When I was planning today’s post I noticed it would also be National Almond Day. It was a while ago, but I planned to make a recipe that used almonds prominently. Most of the recipes I found were desserts, but I did find something a little different. This Cozy Almond Rooibos Tea Latte uses almond milk. I think that qualifies for National Almond Day, but it didn’t quite work out as almond-y as I had planned…
You know how you love chai lattes because they’re cozy and cinnamon-y and make you want to wear all of the sweaters? Well, rooibos lattes are just as magical. And this Almond Rooibos Tea Latte is like Harry Potter World at Christmas with matching Weasley sweaters magical.
The Ingredients
The recipe recommends a particular brand of loose rooibos tea, but it’s no longer available. Things like this happen all the time, so I substituted. I had a few bags of Twinings rooibos tea in my pantry.
I also had vanilla extract, maple syrup, water, and milk. It wasn’t almond milk, though, just plain old milk. I debated buying almond milk but ended up deciding against it. The recipe says either can be used, and money is tight right now. So much for National Almond Day 🤷🏻♀️
The Process
The instructions for this recipe were straightforward and looked like they would be easy to follow. The only thing I was unsure of was how much of the bagged tea to use since I substituted it for loose tea leaves.
Substituting Bagged Tea for Loose Leaves
This recipe makes (1) 8-ounce serving and calls for 1 tablespoon of loose rooibos tea. However, I normally use 1 teabag for an 8-ounce serving, and there is 1 teaspoon of tea leaves in the bag (at the most). I wasn’t sure if simply cutting open a few bags of tea to get the same amount of tea leaves was the right thing to do.
I did a lot of searching and I think I found some bad information. I used 1 tea bag on my first try, but some additional searching makes me think I should have used 3. Here’s why…
The general rule for rooibos is:
1 teaspoon loose tea + 8 ounces water = 1 serving OR
1 tea bag + 8 ounces of water = 1 serving
This recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of loose tea with 8 ounces of water. There are 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon, so that would be 3X the normal amount of tea leaves. If I followed that scale I would have needed 3 tea bags.
Making My Cozy Almond Rooibos Tea Latte
With the amount of tea settled, I was able to get started by warming the milk and water in a saucepan. This latte has more milk than water, so it’s creamy from the start—something I really like. I used a nonstick pan and low heat so the milk wouldn’t burn. Then I added the vanilla and maple syrup once it finally came to a simmer.
I cut open the tea bag while waiting for the milk mixture to finish simmering. Once it did, I removed it from the heat and added the loose tea. The recipe doesn’t specify, but I covered the pan to help keep it warm.
After steeping for 7 minutes the milk had turned a pale beige color. I used a fine mesh strainer to filter out the leaves. An Irish coffee mug was just the right size for this latte. A dash of cinnamon on top, and I had a lovely Cozy Almond Rooibos Tea Latte that I couldn’t wait to try.
Timing
This recipe doesn’t list prep, cooking, or total times. The only times shown are part of the instructions, and they were accurate. Here’s how it went for me:
- 10 minutes to simmer the milk mixture
- 7 minutes to steep the tea
- 1 minute to strain and garnish
- 18 minutes total
