Winter Solstice, also known as Yule, is upon those of us that live in the northern hemisphere. Yule marks the middle of the season of rest and reflection, and is a celebration of the steadily returning daylight after the longest night of the year. It represents hope, rebirth, and renewal.
During these cold and dark days, sipping on hot tea made with warming herbs and spices is one of the best ways to honor your body and the season.
I also find the Winter Solstice season to be a great time to deep clean, declutter, and reorganize since I’m spending a lot of my time indoors.
This blog post will combine my 2 favorite Winter Solstice season practices: Tea and Tidying! For this tea, you don’t need anything fancy, only a spice cabinet in need of a tidying up. That’s right, we are going to use what spices and herbs we have to make our motley brew!
If your spice cabinet looks anything like mine did, it’s precariously loaded with an eclectic selection of colorful spices in jars of all shapes and sizes (nutritionists love to cook and love flavor!). Until I invested in some cheap organizers from The Container Store, at least once a week I fell victim to a cascade of spice jars when I attempted to find something or even open the spice cabinet!
Some herbs and spices I reach for daily or many times in a day (salt, black pepper, cayenne, cinnamon, cumin, Italian blend, garlic, and onion powders), and some are only occasionally needed (ajwan/celery seed, cloves, fenugreek, mustard, and nutmeg).
Herbs and spices only have about a 1-2 year shelf life, so those that aren’t used often are at risk of losing their potency before you can completely use them up. When you can only get a whiff of what they once smelled like, they’re only fit for the compost.
Let’s get rummaging!
Here is a list of herbs and spices you may find as you poke around your spice cabinet that could be part of a delicious tea:
- Allspice- 1/8 tsp
- Anise- 1 star, or 1/2 tsp (only use if you like licorice flavor!)
- Black Pepper-1/8 tsp
- Black Tea- 1 tsp (good base)
- Cardamom- 1/2 tsp
- Cinnamon- 1/2 tsp, or 1 stick
- Cloves- 1/4 tsp
- Coriander- 1/2 tsp
- Cumin- 1/4 tsp (I suggest only using the whole or roughly ground form)
- Fennel seed- 1/2 tsp (only use if you like licorice flavor!)
- Fenugreek- 1/4 tsp
- Ginger- 1/2 tsp
- Nutmeg- 1/8 tsp
- Pumpkin Pie Blend- 1 tsp (good base)
- Turmeric- 1/2 tsp
Other things you will need:
- 1, 1/2, 1/4 & 1/8 teaspoons
- Small bowl
- Mug
- Hot water
- Loose tea bag or fine strainer (best to prevent powders from floating in your tea!)
- Something to grind whole herbs and spices with (mortar and pestle, coffee or spice grinder, or magic bullet)–optional
1. I invite you to smell each herb and spice that you’ve discovered and recognize the ones that call to you in the moment. Those, my friends, are the ones you will want to put aside. Hopefully you will have at least 5 herbs and spices.
2. In the list above, next to each of the herbs is a suggested teaspoon measurement for each herb or spice (roughly ground). You can use a smidge more than suggested if you are using whole seeds. Get your 1, 1/2, 1/4 and 1/8 teaspoons out and measure each of the herbs into a small jar or container.
Tip: If your herbs are whole, I recommend to roughly grind them using a mortar and pestle, magic bullet or coffee/spice grinder to make it easier to make an infused tea (do not try to grind a cinnamon stick or star anise, instead let them steep whole). Do the grinding before the measuring. If you don’t have any of the tools above to grind, no worries– you will only need to steep your tea for longer.
3. Measure out 1-2 teaspoons of your mixture into a tea filter or tea bag. Steep in hot water for 10-20 minutes (if using whole herbs, steep for longer) until you get a beautiful dark, spicy-smelling tea like below! If you choose, add your favorite sweetener. ENJOY!
I chose black tea leaves as my base and combined them with star anise, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and turmeric. It turned into a lovely chai tea! Please comment below with what you used and how it turned out!