Turmeric Lemon Ginger Cinnamon Honey Tea

This easy & healthy Turmeric Lemon Ginger Cinnamon Honey Tea only requires 5 ingredients. It is not only delicious and nourishing, it's a treat for the eyes with its beautiful, naturally golden color! Caffeine free, this turmeric tea DIY is the perfect drink at night time.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Turmeric
• Variations
• Step-By-Step Instructions
• Expert Tips
• How to Store
• Health Benefits
• Other Asian Teas
• Turmeric ginger cinnamon lemon honey tea
• 💬 Comments

To make this turmeric cinnamon ginger lemon honey tea, you will need a few basic ingredients:

• turmeric: ginger and turmeric can be easily grown in a tropical garden- for more edible Asian garden recipes, click here. I like to use it to make golden milk latte, especially during flu season. (The leaves are also used in some Singaporean recipes, such as Nasi Ulam.)
  • If you use ground spices such as turmeric powder, the drink will have a bit of a powdery taste.
  • I actually highly recommend using fresh not turmeric powder, as ground turmeric can have lead in it.
  • Scroll down for more information about this Asian spice.
• fresh ginger root: If you like a really spicy taste, use more ginger or grate it to make it stronger. For a smooth tea, if you're using grated ginger, you will need to strain out the pulp with a fine-mesh strainer after simmering the tea. (That's why I prefer using ginger slices- much less work!)
  • Ginger has a lot of antioxidants and small amounts may help gastrointestinal irritation. It can reduce the likelihood of food flowing back up the oesophagus and thus acid reflux. However, everyone has different reflux triggers, so do consult a medical professional and take note of your reaction after eating ginger to be sure.
• cinnamon: make sure you get the right type of cinnamon. (You want Ceylon cinnamon and not cassia.) Cinnamon powder is an acceptable substitute. You can add Ceylon cinnamon sticks in the cups if you want to make them look more interesting.
  • Ceylon cinnamon is a tan brown colour whilst Cassia can be a reddish dark brown. The quill of Ceylon cinnamon also tends to be thinner than Cassia, with multiple layers vs Cassia which is thick with fewer layers. Lastly, Ceylon cinnamon is more delicate than Cassia which is hard to break.
• Honey: stir in the honey when the tea isn't too hot, or the health benefits will be neutralised. Alternatively, you can use maple syrup as a sweetener.

For a full list of ingredients for this cinnamon tea recipe, please check out the recipe card.

Turmeric is a rhizome containing curcumin and thus is often extolled for its health benefits- it has been said to do everything from helping boost immunity to encouraging weight loss.

It is used in Ayurvedic & Traditional Chinese Medicine and is a very common ingredient in Asian & Indian kitchens. In India, turmeric was a medicinal herb used for joint, respiratory, digestive and skin problems. 

Curcumin has good anti-inflammatory properties and is a potential treatment for osteoporosis & other illnesses.

However, not much concrete evidence of the benefits of turmeric is available as its curcumin content is very unstable. (1 study claims that taking turmeric 3x a day is comparable to a daily 1200 mg dose of ibuprofen, but more research is necessary to confirm this.)

Ginger

Ginger (Zingiber officinale), which has a bold, almost spicy flavour, has a lot of powerful anti-oxidant plant compounds. Its many bioactive compounds include lot of anti-inflammatory gingerols. Ginger is used in many cold, nausea and arthritis treatments.

A study of people with rheumatoid arthritis found that daily ginger powder over a period of 12 weeks helped to improve inflammation. Another 2019 Supportive Care in Cancer study found that taking ginger every day improved gastro-intestinal symptoms of advanced cancer patients.

Fun fact: ginger in animal studies has even been shown to boost testosterone!

Cinnamon

Cinnamon has been used since 2800BC, and is a traditional remedy for respiratory and digestive illnesses. There are 4 types of cinnamon bark:

• True cinnamon or Ceylon cinnamon (also known as Mexican cinnamon) (Cinnamomum zeylanicum)
• Indonesian cinnamon (Cinnamomum burmanni)
• Vietnamese cinnamon (Cinnamomum loureiroi)
• Cassia cinnamon (also known as Chinese cinnamon) (Cinnamomum aromaticum)

Ceylon cinnamon is expensive but should be used whenever possible due to its low coumarin. Be careful of using too much Cassia cinnamon, which contains high amounts of coumarin, a carcinogenic substance that can harm your liver and is toxic in large doses. 

