Green Tea Vanilla Latte (lactose free)

Back in the summer, I was looking for a healthier way to get a caffeine kick, and green tea was the obvious answer. But truthfully, I'm not a big fan of the taste of plain green tea, so I needed to find a tasty way to drink it. What I came up with is delicious, and lactose free!

You'll need:

1 cup pure green tea (don't buy the premade stuff; it usually isn't just green tea and has unhealthy additions). I just run some water through the Keurig and use it to make the tea. Make sure your tea bag's ingredient list says "green tea leaves" and that's all it contains.

1 cup vanilla almond milk. When my CD isn't flaring, I've also used 1 cup of regular milk and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Vanilla soy milk would probably work too, but I personally haven't tried it.

2 tablespoons of honey, or to taste.

A sprinkle of cinnamon (I also use a dash of nutmeg)

Directions:

Brew your tea. Heat up your milk (but don't allow it to boil). Combine the tea and milk. If you're using regular milk, don't forget to add the vanilla. Stir to combine. Add the honey and stir until it has melted and mixed into the liquid. Sprinkle cinnamon on top and serve. This makes 2 cups, which was the perfect amount for my travel mug.

Tips:

Feel free to omit the cinnamon and add what you like. Try some orange zest or extract, or other sweet extracts. This might even be good with chocolate almond milk! Who knows! Playing is the fun part ;-)

You can reduce the amount of water used for your green tea if you don't want 2 cups worth of the drink. Just use 1/2 cup hot water for the tea, or 1/2 of the hot water for tea and 1/2 cup milk. Be aware, though, that the taste of the green tea will be stronger if you use this method.

Serve hot or cold! Follow the above directions for a hot drink, but if you're like me and drink iced beverages all year round, make it cold by stirring the honey into the tea while it's hot, then letting it cool and adding in cold milk instead of hot. Proceed with recipe, then add in some ice and a straw, and you're all set!

When I first tried this, I couldn't believe how tasty it was! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do :-)