In a small saucepan bring the water
to a boil. Add your tea leaves and remove pan from heat. Cover pan and steep
tea 5 minutes. Strain tea
through a fine sieve into a bowl, then add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Chill tea, covered, until cold and
freeze in an ice-cream maker. Enjoy!
This cocktail is so much fun! We threw together some fun Japanese ingredients to bring out the flavours in the five different teas blended into Tea Desire’s Japanese Treasures, featured in August’s tea box, blended right into the gin! (Use the cold-brewed tea instead of gin-infused tea ) to keep this alcohol-free.)
1 ½ oz infused gin (or cold-brewed Japanese Treasures) ½ oz. pickled ginger syrup ½ oz. sake ½ oz. yuzu juice or lemon juice soda water, to serve fresh grapes, halved, for garnish
Instructions
For the infused gin: Place loose-leaf tea in gin, let sit 6-8 hours. Strain out tea using a fine-mesh sieve and discard.
For the cocktail: Combine gin (or cold-brew tea), syrup, sake and juice in a cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously and pour into a glass filled with crushed ice that inspires excitement about life, cooler evenings and sunny days. Top with club soda, garnish with grapes and enjoy!
It’s August. We’re in the middle of a heat wave here in Toronto (which really could be the south, for all intents and purposes) and eating ice cream at the water park every day. So when I stumbled upon this recipe, I couldn’t resist! This is not for the faint of heart. Here it is people.
1 cup peaches, blanched, peeled, pitted and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon bourbon
Instructions
To
make the ice cream, heat the cream, milk and corn syrup in a large
saucepan until just simmering. Add loose-leaf tea, lower heat to low and
simmer, keeping a close watch so it doesn’t boil over, for 10 minutes,
then remove from heat and allow the tea to steep for 2 hours.
Strain the mixture through a very fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth and try to squeeze as much of the liquid goodness out!
Whisk
together sugar and cornstarch until combined, then whisk into the
tea-infused cream mixture. Reheat and cook over medium heat, stirring
constantly, until the mixture reaches a gentle boil, then reduce heat to
low and simmer, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds (mixture will be
thick and bubbly).
Strain
mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl, then cover tightly
and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least a few hours but
preferably overnight. (Take our advice here.)
To
make the peach-bourbon swirl, toss together the peaches with cornstarch
and sugar and cook in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the
peaches have broken down and the mixture is bubbly, thick and delicious, 5 minutes
or so. Cool mixture, stir in the bourbon, and refrigerate until
thoroughly chilled.
Once both the cream mixture and peach mixture are chilled, process the
cream mixture in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s
directions. Purée the peach mixture in a blender or food processor
until smooth, then drop spoonfuls of both mixtures into a resealable
container, alternating between them. Run a butter knife through to
create a swirl effect, then freeze until firm. Makes about a quart. Which should last you about a day.
We are visiting family in Toronto this month and the heat is unreal! Let’s just say there has been a lot of watermelon and cold drinks consumed while we soak our feet in the kiddie pool. I’m not even joking.
This month’s green tea, citrusy and the slightest bit sweet from the strawberries, got me wondering what it would be like with a bit of gin…and some citrus zest to complement the lemongrass in the tea.
You don’t need to be living in a heat wave to enjoy it. In fact, if you want to infuse soda water (instead of gin) and make this non-alcoholic, I think that would be fabulous too! And still totally suitable to drink kiddie-poolside.
Ingredients
1 ½ cups dry gin, at room temperature
2 tbs Golden State Green Tea
¾ cups freshly squeezed lime juice
4-6 tablespoons citrus syrup (lemon version) to taste
6 lime wedges as garnish
For the citrus syrup:
2 cups Sugar
¾ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon grated lemon or orange zest
Make the citrus syrup
Stir the ingredients together in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. Lower the heat to low & continue cooking until you get a syrupy consistency, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat & let stand for 30 minutes. Strain though a wire-mesh sieve double lined with damp cheesecloth. Store refrigerated in an airtight container for up to one month. Makes 1 ½ cups.
Make the Base
Pour the gin into a 3 cup or larger pitcher. Add the loose leaf tea & let sit at room temperature for at least 1 hour. When ready to serve, strain out the tea and add the lime juice & citrus syrup. Stir until well combined.
Make the Cocktails
For each cocktail, add about 3 ¼ ounces of the base to a cocktail shaker that is 2/3 filled with ice. Cover and shake vigorously; strain into an ice filled glass.Squeeze a lime wedge over the drink & drop it in. Enjoy!
Brew your tea, then place the first 4 ingredients into a medium pot and bring to a boil over medium heat, then simmer until it thickens, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and add the vanilla and salt. Place in a jar or use immediately on anything you deem appropriate. Enjoy!
Happy summer tea drinkers! Enjoy this fruity, refreshing drink with or without the gin to celebrate this amazing weather.
Ingredients
6 parts cold-brewed Strawberry Fields tea
1 part gin
1 tsp sugar
¼ cup frozen strawberries
7 ice cubes
Place all ingredients into your blender and blend away to your desired consistency. For fun, place some salt on your cup rim, pour and add a squeeze of lime. Enjoy!
