Hibiscus Mint Tea
I’m working on branching out on my drinks since I’m not a huge water fan for every drink of my day and the iced tea I was drinking for awhile was Chik-fil-A’s unsweetened iced tea which is hands down my favorite unsweetened iced tea. But seriously, how absurd to go through a fast food drive through to buy gallons of unsweetened tea. It’s been so been super hot here I’ve been mixing up my own drinks and I’ve hit on a real winner. A sidenote on my tea: I’m from the South and while I don’t drink my tea super sweet, I do drink it strong. Here goes, drink up.
Hibiscus Mint Iced Tea
1 cup dried hibiscus, “Flor de Jamaica”
10 fresh mint leaves
3 large bags pekoe tea
10 cups of water
To sweeten, I used a 2 tablespoons honey and 2 tablespoons piloncillo (unrefined solid cane sugar) I had picked up at the store while getting the hibiscus flowers. I granulate the cone using a small grate which works perfect. It ends up being superfine which dissolves easily. Dried hibiscus flowers are also known as red sorrel, flor de jamaica or roselle and can be easily found in your local Spanish grocery store. Buy a few bags cause you’ll love the stuff. It’s a bit tart like cranberry juice so it makes yummy iced tea or as mixers in alcoholic beverages.
I boil my water, add the tea bits and then pour into my tea pitcher on top of any sweetener. I stir to dissolve sugar and then fill the rest of my container with ice which dilutes the tea a bit as it cools it. I have a glass pitcher like this that I like because it holds enough that I can drink it in 1-2 days before the tea spoils.
Entry Filed under: food
8 Comments Add your own
1. Liz | June 19th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
It sounds yummy. :) Wherever did you get that drink glass? It’s awesome!
2. Elisa | June 19th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Heya,
Hibiscus tea is also know as Karkaday in Egypt, where it’s seriously nectar of the Gods on a 50 degree (celcius!!) day.
I managed to talk a bag of it through the notoriously anal Australian customs department, and holy moly, it’s the best.
(Sipping it on my front porch is only marginally less wonderful than in Cairo…)
e.
3. sarah | June 20th, 2008 at 3:34 am
It’s so good right?! Glad you got to take some home. And the glass is from a thrift store.
4. Steph | June 20th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Seriously. People look at me like I’m crazy when I tell them I’m craving Chik-fil-A’s unsweetened tea (just today it happened!). They do tea good.
Will have to try this recipe - I’m always on the lookout for good iced tea. It’s become my substitute for soda.
5. Jenny | June 20th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Looks so good! Thanks for the recipe. What a great way to use up some of the mint that is growing all over the place in my yard!
6. nim | June 23rd, 2008 at 9:26 am
Thanks for the recipe! About the only thing more incredible than hibiscus mint tea is “hibiscus fizz”. It’s tea + seltzer or sprite. Oh. Em. Gee. Try it!
7. Deeva | February 5th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Hibicus is great for high Blood pressure .. add rose hips for a very good taste too!
ty for your Recipe!
8. Yacine | February 12th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
I live in Senegal and Hibiscus tea is like our “cool-aid”. We drink it all the time. It’s our national drink.
What we do here is basically the same you did but instead we boil the mint with the hibiscus flower. It gives the tea a fresh and minty taste. It’s a whole lot better that way. Another alternative that I love is to add pineapple juice to the hibiscus iced tea. The taste is awesome and the color of the tea should turn purple.
hot unsweetened Hibiscus tea is an excellent remedy for fatigue.
Just wanted to share, enjoy,
I'm curious about your two cents. You smart cookie!
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed