Horchata Tea

On my trip to Saraguro the locals served the traditional Horchata tea at lunch. Today, I decided to make my own.  My Spanish class took a field trip to one of the local mercados this morning. I expressed an interest in making the tea so my teacher helped me select the flowers and herbs I would need. The herbs and flowers include chamomile, mint, lemon verbena, lemon grass, rose geranium, small roses, violets, begonias, carnations, fuschias, and malva blanca. The plants that give the tea its red color is ataco, or red amaranth, and bloodleaf. The pictures below show the process of brewing the tea.

Fresh flowers and herbs from the mercado. 

I then separated the bundle to make sure I got a bit of each of the flowers and herbs. On the right you can see that I chopped them up into smaller pieces. The remaining flowers and herbs are hung to dry. The tea can be made from either fresh or dried ingredients. 

I added the ingredients just as the water came to a boil. I then turned off the gas, covered, and let steep for 10-minutes. You can see that I added two small limes to this batch. 

This is the finished product. It can be served hot or cold. Sugar or lemon can be added to taste.