Saturday, June 14, 2008

Red Zinger Iced "Tea"

In honor of National Iced Tea month, I'll share with you my favorite iced "tea." Tea is in quotes, because this brew is actually an iced tisane (herbal). There is no real tea in it. The original recipe came from MKP (thank you!), and I think she said it was in a Barefoot Contessa cookbook. I've long since misplaced that version and have made up my own, loosely, from what I recall. Here goes (this is imprecise - adjust to taste):

  • Equal amounts of red zinger tea (Celestial Seasonings), brewed strongly, and juice
  • (I use 6 teabags and 3 cups of water to make the red zinger tea (and let it brew for 10 min) with 3 cups of cranberry juice)
  • 2 cinnamon sticks, thrown in with the red zinger tea
  • Mint for garnish (or sometimes I throw it in the jar and it adds an interesting flavor)
  • Fruit (lemon wedges, cherries, strawberries, etc.) to float in the jar
Important note: Do not pour the hot red zinger liquid into your favorite hand-blown glass pitcher. Bad things happen, including majorly cracked glass and red zinger everywhere. Instead, let the liquid cool first, then blend with the juice. :-)

I like mine tart, so I'll also throw in a dash of lemon juice. If you like it sweeter, add more of the main juice.

This recipe would be good with lots of juice types, I think. I also like to throw in some fresh ginger with the red zinger, or a dash of sparkling water as I pour the tea.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It sounds delicious! And what a lovely deep red color. Thanks for sharing your recipe.

Anonymous said...

I think I've had this - and it was VERY good!

Anonymous said...

Steph,
This looks yummy and sounds delicious. I think this would be something very good to serve your mother while she is visitin:)
Looking forward to our visit.
Love,
Mom

mep said...

Sounds like a tisane version of Sangria almost. I think I would enjoy it!

Philigry said...

oh yummy! I love making sun tea.