Kashmiri Kahwa (kashmiri Tea): Recipes, Benefits, Ingredients & More

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If you are a tea lover, you might be interested in tasting more than just the regular tea. While the internet has made teas like green tea and black tea very popular, there is one type of tea that is matchless when it comes to taste but is yet to gain popularity. Yes, we are talking about the traditional Kashmiri Kahwa tea. Kahwa is a type of milk green tea with a distinct fragrance. The tea contains almonds, saffron, and whole spices. Since it is a traditional tea, you can imagine that it is warm tea and is drunk hot. Thanks to its ingredients like saffron and whole spices, the tea can help you provide some warmth in the winter season.

Kahwa Tea Ingredients

The magic of Kashmiri Kahwa tea lies in two things: how it is brewed and its ingredients. Let's talk about the ingredients first. Here is a list of the ingredients required to make the tea. We will look at all the ingredients one by one and understand how each ingredient play a role in giving the tea its taste and fragrance:

Green Tea Leaves: Some variations of Kahwa tea can be prepared without adding green tea leaves but the classic Kahwa tea needs green tea leaves for a rich taste. You can buy any green tea leaves offered by any good brand. Thanks to the internet, you can also order green tea leaves online.
Whole Spices: Traditional Kahwa is made up of two whole spices: cardamom and cinnamon. You can also add cloves if you like their taste and fragrance.
Saffron: Saffron is best known for its distinctively rich taste. By adding it to your Kashmiri Kahwa tea, you also get a ton of health benefits.
Rose Petals: This is an optional ingredient that doesn't add much taste to the tea. However, if you love the fragrance of rose, you must try adding it to your tea at least once.
Nuts: The most common type of nuts used in making traditional Kahwa tea is almonds. However, you can also change the Kahwa tea recipe according to your liking and replace almonds with walnuts too.
Sweetener: The best sweetener considered for Kahwa tea is unrefined cane sugar. Some people like to add honey but it should be noted that honey can produce undesired chemicals when it gets heated. People who prefer sugar-free teas can simply skip the sweetener part of the Kahwa tea recipe.

The Traditional Kahwa: Hot To Perfectly Brew It

In the traditional Kashmiri tea Kahwa recipe, copper pots called samovar are used to brew the tea. These large pots are available mostly in Kashmir. If you don't have much copper pot at home, you can use a pan instead. The most important part of the Kashmiri tea Kahwa recipe is how you brew the tea. Some people like to boil the green tea leaves for a few minutes, others like to just steep the leaves in hot water instead of boiling one. The difference between the two is that if you boil the green leaves in the water, it gives you a stronger taste. While if you want milk taste, you should just steep the leaves in hot water for a couple of minutes. If you are very sensitive to taste, you should steep the leaves, and boiling the leaves can sometimes produce some bitter notes. To get the best out of the leaves, you should first crush the spices and then let them simmer for about 2-3 minutes. You can then switch off the flame and steep the leaves for 2-3 minutes. This is the perfect way of brewing the traditional Kahwa tea.

Kahwa Tea Recipe

Preparation Phase

Get all your spices like cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves ready before you start boiling the water.
Lightly crush the whole spices using a mortar-pestle to both their taste and fragrance.
Either crush the almonds in the mortar-pestle or slice them. If you are walnuts, you can simply chop them and add them to the tea.

Making The Tea

Take some water in a saucepan and start heating it on a medium flame.
Add all the crushed spices, saffron, and dried rose petals to the pan.
Add some refined cane sugar (as per your taste) to the water.
Keep the flame on medium and let the water come to a mild boil.
Now, switch off the flame and add some green tea leaves to the pan. You can change the number of green tea leaves according to your taste.
Cover the saucepan with a lid and steep the leaves for at least 2 to 3 minutes in the water.
Pour freshly prepared hot Kahwa in the cups through a fine mesh and add some saffron strands and sliced nuts.
Your traditional Kashmiri Kahwa green tea is now ready.

Tips

If you are feeling cold, increase the number of spices you are using.
We have mentioned brewing time to be 2-3 minutes but it can change depending on the quality of the green tea leaves you are using and the taste you want. If you like a little bitter taste of Kahwa tea, you can increase the brewing time to about 5 minutes.
Since saffron is more expensive than most of the other ingredients of Kahwa tea, you should economically use them. If you add saffron while the water is boiling or while the tea leaves are steeped in the water, it will go waste when you strain the tea. So, you can prevent a lot of wastage by simply adding the saffron directly into the cups.

Health Benefits of Drinking Kahwa

Kashmiri Kahwa green tea helps in digestion and burning extra fats.
It brings a glow to your skin and acts as a natural remedy for cold.
By keeping a check on the cholesterol levels, Kahwa also reduces the risk of developing heart diseases.
The Vitamin B12 present in Kahwa boosts your immunity.
Its natural spices contain several antioxidants that act as a stress buster and improve your metabolism.

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