First of all, I am obsessed with the name I just titled this drink (there’s a lot more in there than tea and turmeric, by the way.) I’m thinking a future YouTube channel where I chat with all my healthy friends about food trends?
But I digress.
This latte is my new favorite. I often times drink tea, wishing it was a cappuccino and am ultimately unsatisfied. But this checks all the boxes I’m craving when I want an actual latte. It’s creamy, mildly sweet, with a grounding bitter base that is perfectly smoothed out by the milk and cinnamon in the mix. And it’s got enough nutrition to count as breakfast, since I’m not one of those people who believes you need to start your day with cereal. But that’s a whole other blog post.
Let’s get to the latte! And why I love it.
I start this baby off with a cup of my home blended cashew milk. I prefer cashew milk to almond milk a.) because you don’t have to strain the pulp like homemade almond milk and b.) I like it more. Place the milk in your blender. I do like the froth that a Vitamix or other high power blender is able to accomplish, but I bet a less frothy version in a standard blender will still taste as good!
I then add a cup of hot brewed tea, and for this latte, I am digging Traditional Medicinal brand’s Dandelion Green Tea blend. I love roasted dandelion tea in general. More than green tea, which by itself, I don’t really love the taste of. So this is the best of both worlds. An earthy, grounded, roasted flavor with the nutritional benefits of green tea to boot. Traditionally, dandelion tea is known as a liver tonic and has a variety of purported health benefits as well, so if you’d prefer a caffeine-free latte, use plain roasted dandelion root tea. If you want a really creamy drink, leave tea out all together. In fact, before I started making this specific recipe, I used to just blend cashew milk with turmeric, cinnamon, honey and pepper (all of which I will explain below), and it is DELICIOUS just like that. I was just looking for a way to increase the nutrition and the volume to fill my belly a bit more 🙂
On with the recipe…
With the milk and tea in the blender, add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of turmeric, 1 teaspoon of raw local honey (great this time of year in preparation for allergy season!), or a dash of stevia if you’re keeping the sugar low. Then add a few grinds of fresh pepper. That part sounds weird, I know. But black pepper acts as an activator for turmeric. That means it helps boost the body’s ability to process the nutritional benefits of it, which are bountiful. Cinnamon has its own health reputation, my favorite application being beneficial for blood sugar control. This is the basic recipe for the latte. Make this for a delicious warm beverage.
To make it a nutritionally packed meal though, I added a few more things.
Including 2 teaspoons of grass-fed ghee, 1 tablespoon of grass fed collagen, and a teaspoon of bee pollen. All of these are known as nutritionally dense “superfoods”, with healthy fats, proteins, vitamins and enzymes. And if you get local raw honey and bee pollen, it can even help prepare you for allergy season, by getting your immune system ready for the local pollen explosion. Many of the foods like these that I use in recipes have reputations too long to write about in these posts, so I definitely encourage you to investigate more about the things that peak your curiosity! In general, I look for ways to make ordinary foods and drinks as nutritious as possible, and these types of additions are great to have around for just that!
I am loving this beverage each morning. I’d love to hear how you make it your own!
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