How to Brew Spices

Brewing spices in your favorite beverage, or making a delicious brewed-spice drink on its own, is an easy and healthy way of adding or enjoying more flavor. Spices can be brewed on their own to make a tea. They also can be brewed into wine or apple cider for a holiday treat. To ensure great taste and a nice finish, it is always best to use fresh spices in the recipe to capture their full flavor.

Brewing a Ginger Spiced Tea

• 1

  Place 3/4 tsp. of ground ginger spice in a heat-proof glass or beverage vessel. Ginger is a warming spice, making it appropriate for colder weather.

• 2

  Sprinkle 1/4 tsp. of ground cinnamon in the glass as well. This will somewhat lessen the spiciness effect of the ginger, bringing a more complex flavor to the tea.

• 3

  Pour 8 oz. of boiling water over the ground spices and let them steep for three to five minutes, or until cool enough to drink.

• 4

  Sweeten your tea with honey or sugar, or enjoy plain.

Mulled Apple Cider

• 1
  apples image by Roman Sigaev from Fotolia.com

  Bring to boil 1 qt. of apple cider. Simmer on low.

• 2

  Add 1/4 cup mulling spices to the pot of simmering apple cider and let steep for five minutes on low heat.

• 3

  Turn off the heat and let the mulling spice flavor steep into the apple cider for 10 minutes or more, depending on desired strength.

• 4

  Strain the mulling spices from the apple cider and serve. Reheat if hot, mulled cider is desired.

Brewing Spices into Wine or Beer

• 1
  white wine and red wine image by jimcox40 from Fotolia.com

  Boil 1/2 cup of water on stove along with 5 whole cloves and 5 whole cinnamon sticks.

• 2

  Add wine and 1/2 cup of sugar. Stir until all sugar is dissolved.

• 3

  Simmer this mixture for one hour to catch all the flavor of these spices into the wine. Bottle or serve.