teh alia or teh sarabat or ginger tea


yesterday, when i was at tekka centre, i went to sultan stall to drink tea alia. his teh alia at 70 cents a mug is still one of the cheapest and best. used to drink a lot with victor, iskandar, aman and seow teow seng when i was at monk's hill. incidentally, i noticed that many stalls, proclaiming to sell the best nasi bryani, have sprouted along that stretch.

teh alia or teh sarabat is similar to the indian teh masala. it is teh masala infused with ginger. i have tried my hand at concocting my own tea alia. the usual way of doing it is to peel the ginger root and slice it into thin slices. bring the water to a boil in a saucepan. once it is boiling, add the ginger. cover it and reduce to a simmer for 15-20 minutes. you use this ginger water to make your tea.

i do it in a slightly different way. i clean the ginger, remove the skin and blend the piece of rhizome in a blender. the ginger juice is collected and later added to the tea. to make the tea, i normally use the freeze-dried lipton tea granules, add condensed milk, then evaporated milk and finally, the ginger juice. if you like it sweet, you can use more condensed milk or add a teaspoonful of sugar.

a potent teh alia should leave a slight burning sensation in your throat and it should have this drying effect on your mouth so that you want to drink more of it. nowadays, you can buy the bottled dried form of ginger granules to add to your tea.