Many of us are more familiar with the hot version of lemongrass tea but have you ever considered making the tea and having it cold? Like regular iced tea?
The first time I made lemongrass iced tea was over a decade ago and that wonderful aroma and flavour has stayed with me ever since. Most of the time, I make hot lemongrass tea; my favourite “bush” tea. However, the other day, I noticed that my two lemongrass plants, were overgrown, their long, green, sharp, stalk-like leaves bending, begging to be cut. There was a lot of the lemongrass and I knew that I’d never make the tea as often or in sufficient quantity to use it up. And most people I know have their own lemongrass plants so there was no one that I could give them to. Iced tea to the rescue!
With iced tea, the brew could be made and refrigerated for a couple of weeks. Mine lasted less than four days! With the temperatures climbing daily, the lemongrass iced tea provided much-needed refreshment.
Here are a few things to note when making this Lemongrass Iced Tea.
● Use only the healthy fresh green stalk-leaves; discard those that are faded or brown at the edges. Snip off the tips that are brown.
Rinse the leaves well under water.
● Cut the leaves so that they can fit easily in the pot in which you are going to boil and steep them.
● When the tea has boiled and steeped for the stipulated time (see recipe below), you may find that there is a silvery film on the surface of the liquid. To remove the film, take 2 – 3 sheets of Bounty or other sturdy kitchen paper (one sheet at a time) and lay it gently on top of the tea and then lift it off and discard the kitchen paper.
● Do not skimp on the steeping time of the tea, the longer the tea steeps, the richer the flavour.
● Let the tea cool to room temperature before sweetening it and then refrigerating.
●Refrigerate the tea for at least 1 hour so that it is well chilled before serving it over ice.
● The tea should preferably be sweetened with simple syrup, but you can use sugar crystals, if you prefer (see serving notes below recipe).
INGREDIENTS
Simple Syrup
● 2 cups white sugar (brown can work
too)
● 2 cups tap water
Lemongrass Tea
● A handful lemongrass stalk-leaves,
trimmed, rinsed, and cut into pieces
that fit comfortably in a pot
● 12 cups/3 litres/6 pints tap water
● 2 large limes, washed, pat dry, sliced
thinly and seeds removed
DIRECTIONS
Simple Syrup
1. Add the sugar and water to a saucepot, place over medium heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Let the mixture come to a boil then reduce heat to low and simmer for 3 minutes; remove any froth or foam that rises. Turn off heat and set aside syrup to cool completely.
Lemongrass Tea
2. Add the lemongrass and water to a large pot, cover, place over medium heat and bring to a boil. When the pot comes to a boil, let cook for 3 minutes then remove from heat (still covered) and let steep for at 45 minutes to an hour. Remove silvery film with kitchen paper towel, strain into an oversized jug or 2 smaller jugs. Let cool to room temperature.
3. Sweeten the iced tea to taste then add lime slices. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. Serve chilled over ice cubes.
NOTES
● Garnish with mint leaves, or bruise mint leaves and add to iced tea along with the sliced limes for an infusion.
● To serve the iced tea, you can sweeten it as suggested in the recipe, or, if serving to others, let them add the sweetener to suit their taste. If the option is the latter, serve the iced tea along with a small pitcher of simple syrup. Sugar does not dissolve easily in cold liquid that it why the syrup is preferred. Also, sweetening the iced tea with the simple syrup eliminates the ‘raw’ taste of sugar, however, that ‘raw’ taste of the sugar can be diminished if the iced tea is allowed to chill for a long time (at least 90 minutes) after sweetening.
● If guests are sweetening their own iced tea, serve with long-handle spoons also known as iced tea, soda or latte spoons; alternately, cut young stalks of lemongrass (the bottom part of the plant), remove a few of the outer casings, snip off the bottom and use as stirrers.
Cynthia
