VeganMoFo Day 2: Africa Tea Latté

Some things are just predestined from childhood, don't you think? I was always writing, my middle sister Nicole was always giving great massages, and little sis Michelle, well, she was always dreaming of Africa over those National Geographics that we collectively dogeared within days of their arrival. She even insisted on a black Cabbage Patch Kid which was perceived as kinda weird in the 80s for a white kid in all-white New Hampshire. Well, that has changed now but not her love of all things African. Fast forward 25 years and I'm writing for business as well as blogging and writing for fun, Nicole is the pregnancy massage therapist to go to in San Diego and Michelle, well, she doesn't have to dream of Africa anymore because she's spent quite a bit of time there in the last decade working for Unicef and the UN. Thankfully, she is back home now for a bit, staying with my parents in New Hampshire, helping care for our 92-year old Gramps who has unfortunately been in the hospital for the past week. Gramps is okay..going home tomorrow (see our trip to Germany with him this past summer when we celebrated his 92nd birthday). Michelle's been a real saint during this whole thing and kept Gramp's spirits up. True, it's been an easy job because they both have devilishly sick minds and spent most of the time one upping each other with dirty jokes but at his age, it's, should I admit, cute? So that reminded me tonight of Michelle's African tea..a simple but delicious recipe that she made for me last month when she came home. Like all my favorite recipes, it's super simple and I've veganized it from the original milk and honey recipe:

1. Peel about 1-inch of ginger root and dice/grate/slice into slivers/whatever you please
2. Measure out 1 cup of water into a small pot and add the ginger.
3. Boil for 15 minutes on medium to low heat
4. Add 1 tsp. black tea
5. Boil for 2-3 minutes
6. Add 1/2 cup almond milk (I use unsweetened, add more if you want it creamier) 'til warmed
7. Drizzle in about 1 tsp. agave nectar (more or less depending on your preference)

Serve hot in your favorite mug and enjoy! Sort of like a chai latté but with a much more gingery twist. If you have a way of foaming your non-dairy milk, it's even better.