Creamy Turmeric Tea
To call this beverage tea might be a little misleading. “Creamy Mug of Warming Deliciousness” is more accurate. It just plain feels good to drink this slightly sweet, slightly spicy blend of heated almond (or coconut) milk, turmeric, ginger, cayenne and honey. Turmeric tea will perk you up in the morning, calm you down at night and soothe sniffles and sore throats. It’s also a really pleasant way to end a meal.
At first glance, the ingredients might not sound like a combination you’d want to drink. Something magical happens in the mug, though, and the result is richer than regular tea, less intense than coffee and oddly delicious. Turmeric is the dominant flavor and admittedly, one that takes a little getting used to. Although not spicy itself, turmeric’s slightly bitter, earthy flavor is the perfect backdrop for other spices, which is why it’s a main ingredient in curry powder. The ginger and cayenne in this tea aren’t overwhelming because they’re floating in creamy, turmeric-infused milk that’s been lightly sweetened.
Turmeric is ginger’s mellow cousin and is a root used just as often for its bright yellow-orange color as it is for flavor. Turmeric powder is a frequent ingredient in East Indian, Middle Eastern, South Asian and Caribbean cooking and is also believed to have numerous healing properties. When cooking with turmeric, it’s most often used in conjunction with ginger and spices like cumin, cinnamon and coriander. Moroccan Chicken Casserole is one dish that benefits from turmeric’s flavor. If you’d like to use turmeric more often, you can also add extra turmeric to dishes that already have curry powder in them, like Butter Chicken or Beef Curry Meatballs. Or, after trying this recipe, you might just go through all the turmeric in your spice rack by brewing mugs of Creamy Turmeric Tea.
Servings: 1 cup of tea
Ingredients:
- 8 ounces (1 cup) almond or coconut milk
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/2-inch wide round slice of ginger root, peeled and finely chopped
- Dash of cayenne pepper
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon honey or other sweetener
- Optional additions: a small pat of butter, cinnamon, cardamom
Instructions:
Gently warm the almond or coconut milk on the stove.
In a mug, combine the remaining ingredients.
Drizzle a teaspoon of the warmed milk into the mug and mix until the liquid is smooth with no lumps. Add the rest of the milk and mix well. You can leave the pieces of ginger in the tea, or strain it out before drinking.
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Posted By: Worker Bee
Making this as soon as I get home. so perfect for the season
thanks Mark
I used a turmeric tea 2x/ day along with topical tea tree oil to cure a stubborn abscess as a last resort before I went back to the doctor for more antibiotics. The combination worked great in just a couple days. However, I used a whole teaspoon of turmeric, and the recipe I used did not call for the other spices. Unfortunately, it tasted awful to me and I’m sure I used more sweetener to choke it down. Hopefully this recipe is better tasting and just as potent, if I ever need it again.
I’m also drinking turmeric tea 3X/day for a similar situation, and I think it’s the worst thing I’ve ever put in my mouth. Period. It tastes like a blend of dirt, incense, and evil. Or really rancid patchouli, maybe. At any rate, I’m adding sweetener and milk like bad to make it somewhat close to palatable.
This recipe might be better, what with the ginger and all. The funny thing is that I’m totally in love with curry/curry powder. Turmeric by itself? Not a chance.
Haha! Your awesomely descriptive comments made my day
)
I drink turmeric tea multiple times every day and I completely agree with you; it’s bad! Somehow, though, I manage to choke it down. Perhaps it’s because even with the nastiness that is turmeric tea, I’d rather suffer through drinking it than to suffer the toxic effects of modern medicine later. I am definitely going to try this recipe in hopes of improving the outlook.
Thanks for the health-inducing laugh ;0)
Ah, glad I could give you a giggle (over a year ago). Hee hee.
Guess what? I gave up on drinking turmeric and decided to try it again recently. Anupy Singla mentioned how she and her family drink it every morning with hot water, lemon juice, cayenne, and a pinch of salt and/or sugar (optional) before or instead of coffee. I decided to try it, and lo and behold, I can stomach turmeric now, pun intended! I may try it this way as an evening treat, and keep on with my lemon drink in the mornings.
