Coconut Ginger Tea With Lime, Honey and Turmeric

By Martha Rose Shulman

Coconut Ginger Tea With Lime, Honey and Turmeric
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Rating
5(169)
Comments
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I love the fair trade teas produced by Zhena’s Gypsy Tea, especially her Coconut Chai. Inspired by the perfume of coconut in that tea, I infused shredded coconut and ginger and added a little fresh lime juice, honey and a smidgeon of turmeric. The idea of making a turmeric and honey paste comes from Heidi Swanson’s 101cookbooks.com.

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Ingredients

Yield:Serves 2
  • ¼cup finely grated unsweetened coconut
  • 2 to 3teaspoons minced ginger
  • 2½cups boiling water
  • Up to 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, to taste
  • For each serving: 1 to 1½ teaspoons honey or honey-turmeric paste (see below)

    • Tumeric-honey Paste

    • ½teaspoon turmeric
    • 2tablespoons honey
Ingredient Substitution Guide
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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Place the coconut and ginger in a large pyrex measuring cup or teapot and pour on the boiling water. Cover and allow to steep for 30 minutes or longer. Strain into another measuring cup, a bowl or a teapot and press the coconut against the strainer to extract all the flavorful liquid.

  2. Step 2

    Reheat the infusion and pour into cups. Stir ½ to 1 teaspoon lime juice and 1 to 1½ teaspoons honey or honey-turmeric paste into each cup.

Tip
  • Advance preparation: You can keep the infusion for a day in the refrigerator. Reheat and proceed with Step 2.

Ratings

5 out of 5
169 user ratings
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Comments

Diane

Sounds like a wonderful recipe -- thanks, I look forward to trying it. Are you including the turmeric for its health (anti-inflammatory) benefits? If so, it's my understanding that for maximum bioavailability it also requires the addition of a "good" fat and a few black peppercorns.

Jo

Just remember to keep stirring the turmeric paste so it doesn't collect at the bottom of each cup.

blisssu

I grated fresh ginger and turmeric root on my microplane. After straining the tea, I squeezed the coconut in my fist and sent quite a bit more liquid through the strainer. Served hot, the tea had a pleasant aroma and an intense sensation going down. The predominant flavor was ginger, with the lime, coconut and turmeric in the background. Following Diane's advice, I added a few peppercorns during steeping, but I'll have to wait and see about its health benefits!

kk

fresh or dried turmeric?

Alan

Regarding Diane’s question about adding healthy fat to assist the absorption of the turmeric. I noticed oil in the tea after adding the Coconut. I simmered the tea, vs. steeping, for 10 minutes, which may impact the coconut oil levels. For myself, the complexity of this tea didn’t come together until I added all the ingredients.

Dax

coconut milk is a good substitute for grated coconut.

Sophia H

Did you just sub 1/4 cups coconut milk?

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