Coconut Ginger Tea With Lime, Honey and Turmeric

I love the fair trade teas produced by Zhena’s Gypsy Tea, especially her Coconut Chai. Inspired by the perfume of coconut in that tea, I infused shredded coconut and ginger and added a little fresh lime juice, honey and a smidgeon of turmeric. The idea of making a turmeric and honey paste comes from Heidi Swanson’s 101cookbooks.com.

Ingredients

• ¼ cup finely grated unsweetened coconut
• 2 to 3 teaspoons minced ginger
• 2 ½ cups boiling water
• Up to 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, to taste
• For each serving: 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons honey or honey-turmeric paste (see below)

Tumeric-honey paste

• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• 2 tablespoons honey

Serves 2

Preparation

1. Place the coconut and ginger in a large pyrex measuring cup or teapot and pour on the boiling water. Cover and allow to steep for 30 minutes or longer. Strain into another measuring cup, a bowl or a teapot and press the coconut against the strainer to extract all the flavorful liquid.
2. Reheat the infusion and pour into cups. Stir 1/2 to 1 teaspoon lime juice and 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons honey or honey-turmeric paste into each cup.

• Advance preparation: You can keep the infusion for a day in the refrigerator. Reheat and proceed with Step 2.