Ginger and Honey Iced Tea

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"Better to be deprived of food for three days than tea for one.." ~ an ancient Chinese proverb

It was love at first sip. Yep, that is what I would say when I tasted iced tea at Dunkin Donuts for the first time, few years ago. Throughout my masters days in Syracuse , I would drink atleast a tall-sized fresh iced tea, with an order of toasted everything bagel w/ cream cheese & hash browns on the side, every single day! It was much later I realised how good it is to regularly drink a cuppa of green tea.

A little history about our beloved tea -

China is known as the homeland of tea. India and China are probably the first countries to cultivate tea. It is believed that tea shrubs existed in China as early as 5000-6000 years ago. Once when Emperor Shen Nung was sitting under a camellia tree, a few leaves accidentally fell into a cauldron of boiling water. The resulting fragrance tempted the Emperor to sip the brew. This is believed to be the beginning of Chinese tea culture. 

All I would say, thank god for that boiling pot of water, right under the camellia tree. Emperor Shen is one lucky, smart chap. ;-)

Now, coming back to my pitcher full of green tea and why would I make some today...:-)

It is time for free spirit blogging again and this time, it is Deepti who chose the "Cafe Casa" theme. Here is what she says -

Did you know that making the perfect cuppa is more than mixing espresso, milk and sugar in a pot. It involves shots, flavors, steamed milk et. al. In fact, I learnt recently that steaming milk is supposedly an art in itself. Something that many baristas struggle to learn and end up serving dish-washing-detergent-like foam instead of creamy milk froth on top of coffee drinks. Hmm! Lots left to learn for us, indeed!

- Pick any coffee-based drink recipe OR choose your own from anywhere else OR conjour up your own
- Share with us your inspiration for the drink, if its your own or why you choose a certain drink
- Present it the way it would be in a Coffee Shop (Think cinnamon dusting, whipped cream etc.)

Well, you see I am not much of a coffee-person at all. Every morning, it is a cup of masala tea that wakes me up, very unlike of my other family members who polish off atleast few rounds of coffee, by the time I have my breakfast. they are all coffee-lovers - both my mom & dad, sister, my in-laws and my dear husband.

Hence, I took the tea-route and conjured up a "Ginger & Honey Iced tea" for the challenge.

Most of the coffee shops typically use a simple sugar syrup for their iced teas or give you unsweetened  version & provide few sugar sachets on the side. I don't usually favor sugar-laden drinks, hence today's recipe uses honey to sweeten it up. It also has freshly grated ginger, thinly sliced cucumbers and a herby feel from mint leaves. What not to love about it. Isn't it.

Ginger and Honey Iced Tea

Adapted from Real Simple

Ingredients needed:

10 cups of filtered water
8 green tea bags
1/4 cup honey
1-2 tsp freshly grated ginger
sliced cucumbers (optional)
few sprigs of mint leaves (optional)

Credits: Teavana

1. Brew the tea. For this recipe, I chose green tea as I like the taste of it. It all starts with boiling the water and then drop green tea bags into it. Let it seep it for 3-4 minutes. Beware, don't let it stand for more time as it will develop a bitter taste. Follow the chart brewing chart above.

Let it cool to room temperature.

2. Meanwhile grate the ginger and add to brewed tea along with about 1/4 cup of honey. Add more or less honey, based on how sweet you want your iced tea to be. Keep stirring, so that honey is evenly mixed into the water.

3. Add sliced cucumbers and mint leaves.

4. Refrigerate it for few hours and Serve over ice cubes.

It is unbelievably hot during afternoons in Bangalore these days, hence this was a perfect drink to cool the temperatures down, a bit. Just loved it and am having some more as I type this post.

Chao for now and until next time,