Kashmiri Saffron tea

I had read the story of a Russian prisoner who escaped from a Siberian prison, trekked all the way to Kashmir. What was interesting was, he mentioned drinking saffron tea when he reached Kashmir. He mentioned about the tea having no tea!!! in it. Since reading about it, I always wanted to make saffron tea. I asked all my kashmiri friends and each had a different variation. All of them said you have to add tea leaves.
Finally I found the recipe for saffron tea without any tea leaves in Madhur jaffrey's Ultimate curry bible

You need real saffron, not the fake one they sell in India(which incidentally is an outer covering of nutmeg!!)
3/4 t spoon saffron
900 ml water
4 cardomom lightly crushed
5 teaspoons sugar( i have a sweeeet tooth and take 8 spoons!!)

crush the saffron

Heat the sugar, water and cardmom, when it boils add the saffron close the lid, take it off from fire. Steep for an hour, strain. reheat and serve warm