MY DARLING LEMON THYME

soothing lemon, honey + rosemary tea recipe

lemon, honey + ginger tea

Something’s been trying to get me these past few days. It’s been lurking at the back of my throat threatening to worsen. I had felt like I was managing to keep it at bay by overdosing on vitamin C, Olive leaf extract and Colloidal silver, but this morning I woke up feeling like crap. My nose is now slightly blocked and my head feels stuffy. Still it could be worse. There have been some real nasties doing the rounds these last few months and if I can manage to keep things at this stage, I should be feeling back to normal within the next few days. 

rosemary
Untitled
lemon, honey + rosemary tea

Hot lemon honey drink has always been my go-to soother for sore throats, just like my mama used to make us as kids. I do all sorts of variations on the theme, sometimes adding in thin slices of fresh ginger, while other times adding in fresh herbs from the garden. Fresh peppermint, thyme, kawakawa leaves (found in NZ) and rosemary are all great and add wonderful flavours as well as healing medicinal properties

I had planned on playing around with a soup idea I’ve been thinking about for some time, but as I can’t taste much today I’ll leave it for another day. I’ll also have a bit more time on my hands when the kids go back to school tomorrow and I have to say there’s going to be a big sigh of relief when I drop them off tomorrow! If you don’t have kids you will probably be thinking I sound like the worst mum in the world, but if you do have kids you’ll totally understand.There’s only so much fighting this mum can take. Most holidays are fine, they take the first few days to get used to being around each other so much again, fighting and carrying on as kids do. But they usually sort it all out by around the middle of week one and then go on to have lots of fun for the rest of the time. But somethings gone terribly wrong these holidays. They’ve both been really tired and grumpy and I feel like I’ve been referee the entire holidays. I’m not one of those mums that tends to have heaps planned in the holidays and I like to have at least a good few days at home every week for the kids to just potter around and well, be kids. And other than the 4 days that we had my Dad and Marie visiting we haven’t really done much to tire them out, so I don’t know what’s up? Middle of the year grumps I think.

the kids + their boat

Don’t get me wrong, there have been some really lovely moments especially when playing outside on their ‘boats’ (fallen branches from the neighbours palm). And when we go bike riding around the neighbourhood or for a play at the park they get on great. But I find this motherhood business is all a balancing act and I’m constantly trying to figure it all out, trying to pre-empt the kids needs before they get past the point of no return. Hungry, tired, thirsty, hot, cold? 
Oh the joys I tell ya. 

Enjoy your tea people, I know I have been xx

lemon, honey + rosemary tea

soothing lemon, honey + rosemary tea
This really is just an idea more so than an actual recipe. Make adjustments to your taste, especially if the lemons you are using are somewhat tart. I like mine on the sour side so use around 2 tablespoons of honey, but feel free to add more if preferred. 
Serves 1-2


  • 2 cups (500ml) filtered water
  • 1 tablespoon roughly chopped fresh rosemary
  • juice 2 medium lemons
  • 2-4 tablespoons honey

Bring the water and rosemary to the boil in a small pot over high heat. Allow to boil for about a minute then remove from the heat and set aside for a further minute to steep. Add lemon juice and honey (to taste). Give it all a good stir to dissolve the honey then strain into glasses and serve. If you don’t have a strainer don’t stress, just pour into glasses and the allow the rosemary to settle to the bottom before drinking. I really don’t mind the odd little bit of rosemary to chew on, so I skip the straining part most times. 

This recipe is linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays @ Simply Sugar & Gluten-free.

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13 Responses

  1. Wishing you all the best, I hope you'll get better soon 🙂
    This recipe reminds me of the lemon, thyme & honey tea my mother used to make when I had bouts of bronchitis as a child. Let's just say being sick sucked less when you could drink bucketloads of the soothing beverage. 😉
    Take care!

    1. Thanks Marie-Anne! Your mum was onto a good thing; lemon, thyme + honey is one of my favourite combos too 🙂 xx

  2. I'm sorry to hear you are sick. Sometimes it's just unavoidable despite all our best efforts. My mother always made us the same drink when we were poorly and I did the same for my son. Now he makes it for himself when he is feeling off and so it goes on down the generations.
    I don't know about the going back to school thing because I homeschooled my son for most of his schooling but I can imagine it, especially if you have two who are grumpy.
    All the best for your recovery.

  3. I'm glad to hear i'm not the only one wearing boxing gloves during holidays!!I am like you where i don't plan them to death,i let them putter and fart around.saying that i do believe they are upstairs killing other as i type this.

  4. This look delicious. Hope it gets you back on your feet. Anything warm with honey is what I turn to, too. Happy I found your blog 🙂