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May Photo A Day : Day 4 : In My Cup

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In my cup is Kashmiri Kahwah

Kahwah (Also spelled qehwa, kehwa or kahwa) is a traditional green tea consumed in Jammu and Kashmir.

During our 2 year stay in Jammu, our neighbors introduced us to this tea.

The tea is made by boiling green tea leaves with saffron strands, cinnamon bark and cardamom pods and cloves.

Generally, it is served with sugar or honey, and crushed nuts, usually almonds or walnuts. I like it without the nuts.

This post is a part of May Photo A Day.

50 Responses

  1. Speechless! Very creative. And love the cup 🙂
    I had kehwa recently at Northern Frontier, Pune. They specialize in Kahmiri, Afghani cuisine. But I love my standard strong tea more than anything else.

    1. Thanks Reema, glad you liked the post!
      I love my tea… ie tea made as per my specifications and of course made by me only… but I do enjoy Kahwah too! 🙂

  2. What a pretty picture. And Kehwa sounds too good. Love that Matka. I too had my tea in such a thing until I switched to Green Tea and the brown colour made it confusing to guess the tea-strength. I hear such lovely things from my Jammu friends. Lucky you!

    1. Thanks Nandana. Kahwah is the drink for winters but you can have it like any other time too. Jammu is a great place to stay. We loved our times there! 🙂

    1. The almonds are blanched and finely sliced and they taste good. When you are drinking it, they settle down, so novices like us had to finish the dry fruits with a spoon in the end. But the people out there are pro in drinking and eating these simultaneously and they never use a spoon to scoop the remaining dry fruits. We learnt their style over a period of time 😀

    1. Blanched and finely sliced nuts are added either to the boiling water or you may add them later too. But they are in your cup! It is a good drink for winters… we used to have it after lunch and dinner. Do try it out!

  3. looks divine.!!!

    btw,did u know that the word coffee originated from the arabic word ‘kahwah’… though it is basically tea, but that where it originated from. and this info has been given to me by my little one who is a lot into etymology now-a-days..!!

  4. I don’t like green tea much. I prefer tea with lots of milk and lots of sugar. But of course, I can try this one, once… 🙂

    Destination Infinity

  5. U stayed for two years in Jammu !!
    thats more tempting than tea to me and I heard abt Kawwa . I guess I had it once in a similar matka
    WOWW !!
    love the click shilpa
    Good day

    1. Have you visited J&K? Jammu was our home for over 2 years and it was a wonderful experience… some lovely memories, great friends and a fab place…small town with laid back attitude but we loved it. 🙂
      Try this Kahwah whenever you can! 🙂

  6. such an earthy pic, shilpa. You must share some jammu pics or stories some day.

    I was introduced to this tea by our close family friends – the Razdans. She makes it in an samovar. Not all enjoy this taste but i like the taste since i regularly drink green tea.

    1. Yeah, the natives of the place use Samovar… but we make it in our tea saucepan on gas or the borosil tea kettle in microwave. I know, initially I thought what’s this hot water tea… but then I fell in love with it and for 2 years it was a ritual at our place… had it after every meal and of course sometimes in between too!
      Jammu pics should be on Facebook 🙂

    1. Wow! That’s cool. DO TRY this tea and also Noon Chai.
      Noon chai is made from special tea leaves, milk, SALT, pistachios, almonds, and cardamom. It is pink in colour! 🙂

  7. wow! I’ve never had this kind of tea!!
    I love the cup! Let me see if I can find any, even if it is to just drink regular chai!! 😀

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