Spicy Mexican "red hot" Tea!

It was a cold and drippy evening, as I set out the supper. It had been prepared in the warmer morning, and left to me to serve later. Chilled chicken salad and a nice cold pudding. Oh! How could I dish that up to all the children, as they'd walk in from the rain? They need something hot to warm them from the inside on out. I know! A nice hot drink...but what? At least start a big pot of water to boil.... With all the colds and sore throats, hot coco won't help them... Tea? It's too late in the day to be serving children tea.... It's almost 6 O'clock now, too late to run back to my house for sweet herbs.... I know!  Add a little of this, a big splash of that~and there! Spicy, hot, "decaffeinated" cup of healthy, heating treat.

*last updated Oct 2014

Spicy Mexican "red hot" Tea:

• a great big pot of simmering water (at least 10 to 20 cups of water)
• 1-3 great big sweet cinnamon sticks all broken up
• 10 small bags tea (I used "decaffeinated" lipton tea; if it's not last minute and your things are closer at hand, much better options would be: 8 tsp organic black tea or 10 tsp red roobios tea) 
• a big splash of vanilla extract
• more than you meant to (but not too much!) Cayenne Pepper Powder
• 2 cones of Mexican (unrefined) sugar, or use sucanat/rapadura.

There you go! Steaming hot and Mexicanly spicy, with a sweet tingle of toasty vanilla, this tea gives the little ones something to smile about!

This post is shared on An Autumn Tea, the Art of Home-Making Mondays, Wildcrafting Wednesday Christmas Edition