I went to Ethiopia and came back emotionally attached to ginger tea.
Every morning in Addis Ababa, before I cared about museums, landmarks, or figuring out where I was going for the day, I found myself making the same walk to a tiny corner store near my hotel.
Meh, let me not lie — I pretty much “sight-seed” my way to food the entire trip.
On the corner of a busy highway sat a small restaurant tucked between shops that seemed to fold into one another. If you weren’t paying attention, you’d miss it completely. The restaurant sold everything from American sandwiches and pastries to slices of pizza sitting behind glass counters, but somewhere near the bottom of the drink menu was something I started noticing everywhere in Ethiopia:
Ginger tea.
Just ginger tea.
At first, I ordered it absentmindedly. Mostly because the mornings in Addis Ababa were colder than I expected and the traffic outside moved with a kind of chaotic rhythm that made me want to sit still for a second before stepping into the day.
I remember my first interaction with Ethiopian ginger tea vividly.
When the waitress placed the cup down in front of me, I immediately looked for the tea bag.
Nothing.
No string hanging over the side of the cup. No little paper tag. Just this cloudy golden liquid sitting in front of me, steaming aggressively. My first thought was: what the hell is this?
I genuinely thought I had been bamboozled. Like somehow I had just paid for hot ginger-flavored water.
Then I took a sip. And that was it. My eyes widened. The ginger hit — sharp, unapologetically fiery. And before settling warm into my chest in a way that felt oddly comforting, my taste buds felt alive. I don’t think I’ve ever had fresh ginger tea before. Like somebody had actually taken the time to squeeze it instead of rushing it into existence. Wow, I was shocked.
And somewhere between that first sip and the traffic moving outside the restaurant windows, my emotional attachment to ginger tea began. Becuase what do you mean you’re going to hand me over fresh giner tea for less than 1usd and think it would be over between us afterwards.
I started drinking it two times a day. Sometimes three.
Do you know what ginger tea is actually good for? I looked it up.
Digestion. Blood circulation. Inflammation. Immunity. Nausea. Congestion.
I came back to the United States and immediately bought a juicer. Yes, I was that level of committed.
I wandered through grocery stores hunting for ginger, trying to recreate the familiarity I had found in Ethiopia one cup at a time. Then the obsession grew.
I started making my own ginger ale at home — fresh juiced ginger mixed with club soda. After that, I began turning the leftover ginger pulp from the juicer into homemade ginger seasoning because throwing it away started feeling wasteful.
Somewhere along the way, Ethiopia turned me into a full-blown ginger fan girl and now I’m simply here to spread the gospel.
So… have you had your ginger tea today?