Turmeric Tea

By Tejal Rao

Updated January 26, 2026

  • Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
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Total Time
5 minutes
Rating
5(877)
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Turmeric milk is a simple infusion of warm milk with turmeric that exists with countless variations in homes across India, where it's known as haldi doodh. The drink might include black pepper, and a touch of jaggery or honey to sweeten it. This hybridized version lies somewhere closer to a masala chai with a dose of black tea and a spoon of fresh grated ginger. The recipe makes two dainty portions, or one robust one, but it's in the spirit of things to play with the ratios to suit your own taste, to use your sweetener of choice and even to replace the milk entirely with almond or cashew milk. Cooking with powdered turmeric is less messy than with fresh, and won't require gloves to keep your fingers from staining. 

Featured in: A Grandmother’s Secret Turmeric Prescription

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Ingredients

Yield:Serves 1

  • ¼ cup water

  • ½ teaspoon dried turmeric (or a ½-inch piece fresh turmeric, peeled and grated)

  • 1 ½-inch piece ginger, peeled and grated

  • 1 cardamom pod

  • 1 cinnamon stick

  • 3 black peppercorns

  • ½ tablespoon honey

  • 1 cup milk (or nut milk)

  • 1 black tea bag

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (1 servings)

28 grams carbs; 24 milligrams cholesterol; 213 calories; 2 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 8 grams fat; 3 grams fiber; 112 milligrams sodium; 9 grams protein; 21 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    In a small pan over low heat, add the water, turmeric, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, peppercorns and honey. Bring to a simmer, then pour in milk, and add the tea bag. When milk is steaming, use a spoon to taste, and add more honey if you like. Pour through a fine-mesh strainer right into a cup, and drink while hot.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
877 user ratings
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Comments

Monica

You can definitely reuse cinnamon sticks. Rinse in hot water and let it dry. Reuse about 5 x

katmcdraw

To eliminate any mess, freeze the Tumeric root! It grates more easily that way, too. And lasts much longer

Linda

Questions: It seems like one would go through a lot of cinnamon sticks with this recipe. I wonder if they could be rinsed and reused once or twice, or how much powdered cinnamon to substitute.

Laura

Perfect morning drink to ease my nasty spring cold symptoms.

Asta

I was very surprised to find the recipe for this tea. I make a very similar tea myself, I use less milk and I don't put cardamom pod . I came up with this recipe myself after reading about the benefits of turmeric and ginger. This is truly an amazing tea.

OceanBeachSF

I never had this before and I just loved it. So comforting and easy to make.

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