Berry Ginger Infused Raspberry Tea

This infused recipe is inspired by the cardiac ICU nurses at Yale!

CCU is one of the hardest months for us – I didn’t have a lot of it during intern year, so I was glad to have it for a whole month to get extra training on advanced heart failure and interventional cardiology. It’s a busy, fast paced rotation, and patients can get sick very quickly.

Pro tip for any resident is to be nice to nurses. This was hammered into me by my many Filipino aunties who are all nurses.

In particular ICU nurses are stellar, and they help us learn while keeping the patient alive and well. A nice perk of having a Filipino background is a cultural bond with Filipino nurses, who make up a large portion of nurses in the USA. I tell interns to learn “kumusta” (hello) and “salamat” (thank you) – alas my Tagalog knowledge is very limited, but they always appreciate it.

In the CCU we can end up rounding for many hours, often getting dehydrated. A few of the nurses set up a “spa water” station in the conference room. Every few days the nurses rotate the ingredients – orange ginger, lemon rosemary, blueberry mint, etc, and the nurses also constantly refill the station with water. 

It’s hard to keep drinking water when you’re busy, but you can’t help but drink such pretty spa water. I told the nurses that they probably saved me from having an acute kidney injury (and gave them “wow bucks” which is hospital money at the end of my rotation in gratitude).

Instead of fruits in water, I used fruits in tea to make this Berry Ginger Infused Raspberry Tea. I had never had ginger to infuse a drink before my CCU rotation and I loved the extra flavor. This combination is perfect for a summer party drink. Enjoy!

Berry Ginger Infused Raspberry Tea

Ingredients
8 cups raspberry tea
1/2 cup agave, to taste
1 inch ginger, sliced
1 cup mixed raspberries and blackberries

Directions
Prepare raspberry tea and steep to desired concentration. let it cool to room temperature. Add agave, to desired sweetness.

Add the ginger and berries to the sweetened tea once cool. Add ice and serve chilled. Enjoy!