Té de Canela Poblano

Puebla, the central highlands, especially the cold kitchens of the Sierra Norte and the neighborhoods around the city where morning air gets into your bones. Té de canela lives there, and in Tlaxcala, Estado de México, Hidalgo, all through the altiplano. I am placing this version in Puebla because the talavera cup, the piloncillo from nearby cane country, and the habit of serving it before bread or atole feel right together.

This is not fancy tea. It is canelita. Whole Ceylon cinnamon, water, piloncillo. That is the dish. The mistake people make is treating it like a tea bag. No. You boil the canela until the water turns deep amber and the flavor comes out of the bark. Powdered cinnamon is for other things. Here it makes mud.

My mother used to make this when someone coughed twice at breakfast. She did not ask questions. She put the olla on the stove, broke the cinnamon with her hands, and shaved piloncillo with a knife that had done harder work. Saber cocinar es saber vivir. Some recipes feed hunger. Some feed the household's nerves.