Also known as: Sulaimani chai, Sulemani, Black tea
A spiced black tea served without milk, flavoured with cardamom, cloves and lime - an Arab-influenced Malabar drink served after meals and at iftar.
Sulaimani is a light black tea brewed without milk and flavoured with whole spices - cardamom and cloves, often cinnamon - finished with sugar and a squeeze of lime; some versions add mint or ginger. It is drunk after heavy meals as a digestive and is a fixture of the Ramadan iftar table.
The name reflects the drink’s Arab association: locals on the Malabar coast linked the milkless spiced tea to the Arab traders who frequented the ports, and the name Sulaimani (a man’s name meaning "man of peace") stuck.