Linden Tea with Honey
Linden blossom is the most traditional Ukrainian house tea, and it is not brewed with boiling water. A hundred degrees destroys some of the essential oils that make linden smell of honey; ninety leaves them intact. Honey dislikes boiling water too, which is why it goes into the cup instead of the pot.
- Prep
- 5 min
- Rest
- 15 min
- Total
- 20 min
- Servings
- 4
- Level
- Easy
- Per serving
- 35 kcal
Ingredients
Makes: 1 l, 4 mugs
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Method
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Step 1: Prepare the water
Boil it and let it stand for three or four minutes to fall to about 90 °C. Boiling water brews linden to hay: bitterness arrives and the honeyed aroma leaves.
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Step 2: Warm the pot
Rinse the teapot with hot water. Cold walls take ten degrees straight away, and linden gives its best in the first minutes.
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Step 3: Brew
Add the blossom, pour the water over and cover immediately. The lid matters: essential oils leave with the steam, and an open pot loses most of the aroma in 15 minutes.
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Step 4: Steep 15 minutes
The flowers should open fully and sink, and the liquor should turn pale gold. Longer than 20 minutes brings an astringent bitterness.
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Step 5: Strain and sweeten
Strain into cups, let the tea cool to pleasantly warm and only then stir in the honey. Add a slice of lemon if you like.
Tips & variations
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Tip
Linden keeps its scent for about a year in paper or glass, in the dark. Blossom that has lost its smell and gone grey will give colour and nothing else.
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Tip
Pick it in the first days of flowering, in dry weather and well away from roads — flowers take up dust and exhaust as readily as leaves do.
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Variation
Linden, mint and chamomile in equal parts is the classic evening blend. With ginger and lemon it becomes the drink for the first sign of a cold.
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Storage
Brewed tea keeps a day in the fridge and is good cold. Add the honey at serving in that case.
Nutrition
| 1 serving | Whole dish 4 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 35 kcal | 140 kcal |
| Protein | 0 g | 0 g |
| Fat | 0 g | 0 g |
| Carbohydrates | 9 g | 36 g |
Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.
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