Like you and Mark and tons of people have said, it’s just too healthy and good-for-us to ignore.
This sounds delicious.
I have heard that to release the healing properties of turmeric, there needs to be black pepper present so I suppose that one could add a few peppercorns to the mixture. Has anyone else heard that?
Maybe the cayenne pepper will do the trick. Didn’t see that at first.
It looks like it is specifically black pepper that enhances the benefits of turmeric: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9619120 This must be the reason that black pepper is included in traditional Indian chai. I am going to try this recipe with some finely ground black pepper today. I will post the results on my blog at blueravenwellness.com. Stay tuned!
I believe you need the black pepper b/c of the piperine. It interacts with the curcumin from the turmeric. Chili peppers do have capsaicin but not piperine. AFAIK, it enhances the effect of turmeric. Happy drinking!
Technically it’s the piperine in the peppers, not the peppers themselves. So you could theoretically get a black pepper extract of piperine supplement and take that with turmeric. Turmeric is great by itself, but with added piperine our bodies and intestinal flora can absorb it better.
It’s fine to take it by itself. Black pepper just makes it that much better.
I was going to mention that. I don’t think cayenne will work. Piperine is the alkaloid that makes black pepper spicy. Cayenne is hot because capsaicin is the thing that make peppers hot.
I’ve read that tumeric should be consumed with fat to get the most benefit from it.
coconut milk is a great source of fat.
HMOG. This looks AMAZING!
This sounds amazing and I will probably try this out tonight, but I am a little confused as to how it will both perk you up in the morning and calm you down at night?
I’m Indian and this is always my mother’s recommendation when I’m feeling down or like I’m coming down with something. It is indeed warm and soothing and wonderful. We usually make it with turmeric, whole milk, black pepper (rather than cayenne) and sugar (though I experiment with other sweeteners now). Try it, you’ll love it!
have to run out and buy some turmeric!
For ease of use I throw my ginger in bag in the freezer and when I need some use a fine microplane grater on it skin and all. It’s grated so fine the skin doesn’t make any difference that I’ve noticed. It also keeps forever that way.
Can anyone recommend a good almond milk brand? I’m wary of the loooong ingredients list of the one I found at the local grocery store.
I’d love to try this, it sounds delicious.
I used to choose Almond Breeze Original Unsweetened (http://almondbreeze.com/?navid=334&pid=336). But now I just buy organic raw soaked almonds and make it myself in 5 minutes. It’s like night and day, both in taste and nutrition. Same goes for coconut milk.
Make your own
1 cup of almonds
3 cups of water (if you want to dilute further use 4 cups of water)
1 tbs vanilla or 1 vanilla stick(optional)
3-8 chopped dates to sweeten (optional)
Put in the blender and blend.
Strain through a mesh bag or strainer (I use a tea strainer)use the pulp for other things (Google almond pulp for ideas).
Much healthier than any shop bought milk…lasts about 3 days.
Another recipe…
soak 1 C Almonds overnight
drain
place in blender with 4 C water
blend until almonds are a fine pulp
strain through cheese cloth
As a bonus.. rather than discarding the remaining almond pulp, dry and use as almond flour
Thanks to both of you! That looks a lot easier than I expected.
Hi there. You can make your own almond milk with a blender. there are many recipes. I usually just soak raw sliced almonds for a few hours add spring water, agave nectar and a dash of sea salt and blend it.
I use Pacific Almond milk ( I don’t like the Silk brank – blech ).
Longing to make my own almond milk now that I have a vitamixer .. just need some time
vitamix!!!! my dream blender… this is year i’ll make it happen
I’ve had my Vitamix blender for 10 years now. Way worth the money!
Mmmm I bet the cayenne pepper gives it a good punch. I’m going to have to try this as cayenne is good for the heart…
Mmmm I bet the cayenne pepper gives it a good punch. I’m going to have to try this as cayenne is good for the heart…
Could I use ground ginger for this? 1/2 tsp or so?
i threw in a pinch(ish) of ground ginger. give it a shot – what is there to loose
Great point!
I used 1/2 tsp ground ginger and it was great!
Nice stuff. I drifted from the recipe completely. Just took a quick look at the ingredients, whipped something together; and wow.
