At the age of 16 he was declared a master of Kundalini Yoga by Sant Hazara Singh, his teacher. He became interested in medical questions and natural healing methods very early on and studied yoga from an early age. His family lived in the tradition of the Sikhs.
Feel free to drop me a line with your own suggestions.Yogi Bhajan was born in 1929 in Kot Harkarn near the city of Gujranwala in what was then India and now Pakistan as the son of a doctor. I'll add to this list as I think of / invent new ideas. (Vegan Londoner’s check out Hemp & Williams hemp ice cream, or UK’ers, Booja Booja) Add a scoop of your favourite (vanilla) ice cream.Yogi Tea Ice Cream Floats (the best for last!) Then, serve it diluted 50-50 with sparkling water to add some fizz. Same as above but brew it double strength, adding even more ginger if desired. Serve it over ice on a hot Summer's day with an optional dash of milk or cream.Let it cool and place it in the refrigerator.Boil up the Yogi Tea as usual but don't add the milk.Nutmeg or cocoa sprinkles on Yogichino’s is a nice touch as well. Extra Special Occasion Yogi TeaĪdd a vanilla pod or essence and some star anise. Get some black cardamoms and add a few of these in place of some (but not all) of the green ones. The milk, having partly frothed, will separate to the top…instant Yogichino! Rustic Yogi Tea If you have a high powered blender, whizz up your yogi tea after heating it up (with the milk added). If you have nice cinnamon you’ll have a hard time believing that you didn’t add sugar.īelow are a few fun variations… Quick Cup Versionĭirections: Boil for 15 minutes or so adding the black tea at the end. If you want a naturally sweeter Yogi Tea, try doubling up on the cinnamon.Optionally you can hold off on the black tea until the next morning to keep it from getting too bitter. For a really intense flavour, after boiling, turn off the stove and leave overnight.For a more intense cardamom flavour, pre-crush them with a rolling pin.Then simply add milk whenever you heat up a cup to drink. To save storage room, you can leave the milk out and keep the brew in bottles in the fridge.
Below 100˚C some of the flavours don’t come through. A gentle boil is fine but make sure it’s bubbling.But…when scaling up beyond 5L, say to 10L, don’t double the ingredients…too strong! 1.5x maybe….Too much ginger makes it a “stiff drink” (not always a bad thing!). Experiment away but keep in mind that too much clove makes it bitter. Add the milk and continue to heat until just under boiling.(Optional) Meanwhile crush the (now soft) cardamoms with a spoon to release their flavour.Add the black tea and let steep for a few minutes.Keep the lid on to save energy and keep the aromatic oils in Boil for 25-30 min (longer is ok too).everything except the tea, milk and honey). Boil the water and add all the spices (i.e.
(Optional) Honey (or preferred sweetener) to taste.
So here’s the full recipe: Basic Yogi Tea Recipe 1L Version A little honey or sweetener of choice is optional but definitely makes it tastier. Also the milk is important to pad the stomach from all the intense spices, though your non-dairy preference will suffice (I like oat or hemp milk personally). Yogi Bhajan said that the caffeinated tea was not optional as it’s important for stimulating the digestion and the immune system. To this is later added black tea and some sort of milk. The five spice components are cinnamon, cloves, green cardamom, black pepper, and fresh ginger. They were the only platoon that weathered the illness spell and remained healthy. He instructed his men to fast, and only drink Yogi Tea.
All of the surrounding platoons began to fall ill with a serious bug. He tells a story that once, when he was in the army, he was in charge of a small platoon out on an extended training exercise.
He taught that it is a powerful tonic for cleansing the body and keeping the immune system strong…and indeed it is! Plus it works like internal central heating in the cold season. It’s a recipe given by Yogi Bhajan when he first came to America in the late 60's. What is Yogi Tea? Basically it’s like chai but with more emphasis on the yummy spices and less on the tea. Actually it is alway the season for homemade Yogi Tea. ’Tis the season for a nice hot cup of Yogi Tea.