When you have repeated bouts of sneezing, runny nose, and chills (and in my case a sore throat), what do you think of …. like every other minute??? No, not your GP, not sleep, not a hug by your sweetheart… I want a nice cuppa hot tea!! Now going by the no. of blogs on tea, and conversations on the beverage, its a ‘hot’ fave anyways.. but my blog is about what you can do with it, make it different and change its taste to appeal to a cold-affected palate…

I always like a bit of extra flavour with my tea. Still, I’m not very receptive to the blueberry, or even the green tea varieties (sorry, not the connoisseur yet!)… our basic Red Label and how I can spice it up. In a cold, ” ginger, tulsi (Indian Basil)… makes it a bit dry in the throat, and sharp in the mouth… but the sore throat does feel much better. And the warmth carries up and down!! 🙂 But that was done over and over again…

And so I decided to use some of the other stuff I’ve come across during my travails as a market researcher into homes of consumers across the country… so Bay leaf was something I picked up and tried… frankly, couldn’t tell if it was contributing much. So next peppercorns went in next… I had heard they are also very good for a cold… makes sense that they loosen up congestion, so I said why not! It did add a nice sting (but be careful… one day I put too much, and burned my mouth with the lethal pepper amounts), but not recommended for sore throats. Clove was what I tried next. It’s supposed to be good for adding heat in our system, acc. to Ayurveda. Check. Approved. Elaichi (cardamom) is my old favourite, so that goes in too. Also tried was cinnamon… using it with cakes and in sweet preparations, I knew it was sweet, but the aroma of it in tea is quite incredible… try it!

So, that’s how I customize my tea…. its tastes good, gets due appreciation (and if it doesn’t, I probe… “don’t you guys think there’s something different about the tea?” Guaranteed praise.) and makes life more interesting… even when you are … sniff … sick!! 🙂