Were you just wondering how you could liven up your morning smoothie AND harness the power and nutrition of this month’s green tea?
We thought so!
It’s so easy:
The night before, cold brew your Enchanted Forest tea by placing 1 tbs in a 500mL (pint) mason jar, add cold water and a lid, shake and refrigerate until morning.
Wake up.
Make your morning smoothie as you normally would. We personally love:
pineapple
cherries
kale
lime
ginger
blueberries
…but it’s your smoothie, so let loose!
Put a tea strainer above your smoothie glass and pour the tea through, straining out the leaves to add the tea to your smoothie to your taste. We love a 1:1 ratio of smoothie to tea.
Throw a tablespoon of hemp seeds on top if you are feeling adventurous!
This cocktail is so much fun! We threw together some fun Japanese ingredients to bring out the flavours in the five different teas blended into Tea Desire’s Japanese Treasures, featured in August’s tea box, blended right into the gin! (Use the cold-brewed tea instead of gin-infused tea ) to keep this alcohol-free.)
1 ½ oz infused gin (or cold-brewed Japanese Treasures) ½ oz. pickled ginger syrup ½ oz. sake ½ oz. yuzu juice or lemon juice soda water, to serve fresh grapes, halved, for garnish
Instructions
For the infused gin: Place loose-leaf tea in gin, let sit 6-8 hours. Strain out tea using a fine-mesh sieve and discard.
For the cocktail: Combine gin (or cold-brew tea), syrup, sake and juice in a cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously and pour into a glass filled with crushed ice that inspires excitement about life, cooler evenings and sunny days. Top with club soda, garnish with grapes and enjoy!
We are visiting family in Toronto this month and the heat is unreal! Let’s just say there has been a lot of watermelon and cold drinks consumed while we soak our feet in the kiddie pool. I’m not even joking.
This month’s green tea, citrusy and the slightest bit sweet from the strawberries, got me wondering what it would be like with a bit of gin…and some citrus zest to complement the lemongrass in the tea.
You don’t need to be living in a heat wave to enjoy it. In fact, if you want to infuse soda water (instead of gin) and make this non-alcoholic, I think that would be fabulous too! And still totally suitable to drink kiddie-poolside.
Ingredients
1 ½ cups dry gin, at room temperature
2 tbs Golden State Green Tea
¾ cups freshly squeezed lime juice
4-6 tablespoons citrus syrup (lemon version) to taste
6 lime wedges as garnish
For the citrus syrup:
2 cups Sugar
¾ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon grated lemon or orange zest
Make the citrus syrup
Stir the ingredients together in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. Lower the heat to low & continue cooking until you get a syrupy consistency, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat & let stand for 30 minutes. Strain though a wire-mesh sieve double lined with damp cheesecloth. Store refrigerated in an airtight container for up to one month. Makes 1 ½ cups.
Make the Base
Pour the gin into a 3 cup or larger pitcher. Add the loose leaf tea & let sit at room temperature for at least 1 hour. When ready to serve, strain out the tea and add the lime juice & citrus syrup. Stir until well combined.
Make the Cocktails
For each cocktail, add about 3 ¼ ounces of the base to a cocktail shaker that is 2/3 filled with ice. Cover and shake vigorously; strain into an ice filled glass.Squeeze a lime wedge over the drink & drop it in. Enjoy!
It’s spring! Well…practically…depending on where you live. We decided that this weather and this month’s green tea were the perfect reasons to make tea sangria.
We used this recipe from Minimalist Baker and swapped out half the wine for cold-brewed Raspberry Green tea, and it was delicious! Feel free to play with the ingredients or use your own sangria recipe, and let us know how it turns out!
Ingredients
½ apple, cored, skin on, chopped into small pieces
½ orange, rind on, sliced into small pieces, large seeds removed (plus more for garnish)
3-4 Tbsp brown sugar
¾ cup orange juice, plus more to taste
1/3 cup brandy, plus more to taste
1 ½ cups dry Spanish red wine
1 ½ cups cold-brewed Raspberry Green Tea
Ice to chill (~1 cup)
Instructions
Add apples, oranges and sugar to a large pitcher and muddle with a muddler or wooden spoon for 45 seconds.
Add orange juice and brandy and muddle again to combine for 30 seconds.
Add
red wine, cold-brewed tea and stir to incorporate, then taste and adjust flavour as
needed. Feel free to add a bit more brandy, orange juice and brown sugar. Stir to
combine.
Add ice and stir once more to chill. Serve as is, or with a bit more ice. Garnish with orange segments if you want.
Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours, although it’s great when fresh, and even better enjoyed in the sun with your feet up.
