Despite the name, yuzu tea isn't really tea.

It isn't made from tea leaves, and it doesn't usually contain caffeine. In Japan and Korea, yuzu tea is often made by mixing preserved yuzu peel with hot water, creating a bright, fragrant drink somewhere between a citrus infusion and a warming marmalade.

Yuzu has a distinctive fragrance: sharper than orange, softer than lemon, and more floral than either. In winter, that scent seems to appear everywhere. It flavours seasonal dishes and desserts, drifts through bathhouses during winter yuzu baths, and fills steaming cups of hot yuzu tea. Rather than belonging to one tradition, yuzu becomes one of the scents and flavours that announce the arrival of winter.

Yuzu tea is often enjoyed when the weather turns cold, or when someone feels they need something soothing. Citrus has long been associated with refreshment and wellbeing, but there is also something comforting about holding a warm cup of bright, fragrant yuzu on a dark day.

That is also why it feels so at home in a bathhouse. Japanese bathhouses have long celebrated the changing seasons, and the experience doesn't necessarily end when you step out of the water. Sitting quietly with a warm cup of yuzu tea extends that feeling for a little longer, offering another unhurried moment before returning to the outside world.

Like many Japanese seasonal traditions, yuzu tea is simple. There is no ceremony, no elaborate preparation and no special occasion required. Just hot water, a familiar winter fragrance and time.

Follow the seasons with Yū.

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