Lemongrass Tea

 I have long associated lemongrass with Asian cooking. I didn't know it was also in West Africa. I've also noticed it as an occasional ingredient in bagged tea. I haven't had much success with cooking with dried lemongrass. It has a nice scent when simmered, but I never really noticed the flavor in broths and soups. Now we'll see how it does on its own.

There are several options for buying lemongrass. If you are feeling flush with cash, it is sometimes available in the fresh herb section of the grocery store. Thanks to the popularity of the university with Asian students, the grocery store near where I work does have fresh lemongrass available on occasion. It costs a lot. I also found it chopped up in short pieces in the bulk spice section of a different grocery store. It definitely needs to be strained out of whatever you are putting it in. Then at one of the Asian markets I found powdered lemongrass. I got a jar thinking that it might help boost the flavor when I wanted to cook with lemongrass, but I haven't tried it yet.

I opted to use the dried lemongrass.

 I used 1.5 cups of water (about 375 ml), and 2 tablespoons (4g) of lemongrass. I boiled the water, added the lemongrass and simmered for 5 minutes.

Inhale the delicate lemon scent.

Cameroon

I can't say that I found a lot of sources talking about lemongrass tea in Cameroon (okay, it was one), but I found this video to be quite endearing, so lemongrass tea it is. While I was dependent on the subtitles to understand the video, I was impressed that my high school French allowed me to pick out some words that he was saying. I will admit I was one of the oddballs who liked learning a foreign language. My classmates in my French class at my second high school highly resented the fact that I would have conversations in French with the German exchange student in our French class. They insisted that they couldn't understand us because we were speaking a foreign language. In fact most of them thought I was an exchange student myself, and were rather miffed when I showed up again the next year. I really missed Claudia after she went home. It's sad that most of the kids in the US don't get it. You should learn a language that your parents don't speak so you and your siblings can have open conversations at home without your parents understanding a word. They can't be mad at you because you are being smart, and studying. But I digress...

If you want some information on the geography and brief colonial history of Cameroon, click here. I thought about summarizing it in the text, but posting a link is easier than the inevitable plagiarization that these things turn into because there's really no way to change up the listing of countries that it borders. I guess I could mix up the order a bit, but why expend the energy? Overall, the country is described as being slightly larger than the state of California, and the southern coastal region is known for being hot and humid with dense vegetation. When I searched for tea, I got a lot of hits for tea estates, so tea is definitely grown there. According to one source, they are the 27th largest producer of tea in the world. It seems that the lemongrass is something new being introduced to the region. It's also a nice example of someone going abroad to get an education, then bringing that back to make their country of origin a better place. "The brain drain" is a problem in many places around the world (and is even referenced in some states around the US).

Anyway, as the video describes it, they are distributing dried lemongrass and local honey for tea.

 Here's what it looks like brewed.

I can't say that I want to sit around and drink straight lemongrass water all the time, but I can see how it could be popular with some honey. It has a vague lemon flavor in addition to the herbal flavor.  It's a nice decaf option in a country full of tea plants.

Liberia

Liberia is on the lower part of the west coast of the African continent - it's where there is the big curve in. It is described as being slightly larger than the state of Tennessee with a warm, humid climate by the coast and 2 seasons. Rainy season, and dry. Changing winds from the Sahara are blamed for extending the dry season in some regions.

I was a little skeptical of their take on lemongrass tea. They serve it with milk and sugar.

I really didn't know if the flavor of the lemongrass would hold up to the milk. I will admit that I let it continue to steep while I tried the tea plain. I decided that there was enough flavor to anticipate tasting something other than warm milk. So I did an approximately 50/50 mix of warm milk and tea.

I think the color actually shows up better in the picture than in real life. I actually liked this combination better than plain. Something about the combination of milk with the lemongrass was really complimentary. I could see this being a pleasant drink on a hot, humid afternoon.