Props!
I thought that Almond milk was not a paleo food? can you clarify?
thanks!
Almonds are paleo and water is paleo – almond milk is almonds and water.
Commercial almond milk usually has some unnecessary preservatives and crap added, but if you make your own it’s definitely a paleo food.
I thought that Almond milk was not a paleo food? can you clarify?
thanks!
It IS a Paleo food. Nuts and water are very paleo ingredients.
Agreed, almond milk is fine and SOY milk is the one to avoid for serious. But still be careful. As a poster above stated, many cartons of almond milk found in the stores have additives and such. I found that the almond milk I had been using has soy lecithin in it, curses!
Thanks…thats what I originally thought and then I thought I read that it wasn’t, but maybe it was just referring to the additives.
Any suggestions on Almond milk that does not have additives?
You can make your own with soaked almonds…
However almonds are high on Omega 6, so if this is an area you are focusing on you might want to limit it. Coconut. Ilk would be better in this respect.
From Wikipedia re Almonds: Almonds contain approximately 49% oils, of which 62% is monounsaturated oleic acid (an omega-9 fatty acid), 24% is linoleic acid (a polyunsaturated omega-6 essential fatty acid), and 6% is palmitic acid (a saturated fatty acid.
So only 25% of the 49%, in other words 12.25% of the oil content of almonds is O-6, so no they don’t have much O-6, and in raw unroasted uncooked almonds the o-6 linoleic acid is in the natural, organic, UN-oxidized & UN-adulterated CIS molecule form which the body uses to make PGE1 prostaglandin, the body’s most powerful ANTI-inflammatory and PGI2 prostacyclin which is the body’s most powerful anti thrombotic and anti platelet adhesive, HUGELY important for proper blood flow & viscosity so we don’t get blood clots or strokes.
Natural, cold extracted CIS omega-6 is essential for good health. If the nuts you’re eating taste good then the O-6 oils in them are also good, but if the nut tastes rancid it means the oils in them are oxidized and rancid also, SPIT IT OUT, RANCID OXIDIZED OILS ARE TOXIC!
It is the adulterated, oxidized commercially produced heat & chemical extracted TRANS O-6 in grocery store oils & all shelf stable processed foods that causes inflammation & shuts down the body’s entire fat & hormone metabolism and that cause arterial plaque formation, cellular hypoxia & cancer.
Maybe one day people will wake up & realize there are TWO kinds of O-6 & will quit conflating the good O-6 with the bad TRANS O-6 & get on the path to even more phenomenal good health. Maybe…
HUGELY informative post. Nice to see someone getting their hands dirty in the science.
That sounds really good, I don’t have any ginger so I’ll try it without. Tumeric is a new spice for me. I’ve been using it in my turkey soup, Yum
I think I am going to try this recipe…simple and interesting! Awesome….
Where was this last week when my furnace was out?!
Also, for the ginger — I recommend keeping it in the freezer and running it over a microplane. So efficient with minimal mess.
Great idea for keeping ginger! I use it VERY rarely, so I’ve just been using the powder. Thanks for that!
I just made a mug of this (it is 10pm here) and YUUUUMMMMY. I added a pinch of cinnamon and a cardamon pod (which went into the saucepan with the milk). Thank you!
Tried it without any sweetener, seemed like it could work for the base of a soup/stew. Maybe add some chicken, carrots, sweet potato..
I thought the exact same thing. Would be wonderful with parsnips
Would watering it down a bit really mess with the flavor? One cup of coconut milk seems like a LOT – and I definitely don’t need that many calories
(Before you start hounding me, I have to count calories. I know it’s not the primal way – but it works for my body!)
I use coconut milk to make hot chocolate all the time, and yeah I find that I HAVE to water it down otherwise its just way too much. I usually water it down with 1/4 – 1/2 the amount of coconut milk as water. It still tastes rich and flavorful, just a little more easily drinkable.
Also, SERIOUS PROTIP: with the thick fats in coconut milk, IT HOLDS HEAT REALLY REALLY WELL and takes longer to cool than most water or milk-based drinks you’re used to. I totally burned my mouth and part of my throat the first time i heated it up and took a big sip. Would not recommend.
