Saffron Tea Recipes
No doubt you’re used to making a cup of tea. Grab a teabag, pop it in a mug, pour just-boiled water over it, leave it for a bit to steep, and add milk if you wish. That’s about it.
But what about saffron tea? How can you make tea using the find strands of saffron more commonly used in food recipes?
It’s far easier than you might think to do this, although as you’ll see, there are lots of ways you can adjust the recipe to suit your tastes and preferences. You might be suprised to learn that along with great tasting tea there are also a number health benefits to this traditional brew.
You’ll find many variations of tea in the shops today, but saffron tea is one that is best made at home.
You’ll find many variations of tea in the shops today, but we’d suggest that saffron tea is one that is best made at home.
Start your saffron tea with the basics
Boil the kettle and leave it to cool slightly before using the water. Add three or four strands or threads of saffron to a mug (a clear one is ideal as you can check the colour more easily). Some recipes call for ground saffron which would also work but we’d recommend using strands as you can gauge quality. You wouldn’t need to steep them for as long, as you’re essentially dissolving them in the water in this case.
If you’re using the saffron threads, pour some water over them and allow them to steep for a few minutes. Around five minutes should be fine to let the deep colour of the saffron come through in the water.
You can drink the tea like this if you wish, but we’ve also got alternative suggestions for a number of other recipes that include additions to your basic saffron tea.
However, our recommendation is to start with this basic recipe (such as it is) and then work through various additions to see which ones you like most. Some people find they like a few and switch between them depending on what they fancy each day.
Adding a sweet touch to saffron tea
Some recipes sweeten the tea to make it more palatable. Examples of things you can add include:
- Sugar
- Honey
- Sweetener
Again, just add to taste, a little at a time, to counteract the bitterness some people taste in saffron threads.
Adding tea leaves to your saffron
Yes, you can make saffron tea with tea leaves alongside the saffron itself. You can try black, green, or even white tea leaves here. We’d suggest using good quality loose leaf tea if you can, regardless of the type you use.
Green tea is thought to help concentration and alertness, so it’s a superb foil to use with saffron, which could help boost mood. Rooibos tea is ideal if you don’t want to have caffeine.
If you do use tea, make sure you add the tea leaves and the saffron threads to the mug (or teapot, for a larger batch of tea) and steep them together for the best results. Again, around five minutes should be fine.
Adding herbs and/or spices for an extra-special tea
Here’s where things begin to get quirkier. You’ve got your base recipe for saffron tea, and then you’ve got true saffron tea including those tea leaves.
You can now take things to another level and mix up your recipe with a few herbs and spices. In our experience, some of the best saffron tea recipes include various popular additions:
- Mint (ideally fresh leaves)
- Cinnamon (ideally sticks)
- Ginger
- Lemon slices or wedges
- Cardamom pods
- Dried rose petals
You can see a few appealing combinations there too, such as lemon and ginger or cinnamon and ginger. That should give you some inspiration to create your own saffron tea combinations to enjoy each day.
Where can you buy saffron?
Sara Saffron offer a full range of authentic Persian saffron for incredible freshness, deep colour, pungent aroma and superb flavour. In our expert opinion this is the finest saffron you can buy.
Our saffron comes direct from the best farms in the Khorasan province of Iran and includes Pushal, Negin, Super Negin and Organic saffron.