Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon dehydrated anise leaves
- 1 tablespoon dehydrated orange zest
- 1 tablespoon dehydrated olive leaves
- 2 cups boiling water
- 1/2 tablespoon honey
Instructions
- Crush the dried anise leaves between your palms just before they go in. The aromatic oils sit inside the leaf and stay there until the cell walls are broken.
- Leave the olive leaves whole. They are tough and leathery, and crushing them releases a tannin that makes the cup harsh rather than giving it the light bitterness it is there for.
- Bring the water to a full boil and then let it stand half a minute before it goes over the leaves. Water straight off the boil scalds citrus zest and flattens the orange note.
- Steep with a lid or a saucer over the top. Most of what you want here is volatile — uncovered, it goes into the room instead of into the cup.
- Taste it partway through. Licorice arrives first and the olive leaf last, so the length of the steep is really a decision about how much bitterness you want sitting behind the sweetness.
- Strain it, reheat gently if it has gone cold, and stir the honey in off the heat. Boiled honey loses its floral character and reads as plain sugar.
- The dry mix keeps as long as its most fragile part: jarred away from light it is good for about six months before the anise fades. Brewed tea does not keep at all, so make what you intend to drink.
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