Sipping a cup of homemade herbal coffee…

If I have a cup of this homemade herbal coffee, I would shy away from any other branded coffee in the market. I have been feeling dizzy and inactive for the last couple of days, only one thing that is keeping me up and running is this homemade herbal coffee. As soon as I take a sip of this, I feel my dead senses are charged and back to life. I must say I had forgotten about this coffee for so many years, and now I feel as if  I found my long lost companion.

My mom and my grandma used to make this all the time. Whenever I fell sick, my mom made sure to brew this and a single cup of this coffee had done instant wonders to me, all of a sudden I would feel uplifted. I am embarrassed to say that I totally forgot about this, which had done so much good to me during my lousy days. It was yesterday, when I was looking for a way to get rid of my headache, my eyes caught on the box of jaggery in the pantry( you would be wondering why am I looking in the pantry for headache remedy:  I always look for natural remedies before I even think of taking a Tylenol and most of the time it works for me)I was reminded of this long lost companion. What a perfect timing! I got what I needed and without even wasting a single second, I started brewing this coffee. I took out almost all the spices from my pantry: cardamom, cloves, dry ginger, whole pepper seeds, along with cumin seeds, coriander seeds. As soon as the  spice rich water started to boil, I put few leaves of basil in to it. I can’t really put in to words, the aroma that developed while brewing this coffee. It penetrated into me and the soreness I was feeling on my head literally vanished. I sat on the couch and with each sipping I cherished those times I had with this coffee.

Today, I brewed this coffee again and thought of sharing this aromatic homemade herbal coffee with everyone.

You could have this coffee any day, especially on days you are feeling low. On a rainy cold day, this coffee would be a good companion.

Ingredients:

• Water-2 cups
• Jaggery or palm sugar- 2 triangles, as shown in the picture or depending upon how sweet you want.
• Whole Cardamom, smashed with the back of the spoon-2
• Whole cloves-2
• Dry Ginger powder- 1tsp
• Whole black pepper or Pepper powder- 1tsp or depending upon your spice level
• Cumin seeds, smashed or ground cumin- 1/2 tsp
• Coriander seeds, smashed( optional)-1/2 tsp
• Basil or Tulsi leaves- 4-5
• Instant coffee- 1 1/2 tsp

Brewing method:

1. In a pot, put all the ingredients in to the water except coffee and boil, let the jaggery dissolve completely  in water.
2. When the water starts to boil, put the instant coffee powder and stir it,  remove from the flame and cover the pot with the lid.
3. Strain the coffee into a coffee mug and have it while it is pipping hot. Smell the aroma of the coffee, this would help to open your senses.

Tips:

• You could adjust the spice and sweet level depending upon your needs.