Nothing beats curling up on the couch on a rainy (or sunny) Sunday afternoon with a warm pot of Cambric Tea. What’s Cambric Tea you ask? Cambric Tea is an American term to describe a hot drink made with milk, water, sugar and a dash of tea. The name is taken from a lightweight fabric called Cambric, which is white and thin—just like the "tea." As a toddler, my mom would make me Cambric Tea by pouring a small amount of good old Lipton Tea into a cup and adding lots of milk and a spoonful of sugar. I really wanted coffee, but I’m allergic to it (and all legumes), so I would just pretend my Cambric Tea was coffee. I make my Cambric Tea now by steeping Earl Grey in a mixture of hot lowfat milk and water. You can make it with whole milk or half and half for a more decadent and yummy drink. Here’s my recipe:
Cambric Tea for Two2 cups milk
2 cups water
2 Earl Grey teabags
2 or 3 teaspoons of sugar (to taste)
Place the cold milk and water in a saucepan and bring just to the boiling point. Be careful and watch it, so it doesn’t steam up and boil over the pan. Then add the teabags and cover with a lid. Let it steep about 5 or 10 minutes. Remove the bags and stir in the sugar. Pour into a teapot and enjoy your Sunday!
30 comments:
Thanks for the description and recipe! I just had my first cambric tea yesterday at a local coffee shop. I am a longtime tea drinker and afficionado, but, oddly, I'd never heard of a cambric tea! I'll try it at home using your recipe, but I'm wondering, are there other non-chai mixed tea drinks out there that I still haven't heard about?
Thanks for the recipe. I would always get this drink at places like Starbucks but I never quite knew how to do it myself. It is also great if you use flavorings like vanilla.
Coffee isn't a legume. It's not an actual bean. It's the seed of a fruit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_bean
Sorry if you think I'm being pedantic. Coffee upsets my stomach too, probably because of tannins. I prefer chai instead, which is sort of like this cambric tea. Anyway, thanks for helping me learn what cambric tea was.
It strikes me as odd to make a milk-based drink with Earl Grey tea. A delicately flavoured tea such as Earl Grey would be greatly altered, and, I think, greatly for the worse, by adding milk.
On the other hand, since this "cambric tea" seems to be more a hot sweetened milk than a tea as such, it may work. I shall have to try it when I'm next in need of comforting milkiness.
The burgamot flavor is not
affected much by the milk,
but the black tea is, so it
makes it even more candy-like.
I remember cambric tea and toast
after flu-bugs when I was very
young. Relaxing.
ah yes..chai is similar..
the tea is light and further blunted,
the clove and other spices carry
on through the milk and sugar..
I grew up in the 1950's drinking Cambric tea, just as you describe it, with my great grandmother. Although she was born in San Francisco in 1876, her afternoon tea ritual was a family thing...both of her parents having been born and raised in England. I have passed the tradition down to my children and grandchildren. The only difference...we use more sugar. Even when I make a strong cup of tea, I usually add some milk.
My family is from PEI Canada and when we make it instead of tea we use a drop of vanilla. I grew up on this and it is delightful
My mother first made this for me after the birth of my first child. The winter was a cold one, and because I was nursing, coffee and tea were off the menu. She made it for me with approximately equal amounts of water and milk, sweetened with a bit of honey or sugar, and flavored with vanilla and a dash of cinnamon. Yummy! On a cold day, I still enjoy it to this day as do my now adult children
My Mother always made Cambric Tea for me when I was not feeling well. At age 70, I still enjoy a cup to warm the cockles of my heart.
As a child, 70+ years ago, my mom would make us Cambric Tea. I thought it was something she made up since she didn't want to give us strong tea or coffee. We were always happy with it. And to this day, if a tea bag isn't available I just say " don't worry, I'll make cambric tea" Today I decided to google it and see if anyone else had it as a child. Woe! Was I surprized to see it dates back to 1850s
I remember my grandfather taking this to the bush to work back in the 1960s in central Minnesota...he was 80+ and was clearing land by hand for farming.
I never learned to like straight coffee so when am offered coffee I request they make "Cambric Coffee" instead. Love it!
Thank you for this post. I hadn't thought about this in years but talking to a friend the other day, cambric tea came up. I wasn't even sure it was a real thing or just something my grandmother had made up. Your post was a happy surprise when I googled. Exactly as I had it as a child.
I am allergic to all legumes too! It's not often you come across a fellow legume allergy sufferer. Peas, lentils, beans, cashews, peanuts, all of them are off my menu. But I'm not allergic to coffee. it's not a legume.
My mom gave us cambric tea. I thought she had made it up. I decided to see if i could find a definition and lo and behold here are all these people who have had cambric tea too! Our tea was just boiling water, milk, and sugar. we kids loved it. I wanted to tell my granddaughter about this tea. I did not think anyone drank it anymore.Brings back sweet memories.
I grew up in the 60s drinking Cambric Tea. My parents drank brewed tea (rarely coffee). Our version of Cambric contained no tea, just warm milk, hot water and honey or sugar. At age 13, on our birthday, we would get our first cup of real Liptons Looseleaf tea with our parents. We were allowed to have tea after dinner from that day forward, and converse with the adults. I was child number 6 of 7, so there was great anticipation as each one before me started the tea ritual.
Legumes?
This is right out of my past, too! My mom, whose parents wereSwedish immigrants, made hot Cambric tea for me because she didn't want to serve caffeine to a child. It is a hot, comforting beveridge to sip on a cold day or drink for nutrition when feeling ill. I make it now with either vanilla or mint extract with or without sugar or honey. Delicious!
I remember reading a book as a young girl and they would drink Cambric Tea. I've always used milk and sugar in my tea and thought that Cambric Tea was similar. I just decided to google it as I'm currently drinking a cup of tea and couldn't believe that it is real thing. Love reading all of the comments. Happy New Year!
I made this for my children when they were young. I called it nursery tea. I heard it called that when I lived in England...the land of tea lovers.
I was reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter when I came across this description "Cambric tea was hot water and milk, with only a taste of tea in it, but little girls felt grown-up when their mothers let them drink cambric tea."
How cute!
Interesting, I googled cambric tea after reading about it in The Long Winter. So now I’m enjoying these cozy comments!
I was always given cambric tea as a child when I was not feeling well. I always thought it was something my mother invented but I was obviously wrong. So glad that it was really a drink that a lot of people used also.
My mother gave this to me as well when I was ill and just as you I thought she invented it although she said her mother gave it to her and called it "cambric" tea
I'm 70 years old, and I thought cambric tea was something made up by our Irish nanny. Boy was I surprised to discover the truth.
Same here, reading The Long Winter as well and had to find out what Cambric tea was!
Were you reading beatrix Potter, the story about the rabbit that gets in Mr mvGregar's garden?
You've brought back memories of my mother making me cambric tea back in th '50s, when I was a child. She made it when I wasn't feeling well. I must of had a couple of quarts when I had the mumps. Thank you.
I grew up drinking cambric tea in the 50"s. My mother always gave it to me when I was sick, through the measles, the mumps, and everything in between. I never knew anyone else whose mother gave them cambric tea. I always wanted to find out the origin. Her mother was Swedish and her father English background. And just for the record....Peter Rabbit was given chamomile tea...
This is the way my Mother fixed it around 1952 in Sylmar CA
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