What I Drink, When I Drink

I confess. Like many creative people dealing with the stress of a world that grinds up creativity and people alike, I drink (ginger-clove tea, usually with freshly squeezed lime juice) heavily to keep myself going...

Let's get into the what and the how first, then the why ...

I started by adapting an old Chinese process: peel the ginger, mince it finely, wrap it in silk, boil it vigorously for 30 minutes. This creates a bright golden tea, doubly hot: as hot in terms of temperature as one can drink it, and with the heating effects of ginger fully developed. I didn't have silk so I used a cotton handkerchief. It came out beautifully golden, but a little bit too strong for me at that time. I didn't know what it was truly good for yet.

A little later, I was told by my voice teacher how to advance the matter a little: when fighting a cold, combine real lemon, ginger, and honey, and go directly to bed. She knew I was a tea-totaller, like her, and so needed a non-alcoholic remedy -- and, it worked. What I also learned was that combination of ginger and lemon does strongly induce warmth and sleep; I used this during the day and was sleepy all day. This was in contrast with lemon, CAYENNE, and honey, so strong a stimulant that it rivals strong coffee.

I later learned that ginger, when cooked long and slow, calms the heat down a bit, and causes the hot part of ginger -- the gingerol, a cousin of what makes cayenne what it is, to change to zingerone, a chemical compound which is a VERY warm cousin to what makes vanilla what it is. That is why ginger cooked QUICKLY in Asian food is a savory spice, and hot, while ginger baked up in gingerbread and cookies and other sweet applications is warm, but sweet, making beautiful tastebud music with things like cinnamon, vanilla, and ...

Cloves. Another beautiful warm spice. It so happens that cloves and ginger have some complimentary elements: both versatile in both savory and sweet applications, both warm spices, and both becoming more sweetly fragrant with a long cooking time. It also happens that they are both mild blood thinners, and anti-inflammatory. Cloves alone in tea can be a little hard on the digestion, but because of the wonderful digestive effects of ginger, that is not an issue when they are combined.

So: my recipe now:

1. Peel and cut a thumb-sized piece of ginger for every pint of water used (unless you like it stronger, in which case you can add more ginger)
2. Boil ginger hard for 10-20 minutes
3. Turn pot down to simmer, add one clove for every pint of water, and let simmer for an hour

1. Add 1-2 limes (or lemons if you prefer) to that big, steaming cup of dark-golden deliciousness, and honey to taste

For whatever reason, the honey cuts down the apparent spicy heat, and the citrus juice does not -- so if you drink it STRAIGHT up without citrus, this will be quite hot in both senses of the word!

So, why am I constantly making and chugging this three weeks of the month?

1. Sleep -- the ginger-honey citrus combination leads to excellent rest. This is important when creative habits or work necessities lead to shorter nights of sleep. Quantity is important, but not always feasible, so if I have to go short, ginger-lemon-citrus makes what I get very good!

2. Digestion -- Ginger helps greatly with elimination and purification, and the combination with cloves also deodorizes the whole process, believe it or not.

3. Calming of spring allergies -- both ginger and cloves are anti-inflammatory, and the ginger and citrus cuts down on mucus production. The combination completely shuts the allergy process down with ONE caveat: too much honey blunts the effects a little. HOWEVER, I have not tried a raw honey yet with this combo, and my guess is a raw local honey will actually be beneficial in the combination

4. Pain control: Ginger and cloves are both mild blood thinners, and thus pick up the circulation, which also speeds the body's healing process. They are also anti-inflammatory, which lessens swelling, and the fresh citrus provides antioxidants, which further assists healing. The effects work for me for headaches (a lot of which is sinus pressure from allergies) and pain from exercise to healing from major injury, and allows me to avoid much use of pain medication.

5. Iron absorption: Should you ever find yourself low on iron, the challenge with iron is that it is hard for the body to obtain stores of it quickly. However, both ginger and citrus are high in vitamin C, and that makes iron easier to absorb. Because I was very low on iron when I was injured and my deficiency was thus discovered, I had to go on iron pills in preparation for the surgery I needed. Two weeks and daily ginger-clove-citrus tea with my iron pill: I was able to have my surgery and I am walking today after picking up sufficient iron! Later I found out that thyme can be added for a natural source of iron!

6. It just smells and tastes GOOD, a fragrant and tasty ending to whatever day I have had.

There are some cons to this that should be mentioned:

1. Want more heat? Yes, you CAN add more ginger, to the point that you achieve a "ginger" high -- but the challenge is that ginger irritates the bladder in high amounts, so this is going to mess with your sleep, and if you keep it up, it will ALSO mess with your ability to not leak...

2. If you are a young woman, bear in mind that I chug my tea THREE weeks of the month. Ginger and cloves are BLOOD thinners, leading to increased blood flow. There is at least one week of EVERY month that a young woman might find that problematic! Here is what I do instead, that one week!

So there it is, folks. What I drink when I drink... I sometimes drink it with green tea to support weight loss, or with fresh mint for taste, fragrance, and for the combined heat-cool effects (and the gorgeous green-gold color), or with fresh thyme for iron absorption, or cold as a kind of "warm" lemonade or limeade-- or even without the citrus, leading to a refreshing sugar-free beverage. The latter is especially good if cinnamon is added before the cool-down!

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