Kerala, on the Malabar Coast, is the birthplace of black pepper and cardamom, which grow wild in the forests of the Western Ghats. It is to this coast of spices, where merchants once came from afar, that the name Épices Indiennes du Kerala Bio pays tribute; the spices in the blend, for their part, come from several producing countries.

Six spices make it up, with no tea and no cut plant, cinnamon appearing twice: ginger from Peru, China and Nigeria, cinnamon sticks from Viêt-Nam and Indonesia, Ceylon cinnamon, clove from Tanzania, black pepper, cardamom and nutmeg. All come from organic farming. Nutmeg is the seed of the nutmeg tree, Myristica fragrans, a tree native to the Moluccas.

The dry blend is a spice merchant’s counter in miniature. The liquor is deep amber. The warmth builds in layers: the ginger in the front line, sharp and lively, the cinnamon as the foundation, the pepper at the tip. The nutmeg brings a woody roundness, rare in a cup, and the cardamom perfumes the whole journey to the last sip.

After a meal, this caffeine-free cup is prepared with water at 100 °C and 12 to 15 g of spices per litre, left to steep for at least seven minutes and up to ten. Infused in a little water and then lengthened with hot milk, it makes a chai without tea, very aromatic.

It accompanies a coconut cake, rice pudding, a roasted banana. An airtight box, kept dry, preserves the scent of the spices.