Yogi Bhajan's Original Yogi Tea Recipe
- 5m Prep Time
- 25m Cook Time
- 30m Ready In
A sure sign you are in a Kundalini yogi’s household is the smell of cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom wafting from the kitchen as a pot of yogi tea boils. A staple in a yogi’s diet, the well-spiced tea has many healing properties and tastes delicious too. When Yogi Bhajan was an officer in the Indian army, he gave his men Yogi Tea to keep them healthy. During a particularly bad outbreak of the flu, as entire platoons got sick, Yogi Bhajan had his men drink Yogi Tea instead of water. Not one man under his command got sick. Following is the original recipe given by Yogi Bhajan:*
Ingredients
- 2.84 L water
- 20 whole cloves
- 20 whole green cardamom pods gently crushed
- 20 whole black peppercorns
- 5 stick cinnamon
- 85 g fresh ginger Optional - Sliced
Nutrition (per serving, estimated)
Estimated based off 4 of 6 identified ingredients (per 100 g food data, scaled by amount).
Vitamins & minerals
- Calcium: 95.6 mg
- Iron: 1.79 mg
- Magnesium: 41.1 mg
- Phosphorus: 27.1 mg
- Potassium: 214 mg
- Zinc: 0.95 mg
Let's Prepare
Collect
Gather these ingredients — no prep needed yet.
- 2.84 L water
- 20 whole cloves
- 20 whole black peppercorns
- 5 stick cinnamon
Prepare
- 20 whole green cardamom pods, gently crushed
- 85 g fresh ginger, optional - sliced
Let's Cook
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Step 1.
Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil over high heat.
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Step 2.
Add the remaining ingredients to the boiling water, then reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Let it simmer for at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is well flavored.
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Step 3.
After the 20-minute simmer, add ¼ teaspoon of a mild black tea (such as Golden Assam) to the pot. Continue simmering for another 1–2 minutes, until the tea is fully infused and the liquid darkens slightly.
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Step 4.
While the tea is simmering, prepare your milk of choice (cow, goat, almond, soy, hemp, or oat milk). After the tea has steeped, pour in about ½ pint of milk per pint of remaining liquid in the pot. There's no need to measure precisely—just eyeball it to achieve a creamy consistency. Stir well to combine.
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Step 5.
If desired, sweeten to taste with honey or another sweetener. Serve hot.
Tips & variations
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Each ingredient in Yogi Tea has healing properties. Black pepper is a blood purifier and aids digestion. Cardamom is good for the colon and can help relieve depression. Cloves strengthen the immune and nervous systems. Cinnamon is antibacterial, loaded with antioxidants, and is good for the bones. Ginger root is great for the nervous system and is energizing. Increasingly, people are choosing to cut caffeine from their diets. A wise decision for a number of reasons, but the black tea in Yogi Tea helps the ingredients amalgamate. In other words, the black tea makes Yogi Tea more potent as a healing agent. A compromise: after the spices have cooked for 20 minutes, take a tea ball or bag and swirl it around the pot a few times. Feel free to adjust the ingredients to your personal taste. Over time, my own recipe has evolved to include double the spices, twice the cooking time, and half the milk. Experiment! *Yogi Bhajan’s Original Recipe appears in Kundalini Yoga: The Flow of Eternal Power by Shakti Parwha Kaur Khalsa (1996).