Shisha With Yemeni Tea

[Estariol]

Well here it is folks,

The recipe for Yemeni tea to go along with your shisha smoking. Since beginning shisha smoking I have only once or twice had it without some sort of tea and those experiences and tastes just dont rate. Arabic tea has a strong concentration of sugar and a wonderful taste when done properly. It is a sweet.

NB - Cardamom, peppermint, tea, and sugar concentrations should be according to how you like the taste. This recipe is how I like it. Experiment with the amounts for different tastes. Small changes change it a lot. Some Arabs prefer to use only Cardamom or only Peppermint, not both at the same time. Yet again, experiment.

Ingredient list:
- 2-3 Cardamom seeds/pods
- 2 Peppermint leaves or a generous pinch if dried and crushed (fresh if possible, dried still works)
A pot of water
- 2 tablespoons of Tea - Free leaf tea is best, I use Al-Kbous Tea from Yemen, but that's hard to get outside of Yemen. Basically a packet of tea which can be sealed.
- Loads of regular white sugar

Tools -
- A couple of teaspoons and tablespoons if you like to keep things orderly
- A pot
- A thermos
- Arabic Tea Cups and tray - These are basically shot glasses with gold designs on them, slightly bigger than a vodka/whisky shot glass.

Recipe
1) Put Water into pot. Water amount depends on how much tea you will drink and how many people you will be serving.
2) Put three generous tables spoons of sugar into pot. Stir till dissolved.
3) Boil water in pot.
4) When boiling remove from heat. Put 1.5-3 tablespoons of free-leaf tea into pot.
5) Place Cardamom pods/seeds into pot
6) Put 2 Peppermint leaves/large pinch of dried peppermint into pot.
7) Place pot back onto heat for no more than 10-14 seconds.
8) Remove from heat and allow 1 minute for tea and leaves to settle to bottom.
9) Pour tea from pot into thermos with cardamom pods. Discard tea and peppermint sediment.
10) Keep thermos handy and serve into tea glasses.
11) Drink tea with shisha on a tray between you and your friends.
12) I, personally, put 1.5-2 TEASPOONS (not tablespoons!) of sugar in each glass once served. Make sure to stir it.

When studying I will often make a thermos of this tea for myself and drink it over the course of a few hours. When had in large quantities like this it gives a sugar-high and your ready for anything. This sugar high goes great with the relaxing buzz of shisha.

I hope you enjoy this recipe,

Estariol

Two nice arabic tea glasses
Edited April 29, 2007 by Estariol

[Johnny_D]

Is this a kosher yemenite tea ? I adore yemenite tea and would love to try the above recipe..

just not sure how i can get hold of those seeds. Will have to do some research!

Thanks for posting it.

JD

[ASUSEAN1]

sounds good.. but then almost everything is good when it is loaded with sugar

[Estariol]

Is this a kosher yemenite tea ? I adore yemenite tea and would love to try the above recipe..

just not sure how i can get hold of those seeds. Will have to do some research!

Thanks for posting it.

JD

It's 'Yemeni" tea just meaning from Yemen, but I'm sure the Yemenites had a good time with it (and shisha) while they were still in Yemen.

I just get the cardamom seeds from the super market in little packs of about 20 for about 79c. Pretty handy and damn good.

[Johnny_D]

I'll have to have a nose around the local supermarket to see what i can find... Anyone out their know if
us British boys can get our hands on those seeds?

And i know that a lot of Kosher chappies enjoy Yemen Tea with Shisha Trust me on this!

JD

[newsman]

I'll have to have a nose around the local supermarket to see what i can find... Anyone out their know if
us British boys can get our hands on those seeds?

And i know that a lot of Kosher chappies enjoy Yemen Tea with Shisha Trust me on this!

JD

JD:
You should have no trouble finding cardamom in the UK. Just go to any decent Indian market. They'll have them. If you can't get seeds, whole pods will work too; just crack them open before you steep them.

And Estariol, thanks for the recipe. I've had cardamom tea and, of course, mint tea with shisha. I've never done cardamom-mint though (hmmm... could this be a new tobacco flavor possibility?). I'm going to try a batch tonight.

[azcoyote]

There are green and black cardamom pods. Good stuff!

[newsman]

There are green and black cardamom pods. Good stuff!

Use fewer if you use the black ones. And avoid the bleached pods if you can. There's just no reason to use those.

[Estariol]

There are green and black cardamom pods. Good stuff!

Use fewer if you use the black ones. And avoid the bleached pods if you can. There's just no reason to use those.

I've only ever used the green ones for this recipe (and that's what's used in Yemen). But hey, try the black ones if they're more available or tastier. Cheers