Category Archives: drink

Yerba mate ceremony

  This past Sunday, I was invited to drink mate  at a lovely sheikha‘s house in the Chouf mountains. Mate is a green herb popular and traditional in Argentina and other parts of South America;  the Druze community in Lebanon has imported yerba maté  into their villages in the  Chouf mountains;  it has become an [...]
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Dried lime tea (Chai noomi Basra)

This infusion is popular in Iraq; it is made by seeding the noomi Basra or dried limes and simmering the peels in water for 15 to 30 minutes; drain and sweeten. Apparently it helps with tummy aches and digestive issues.  I did not have the patience of seeding the limes, I simply poked each in [...]
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Acorn coffee (Ahwet balloot)

  It has been my privilege to befriend Philippe and Saidé, people I consider Salt of the Earth: Seasoned farmers (for generations) in the Lebanese mountains.  They  raised six beautiful children, all grown and gone to live an urban life in Beirut or in North America. Here they are,  left with an intimate knowledge of nature and [...]
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Hawthorn tea (Chai za3roor)

The street vendor is starting to sell roasted chestnuts and of course I had to grab a bag (can’t resist their smell). He had bags of these next to the chestnuts. I asked him “why are they yellow? I mean za3roor (hawthorn) is usually red”; he said “lady, they come in yellow as well and [...]
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Nettle tea (Chai korrass)

Nettle is a wild herb that stings; it grows everywhere and people pretty much leave it alone. It has however extraordinary properties and in the Shouf region in Lebanon, people forage it and make a distilled water with the leaves to drink as a tea with some hot water and a sweetener. Taste is like [...]
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