Castletown Café Episode 7: Addison’s Personalized Tea Part 4: Noelle Tea
Previously on Castletown Café:
“There’s just something about brown sugar with cinnamon - it’s one of those perfect combinations, just like apple and cinnamon!”
We continue.
Noelle Tea is soft and sweet, according to Ralsei, and eggnog, much to Susie’s delight. Given that Noelle and her family are reindeer with a Christmas theme, it only makes sense for Noelle Tea to taste like a Christmas flavor. Though I’m sure there are recipes out there for “eggnog teas”, I had instead gotten the idea for another iconic holiday flavor: gingerbread.
Ginger tea is readily available at supermarkets and wherever tea is sold, being a popular herbal tea choice. Normally, I’m not one for herbal tea, but I figured I’d make an exception here if I could make a herbal tea that tastes like a gingerbread cookie.
There are many different brands to choose from, but I highly suggest a ginger tea without other interfering flavors such as peppermint or licorice root. I say this because I tried making gingerbread tea with a brand that had those ingredients and it messed with the desired result. Combine two bags of ginger herbal tea with whole cloves, a stick of cinnamon, and a generous sprinkle of ground nutmeg. Add equal parts brown sugar and molasses, and you got Noelle Tea!
Unlike the more involved Kris Tea, or the Mari Tea which had multiple brewing ingredients, both of which required the use of a strainer, the brewing of the Noelle Tea contains much less ingredients without the need to cut or chop up any fruit. Also, we will not need fresh ginger root as we will be using pre-packaged ginger tea. The whole spices can easily be removed with chopsticks or a pair of tongs when the brewing is complete. Our remaining teas will likewise be easier going forward, also containing minimal ingredients.
NOELLE TEA:
Ingredients:
4 cups water
2 bags ginger tea
1 large cinnamon stick
4 whole cloves
A generous sprinkle of nutmeg
2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
1 & 1/2 teaspoons molasses
Bring water to a boil on high heat. Turn heat off and add ginger tea, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Let tea brew for 5 to 7 minutes, depending on how strong you want your ginger tea, and directions on the tea package. Different ginger teas have different ingredients and thus different brew times.
Remove tea bags after desired amount of time, and let spices continue brewing depending on how long you brewed your ginger tea (subtract how many minutes you brewed your ginger tea from 30 and that’s the remaining amount of time to continue brewing your spices).
After you’re done brewing the spices, grab your chopsticks or tongs and remove the cloves and cinnamon stick. Pour the tea into a heat-proof bowl, storing container, or teapot and add your dark brown sugar and molasses. Stir until combined and sugar is dissolved to give your tea that gingerbread taste.
This festive tea is best served in a Christmas-themed mug, or any red, white, or green mug.
Brew-In-Mug Version:
8-12 oz boiling water
1 bag ginger tea
1 cinnamon stick, a small one works well here
2-3 whole cloves
A sprinkle of nutmeg
1/2 tsp dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp molasses
Place cinnamon stick, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger tea bag in a 12 oz microwave-safe Christmas-themed mug.
Add hot water and let ginger tea brew according to package instructions. It can be anywhere from 3 to 7 minutes.
Remove tea bag and let spices continue brewing for another 27-23 minutes, depending on how long you brewed your ginger tea.
Remove cinnamon stick and cloves and heat tea back up in the microwave until your tea is hot again. Stir in brown sugar and molasses and enjoy.
We’ve still got two more teas to go! The next one, I must warn, is an acquired taste, as much as I enjoyed drinking it and its being relatively easy to make, so much so that I made two batches. Even easier than the Noelle Tea! Stay tuned….
TO BE CONTINUED…