Cinnamon contains phytochemicals which help brains better utilize glucose. It also has anti-microbial elements and can limit the growth of Listeria, Escherichia coli & other bacteria in food. There are also many other cinnamon studies, researching its effect on:

• regulating glucose levels
• anti-inflammatory properties
• anti-oxidant effects
• heart diseases
• lipids
• cancer
• blood pressure
• etc

Note: all this information is FYI only and not meant as medical or health advice. Please consult a qualified health or medical professional for advice.

Fresh Lemon Juice

A squeeze of lemon juice not just makes the tea taste better, it also boosts the vitamin C content: 1 lemon has 31 mg of Vitamin C, an anti-oxidant that protects your cells from free radical damage, which is why hot water and lemon is so good for you when you have a sore throat.

You could also try it with calamansi, another citrus fruit that has a delicious floral taste.

Tip: Serve each mug of tea with a slice of lemon on the side for visual effect.

Honey

A touch of honey helps to counter the sourness of the lemon juice. Manuka honey is 1 of the healthiest types of honey after which come dark unfiltered honeys. Stay away from clear filtered honeys- some have had unhealthy high-fructose corn syrup added to them!

Manuka Honey

Made in New Zealand and Australia by bees that pollinate the Manuka bush, according to nutritionist David Friedman:
“Manuka honey has antiviral, antifungal, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits. It’s an effective treatment for stomach ulcers... It’s also been found to be effective against chronic diarrhea and C. difficile, a bacterium that can cause life-threatening inflammation of the colon... it destroys "harmful oral bacteria associated with plaque formation and tooth decay.”

Tip: Raw honey is preferred for its health benefits but, if vegan, you can use bone char free brown sugar or a sweetener of your choice.

Where to Buy

Cinnamon, ginger, lemon and honey are all readily available in most super markets.

For fresh turmeric, you will probably need to go to a shop like Whole Foods- alternatively, you can make do with ground turmeric, which can be found in most grocery stores.

Click here to get Manuka Honey on Amazon (affiliate link at no cost to you.)

Note: always check the cinnamon is Ceylon cinnamon- even the McCormicks ground cinnamon on your spice rack is Cassia, not Ceylon!

Variations

1. This turmeric ginger tea recipe can be enjoyed both hot, on a cold day, or called as an iced tea in the summer
2. Turn it into Golden milk: this turmeric ginger and honey cinnamon tea also tastes great as cinnamon milk tea. (You can use dairy milk or almond milk. Start with a 1:1 ratio of the turmeric tea to milk then adjusting to suit your taste, if necessary.) I do not recommend coconut milk, because it tastes like a very sweet curry!
3. If you enjoy spice, you can add a pinch of black pepper, cayenne pepper, clove or nutmeg to this soothing tea.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Expert Tips

Tip #1: If you enjoy giving homemade food gift to friends, you can pack dried turmeric slices, dried ginger powder and ground cinnamon into a tea bag as presents for friends. (If you enjoy giving DIY food gifts, here are 21 more homemade food gift ideas for you.)

Tip #2: Turmeric stains everything super easily. Don't cut fresh turmeric root on a white counter top, and don't wear your favourite clothes when working with turmeric!

How to Store

Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days.

This turmeric ginger cinnamon lemon honey tea can be drunk straight out of the chiller, or you can re-heat it if you prefer a hot cup of turmeric ginger and cinnamon tea.

Health Benefits

A warm cup of lemon ginger turmeric tea is the perfect anti-inflammatory drink in winter. (All of the ingredients in this turmeric ginger cinnamon tea have been chosen for their positive impact on the immune system.)

Note: For more healthy recipes, try this flu-busting foods vegan wonton soup packed with ginger and garlic or this refreshing lemongrass tea.

Side effects: These spices may react negatively with certain medications, such as warfarin, so always consult a medical doctor first.

Some people have also suffered from diarrhoea, heartburn etc after taking too much of this herbal tea, so everything in moderation!

Note: For more turmeric recipes, such as turmeric with roast potatoes, click here, or here for turmeric substitutes.

Other Asian Teas

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