Simple Lemon and Sage Tisane

I feel like I’ve been chasing cold, spitty early Spring rain around the country these past few weeks.  From New York to Boston to Chicago and Seattle it’s been one chilly and bone-damp adventure.  I’m not complaining… but I will thoroughly enjoy and enthusiastically welcome the big bright sunny days that are surely in our future.  

In the meantime, while Spring gathers its momentum and gets itself sorted… we still need the comforts of warm mugs and gentle tonics.  

See:  this simple tisane.  

New to my vocabulary but somehow known to my cooking brain, a tisane is tea made with, not tea bags, but fresh herbs and spices- typically caffeine free.

This lemon and sage rendition is a morning tonic: bright and cleansing with lemon + comforting and earthly with sage.  

Here’s to simplicity and comfort going into this fine weekend.  

I hope you are cozy and well.

To start, put on a pot of water to boil.  Simple enough. 

Gather some fresh sage.  Rub the leaves. They’re fuzzy. It’s comforting.  

Peel the yellow peel from a lemon. 

Spoon some honey. 

Into a pot with fresh lemon juice. 

Hot water.  Let it sit and steep.

It’s not like you need me to tell you how to make tea, but maybe the pictures will zen you into making your own.  

Bright and invigorating and comforting; perfect for days when warm Spring weather feels like it should be closer than it actually is. It’s coming… but in the meantime, this. 

Photos with Jon Melendez.