Jamaica, Canela and Manzanilla: Tea Traditions From Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America

There is a ruby red pitcher in my refrigerator that every September gets more attention than anything else on my shelf. It is hibiscus. If you grew up drinking agua de jamaica, you knew that color before you read the label.

This is my Hispanic Heritage Month tea post, written from San Antonio, where these drinks are not exotic. They are Tuesday. National Hispanic Heritage Month runs September 15 through October 15, and I am spending it on 4 drinks that live in kitchens across Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America, plus 1 iced tea for this weekend.

I will be straight about which I sell. 2 are on my shelf. 2 are not, and I would rather tell you where to look.

What is agua de jamaica, and is it really tea?

Agua de jamaica is an infusion of dried hibiscus flowers, not tea leaves. The plant is roselle, and the part you steep is the deep red calyx, which is why the water turns burgundy in minutes.

The history is older and wider than most people expect. The UTSA Special Collections culinary history blog, based here in San Antonio, cites a botanist who in 1899 saw baskets of flor de jamaica in the markets of Guadalajara and called it one of Mexico's most popular summer drinks. The same source notes roselle is native to the Old World, was carried here by enslaved Africans, and naturalized across the West Indies and Central America. The whole route is in the cup.

It is thoroughly Texan now. Saveur calls it a drink popular on both sides of the Texas-Mexico border. If you have been to a quinceañera or a church hall here, you have had it in a plastic cup.

The 4 traditions, side by side

Drink	Where it is everyday	How it is served	Caffeine	On my shelf
Agua de jamaica (hibiscus)	Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean	Cold over ice, lightly sweetened, often with lime	None	Yes, my Hibiscus
Té de canela (cinnamon)	Mexico and much of Latin America	Hot, sometimes with milk or piloncillo	None on its own	Yes, inside Fireball
Té de manzanilla (chamomile)	Mexico and Spain	Hot, after dinner or at bedtime	None	Not yet
Yerba mate	Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, southern Brazil	Hot from a shared gourd, or cold as tereré	Yes	No

Té de canela: the cup that appears when someone is not feeling well

Té de canela is cinnamon bark steeped in hot water, the first thing offered in many households when somebody has a cold or a hard day. A stick, a pot, 10 minutes.

The cinnamon matters more than you would think. What Mexican kitchens call canela is true cinnamon, and the chef Zarela Martínez has written that it is grown in Sri Lanka rather than Mexico, used because it is softer and sweeter than the cassia sold in American grocery stores. Crumble a stick of canela and it gives. Cassia will not.

That soft, layered cinnamon is what I built Fireball around. It is a black tea with orange peel, clove and cinnamon, and the blend people ask about most. It is not a té de canela and I will not pretend it is. It leans the same way, which is why it works with hibiscus below.

Manzanilla: the everyday flower in the kitchen cabinet

Manzanilla is the Spanish word for chamomile, the quiet workhorse of Latin American home remedies. It gets brewed for upset stomachs, for fussy babies, and most often for no reason except that dinner is over and the house is going quiet.

I will be careful here, because I sell tea and I will not make claims I cannot stand behind. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health says chamomile is likely safe in the amounts found in teas, and that research on it for specific conditions is not strong enough to rate. So here is what is true: it tastes like a soft apple, it is warm, and it means someone is looking after you.

I do not carry a chamomile. If you came for the bedtime cup, my Calming Teas for Evening shelf holds Lovely Lavender and Rose Garden, the closest in feel.

Yerba mate and the gourd that goes around the circle

Yerba mate is a caffeinated infusion that comes from the Guaraní people of what is now Paraguay, northern Argentina, southern Brazil and Uruguay. It is drunk from a hollowed gourd through a metal straw called a bombilla. Here is the part I love: one gourd, one server, one circle, passed hand to hand.

The cold version, tereré, is taken so seriously in Paraguay that UNESCO added it to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2020, medicinal herbs and all.

I do not sell yerba mate. I am telling you anyway, because it proves the thing I have said since I started hosting: the tea itself is just a vehicle. Nobody passes a gourd around because they are thirsty.

Hibiscus and cinnamon iced tea, agua de jamaica style

This is agua de jamaica with a cinnamon and clove backbone, using 2 things I carry. It is what I pour when it is still 95 degrees in September and I want something that tastes like fall.

1. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil, then take it off the heat.
2. Drop in 4 Hibiscus sachets, a whole box, and 1 Fireball sachet.
3. Steep 8 to 10 minutes. Longer is fine; hibiscus does not turn bitter the way black tea does.
4. Lift the sachets out. Stir in sugar while the water is hot, starting with 3 tablespoons and tasting from there.
5. Add the juice of 1 lime. Do not skip it. Lime is what makes this taste like jamaica instead of fruit punch.
6. Cool, then pour over a full glass of ice with a lime wheel. Makes 4 tall glasses.

2 honest notes. I brew it strong on purpose, because ice waters it down. And the Fireball sachet brings caffeine, so this is not a Caffeine-Free drink. For kids or the evening, leave it out and drop a cinnamon stick in the pot. You keep the spice, you lose the depth.

Which teas fit a Hispanic Heritage Month tea party?

Serve 1 cold and 1 hot, and let the cold one be jamaica. A pitcher of hibiscus over ice does the visual work the second it lands, and a cinnamon-forward pot gives people a reason to sit back down after they eat.

A few things I have learned hosting these in September:

• ✓ Put the pitcher where people see the color. It is the centerpiece, not the drink station.
• ✓ Label the caffeine. Somebody at every table is avoiding it and will not ask.
• ✓ Lime wedges on a saucer, not in the pitcher, so people go as tart as they like.
• ✓ Ask what people's families drank. That question turns a party into a conversation.

If you would rather have the month handed to you, my Monthly Tea Blossom Club box carries a theme every month, and September's is Comfort and Culture. I wrote up what is inside the September box separately. The cycle never changes: order by the 8th, ships the 10th, arrives around the 15th. Members also get a seat at the virtual tea party on the last Monday, where we all brew the same thing at once.

Why I wrote this one

Because a shelf that sells hibiscus and calls it nothing but hibiscus is missing the point. Jamaica has a name and a route, and more than a century of documented life in Mexican markets before it ever reached a sachet in Texas.

And all 4 traditions are the same idea in a different vessel. A pitcher, a pot, a mug at bedtime, a gourd going around a circle. Somebody makes it, hands it to you, and everybody stays longer than they meant to.

Start with a pitcher. Steep my Hibiscus sachets tart, set it in the middle of the table, and see what comes out. Who will you invite to your table?

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Questions People Ask About Hispanic Heritage Month Tea Traditions

What tea is traditional for Hispanic Heritage Month?

There is no official one, but the drinks most associated with the month are agua de jamaica (hibiscus), té de canela (cinnamon) and té de manzanilla (chamomile), plus yerba mate further south. Most are herbal infusions rather than tea leaves. Jamaica is the one poured most often at gatherings.

Is agua de jamaica the same as hibiscus tea?

Yes. Jamaica is the Spanish name for the dried hibiscus calyx you steep. The difference is serving style: hibiscus tea is often poured hot, while agua de jamaica is an iced, sweetened agua fresca finished with lime.

Does hibiscus tea have caffeine?

No. Hibiscus is a flower infusion, not a leaf from the tea plant, so it carries no caffeine on its own. That makes it a good choice for evening gatherings and the kids' table. Caffeine only enters if you blend it with a black or green tea, as my iced recipe does.

What is the difference between canela and regular cinnamon?

Canela is true cinnamon, softer and sweeter than the cassia sold as cinnamon in most American stores. The sticks crumble between your fingers. Cassia is harder, sharper and can overwhelm a cup. For té de canela, look for soft-stick canela at a Latin grocery.

Can I make agua de jamaica with tea sachets instead of loose flowers?

Yes, and it is faster. Use 1 hibiscus sachet per 8 ounce cup, steep 8 to 10 minutes, sweeten while hot, add lime, then pour over ice. Brew it stronger than you would drink it hot, because the ice dilutes it. Loose flowers give volume, sachets give less mess.

What is yerba mate and why is it shared from one cup?

Yerba mate is a caffeinated infusion from a South American holly plant, drunk from a gourd through a filtered metal straw called a bombilla. It originates with the Guaraní people. One person serves and the same gourd passes around the circle, a gesture of trust rather than a way to save dishes.