Loose Spices

On our travels around the world sourcing tea, we often discover farmers growing extraordinary local spices. We have brought together a collection of our favourite loose spices to share with you, while supporting local biodiversity and rich ecosystems. A delicious addition to your favourite tea or as an infusion on their own. They also make delicious ingredients for cooking and baking.

Why use loose spices in your tea?

Using loose spices in your tea can add extra depth and complexity of flavour to your tea.

You can make your own Masala Chai with or without milk - there’s a lovely recipe in Henrietta’s book Infused: Adventures in Tea. Our Golden Masala Chai is already blended with loose spices for you, perfect for a milky chai latte or warming spiced chai Masala tea. 

Which spices are best for tea?

Turmeric is a great spice for tea, as it adds a deep, earth-sweet taste. Black tea with spices is especially delicious. Moroccan mint tea is a delicious and popular infusion. But it doesn’t have spices - it has herbs, including mint, which are then combined with loose leaf green tea. Our Green Tea & Mint is perfect for this flavour of infusion.

What tea infusions work best with turmeric?

The tea infusion that works best with turmeric is a black tea, such as our Rare English Breakfast. To boost the bioavailability of the turmeric, you need something with fat - so making a black tea with milk (especially an English Breakfast blend) is perfect to gain the full benefits of the added turmeric. Our Golden Masala Chai is already perfectly blended black tea with whole pieces of Himalayan turmeric.

A caffeine-free option would be our Wild Harvest Rooibos that works well with turmeric (and is good with milk too).

Green tea in particular would not work well with turmeric.

What teas pair well with Kashmiri saffron?

Our Indian Cloud Tea, Sikkim Second Flush Muscatel, and Nepali Himalayan Black tea pair incredibly well with Kashmiri saffron. It is also a great spice to include in cooking. 

How to brew golden chai tea with turmeric?

To infuse golden chai with turmeric, it’s best to use boiling water to make an intense 'espresso' style tea with a high leaf to water ratio. Then, add hot milk. Or you can make it with hot milk in a pan, the traditional way. The infusion becomes stronger with time.

You can also do it cold - make a hot 'espresso' chai and add cold milk, then shake, it’ll make a brilliant cold chai latte.

You can also drink it like a regular black tea , without adding milk. Infuse with water at 85°C (185°F) and it’ll be rather delicious. You might want to eat something with it - try it with yoghurt or a sourdough cinnamon bun.