Homemade Ginger Tea

Love ginger tea? It's easy to make from scratch! Try making this homemade ginger tea with fresh ginger, lemons, and honey. Drink it hot or iced!

Do you love ginger tea?

I do.

It's spicy, delicious, and soothing.

And yes, sometimes I buy it at the store. If you're looking for store-bought ginger tea, I like Traditional Medicinal's organic ginger tea.

But as you may know, I love homemade herbal tea. I love homemade mint tea, pine needle tea, and even catnip tea.

And lately, I've been making homemade ginger tea.

And guys, it's SO GOOD.

Homemade ginger tea uses fresh ginger, so it has more flavor than store-bought tea (which uses dried ginger).

Plus it's easy to make. I promise.

Want more tea ideas? Check out this guide to herbal teas.

Why Drink Ginger Tea?

First of all, ginger is delicious.

It's one of my favorite flavors.

Plus it's healthy! Ginger is thought to help with nausea, indigestion, inflammation, and infections, and is a home-remedy for sore throats.

And again-- it tastes good!!!

Can I Grow Ginger in My Garden?

When I started making homemade ginger tea, the first thing I wondered was, "Can I grow this myself?"

Unfortunately, I don't live in the right climate.

But, you might!

If you live in a tropical, humid climate, give it a try! Ginger is (supposedly) an easy plant to grow.

Where Can I Buy Ginger?

Look for it in with the refrigerated produce at the grocery store.

It should be easy to find. I've found fresh ginger at both Walmart and Kroger.

Pick out a piece of ginger that's moist and plump. If the ginger feels lightweight and dry, it's probably old.

I recommend buying organic ginger and lemons for this tea, so if your grocery store stores the organic produce in a different section of the store, look there.

How to Make Homemade Ginger Tea

Start with eight ounces of fresh ginger and two lemons.

Weigh the ginger at the store before you buy it if you don't have a scale. If you want to buy a scale, I love a low-tech analog kitchen scale for produce.

Wash and then dice the ginger. There's no need to peel it.

Fill a large pot with eight cups of water. Add the ginger.

Cut the lemons in half, juice them, and add both the juice and the juiced lemon halves to the pot.

I use a wooden citrus reamer and simply juice the lemons right over the pot of water.

If some lemon seeds end up in the water, don't worry, because you're straining out all the solids later anyway.

Heat the water until it boils, and then simmer the liquids for about 25 minutes.

Next, strain the tea through a fine mesh sieve to get rid of all the solids.

I like to use a wooden spoon to push any tea out of the lemon halves while straining.

Can I Serve Homemade Ginger Tea Without Sweetener?

Of course you can. Drink this however you want.

BUT.

I do recommend adding a tiny bit of sweetener (like honey), because unsweetened ginger tea can be a little bit bitter.

Can I Make This in Smaller Batches?

This recipe makes about six cups of ginger tea.

You can easily halve the recipe, but I recommend making the whole recipe. Why?

For one thing, since it takes a little more effort to make homemade ginger tea than it does to pull out a store-bought bag of tea, I find I'm more likely to make and drink this homemade tea if I make a big batch of it.

Plus, this tea is delicious cold!

I like to pour the tea into eight-ounce glass jars, and store it in the fridge. Then I simply grab a jar of ginger tea in the morning and drink it cold!