This is my favourite tea towards the end of fall. It’s warming and mellow.
Mechanic
This breaks English tea rules on purpose. Boiling the tea with spices for 5 minutes and then “boiling over” the milk three times produces a different flavour than standard steep-and-strain: more caramelized, less grassy, with the spices fully integrated. The goal colour is caramel sauce.
Ingredients
- 500–750 ml water
- 3–4 whole cloves
- 3–4 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
- A few slices fresh ginger
- 2 teaspoons loose-leaf black tea (Scottish breakfast or similar strong black)
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 120 ml whole milk or 60 ml cream
Method
Combine water, cloves, cardamom, and ginger in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Simmer 2–3 minutes. Toast spices in the pan first if you want a deeper flavour.
Add tea and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add milk or cream. Bring to a boil. The moment it foams and rises, remove from heat and stir back down. Repeat three times. This is the “boil over” technique; watch it closely.
Strain and serve.
To serve
In small cups. Add more sugar at the table.
Variations
Allspice and cinnamon
Keep the cardamom, and swap the cloves and ginger for 3 allspice berries and 1 cm of Ceylon cinnamon stick, broken up. Warmer and rounder, with less bite. Nutmeg or 2–3 black peppercorns also work here; pick two or three spices, not all of them.
Lazy daily cup
Put the spices, lightly crushed, into a tea ball or filter with the tea. Pour over water at a full boil and steep 6–8 minutes, longer than English tea. Add milk and sugar in the cup. No boil-over, so it’s lighter and less caramelized, but it takes one pot and no watching.
Notes
- Scottish breakfast tea is the go-to; strong enough to stand up to the spice and milk.
- Cinnamon stick is a common addition; not essential with clove and cardamom already present.
- Chai masala blends can be used in place of whole spices.