This recipe for an iced dirty turmeric latté combines everyones’ favorite caffeinated drink with the tried and true taste of turmeric, creating a vibrantly colored and flavored drink. Combined with the grassy undertones of matcha and the toffee-like notes of coffee, this drink is the perfect combination for any morning.
What Is Turmeric?
Scientifically named Curcuma Longa, turmeric is a distant relative of ginger, and contains similar looking tuberous roots that are powdered, blended, or boiled into different forms of the turmeric spice. The resulting spice is a pungent, warm, and slightly bitter flavor that is often used in South Asian and Middle Eastern cooking.
The spice is well known for its medicinal properties, which are derived from Curcumin, the compound in turmeric that gives it a bright orange color. Curcumin has proven anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that can assist with preventing cancer, lowering cholesterol, and possibly preventing heart disease. The compound has even been compared to ibuprofen, due to its effectiveness.
Although turmeric’s health benefits have made it widely popular in Western diets, the spice originally comes from India, and is over 4000 years old. It was used in cooking for nearly 2000 years before the first instances of its medicinal uses were cited. Around 500 BCE, turmeric was used in Ayurvedic medicine, an ancient Indian medicine system that still exists today. The root was used to heal bruises, smallpox, chicken pox, shingles, and much more. It was believed to be so beneficial that it was dubbed Jayanti, which translates into “someone who is victorious over all diseases”.
By 700 AD, turmeric spread to China, and the spice eventually made its way across the globe, existing under different names in every culture.
How to Combine Turmeric and Coffee:
The most popular way of combining turmeric with coffee is through a turmeric latté. The multidimensional drink is the perfect way to combine turmeric with coffee, since the additional spices and textures take away from the strong turmeric flavor, which can be bitter in excess. Since a large amount of turmeric is added to the drink, the addition of ginger, cardamom, and pepper balance out the turmeric taste, creating an elevated spiced latté.
This recipe takes the drink to the next level, adding matcha into the mix as well to create an even more diverse panel of flavors, textures, and colors.
Ingredients (1 serving):
4 ounces milk
¼ teaspoon turmeric
⅛ teaspoon cardamom
⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
1 shot espresso
1 ounce water
⅛ teaspoon matcha powder
Instructions:
Combine the milk, cardamom, ginger, turmeric, and cinnamon. Stir for a minute, then strain to remove any particles and pour over ice.
Heat water until it is warm, but not boiling. Combine the water with the matcha powder and foam the mixture with a matcha whisk or a milk frother.
Pour in a shot of espresso to the flavored milk. Top with the matcha foam, and decorate with ground cinnamon and any other spices.
Stir and Enjoy!
**Read the original article on the Waka Coffee website. You can find it right here.