Persian Tea
Persian tea is a reddish-brown tea made with loose black tea and flavored with cardamom, rose, and/or saffron. Tea is central to Iranian culture - drank throughout the day and offered to all guests.
Equipment
- tea pot
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp loose black tea assam, darjeeling, or ceylon
- 4 pods cardamom green
- 0.25 tsp rose water optional, or you could use rose petals
- 4 threads saffron optional
- sugar or honey optional, to taste, for serving
- fresh mint optional, for serving
Instructions
- Put dry Persian tea ingredients (loose black tea, cardamom pods, saffron, and rose petals, if using) into tea pot. Make sure to break open the cardamom pods first.
- Pour boiling water into tea pot. Let steep for about ten minutes.
- Look at opacity of the tea. If you wish it to be stronger, let it steep longer. Otherwise, strain tea and serve. Add a little rosewater right before serving, if desired.
- Serve in a glass Persian tea cup. Allow drinker to add more hot water to dilute tea to their personal preference. Serve with sugar cubes, honey, and/or mint.