How To Make An Easy Hot Toddy Recipe With Tea

A hot toddy with tea is a simple natural remedy for warming up and easing mild cold symptoms. It's not a cure, but this sweet and aromatic hot toddy will undoubtedly help you feel warm and well!

The cold winter nights are here again, and all I want to do is curl up and enjoy some coziness by the fire with a nice cup of hot tea, a great book, or a whole lot of Netflix.

Winter is the perfect time to hibernate and experiment in the kitchen. And a hot toddy with tea is the ideal drink to warm you when all you want is to feel cozy and well.

What's In A Hot Toddy?

In Old Mr. Boston's Official Bartender's Guide, the classic hot toddy is made by dissolving a lump of sugar in a bit of water. Add liquor, hot water, and stir with clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, and lemon peel.

For the liquor, you can use brandy, gin, or whiskey. A hot rum toddy is also very popular. These are the basics and then you can blend it any way we want from there.

Hot Toddy Brandy

I like things a little sweet and prefer to use a good brandy. Laird's AppleJack makes a great choice. It's not a straight apple brandy, but it has a 35% apple brandy base that gives it a smoother flavor than other whiskeys. It's made from apples and originated from my home state of New Jersey in 1780.

Hot Toddy With Tea

I recommend using a robust black tea such as an English Breakfast, an Indian Assam, or a nice Chinese Keemun for the tea. You want to select the type of black tea that holds up well to milk (even though I'm not using milk) and sugar to balance out the strong whiskey flavor.

I like to use an English Breakfast Tea.

Related:

• 7 Best English Breakfast Teas You Should Try
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• 10 Best Online Tea Shops
• Top 10 Health Benefits of Tea

Pro Tips:

Pro Tip No. 1: You can substitute if you don't have fresh ingredients, but fresher ingredients always result in something a little extra special.

Pro Tip No. 2: Use premium loose leaf tea and let the tea leaves steep freely in the water or a strainer. Don't stuff the leaves into a tea ball or the like. The leaves need to open up to infuse their full flavor.

Benefits of Hot Toddy

Lemons and Oranges: They are an excellent source of vitamin C, soluble fibers, and plant compounds, all of which can provide health benefits.

Unlike animals, humans do not produce their own vitamin C.  We need to take in a sufficient amount of vitamin C to keep our immune system running properly. The stress of illness requires an even higher amount of vitamin C. Vitamin C is anti-viral and anti-bacterial 

Black Tea: Tea is high in polyphenols, a potent antioxidant. Antioxidants have proven health benefits to cardiovascular health.

Quercetin is a plant pigment and antioxidant with anti-viral properties found in tea, red wine, onions, apples, and berries. Taking quercetin with zinc helps push the zinc into the center of the cell where the zinc can stop the virus from reproducing. Source

Black tea contains an amino acid called l-theanine, unique to tea and has interesting effects on the brain. L-theanine increases alpha brain waves inducing a calm and deeply relaxed state. Combined with the caffeine, which is about half the amount found in coffee, the overall effect is a focused calm.

Honey: Studies have found honey to contain an antimicrobial peptide called bee defensin-1. The World Health Organization recommends honey to treat coughs and sore throats.

Clove: Clove is used for upset stomach and as an expectorant. Expectorants make it easier to cough up phlegm.

Cinnamon: Cinnamon contains large amounts of highly potent polyphenol antioxidants. Some studies show that the antioxidants in cinnamon have potent anti-inflammatory activity.

Alcohol: Alcohol can be good for a cold. The alcohol dilates the blood vessels, easing congestion and inducing sleep when used in moderation. Recent studies have shown the significant impacts of alcohol on bacteria in our bodies. One study found that moderate wine drinkers are at a reduced risk of the ulcer and gastric-cancer-causing bacteria Helicobacter pylori.

It seems more and more apparent that a little nightly drink may help keep you healthy. Dr. Weil's anti-inflammatory food pyramid includes one or two glasses of red wine daily. I'll take that advice. Thank you, Dr. Weil!

Dr. Weil's food pyramid also includes 2-4 cups of tea daily. That's why I love Dr. Weil!

I am not a steady fan of hard liquor, but I enjoy a nice wine glass with dinner or the occasional cocktail. And this hot toddy recipe with tea is lovely when you're feeling a bit under the weather.

Hot Toddy Recipe For Colds

The truth is, rest is the essential ingredient needed to help the immune system work efficiently in fighting an infection. Vitamin C, Vitamin D, quercetin, and zinc also show effectiveness in boosting the immune system. Source

And of course, the ingredients listed here are in such small quantities that they are probably not enough to have an immediate therapeutic effect, but their effects can be beneficial cumulatively.

The hot toddy with tea is simply an excellent natural remedy for easing cold symptoms. It's not a cure, but if I'm going to relieve cold symptoms, a hot toddy tea does this quite nicely.

You can also multiply the recipe ingredients by the number of servings and share it with friends after dinner. A hot toddy makes an excellent drink for an evening by the fireside.

Hot Toddy Recipe With Tea

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