Name: Gol Gav Zaban (Borage Tea)
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 2 tbsp borage (dried flowers); 1 cup water; 1 tsp nabat (or sugar, optional); 1 wedge lemon (optional)

A cup of Gol Gav Zaban, also known as borage tea, is a soothing beverage that has anti-inflammatory properties. Easily learn how to steep your own Gol Gav Zaban the way my mom taught me.

Gol Gav Zaban is the Persian word for borage. Borage is a plant with pretty light blue flowers that are purple when dried. Each word has its own meaning: Gol means flower, gav means cow, and zaban means tongue. It’s a description of borage, the “cow tongue flower”.

Glass of tea next to a pile of purple flowers.

Taste and medicinal benefits

Borage is not only pretty to look at, but tastes wonderful. Borage has a light, subtly sweet flavor that tastes herbal at the same time. It also has a crisp freshness which some people compare to cucumber or cucumber-infused water. You can also make borage simple syrup or a borage fizz mocktail with the beautiful flowers.

🧾Ingredients in this recipe

Dried flowers, lemon slice, and yellow rock candy on a countertop.

Borage – You can find borage at your local Middle Eastern market, or online. Borage grows in most zones, so you can grow your own and dry it very easily, too. Dried borage flowers look like shriveled and crumbled purple-blue flowers.
Saffron Nabat – You can get this hard rock candy online or at a Middle Eastern market. My favorite kind of nabat is Sadaf Rock Candy with Saffron.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

☕️ How to Brew this Tea

Steep the borage for 5-10 minutes. As you steep it, the color of the tea will develop into a deep color, sometimes reddish/purple-ish in hue.

Straining steeped tea into a glass teacup.

Next, strain out the dried borage so you only have the steeped tea left in your pot. Your tea is ready!

Sweeten your tea by stirring in some saffron nabot or plain sugar. You can also make your own homemade saffron ghand (sugar cubes). Serve in pretty, glass teacups for the tea to showcase the incredible color and a slice of lemon!

Glass of tea next to lemon and purple flowers.

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Author: Candice Walker