We hope you are enjoying this new tea from Justea, picked in Nandi Hills, Kenya! Here’s some fun facts about this tea.
Brewing Suggestions: • Water: 205°F (this is very important!) • Tea: 1 heaping tbs per 8 oz of water. • Infusion: 3 Minutes. Steeps 2 infusions (2nd infusion may require longer steep time and slightly warmer water).
Cultivation:
This tea is grown by Jacob (father) & Boaz Katah (son) in Nandi Hills, 6,700 ft above sea level. It is the highest elevation of tea gardens in Africa! The tea leaves are carefully hand-plucked, 2 leaves and a bud.
No pesticides are ever used on any of Justea’s teas. Not all farmers use fertilizer, but if they do, they only use fertilizers for the soil twice a year. It is the common tea fertilizer NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium). Although this is just a small application of fertilizer (especially in comparison to tea grown in India and China), they have been working with the farmers to move to fully organic, but it is a 3 year process for organic certification. Tasting Notes: This black tea is very unique for the Kenyan market. Unlike traditional Kenyan black teas, this tea lacks any bitterness and should be enjoyed without milk and sugar (although Michael still takes milk and honey with his). It is full bodied and contains notes of grilled zucchini and walnuts! An excellent sipper with low tannins and a silky finish.
Justea’s Kenyan Tea Story: All of Justea’s artisanal Kenyan teas (Purple, Green, Oolong, Nandi Hills Black) are: • Farmer Family Direct and ethical trade, full transparency from garden to cup • Very unique and rare to the Kenya/World market • Not available from any other factory or garden in Kenya • Superior Whole Leaf Grade, unlike 99% of Kenyan teas which are CTC • Hand Plucked from highest elevation tea gardens • Small Batch processed
Where it’s not (ie, Vancouver), they keep you happy.
Basically, it’s always a good time for a tea pop.
Here’s how to make them:
Simply cold brew a jar of Maracuja Orange for 6 hours or more in your fridge. (Place 2 heaping tbs of loose-leaf tea into the jar, fill with cold water, shake, cover and place in your fridge. Give it a little shake every hour or so.) Once it’s finished brewing, shake it and pour through a strainer into another jar. Add 2 tbs simple syrup, shake and pour into your favourite popsicle molds. Place into the freezer and wait patiently.
Bring sugar and 1 cup water to a boil in a medium saucepan and cook, stirring, until sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes. Add pineapple, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let
sit 30 minutes to infuse syrup with pineapple flavor. Strain into a small
bowl; stir in vinegar. Cover and chill shrub until cold, about 30 minutes. Cover and chill pineapple pieces until ready to use.
Meanwhile, cold brew Berries Galore: place 2 tbs tea into a 1-Litre jar and fill with cold water. Cover, shake and place in the fridge for 3-4 hours.
Set aside 8 slices jalapeño and 8 pieces pineapple for serving. Stir mint, lime wheels, tequila (if desired), lime juice, remaining jalapeño and pineapple, 1 cup shrub, and 1 cup tea in a large
pitcher and chill at least 1 hour.
Serve in ice-filled rocks glasses garnished with
reserved jalapeño slices and pineapple pieces.
Aromatica’s Walnut Green Tea is bursting with flavour:
distinct coconut, sencha tea and well, walnuts. Cold brewing it is not only
easy, it brings out all the flavour without any bitterness.
Another way we like to enjoy this tea is by making it into a
concentrated infusion that imparts all the beautiful flavours into whatever you’re
making!
Here’s how to do it:
Ingredients
2 tbs loose-leaf Walnut Green Tea
3 tbs sugar (or honey)
Directions
Mix 2 tbs loose-leaf Walnut Green Tea with 1 cup of water
and 3 tbs of sugar or honey in a jar. Shake well and place it in your fridge.
Go back and shake it whenever you think of it, ideally every 2 hours or so. You
can leave it anywhere from 48 hours to 2 weeks, depending on how strong you
like it. (Michael wanted me to mention that if you leave it for 2 weeks, you
obviously don’t have to shake it every 2 hours.) ?
Once it’s done brewing, strain the leaves and pour the
infusion into another jar. Michael loves it in martinis, but it would also be
great poured on ice cream, in drinks, baking, whatever you like! Enjoy!
The world of infusing alcohol with tea is yours for the
taking! We used 2 tbs of Rishi’s Ginger Pu-erh to 1 cup of bourbon and left it
for 12 hours to infuse at room temperate, because we love flavour. Feel free to
play with the amount and times to suit your tea-infused
alcohol preferences.
1.
For the Pu-erh infused bourbon: Combine the tea
and bourbon and cover the jar. Let steep at room temperature for 12 hours or
more, shaking every 24 hours if you chose to be that adventurous. Strain the tea leaves and discard. Store infused
bourbon in a sealed jar.
2.
For the Ginger Pu-erh Old Fashioned: Put the
sugar in a glass and add the bitters. Add just enough water to saturate the
sugar and muddle the mixture until the sugar is dissolved (we use the end of a
wooden spoon handle for this). Add the bourbon and top with ice. Stir 10
seconds to chill and combine. Garnish with a lemon twist if desired. Enjoy!