Clarify: 1/4th to 1/2 of the original amount of coconut milk is the amount of water. So if I had one cup of coconut milk, I would add 1/4th to 1/2 cup water.
Fantastic – thanks for the tips!!
I made it with 5TBS of coconut cream and about half a cup- a cup of water. I used a little more of the turmeric and a dusting of cinnamon on top to bulk out the flavor and completely completely eradicate any watered-down-ness. It was delicious. I added half a teaspoon of manuka honey too (as well as all of the suggested spices.) was delicious. Like a cross between laksa and chai latte.
That’s a great tip. I was wanting to make some hot chocolate the other day and was wondering how I could do it. Thanks.
This isn’t calling for coconut milk from a can, but for coconut milk “beverage” – like the kind made by So Delicious or Silk. It’s the same consistency as the other option of almond milk. And also, like other comments noted, add black pepper to really boost the power of the turmeric.
Turmeric IS very warming…I love it! I sneak it into all sorts of recipes in larger or smaller amounts…
i also sneak turmeric in almost dish.
but i have never thought about making a “tea”,
that is interesting.
This is awesome, just finished a mug of it! I added lots of ginger and cinammon, as well as some mixed spice powder (cloves/cardamon/cinnamon/nutmeg/coriander mix)…amazing! and full of antioxidants and anti-inflammatories! Thanks so much for this one!
Thanks for the post. I thought it was pretty good but a little thin for my tastes so I added a dash of clove powder, cinnamon, and chili powder. I knew it was still missing something, then I hit upon it. Coconut oil. Coconut oil pushes it over the top and makes a nice drink. I will keep playing but as a first try it was a worthy drink.
Wonderful! I must admit I’ve found myself drifting to thick sweetened coffee drinks again now that the weather is cooler (one is sitting next to me as we speak >.<) so new options and ideas are always appreciated. I can't wait to try!
Happened to have these ingredients in the house so we whipped up two mugs of this and we love it! Used half coconut milk, half almond milk so it’s still creamy, but not overly so. Loved the touch of cinnamon in it too.
This seems like a really nice recipe for the holidays. Gonna try making a paleo (or as-paleo-as-possible) eggnog this year.
I’m Indian and I LOVE turmeric tea. My mother would always make it for me when I was ill. Even just smelling it makes me feel better.
I use black tea, turmeric, ginger (fresh), milk (whole) and sweetener (jaggery or honey). I sometimes add chai masala (whatever I feel like grinding up, usually just cardamom and cinnamon) too.
I make mine with water. I bring it to a boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes. I add the milk and sweetener later. I don’t want to heat the milk too much, I just heat it enough to be nice and warm, but not hot. Means I can drink it faster.
I like my dairy, so I’ve never considered using coconut or almond milk for turmeric tea. I’ll try that sometime.
Just wanted to comment that I love using jaggery (coconut palm sugar paste) as a paleo-friendly sweetener instead of honey. It is an unrefined sweetener that tastes like caramel. I use it instead of honey because I have to watch carbs, and jaggery has fewer carbohydrates. The “Thai Taste” brand that I get has 3 grams of carbs per tablespoon, as opposed to 17 grams per tablespoon for most other sweeteners.
Mokka you have inspired me to experiment with this recipe using green tea.
I use the recipe ingredients with the addition of a few grinds of black pepper and a pinch of cinnamon. I heat all the ingredients together to boiling then pour it into a cup, through a strainer, to steep the waiting tea leaves for a few minutes. After steeping, I add 4-6 tsp of homemade coconut milk and a half tsp or so of maple syrup.
The drink seems to vary a bit in taste but is always good and often really, really good, especially since the weather has turned cold. Next, I am going to track down some cardamon so I can try that as well.
Im waiting for mine to cool now! I added cardamom, cinnamon, and black pepper, as well as doubling the turmeric. I had to add more honey to make it palatable though (upon a small taste test). I hope it kicks this cold!
Thanks for the recipe!
This is what i drink when i’m sick with cold/flu…it’ll clear up your sinuses quicker than anything! Good on a sore throat too.