Simmered Fresh Ginger & Lemon Tea with Honey

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A serious, café-quality ginger tea built from a real ginger decoction rather than a teabag: a big knob of fresh ginger is smashed and simmered gently with strips of lemon peel until the water turns golden and genuinely hot-sweet on the back of the throat. Lemon juice and honey go in off the heat so nothing turns bitter or flat. Makes a pot for four now, or a concentrate to keep in the fridge for a week of instant mugs (and very good iced glasses).

Ingredients

• 5 oz fresh ginger (about a 5-inch hand), unpeeled
• 5 cups cold water
• 2 lemons, peel removed in wide strips
• 1 pinch kosher salt

• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (from the peeled lemons above)
• 3 tbsp honey, plus more to taste

• 1 inch fresh turmeric, sliced, or 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
• 4 black peppercorns, lightly cracked
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 handful fresh mint sprigs
• 1 green tea or black tea bag, per mug

Instructions

1. Scrub the ginger well under cold water with a vegetable brush — leave the skin on, it carries flavor. Slice it into coins about 1/8 inch thick, then smash each coin firmly with the flat of a chef's knife or the bottom of a heavy mug until it splits and looks fibrous. The broken fibers are what release the heat and aroma.
2. Using a vegetable peeler, take wide strips of peel from both lemons, avoiding as much white pith as possible. Set the peeled lemons aside for juicing later.
3. Combine the smashed ginger, 5 cups cold water, the lemon peel strips, a pinch of salt, and any optional add-ins (turmeric, cracked peppercorns, cinnamon) in a 3-quart saucepan. Starting in cold water gives the ginger more time to extract.
4. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then immediately reduce to the barest simmer — you want lazy bubbles, not a rolling boil. Cover and cook 20 minutes. The liquid should be pale gold and smell sharply of ginger; it will reduce to roughly 4 cups.
5. Turn off the heat and let the pot stand, covered, for 10 more minutes to finish steeping. If you added a cinnamon stick, pull it out now so it doesn't dominate.
6. Juice the peeled lemons — you want 1/3 cup. Strain the hot tea through a fine-mesh sieve into a warmed teapot or heatproof pitcher, pressing gently on the ginger with the back of a spoon to get the last of the liquid.
7. Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice and 3 tablespoons honey until the honey fully dissolves. Taste and adjust: more honey for softness, more lemon for brightness, a splash of hot water if the ginger heat is too aggressive. Never boil after the juice goes in — it dulls the flavor fast.
8. Pour into mugs while piping hot (about 175°F is ideal for drinking) and add a fresh mint sprig or lemon wheel to each. If you want it tea-forward, drop a green or black tea bag into a mug of the hot infusion and steep 2 to 3 minutes, then remove.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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