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Tea: ways of making, various tea based drinks etc.

  1. Schneider
    Schneider
    So I saw the thread in community cafe and decided to join. I don't cook a lot but for what it's worth I'm pretty decent. I also love experimenting with various kind of home made healthy drinks. So first of all I wanted to start with my favorite drinks of all, TEA! I thought a thread would be nice where we can share traditional recipe for our regions to make tea. And then also share various tea based drinks we have made, tried or tested. I'll start with one I made today.


    Summer Tea: Jasmine-mint tea (for detox and cleanse)
    What you need:
    • 1 teabag of jasmine + green tea: This is readily available in market. If you don't have it, feel free to combine similar quantity from a jasmine tea bag and green tea bag separately. You can also use Jasmine flower directly.
    • Half lemon: depending on where you are, it might be called lime. I used the really tangy one, it's good for detoxification and weight loss and perfect for all kinds of summer drinks. You just need the half lemon itself, if you can't find lemon and want to add lime juice instead, do it after the drink is prepared. Don't add it to the mixture on stove.
    • A pinch of fresh grated ginger
    • 3-4 fresh mint leaves - you can add them whole for mild flavour or roughly tear them with hands for more intense flavour
    • You could also add a leaf of basil if you like. I personally use sun-dried holy basil for its medicinal properties but that's an exotic ingredient and not available everywhere so this step is completely optional.
    • You can add honey for sweetness. I prefer to make mine without it. Please avoid normal sugar at all costs.


    How to make:
    • Put everything in pan with 1-2 mugs of water on stove. I use two coffee mug full due to summer, as this drink will cause dehydration if you take it too concentrated, but for winter 1 mug should also be okay. Test and try what works best for you.
    • Heat the water till it's about to boil but don't boil it.
    • Turn off the heat at the this point and cover the container with lid for some time.
    • Note that I've put the lemon as it is in water, I did not squeeze it.
    • That's it, your drink is ready.


    How to Serve:
    You can drink it lukewarm like a normal tea and add the lemon juice from the wedge you used just before you drink it based on how tangy you want it. Just make sure not to add the lemon juice to the water when you put it on stove or to the drink if you store the drink because lemon juice is best when you add it right before you consume the drink.
    I personally prefer to cool my drink in fridge and serve with ice as a summer drink.

    Store excess drink in fridge, or you can also leave it at the counter for up to 24 hours.

    Caution! Please be careful with how much you take it, as it's a body cleansing drink, depending on your body type it might cause problems such as runny stomach if you take too much. (it might be inconvenient but it's nothing concerning, you can just reduce your intake next time until you find the right mix for yourself).
  2. Preeh
    Preeh
    Thank you for starting the discussion on tea.

    I'll just drop the link from the tea-thread on the asian culture section here: http://aarinfantasy.com/forum/f305/t...ml#post4354622
    There are some recipes to be found there. I didn't take the time and effort to copy them here. Have a look at them if you'd like.

    Now here's the latest infusion I tried: (I know it's not tea in narrower sense, but I'll still post it here)

    You need
    • 1/2 organic lemon (just make sure that it hasn't been treated with pesticides/herbicides and the like)
    • 2 chili pods
    • 5 dl cold water


    How to prepare


    1. Slice the lemon in thin slices about 1mm thick if possible (with the peel/zest attached).
    2. Slice the chili pods into thin stripes and remove the seeds (otherwise the drink will be bitter).
    3. Add the lemon and chili to the cold water and place it in the fridge over night.
    4. Enjoy your drink the next morning.


    Attention: Your drink will activate several of your taste qualities. You have the cold and refreshing taste of water, mixed with the sour taste of the lemon and adding to that the hot taste of the chili pods. The drink has a stimulating effect without caffeine or theobromine/theophylline and thus doesn't increase your diuresis as tea or coffee would.
  3. Preeh
    Preeh
    +@Schneider; since you wanted healthy drinks - I have to post this one (I don't know if it actually is healthy though).

    Pu'erh Cha Gao
    This is a tea paste made from Pu'erh tea. It can be purchased online at various sites. The normal leaves are processed and boiled down into a paste which concentrates the normal active ingredients in tea. Traditionally it is said that cha gao is the cure to 100 ailments if drunk on a daily basis.
    The taste reminds of charcoal and ashes, it's slightly sour and adstringent (so not really a nice taste, then again I guess that's what is to be expected of a medicinal tea).

    The tea paste can simply be dissolved in hot water. Alternatively you can prepare it similar to maccha - grind into fine powder and whip it to foam it up. Since the taste wasn't to my liking I added a little of soy milk and agave syrup (side remark: I also add agave syrup to my ginseng tea).
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