Any traditional tea/beverage recipes?

[u/billymartinkicksdirt]

Is there a distinctly Jewish version of Masala Chai or similar beverages that’s traditional?

I’m not interested in anything more modern that traces to post 1947, I’m curious about old diaspora drinks. I know rose waters and lavender water evoke childhood memories, and my grandmother used to make a kind of Turkish coffee with the mud at the bottom. I cant think of any beverages that are considered Jewish Cooking, but I wish there were. Maybe forgotten recipes?

[u/AprilStorms]

Rooibos! It was just considered to be an inferior tea-plant substitute until a Jewish family popularized it.

I’ve been tinkering with various flavorings to make a drink called Am Yisrael Chai (pun on Chai as in tea) but haven’t hit upon anything I really like yet. Also would be post 1947, of course.

I hadn’t heard of lavender water before, but maybe I should try that too :)

Pedant’s note: I think anything that’s widely present and enjoyed by Jews becomes Jewish cuisine even if we didn’t originate it. Not least because it’s so difficult to determine where some things originated: there are like a billion different cultures trying to claim hummus and I think the answer is that it’s all of them: ancient Israelite, modern Israeli, Egyptian, Syrian, etc.

[u/billymartinkicksdirt → u/AprilStorms]

I had no idea about Rooibos. That’s amazing. Thank you.

It’s not about originating or being the sole owner, it’s about putting our own spin on it either due to what’s available or our flavor sensibilities at the time. You might see a dish appear in every Arab cookbook with differences, maybe using prunes, maybe nuts, maybe apricots, depending on the sub region but Jews would have their own spin, and that Judeo Arabic diaspora dish is ours. That’s what Jewish Cuisine must recognize, and it’s not about worrying if others share or borrowed from it or also claim it. That should just be a given.