Cardamon Tea from Throne of the Crescent Moon

He took a second-to-last slurp of tea, savoring all of the subtle spices that Yehyeh layered beneath the cardamom.
                             --Throne of the Crescent Moon, Chapter One

Throne of the Crescent Moon, by Saladin Ahmed, recently came out.  I had a blast reading this book.  The cardamom tea here sounded lovely...so I heated up the stove and opened my spice cupboard.

Cardamon Tea

2 tablespoons green cardamon pods
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns
Heaping 1/4 teaspoon cloves
1 small stick cinnamon
Sugar or honey, to taste.

Place all ingredients in a heavy-bottom pan and toast over medium-low heat until fragrant.   You don't need to be precise about measuring -- I know some people like concrete numbers, so I included them.  It works just as well to throw in pinches of everything, and extra of the cardamon.  Toasting the spices took about ten minutes on my stove.  Cast iron is good at this -- it distributes heat evenly.

Toss the toasted ingredients into about 4 cups of nearly-boiling water.  Let it steep for at least twenty minutes.  Though, really, you could just throw it in the fridge and forget about it until tomorrow.  

Strain, then sweeten to taste with honey or sugar.  My husband likes it unsweetened, but I think a touch of honey actually brings out the flavors.

Simple, but delicious.  And my house gets to smell like cardamon. 

*As a side note, none of these spices should be expensive.  Bulk food bins, the Hispanic foods aisle, and ethnic food markets all have these for cheap where I live.