Korean Ginger Tea Recipes

KOREAN GINGER TEA

Steps:

• Clean the ginger well
• Rinse the cinnamon in cold water.
• Thin slice the ginger.
• Put the ginger, cinnamon, and water into a pot.
• Boil it on medium (or low) heat for about 25-30 minutes.
• Sieve the ginger and cinnamon. (Use a white straining cloth if you can, to catch the small dirt from the cinnamon).
• Serve it in a tea cup. (You can also add some pine nuts and honey).

HONEY CITRON TEA FROM SCRATCH

Steps:

• Clean and slice citron fruit. Discard the seeds.Since we're using the entire fruit including the peel, make sure it's thoroughly cleaned. I like to clean it by spraying it with vinegar then scrubbing it clean under running water. Cut citron in half, then in thin slices.
• Mix all ingredients in a bowl.In a bowl, mix together the sliced yuzu, sugar, and honey until well combined. The honey and sugar will break down the yuzu peel, making it soft.
• Stir 1 tablespoon of citron tea in a cup of hot water.Citron fruit peel can be eaten.

KOREAN HONEY GINGER TEA (SAENGGANG CHA)

Steps:

• Wash the ginger a few times in running water and place in a bowl of cold water for 30 minutes. Once the skins of the ginger becomes moist, the skin will easily rub off with a small spoon or cloth. If you prefer, you can also peel the skin with a potato peeler. Wash and peel the skin of the asian pear and cut into pieces.
• If you have a juicer, juice all of the ginger and pear. I re-juiced the pulp of the ginger a second time to squeeze out even more! If you don't have a juicer, you can run the ginger and pear in the blender, place the blended concoction in a cloth and manually squeeze out all of the juice by twisting the cloth hard. This will take a bit of strength but well worth it!
• After you juice, let it sit for about 30-60 minutes as some of the starch of the juice will sink to the bottom. Once you see that the starch has settled at the bottom, pour the juice through a sieve to catch any last lingering pieces and pour into a large pot.
• Add in the honey, sugar and cinnamon sticks.
• On high heat bring to a boil and bubbles/foam may form. You can level out some of the bubbles with a spoon and bring the heat to medium high and continue simmer for about 40 more minutes. The tea will turn into a darker golden color and become more syrup-like and reduced - similar to a sesame oil consistency.
• An important step to making jam, preserves or tea syrups is to make sure the glass jars are completely clean with no bacteria as this will affect the shelf life. In a pot of water, place the empty jars right-side up and boil for about 3 minutes. Flip the jars upside down and boil the jars for another 3 minutes. Allow the jars to air dry.

KOREAN YUJA CHA (YUZU CITRON TEA)

Steps:

• Slice the yuja fruits thinly and quarter them. Leave the peel intact but remove the seeds.
• In a large bowl, dissolve the honey in the warm water, making a thick syrup.
• Add the yuja fruit slices to the honey mixture, mixing to combine to make the yuja chung (yuja marmalade).
• Keep in a closed container at room temperature for one day and then store in the refrigerator.
• To make tea, dissolve 1 spoonful of yuja chung into hot water.
• When you drink the tea, you also eat the bits and pieces of yuja fruit and rind that come your way.

SARAH AHN

Steps:

• Submerge ginger & jujube in water (separate bowls) for 2 hours. Then discard skin off ginger carefully. Chop ginger into thin slices (or finely dice for stronger taste). We used a spoon to discard skin.
• Pit dried jujubes (take out seeds). Discard seeds. Using scissors, snip each jujube into thin strips. Lightly pat dry if wet.
• Combine sliced ginger and jujube in a medium bowl. Then add in a generous amount of honey (2 to 3 cups) and mix so that the ginger and jujube are well coated. There should be enough honey so that there are pools of honey on the side of mixing bowl.
• Add to an air-tight jar and let it sit at room temperature for 1 day. Then refrigerate! Tea mix will taste best the longer it sits. The honey will not harden. This tea mix will last about a month in the fridge.
• Option 1 (water base): Boil 2 cups of water. Add 1-2 heaping Tbsp of ginger jujube tea mix to cup. Add in 1-2 cups of boiling water, adjust to taste. The ginger will fall to the bottom of the cup and the jujube will float at the top. Chew on jujube as you sip on tea!
• Option 2: (cinnamon water base, my preference): Boil 2 cups of water with a cinnamon stick (I suggest buying Ceylon Cinnamon- this is the healthiest cinnamon). Then turn off heat. Le the cinnamons stick brew for 10 minutes. Add 1-2 heaping Tbsp of ginger jujube tea mix to cup. Add in 1-2 cups of cinnamon water, adjust to taste. The ginger will fall to the bottom of the cup and the jujube will float at the top. Chew on jujube as you sip on tea!
• Garnish with 3-5 pine nuts.