.
- Dry the zests in the oven for 30 minutes. Let cool then cut into small pieces.
- Meanwhile, grind cloves and cinnamon with a mortar and pestle. Alternately, you can chop them coarsely.
- Split the vanilla pod lengthwise, then cut them in 1-inch sections.
- Mix all ingredients in a bowl and use a confectionary bag to pour the contents into a storage container ready to brew at your next holiday gathering.
If you’re gifting the tea, find some cute packaging to pour the mixture into. Or if it’s going to someone special, a tea tin makes a nice gift.
The flavours in this next tea recipe remind me a little of the warm mulled wine served throughout the Germany’s famous Christmas markets. (So many good memories.) This brew is of the non-alcoholic variety so it’s suitable for nearly all guests. Let’s give it a fun name:
Memories of Berlin Christmas Tea
What you’ll need
- 6 cups of water
- 1 cup of sugar
- 2 teaspoons of loose leaf tea or 2 teabags (choose any type, but black tea is your best bet)
- 6 whole cloves
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 cup of orange juice
- 1 cup of cranberry juice
- 1/2 cup of lemon juice
How you make it
- Bring 6 cups water of water to a boil
- Add 1 cup of sugar and boil for another 5 minutes (until dissolved)
- Add 6 whole cloves and 2 cinnamon sticks
- Meanwhile, steep the 2 teaspoons of black tea (or 2 teabags) for about 5 minutes
- Add tea to the pot of sugar water
- Mix in 1 cup orange juice, 1 cup cranberry juice and 1/2 cup lemon juice
- Gently heat until ready to drink.
We hope you have a lovely holiday!
Recipe sources
- Christmas Black Tea (EatWell101)
- Memories of Berlin (Spark Recipes )
