Fresh Fruity White Iced Tea Recipe
A Healthy and Refreshing Organic White Tea Drink with a Citrus Twist
Aug 21, 2009
Iced tea is easy to make at home and choosing the best ingredients available gives a refreshing and healthy drink which provides a thirst quenching alternative to canned and fizzy drinks.
White tea, which is high in antioxidants, provides the perfect delicate flavor for this light tasting and visually stunning drink. As well as looking pretty, all the fruits in this tea are also packed with antioxidant vitamins. Making it fresh means that there is no need for preservatives, artificial colors or flavors.
Using fructose gives a light and refreshing taste rather than being sickly sweet. It is still sugar but not quite as jarring to the system as refined white sugar. Fructose is easily available from health food shops and some supermarkets. Anyone not wishing to use fructose could replace this with Agave syrup.
Try to buy unwaxed citrus fruits so that they can be used with the peel.
To Make Six 500ml Glasses:
- 4 Organic white tea bags or 2 flat tsp of loose white tea
- 75g Fructose
- 1 Lemon
- 1 Orange
- 1 Lime
- 1 Grapefruit
- A few cucumber slices and red berries
- A large sprig of Mint
- 3.5l of mineral water or filtered water.
Making the Concentrate:
- Steep the tea in 500ml of boiling water for five minutes. This will make a very strong tea.
- Take out the bags, squeezing them to get out all the flavor as they are removed.
- Stir in the fructose so that it dissolves and leave the concentrate aside to cool. make sure this is covered, especially in warm weather as the sweetness of the fructose will attract flies and wasps.
Preparation:
- Cut each citrus fruit into 12 pieces and divide evenly amongst the glasses.
- Chill the mineral water.
Assembling the drink:
- Add the berries, cucumber slices and mint to the glasses.
- Pour on the concentrate, dividing it evenly between the six.
- Add the chilled filtered water and ideally let the whole drink chill and steep for at least fifteen minutes. The flavors of the citrus fruits, cucumber and mint will be quickly imparted resulting in a light and thoroughly fresh tasting fruity drink which gives a lift due to the white tea and fructose.
To make more of the iced tea for entertaining simply increase all the quantities in the recipe. This is a perfect drink for making in large numbers, for entertaining or preparing in advance as all that needs to be made is the concentrate. This can then be added to glasses as and when needed and topped up with fresh fruits and water.
For parties, fresh fruit pieces can be prepared and stored in the fridge along with the concentrate and water. Ice cubes also look pretty in the glass and are good to use without having to chill a lot of water. This drink is designed to be served ice cold.
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