Winter spiced tea with orange: warming, alcohol-free
A spice infusion simmered on its own, tea brewed on its own, and only then the two brought together with orange, lemon and apple. That separation is the whole difference: whole spices need ten minutes of simmering, while tea has four minutes before it turns bitter. A jug for six glasses, ready in half an hour.
Your own work in that: 20 min.
- Spice infusion 15 min
- Tea 5 min
- Fruit steeping 15 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneSimmer the spice infusion
Pour 1 litre of water into a pot and add the cinnamon sticks, cloves and sliced ginger. Bring to the boil and simmer covered over low heat 10 minutes. Take off the heat.
Ingredients: 1000 ml water · 2 pcs cinnamon sticks · 6 pcs whole cloves · 20 g fresh ginger
TipUse whole spices only. Ground cinnamon and cloves cloud the drink, settle at the bottom of the glass and easily turn bitter when simmered.
Whole sticks, whole cloves, ten minutes coveredBrew the tea separately
Pour 500 ml of water at 95 °C (boiled water left to stand a minute) over the tea and brew for exactly 4 minutes. Strain out the leaves and set the tea aside.
Ingredients: 500 ml water · 3 tsp loose black tea
TipFour minutes is a sensible limit. The longer the leaves sit in the water, the more tannins they release, drying the mouth and turning bitter — and no amount of honey masks that. This is why the leaves must come out, rather than boil in the pot with the fruit.
Four minutes, then the leaves come outSlice the fruit
Scrub one orange and the lemon under warm water and cut them into 1 cm rounds. Cut the apple into eight wedges with the core left in — the pips do no harm and the core holds each wedge together.
Ingredients: 2 pcs oranges · 1 pcs lemon · 1 pcs apple · 4 tbsp honey
TipScrub citrus skins with a brush: the peel holds the oils that carry all the aroma, but also any wax and fungicide. If the fruit is not organic, scald it with boiling water as well.
Centimetre rounds, apple in wedgesCombine and cover
Add the orange and lemon slices and apple wedges to the hot spice infusion off the heat, then pour in the strained tea. Cover and leave 15 minutes.
TipThe fruit goes into the infusion off the heat and must never boil. Boiling draws bitterness out of the white citrus pith and it cannot be taken back out — while a quarter of an hour under a lid is plenty for the juice and oils to come through.
Fruit into hot liquid, never boilingSweeten with honey
Lift out the lemon slices (after a quarter of an hour they start to turn bitter), taste and sweeten with honey: 4 tablespoons is the starting point. Stir the honey into the pot only now, once it has stopped steaming hard.
TipIn a hot drink honey loses some of its delicate aroma. In practice: if you want to taste the honey, sweeten in the mug once the drink is drinkable. If you only want sweetness, stir it into the pot.
Honey last, into cooled infusionServe hot
Pour through a sieve into handled glasses, adding a fresh orange slice to each. Keep the rest in a thermos or reheat without boiling. The infusion keeps 2 days in the fridge; take the fruit out or it goes soft.
Through a sieve, with a fresh orange slice
Before you start
Mulled wine version
Instead of water for the spice infusion: 750 ml dry red wine and 250 ml water, the same spices. Heat to 70–75 °C and never boil — the hotter it gets, the faster the alcohol escapes, taking much of the wine's aroma with it. Hold 20 minutes on the lowest heat.
A concentrate to keep
Simmer the spice infusion at double strength (the same spices in 500 ml water), strain and keep it in a jar in the fridge for up to 5 days. A third of a glass of concentrate topped up with hot tea, plus a slice of orange, is a finished drink in two minutes.
For children and late evenings
Skip the tea and cover the spices and fruit with the full litre and a half of water — you get a spiced fruit infusion with no caffeine. One star anise per pot then gives a clearer, liquorice note.
