Despite the way it looks outside spring is around the corner, which means we’re in the last stretch of cold and flu season.  Hopefully you’ll be lucky and make it out germ free.  But if you happen to find yourself with a late season cold, garlic tea is a great way to help reduce the symptoms of your illness and perhaps even help you get over it faster.   Before you go running away at the thought of drinking garlic, let me assure you that the garlic flavor is mild, and that it actually tastes similar to lemon tea.

Trust him, he’s a doctor.

Garlic is pretty much a super-food considering all of its health benefits.  Especially useful for this time of year is the fact it has antibiotic properties and supports your immune system, which means it will help your body fight all those bad little germs.  It is especially good at combating chest infections, congestion, and coughs.  Like green tea, your garlic tea will also contain a lot of antioxidants.  Combine garlic with the soothing effects of honey and you’re well on your way to helping beat that cold.  You can find some more information about the health benefits of garlic here.

Making garlic tea doesn’t take that much more effort than regular tea.

This is all you need. Well, and water obviously.

To make a mug of garlic tea, first get your water boiling in the kettle.

Slice 3 cloves of garlic and place in the mug, along with ¼ each of lemon juice (fresh or bottled) and honey.

I know it doesn’t look that great right now…but it gets better looking.

Once the water is boiling, pour into your mug, give a good stir to dissolve the honey, and let steep for 10 minutes.

Action pouring shot!

Steeping

After its done steeping, scoop out the garlic, and drink!

Garlic Tea Recipe:

• 3 cloves garlic sliced/minced
• ¼ cup honey
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• 1 cup boiling water

Combine ingredients in a mug and let steep for 10 minutes.  Remove the garlic and enjoy.

Note: If you mince the garlic instead of slicing it and/or don’t take out the garlic the tea is still drinkable, it is just way more garlicky.  It tastes more like drinking a broth or soup than a tea.  You can definitely only drink about a half cup of it at a time this way before it gets to be too much.

Our recipe makes a mug’s worth of garlic tea.  If you want to make more you could easily just double the recipe and divide amongst two mugs.  If you want to make a lot to store and drink throughout the day/week you can just multiply the recipe by whatever you like, and cook up the tea in a pot on the stove, and store in a container in the fridge.  While hot beverages go better during winter, you can also brew it and serve cold as a sort of garlic lemonade, or garlic-ade if you will. If you’re into the idea of sipping the stinky but refreshing drink on a hot summer day, you can quadruple the recipe and refrigerate. The result is a crisp, tangy, savory drink that’s both yummy and still grants you garlic’s healthy benefits.

• 10 cloves sliced garlic
• 1 cup honey
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
• 4 cups boiling water