A cold glass of tangy, bitter-sweet liquid gleaming golden in your hand as you fan yourself against the tropical heat. Sounds wonderful doesn’t it? This is one of the simplest, most mundane recipes – mundane because this is something that I’ve been making since I don’t know when.
Normally in a regular household, there would always be a bottle of coke in the fridge. Or in a health-conscious household, maybe even a bottle of juice. In our household, rest assured, you will always, ALWAYS find a bottle of iced tea in the fridge, rest assured.
Ok, now for how I make it.
Ingredients
(Makes 6 humongous glasses)
- 10 tablespoons Good quality black tea (Please don’t use the powdery type.)
- 200ml water
- 700ml Iced water
- 2 sizable limes or 1 large lemon
- 1 tblsp dried and powdered lemongrass
- Sugar to taste
- Ice Cubes
Method
- Put the water on the boil along with the tea leaves and the lemongrass powder. Add sugar. Bring it to a boil and turn off heat. Seep for about 5 mins.
- Strain the tea into a large jug. Top up with the iced water. Add more sugar if necessary.
- Add the juice of the lemon or the limes. Strain off the pips and other residue. Add ice cubes if necessary and serve!
- The earthy base of the familiar tea is pierced through and through with the tanginess of the lime while the lemongrass plays soft, fragrant notes in the background. All in all, extremely refreshing. The coolness of the beverage helps too, nevertheless. If you are a tea fan in general you will love this. Even if you are not a tea fan, this just might get you to see tea in a different light altogether. Why, it’s a much, much MUCH healthier alternative to whatever thirst quenchers that you are generally used to as well!
Useful tips
- Alternatively, you can fill up a glass with ice and add the tea concentrate right off the stove in to the glass like I do at times. But be warned, do not try this if you are not much familiar with making iced tea. Stick to this recipe instead.
- We Sri Lankans like our tea strong. If you do not like your tea very strong, I suggest you top off with more iced water and ice cubes to water it down.
- You can skip the lemongrass and the lime/lemon if you wish to entirely. If you like a hint of tangy like I do, then the lime/lemon honestly does wonders on a hot day when no amount of water that you drink is simply not enough.
- Alternate the sugar with a number of things if you desire. Honey, palm treacle are some alternatives. If you are adding honey, add it while it is still lightly warm. This helps dissolve the honey. But be warned, do NOT at any cost add honey to hot beverages. Heat has a way of turning honey toxic. No, I’m not kidding.
- Ice cubes dilute the tea, making the iced tea watery if you make the tea just so. I suggest a stronger brew because of this. Alternatively, you can make ice cubes out of tea itself.