Recipe

Africa🇪🇷 EritreaAsmara
Shahi Eritrea
Eritrean · easy · serves 4
prep 5 min · cook 12 min
~49 cal · 0g protein · 13g carbs · 0g fat (estimated, per serving)
🍽️
Glass of amber spiced tea
🇪🇷 Asmara
Eritrean shahi reflects the country's crossroads history: black tea boiled with cloves, cinnamon, and ginger and sweetened heavily, sipped in Asmara's art-deco cafés left from the Italian era. Fragrant and warming, it is offered as a gesture of welcome throughout the day.
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Ingredients
Serves 4
2 tbsp loose black tea
4 cups water
4 cloves
1 stick cinnamon
1-inch ginger
1/4 cup sugar, to taste
Instructions
1
Bring the water to a boil with the cloves, cinnamon stick, and sliced ginger.
2
Add the tea and sugar and simmer gently 5 minutes until amber and fragrant.
3
Steep off the heat for a minute so the spices come forward.
4
Strain into glasses and serve hot and sweet.
Asmara café tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers — know your destination
📍
Asmara. A highland capital of berbere-red stews and injera.
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Eritrea. A Red Sea nation of berbere heat and shared injera.
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Africa. Fifty-four countries of tagines, stews, and fire-kissed grills.
The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.
👩‍🍳
Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker
Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →
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