Ewé Tea

the Yoruba lemongrass tea: kooko oba leaves boiled with ginger and sweetened with honey, drunk hot against fever across south-western Nigeria

Origin: Ibadan & Yorubaland

From the journey of Lemongrass.

In Yorubaland lemongrass has several names, and together they tell its story. It is kooko oba or koríko oba, and it is ewé tea, the tea leaf, because a tea is what it is used for; and it is also koríko òyìnbó, the foreigner's grass, which records that it came from elsewhere. Igbo calls it achara ehi and Hausa tsauri, and it is grown in household gardens across the south of the country. The tea is simple: a bundle of the leaves, often with a piece of ginger, boiled in water for some minutes and drunk hot, sometimes sweetened with honey or sugar and sharpened with lime. It is a household remedy for fever and a cold, in the same tradition that gave Jamaica the name fever grass, and it is also drunk simply because it tastes good.

Ingredients

Tea

  • 1 large handful fresh lemongrass leaves (kooko oba), about 20 long leaves, washed
  • 3 cm fresh ginger, sliced
  • 1 litre water

To Serve

  • Honey or sugar, and lime or lemon, to taste

Method

  1. Tie the lemongrass leaves into a loose knot or cut them into lengths.
  2. Bring the water to the boil with the lemongrass and ginger, then simmer for 8 to 10 minutes until the tea is pale gold and strongly scented.
  3. Strain, sweeten with honey or sugar, and add a squeeze of lime if you like. Drink hot.

Notes

The tea is also good chilled over ice.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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