Homemade Medicine Ball Tea

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It’s the season for colds, the flu (multiple rounds in our house), allergies and all things that call for a good cup of homemade medicine ball tea. Unless you’re not a tea lover or a Starbucks fan, you know about the infamous  and once secret menu medicine ball they offer.

Now that the drink is offered as a part of the regular menu, you can order it at any time or… just go ahead and make this upgraded recipe I make all the time. P.S. aside from the addition of another tea and lemonade, the base recipe is a traditional recipe use in most Caribbean households for generations. I’ve even added a traditional “cure all” to my recipe for adults only. Ready? 

Homemade Medicine Ball Tea 

The standard ingredients include some pantry staples: honey, lemons, ginger, mint tea. These are standard in our pantry and they should be in yours too. I usually use loose leaf mint tea in a steeping ball, then strain and proceeds from there. Speaking of steeping, a fancy electric kettle with multiple hot water options will be your new best friend. Trust me on this. The keep warm option alone makes it worth it.

True to the Starbucks recipe, I’ve included a peach flavored teabag in my recipe as well. You can supplement this for pretty much any flavored tea bag you prefer or just stick with mint. If you need a bit of a caffeine boost, you could go with a mint green tea, a citrus green tea or a good tea bag. I will always and forever recommend PG Tips as my caffeine tea bag of choice. 

And now for the not so secret “cure all” ingredient… Rum! Yep, if you’re of Caribbean descent or grew up in a Caribbean neighborhood (hello Flatbush, Brooklyn) then you know that rum is a fixture in most any home recipe. We add it to tea, to hot water bottles and even use it as a rub. All the things. So if you’re sick and shut in for the evening, add a shot of rum to this medicine ball tea. 

To Lemonade or Not

I know the Starbucks recipe calls for lemonade. I can get with that if I wanted this to be more of a treat. But a good quality honey is what you need for some medicinal addition. That along with sliced lemon and the juice is what you want. But if you insist on lemonade, go for it. I’m not knocking your hustle. I’ll add some extra honey to mine though. 

You Need Ginger

And then there’s ginger. You know you need ginger in your home remedies arsenal right? Right. I buy organic ginger and cut off about 1 inch chunks at a time to use in all sorts of recipes. I love it on the counter. The cut end will dry up. Just keep cutting and peeling if you must. Hopefully I’ll be growing ginger in our garden this spring. Wish me luck. 

Homemade Medicine Ball Tea 

Let me know when you make the recipe.