Yuja Tea유자차

Yuja tea might be the simplest recipe on this entire site, but understanding the ingredient behind it makes you appreciate why Koreans consider it irreplaceable during winter. Yuja, also called yuzu in Japanese, is a citrus fruit with an aroma that is completely unlike lemon, lime, or orange. It is more floral, more complex, and more fragrant than any of them. One whiff of a jar of yuja-cheong (the marmalade) and you understand why this fruit has its own fan base.

The marmalade itself is what makes this a practically instant drink. Yuja-cheong is made by slicing the whole fruit, rind and all, mixing it with equal parts sugar, and letting it macerate for weeks until the sugar draws out all the juice and the rind becomes soft and jammy. You can make your own if you can find fresh yuja fruit (available November through January at Korean markets), but the jarred version sold at Korean grocery stores is excellent and what most people use.

To make the tea, you literally spoon the marmalade into a mug and add hot water. That is it. The bits of rind floating in the tea add a pleasant chewiness and burst of citrus flavor. It is closer to a warm citrus drink than what Westerners think of as tea, since there are no tea leaves involved.

Yuja is loaded with vitamin C, roughly three times the amount found in lemons, which is part of why it became the go-to winter wellness drink in Korea. Beyond the health angle, it simply tastes wonderful: bright, sweet, fragrant, and warming. In summer, you can make iced yuja tea by dissolving the marmalade in cold sparkling water, which creates a refreshing citrus soda.

One tip: do not use boiling water. Water around 80 degrees Celsius preserves more of the delicate yuja aroma. Let your kettle sit for a minute after boiling before pouring.