Knowledge Base
Coffee & Tea Guides
Brew better and explore more — buying guides, how-tos, and explainers for every coffee and tea ritual.
How-To
How to Make Pumpkin Tea (Hobak-cha) at Home
Pumpkin tea, the Korean hobak-cha, is real pumpkin or squash simmered into a warm, gently sweet, caffeine-free cup, not a pumpkin-spice blend. Here is how to make it, step by step, from fresh, roasted, or dried pumpkin, with amounts and a quick simmer-time table.
How-To
How to Make Fireweed Tea at Home (Fresh & Ivan Chai)
Fireweed tea is a smooth, caffeine-free infusion of willowherb leaves. Learn the quick fresh brew and the traditional fermented Ivan chai method, with amounts, timings and storage.
How-To
How to Make Adzuki Bean Tea (Roasted Red Bean Tea)
Adzuki bean tea is a warm, nutty, caffeine-free roasted red bean infusion. Here is how to roast the beans, simmer a comforting cup, and get the strength just right.
How-To
How to Make Sunflower Tea at Home
Sunflower tea is a mild, caffeine-free flower infusion made from the golden ray petals. Here is how to make it, with amounts, steep times, blending ideas and a light safety note.
How-To
How to Make Hyssop Tea at Home
Hyssop tea is a bright, minty, gently bitter, caffeine-free infusion of Hyssopus officinalis leaves and flowers. Here is how to make it: amounts, a quick step-by-step, a brewing table, storage tips and a light safety note.
How-To
How to Make Sweet Woodruff Tea at Home
Sweet woodruff tea is a soft, caffeine-free infusion of wilted or dried Galium odoratum leaves that smells of vanilla, almond and new-mown hay. Here is how to make it, and enjoy it lightly.
How-To
How to Make Costmary Tea at Home
Costmary tea is a mild, cool, minty-balsam-and-lemon infusion from the leaves of costmary (alecost, bible leaf). Here is how to make it, with amounts, steep times, a handy table and a light safety note.
How-To
How to Make Ground Ivy Tea (Alehoof Tea) at Home
Ground ivy tea, also called alehoof or creeping charlie tea, is a mild, minty, caffeine-free infusion from the humble lawn weed once used to flavour ale. Here is how to identify the plant, brew it at the right temperature and keep the steep short for a gentle, less bitter cup.
How-To
How to Make Agrimony Tea at Home
A simple how-to for agrimony tea: steep the dried leaves and slender yellow flowering tops of this old European meadow wildflower into a mild, gently astringent, caffeine-free cup.
How-To
How to Make Gorse Tea at Home (Furze Flower Recipe)
Gorse tea is a caffeine-free, coconut-scented infusion made from the bright-yellow flowers of furze. Here is how to forage, brew, and store this wild European flower tea at home.
How-To
How to Make Pistachio Cold Foam at Home
Learn how to make pistachio cold foam: froth cold milk with pistachio syrup or a little loosened paste and vanilla into a thick, nutty, pale-green cap for iced coffee and cold brew.
How-To
How to Make Peppermint Cold Foam at Home
Peppermint cold foam is a cool, minty, candy-cane-scented cap for iced coffee and cold brew. Here is how to froth it, flavour it with peppermint syrup, and get the pour just right.
How-To
How to Make Gingerbread Cold Foam at Home
To make gingerbread cold foam, froth cold milk with gingerbread syrup or a little molasses and warm spices until thick and glossy, then float it over iced coffee or cold brew. Here is the full recipe, the tools, and how to keep it food-safe.
How-To
How to Make Biscoff Cold Foam at Home
Biscoff cold foam is a spiced cookie-butter cap for iced coffee and cold brew. Here is how to loosen the spread, froth it thick and glossy, and pour it so it floats.
How-To
How to Make Macadamia Syrup for Coffee
A smooth, buttery macadamia syrup made by toasting the nuts and steeping them in a 1:1 simple syrup — the creamy sweetener your latte, iced coffee and cold brew have been missing.
How-To
How to Make Brown Butter Syrup for Coffee
A rich, nutty brown butter syrup for coffee: brown the butter to golden beurre noisette, whisk it into a warm simple syrup with salt and vanilla, then stir it into a latte, iced coffee or cold brew.
How-To
How to Make Savory Tea at Home: Summer & Winter Savory
Savory tea is a warm, peppery, thyme-meets-oregano infusion made from a classic Mediterranean cooking herb. Here is how to make it from fresh or dried summer or winter savory, with exact amounts, water temperature, and steep times.
How-To
How to Make Forsythia Tea at Home (Flower or Fruit)
Forsythia tea is a light, gently bittersweet, faintly floral, caffeine-free infusion of the golden spring blossoms — or the dried fruit (lianqiao). Here is how to make it, flower or fruit.
How-To
How to Make Heather Tea at Home (Dried Heather Flower Recipe)
Heather tea is a delicate, honey-scented, caffeine-free infusion of dried purple-pink heather blossoms. Here is a simple recipe, the right water temperature, steep times, and how to keep it gentle and never bitter.
How-To
How to Make Shiso Tea from Fresh or Dried Perilla Leaves
Shiso tea is an aromatic, caffeine-free infusion of fresh or dried perilla leaves. Here is how to make it, plus why red shiso turns a gorgeous pink with a squeeze of lemon.
How-To
How to Make Chickweed Tea at Home
A simple how-to for chickweed tea from fresh or dried Stellaria media: what it tastes like, how to identify the plant with confidence, the amounts and steep times, and how to keep it a gentle, occasional cup.
How-To
How to Make Purslane Tea at Home (Fresh or Dried)
Purslane tea is a mild, lemony-green, caffeine-free infusion of the succulent leaves and stems of Portulaca oleracea. Here's how to make it from fresh or dried purslane, with amounts, steep times, and how to tell it apart from its spurge look-alike.
How-To
How to Make Brown Rice Tea at Home
The pure roasted-rice tea known as hyeonmi-cha: dry-roast brown rice, then simmer or steep it into a warm, nutty, caffeine-free cup — no green tea, and nothing like genmaicha.
How-To
How to Make Corn Tea (Oksusu-Cha) at Home
Corn tea, or oksusu-cha, is a caffeine-free roasted-grain drink. Here's how to dry-roast corn kernels and brew a toasty, popcorn-sweet cup hot or iced.