Sulaimani Tea/Lemon tea/Malabar black tea/Malabar Spiced Tea

Written by: 7aumsuvai
Sulaimani is a form of black lemon tea popular in the Malabar region of Kerala. The name is of Arabic origin. It is said that Prophet Mohammed used to enjoy drinking a beverage called ghava with dates and black pepper (but no tea) added to it. With time, the Arabs inherited the tradition of drinking ghava but made some slight changes to the ancient recipe.
Later, the beverage was brought to the southern Malabar coast of India by Arab traders who were frequent visitors there. The cultural intermingling that followed led to the addition of local spices and the replacement of dates with sugar. Somewhere along the line, tea was added to the drink.
It was also in Malabar that it started being called Sulaimani — in Arabic, the name Sulaiman translates to “man of peace”.
I tried this tea during my recent trip to India.When I was traveling from Dindugal to Theni (my home town), on the way happened to visit a serving area called Eden Garden and our driving was suggesting us to drink Lemon Tea over there. Initially hesitated but gave a try. It was yummy!.I wanted to make that tea at home. When I was going through the internet, I found this Sulaimani tea which was looking similar to the lemon tea I had. I tried and it tasted exactly like that lemon tea. I was so happy that I found the recipe.

Ingredients:
Serves 2 to 3
  • 2 cups – Water
  • 1 tsp – Tea powder
  • 2 to 4 tsp – Sugar (or add as needed)
  • 1/2 no – Lemon (add as needed)
  • 1/2 inch - Ginger
  • 2 small – Cinnamon stick
  • 2 no – Cloves
  • 1 no – Cardamom
  • Few mint leaves


Preparation method:
  1. Heat a 2 cups of water in a sauce pan, meanwhile crush the ginger,cinnamon,cloves and cardamom. Once the water heats up, add the crushed items and continue to boil for 1 to 2 minutes.
  2. Add tea powder and sugar, continue to boil for 2 to 3 minutes or until you reach the reddish color. Switch off the stove and filter the tea.
  3. Squeeze the lemon juice( add as needed) and mix well. Fill the serving glasses with few mint leaves and pour the tea, serve immediately.



Notes:
  • Add lemon juice as needed for better taste. This tea has lemony flavor and that the best part of this tea.
  • Add sugar as needed for your sweetness. This tea definitely needs extra sugar.
  • Do not skip mint leaves in this recipe. It adds nice flavor to the tea.

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