I enjoy traditional drinks
Three household traditions, one leg each, chosen because in their own places none of them is treated as a speciality at all. These are the drinks made in a pan on a stove and kept in a jug, and they are the largest and least documented part of this catalogue.
Who this is for
Someone drawn to what people actually drink at home somewhere, rather than to what is exported as a speciality.
What you should come away with
A sense of how much of the world's plant drinking sits outside the speciality trade entirely, and three traditions you can read further into.
Leg 1 · The Japanese and Korean summer jug
Roasted grain first, because it is the form most households actually keep made up, then a leaf drunk the same way. All three are served cold as often as hot.
Starting point. Everything after this is measured against it.
Toasty and mildly sweet with a clean finish and no astringency. Cold brewing gives a rounder result and is the standard domestic method.
Why this step follows
Roasted rice rather than roasted barley, and the bridge to genmaicha — the same material blended with green tea rather than drunk alone.
Toasty and popcorn-like, mild and low in bitterness. Alone it is thin; blended with green tea it is the point of the blend.
Why this step follows
From a roasted grain to a plain dried leaf. The roast is what carried the previous cup; this one has none, so what remains is the leaf itself and the change is deliberately abrupt.
Mild and slightly hay-like with a soft green edge, similar in shape to a light bancha. Nothing about it suggests the fruit.
Leg 2 · The Mediterranean hillside
Three plants that grow within sight of each other on dry stony ground and are picked from it. The through-line is the landscape rather than the flavour, which changes sharply at each step.
Starting point. Everything after this is measured against it.
Strongly aromatic, resinous and quite bitter, with a drying finish. A small quantity is correct; sage steeped like tea is overwhelming.
Why this step follows
Both grow on dry Mediterranean hillsides and both are drunk in the households near them. Cistus is resinous and slightly sweet where sage is camphorous, so the family resemblance is in the setting rather than the flavour.
Strongly tannic and resinous with an amber-like sweetness on the nose that the cup does not deliver. It dries the mouth in the way a young red wine does.
Why this step follows
Staying on the same hillside. Olive leaf is the most bitter of the three and the least aromatic, which makes it the right place to end rather than to begin.
Firmly bitter and green in a way that recognisably belongs to the olive tree. Most people take it with honey and lemon, and in the growing regions that is the standard preparation.
Leg 3 · South Asian household infusions
Two drinks made in Indian kitchens with no connection to the tea trade, and about as far apart in texture as two infusions can be.
Starting point. Everything after this is measured against it.
Peppery and clove-like, closer to a spice than to a leaf, with a drying finish. Quite unlike the sweet basil of Italian cooking despite the shared name.
Why this step follows
Two South Asian household drinks with very different weights. Tulsi is peppery and light; bael is thick, sweet and faintly resinous, and is drunk as much for the texture as the taste.
Sweet and faintly resinous with a caramel depth, quite unlike any other citrus relative. Usually served sweetened further, which it does not really need.
Read alongside
- Traditional botanical drinks
Botanical preparations that are staple daily drinks within specific cultures rather than occasional herbal remedies — a distinction the Western herbal shelf tends to erase.
- Traditional botanical drinks around the world
A tour of what people actually drink where, and of how often the same plant arrives in a place by a completely different history.
- European household infusion traditions
Europe’s herbal drinking is older and more regional than the supermarket aisle suggests, and it splits roughly north and south along a line most people have never noticed.