Ginger Has Soul

Meet my brother…and his obscenely large dog.

RobAbacus

If you’re no stranger to this blog, then you’ve read my references to them in prior entries. My brother is my landlord/roommate. The dog? Well…he’s just there – acting all cute and hyper. To my sibling’s credit, he is a casual tea drinker. I say “casual” because he doesn’t worry about things like seasonal flushes, nebulous leaf grades, or what mountain his oolongs come from. I, on the other hand, do take those factors into consideration. What I’m about to confess, though, is that my brother has oftentimes influenced my tea drinking routine.

I sort of hinted at this in a prior entry about chamomile. Through him, I used to have an affinity for the relaxing flower. However, my palate has changed since then, and now chamomile – to me – tastes like…well…floral-flavored ass medicine. No, I can’t think of a better comparison.

But back to the subject at hand.

Roughly three years ago, my brother embarked on a bit of an experiment utilizing a jar, some teabags, and simple sunlight. Before him, I hadn’t even heard of “Sun Tea”, nor that it was a southern staple. All that was required was a three-hour wait, then presto. The results were eye-openingly delicious. Crude but credible.

A couple of years later, we tried it out with a couple of loose-leaf sachets of Smith Teamaker’s Exceptional Iced Tea blend. The results were “like” iced tea but slightly different. A good different, I assure you. When Summer comes around again, we’ll probably do the same thing. And to those that warn against bacterial growth. Well…we Normans are rebels.

Exceptional Sun Tea

On a simple day back in…uh…I think it was November, my brother up and decided that he was not going to fall ill anymore. His magic solution to this “ailment” was an old wives tale – apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp. a day. Normally, he added it to his tea. I thought the idea of that sounded disgusting.

Then I heard about the nationwide flu outbreak.

At my new job, I hadn’t earned health insurance yet. Nor did I have the money to get vaccinated. While I knew green tea helped to curb colds and influenza, it wasn’t a sure-fire answer. So, in the early morning before work, I would brew a pot of something dark, and the third cup was always doused with a dash of apple cider vinegar. And guess what? I liked it. The stuff went really well with an over-brewed black tea. Somehow, the tannins and the vinegar made magic – not sure.

Brother-made naan on the left.
Brother-made naan on the left.

February is almost over, and I still haven’t been sick. So…I guess there’s something to the stuff. Score two to the bro.

Some weeks back, brother dearest and his girlfriend tried another experiment. This time, it was an attempt to boil a tisane of fresh ginger by the pot. I – at my tea-snobbiest – said snootily, “The best results come from using dried ginger.”

They politely entertained my pontification, but humbly disagreed, and went on with their experiment. That gave me a moment of pause, and I turned to the FaceTwitPlus-o-sphere to garner second opinions from the rest of the tea community. The results were mixed. Some said better ginger flavor was yielded from brewing the dried stuff, others were proponents of fresh. On a second go-around, my bro and his lady-love tried it with smaller cut pieces of ginger.

Fresh Ginger

It was at this point I gave in and tried some. Small confession: I’m not a fan of ginger. At all. I went through a phase of drinking it every day but ended up with a wicked case of heartburn. That turned me off to most tisanes with the stuff. Same with peppermint. I could only stand blends with those ingredients if they were used sparingly.

My brother’s fresh ginger experiment was a game-changer. Sure, it tasted like ginger, but the flavor was more citrus-heavy than spice-laden. That and the fresh stuff was oddly cooling. Strange, considering ginger is normally a “heating” herb. The overall sensation was gentle, like a warm, relaxing electric blanket in liquid form.

Brotherhood Achievement: Unlocked.

My tea-snobbery was curb-stomped. I don’t know when I’ll ever learn to keep my preconceived notions at bay, but I suppose that’s what siblings are for. To bring you back down to Earth when you become to big for your beverage-y britches. Oh well…I did introduce him to Greek Mountain “tea” and Golden Yunnan…so I guess that means we’re even.

Oh wait, that’s three-to-two.

Damn.

© Jason Norman
© Jason Norman

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20 responses to “Ginger Has Soul”

  1. thedevotea Avatar

    As far as chamomile goes, there is no better comparison. Just for fun in our tea shop, we used to pronounce it as if it were word from Ancient Greek : KAM-OM-A-LEE
    I love ginger, and being ginger.

    1. lazyliteratus Avatar

      I wince when I hear it pronounced “ka-mo-MYLE”…but I guess that’s a potAYto-poTAHto argument.

      I love gingers, too. Especially the female kind.

  2. jackie Avatar

    i love fresh ginger and its citrusy scent. Wonderful particularly when cooking curries. Don’t know about making tea with it, but I’m glad it worked for you. You sound like you have a nice family, mom is a sweetie and bro sounds pretty cool too. PS: I really, really dislike chamomile tea.

    1. lazyliteratus Avatar

      I really, really dislike chamomile by itself. Blended with something lemony – just fine. Blended with ginger…even better.

      Yeah, I like my family. I think I’ll keep ’em.

  3. Erik Kennedy Avatar

    Universal agreement. Chamomile: smells of apples, tastes of catnip.

    1. lazyliteratus Avatar

      I like the taste of catnip. I love the smell of apples.

      I loathe chamomile.

      But…

      I like sun-dried apples blended with chamomile.

      Conundrum.

    2. jackie Avatar

      That’s probably another reason I don’t like chamomile. All that rolling around on the floor in circles would be awkward. I wonder if that’s why Geoff doesn’t like it either.

      1. lazyliteratus Avatar

        Catnip actually doesn’t have that effect on humans. Just cats. I could go into why…but that’s probably a subject for another blog.

        1. jackie Avatar

          It doesn’t have that effect? I didn’t realize. I guess I can get up from the carpet now and stop meowing.

          1. lazyliteratus Avatar

            You should probably get that checked. ;-P

  4. Margo Avatar
    Margo

    Well,
    It all sounds good and healthy…whatever works! Have you found out about health insurance?

    Take care…the oscars were good but I did not like the first 18 minutes with the host…too long.

    1. lazyliteratus Avatar

      Ha. Do you seriously have to ask if I have health insurance on every medium, Mom. That’s adorable.

  5. thedevotea Avatar

    I’m not sure if anyone here has seen the chamomile for sale on my site. Particularly the description. Have never sold even one.
    http://au.the-devotea.com/store/products/chamomile

    1. lazyliteratus Avatar

      I didn’t know you sold it! I would’ve totally purchased it based upon the description.

  6. Jenni Avatar

    Oh dear I am with you on the Chamomile. YUK. My bro-in-law actually got me addicted to ginger “tea” as well. He would boil fresh ginger pieces for a while and then add a little lemon and honey. DELISH.

    1. lazyliteratus Avatar

      Oooo, that does sound good. Honey, lemon and ginger go quite well together.

  7. aariq Avatar
    aariq

    Have you tried kombucha? It is essentially tea with apple cider vinegar added and then slightly carbonated. The culture used to make kombucha includes the bacteria used to ferment apple cider vinegar.

    1. lazyliteratus Avatar

      I have had kombucha and liked it. Not something I’d drink everyday, though.

  8. Xavier Avatar

    I guess what we must learn is “be ready to experiment”.

    But I still don’t like infusions 😉

    1. lazyliteratus Avatar

      I don’t blame you
      .

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