Homemade Kahwa Mix (Kahwa Powder): Recipe by Weight and Storage

Unscrew a jar of homemade kahwa mix and the cardamom reaches you before you’ve found a spoon. That jar is the point: green tea leaves, coarsely ground elaichi and dalchini, a little saunf and dried rose, mixed once by weight, so a proper cup of kahwa takes one heaped teaspoon and three minutes. Below is the recipe for a jar and per cup, a caffeine-free spice-only version, how to grind and store it so it doesn’t go musty, and why the “slimming kahwa” sachets in the shops are a different thing altogether.

How to make kahwa powder at home: the jar recipe by weight

This is a Peshawari-style everyday kahwa: green tea with warm, sweet spices. Kashmiri kahwa is richer, with saffron and almonds added fresh to the pot, and it has its own Kashmiri kahwa recipe. If you want the doodh patti equivalent, that’s our chai masala by weight. This jar is the green, milk-free cousin.

That’s about 145 g. At a heaped teaspoon a cup it makes roughly 45 to 50 cups, which is about right: enough for a month or two of daily kahwa before the spices start to fade.

A note on rose petals: use dried petals sold for cooking, or roses you grew yourself without sprays. Florist roses are often heavily sprayed and aren’t food.

Grinding and mixing: coarse, not dust

The most common mistake is grinding everything to a fine powder. Fine powder slips through the strainer and turns the cup muddy and gritty. Aim for texture like coarse suji.

1. Warm the whole spices (optional). Put the 20 g cardamom and 10 g cinnamon, broken into small bits, in a dry pan on the lowest flame for 60 to 90 seconds, just until fragrant. No colour. Leave the tea and rose petals out of the pan.
2. Cool completely. Spread them on a plate for at least 15 minutes. Warm spices sealed in a jar sweat, and moisture is how a spice jar goes musty.
3. Grind in short pulses. Grind the cardamom (pods and all) and cinnamon for 2 or 3 short bursts until they’re in coarse bits. Crush the 8 g saunf lightly in a mortar or with a rolling pin.
4. Leave the tea whole. If your green tea leaves are very long, crush them gently between your palms. Don’t put them in the grinder.
5. Mix. In a dry bowl, combine the 100 g tea, ground spices, saunf, crumbled rose petals and sonth. Toss with a dry spoon until evenly spread.
6. Jar it. Fill a clean, completely dry glass jar and close tightly. Label it with the date.

Want true “kahwa powder” for travel, where there’s no room for a strainer? Grind everything, tea included, to a fine powder and use it in a paper or cloth filter. It brews faster (about 2 minutes) but fades quicker too, so make only a small batch this way.

How to make kahwa with kahwa powder

Spices need hotter water than plain green tea, and green tea gets bitter in boiling water. The compromise is water just off the boil and a short, covered steep.

1. Bring 250 ml water to a boil. Switch off and wait about 1 minute (roughly 90°C).
2. Put 1 heaped tsp (about 3 g) of the mix into a teapot or a cup with a strainer.
3. Pour the water over, cover with a saucer, and steep 3 minutes. Covering keeps the cardamom aroma in the cup rather than in the kitchen.
4. Strain well. Leaves left sitting in the pot keep turning it bitter.
5. Serve plain, or add a squeeze of lemon, a few slivered almonds, or a little sugar, gur or honey. Honey is for adults and children over 1 year only.

For a pot of four small cups, use 4 heaped tsp in 800 ml. If it’s too strong, use less mix next time rather than steeping less; if it’s bitter, your water was too hot or the steep too long.

The caffeine-free, spice-only version

For evenings, pregnancy, or anyone cutting caffeine, leave the tea out. Mix 25 g green cardamom, 15 g cinnamon and 12 g saunf (coarsely ground as above) with 5 g dried rose petals and 5 g dried pudina. Spices without tea can take heat, so this one is simmered: 1 level tsp (about 2 g) in 250 ml water, simmered gently for 3 to 4 minutes, then strained. It’s warm, sweet-smelling and naturally caffeine-free.

Storing your kahwa mix, and when to throw it out

• Airtight glass jar, kept in a cool, dark cupboard, away from the stove and the window.
• Always a dry spoon. One wet spoon in monsoon is enough to start clumping and mould.
• Best within 2 to 3 months. Green tea and ground cardamom both lose their aroma steadily once opened. The mix doesn’t become harmful at 3 months; it just tastes flat.
• Throw it out if it’s damp, clumped, smells musty or sour, or shows any white, green or black spots. Don’t sieve out the bad bits and use the rest. Mould on dried plant food can make toxins you can’t see or taste.
• In humid months, make half the batch so it’s used before damp gets in.

Myth: kahwa is caffeine-free

Kahwa made with green tea has caffeine, roughly what any cup of green tea has, about 20 to 30 mg. People believe otherwise because it’s pale, has no milk and tastes of spices rather than “tea”. If you’re pregnant, sleeping badly or drinking eight small cups a day, that caffeine adds up. The spice-only version above is the one that’s truly caffeine-free.

Why not just buy a “slimming kahwa” sachet?

Because many of them aren’t kahwa. Packs sold as “slimming”, “cleanse”, “flat belly” or “stomach wash” kahwa sometimes contain senna (sana makki, sometimes listed as Cassia angustifolia), which is a stimulant laxative. The weight that disappears is water and bowel contents, and regular use can cause cramps, diarrhoea, dehydration and loss of potassium. Read the ingredient list; if you see senna, sana makki or anything you can’t identify, put it back. Our guide to sana makki (senna) tea explains who must avoid it. A plain homemade mix contains exactly what you put in it.

For more everyday qehwa and spice guides, browse Desi Remedies.

Kahwa mix questions people ask