Sulaimani Tea Recipe: Malabar Black Tea With Lemon and Spice

Sulaimani is a light, clear black tea from Kerala's Malabar coast, brewed with a pod of cardamom and a clove, sweetened, and finished with lemon. For two glasses, boil 2 cups of water with the spices, turn off the heat, steep 1 teaspoon of tea for 1 to 2 minutes, strain, and stir in the juice of half a lemon.

It's the tea that often turns up after a Malabar biryani in Kozhikode and along the coast, no milk, golden in the glass, the spice sitting quietly in the background.

Ingredients (2 glasses)

• 2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon black tea (leaf or granules)
• 1 to 2 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
• 1 to 2 cloves
• A small piece of cinnamon (optional)
• 2 to 3 teaspoons sugar, or to taste
• Juice of ½ lemon
• A few mint leaves (optional)

How to make sulaimani

1. Boil the spices (2 minutes). Put the water, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon in a pan and boil.
2. Add the sugar and stir until it dissolves.
3. Turn off the heat, then add the tea. Cover and steep for 1 to 2 minutes only.
4. Strain into glasses.
5. Add the lemon juice and mint just before serving.

Why steep the tea off the heat?

Boiling tea leaves pulls out more tannins, which makes the tea dark, bitter and cloudy. Steeping in water that's just off the boil gives a bright, amber cup, which is how sulaimani should look. The spices can take the full boil. The tea can't.

How much spice should you use?

The spice sits in the background here, it isn't the main flavour. One cardamom pod and one clove for two glasses is a good start. Go up to two of each only if you want it noticeably spiced. Fresh cardamom makes the biggest difference, you should smell it as you lift the glass.

Fixing a dark or bitter cup

• Dark and bitter: the tea was boiled or steeped too long. Take it off the heat first and keep the steep under 2 minutes.
• Too strong: too much tea. Sulaimani is meant to be light, so 1 teaspoon for two glasses is plenty.
• Sharp or sour: too much lemon, or lemon added while the tea was still on the stove. Add it in the glass and start with less.
• Tastes of cloves only: cloves are strong. Cut back to one.

Variations

• Ginger: add a thin slice with the spices on a cold evening.
• Star anise: a single point of the star adds a soft liquorice note.
• Jaggery: use it instead of sugar for a deeper, caramel-like sweetness.
• Iced: make it slightly stronger, let it cool, then pour over ice with the lemon.

Who it suits

Sulaimani is a good choice if you want tea without milk, or something light after a rich meal. Prefer a strong, milky cup? Our elaichi chai recipe is the one to try instead.

Serving it

Pour it hot into small clear glasses so the colour shows, right after the meal. Make it fresh. Sulaimani turns dark and dull if it sits around for long.

We make ours with black tea granules, Idukki cardamom and Adimali cloves. Read more about where those cloves grow in our post on Adimali cloves.

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