Kinderpunsch

Kinderpunsch belongs to the Christmas market and the Advent kitchen, the mug you hand to children while the adults stand over Glühwein. It isn't one region's private property. You'll find it from Hamburg to Munich, but the pot changes as it travels: in the north I like it sharper, with Hagebuttentee, rosehip tea, and cloudy apple juice; farther south, many pots go darker and sweeter with red grape or cherry juice and more orange.

The rule is simple: keep it below a simmer. With wine, boiling drives off alcohol and makes bitterness. Here there is no alcohol to save, but the same rough heat still ruins the drink, because fruit juice boiled with peel and clove turns flat, cooked, and a little bitter. Warm it until the surface trembles, then let the spices steep covered. Das braucht seine Zeit, but not much of it.

Nicht aus dem Glas. A bought bottle or packet mix tastes of sugar first and spice second, and that is the wrong order. Brew the tea strong, use cloudy naturtrueb apple juice if you can get it, count the cloves, and put the lemon in at the end so the sour edge stays alive. Erst verstehen, dann kochen.