Turmeric Tea Recipe (Golden Tea)

Make Turmeric Tea also known as Golden Tea, the traditional way with just 3 ingredients! Turmeric, the bright yellow spice that originated in India, lends its beautiful golden hue to the latest evergreen food trend – “Turmeric Tea”. In this post I share a few different ways to make Indian Turmeric Tea easily at home. I also share tips for better absorption of curcumin in the turmeric.

But is healthful Turmeric Tea really that recent? And how do you make it at home with fresh ingredients whenever you want, instead of relying on your store bought packs?

What is Turmeric Tea

Turmeric Tea as the name implies, is a tea made by boiling fresh or dried and powdered turmeric root with plain water. It can sometimes include other ingredients, such as spices like ginger, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves & sweeteners like honey, or citrus.

Turmeric is the rhizome of the Curcuma longa plant, a relative of the equally famous ginger (which is also known for the medicinal and culinary uses of its rhizomes). Although turmeric tea made splashy health headlines in the 2010s, it is believed that turmeric itself has been used for medical purposes for over 4,500 years.

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Turmeric Tea is arguably most famous for its health benefits. It’s a decent source of minerals, such as manganese, iron, and copper. While turmeric contains antioxidants and essential oils, the spice is most well-known for containing curcuminoids.

Curcuminoids are a group of phenols that make yellow, the most famous is curcumin. The health benefits of curcumin and curcuminoids are hotly debated within the scientific community.

About Traditional Haldi Tea

But Turmeric Tea is not new to Indians and has been consumed since ages for symptomatic relief & treatment of Arthritis, seasonal flu, allergies, digestive troubles & many more.

The fresh root would be fried in Ghee & boiled in water with many healing spices to make a drink known as “Kashayam”, a medicinal concoction. Till day, this spiced turmeric kashayam is used to treat various kinds of ailments in Indian ayurvedic retreats.

It is also one of the widely used home remedy in South India during the monsoon & winters. There are numerous recipes to make this turmeric tea & each is customized to suit the body type and overall health.

Curcumin’s possible benefits are complicated by its low bioavailability, meaning that it is very difficult for human bodies to absorb. Experts suggest to pair it with certain ingredients like black pepper & healthy fats to increase the body’s intake. And yes, you can add them to your turmeric tea!

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Photo Guide

How to make Turmeric Tea (Stepwise Photos)

To make turmeric tea you only need 3 main ingredients – Turmeric, black pepper and ghee or any healthy fats/oils you prefer. Other ingredients are all optional. You can make turmeric tea with fresh turmeric root or with dried ground turmeric (Turmeric powder).

1. To make turmeric tea with fresh turmeric rhizome, you first need to peel and cut one inch of fresh turmeric into small slices or grate. Crush or crack a few black pepper corn. Choose your fats – oil or ghee. Pepper and ghee help in better absorption.

2. If you want you may use fresh ginger (or dried ground ginger) and lemon. But lemon is not used traditionally. Wash and grate ginger or slice or chop it.

3. Mix together ¼ to ½ teaspoon of dried, powdered turmeric with 1¼ cup of water. Add ⅛ teaspoon black pepper and ½ teaspoon ghee or cold pressed oil like extra virgin coconut oil, olive oil or avocado, depending on your diet. If you want you can also add the ghee/oil later just before straining the tea.

4. If you want add ¼ to ½ teaspoon grated ginger (¼ to ½ inch).

5. Optionally If you want you can use the crushed spices like – 1 cardamom, 1 clove, 1 inch True cinnamon (not cassia), ¼ teaspoon each of cumin, carom seeds and fennel seeds. All these spices work on the digestive and respiratory system. They also help to detox the body. You need to coarsely crush the spices using a mortar pestle before adding to the pot.

6. Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce the heat to medium. Ground turmeric requires only 3 to 4 mins, fresh grated turmeric requires about 5 mins and chopped turmeric requires about 9 to 10 mins of boiling. If using spices, you need to boil for 10 mins

7. Then remove from the heat and Let sit for 2 to 3 mins. Strain the turmeric tea.

8. Press down the ingredients to extract all of the turmeric goodness. For those who are put off by the idea of drinking nothing but turmeric & spices because of its strong flavor, you are in luck. There are plenty of add-ins that both enhance the taste and the nutritional content of the tea.

You may add jaggery or palm jaggery while boiling. Squeeze in some lemon juice for a citrusy flavor and tang. This tea is best served hot or at least warm. You can also stir in organic honey to the warm turmeric tea (not to the hot tea).

Add-ins for Golden Tea

Want ways to enhance your turmeric tea? Here are some ideas for add-ins.

• Add healthy fats to your turmeric tea. Healthy fats can include avocado oil, coconut oil, or ghee. Since the curcumin found in turmeric is not easily absorbed by the body, adding some healthy fats to your turmeric tea may increase your body’s uptake.
• Throw in fresh or dried ginger. Ginger is great for treating nausea and indigestion–perfect to add to turmeric tea after a little indulgence or while recovering from an illness.
• Stir in a little honey. Not only will honey sweeten your turmeric tea, it also gives it an antioxidant boost. Honey has anti-microbial properties and can help soothe coughing and sore throats too.
• Drop in a slice of lemon. Lemons are deliciously tangy and chock full of the useful antioxidant vitamin C. If you include the pulp of the lemon, not just the juice, you also get a nice helping of soluble fiber to promote digestive and heart health.

How to make Instant Turmeric Tea Mix

Sometimes you want to make yourself a hot cup of tea without thinking too hard about chopping or measuring. That’s where instant turmeric tea mix comes into play! It only takes a few minutes to put together and can last for weeks stored in a cool, dry place. Custom tea blends also make excellent birthday and holiday gifts for your favorite tea lover!

To make the instant turmeric tea, combine dried and powdered turmeric, Indian dried ginger powder, and ground black pepper. If the pepper sounds odd, there’s a reason for it: the chemical piperine in black pepper increases the bioavailability of curcumin in turmeric.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with ratio amounts to see which blend you like. Once the instant tea is mixed, you can store it in an airtight jar in a cool, dry place. Alternatively, consider portioning it out into disposable tea bags instead.

When you finally decide you want a nourishing cup of turmeric tea, all you need to do is stir some instant mix into boiling water, let it steep, and then strain.

You can even make cold brew turmeric tea with either 4 inches of fresh turmeric or 3 teaspoons of dried powdered turmeric in 4 cups of water. Just let it steep in the refrigerator for 24 hours, then strain and enjoy!

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Recipe first published in November 2022. Updated and republished in Dec 2024.