Renewed, with new flavors and ice cream, tea replaces soft drinks as a refreshing and natural option against the heat.
High temperatures make us drink more liquid. The body needs it. Here is the dilemma. A soda or flavored water? There are many more options to get out of industrial drinks that are also very refreshing, tasty and healthy. One of them is iced tea, or in Creole iced tea. The benefits of tea are many, highlighting above all its antioxidant and diuretic power, among other virtues.
Iced tea, the ideal drink for summer
Iced tea with tangerine. (Argentine School of Tea)
What better than preparing a refreshing, healthy and natural drink? Ice is added to the tea base (everyone is welcome) and voila! Those who want something a little more daring can add fruit and sweeteners, and the blender will do the rest.
Inside Tea Connection works like a laboratory of flavors. There they try the most played recipes which include coconut milk, fruit juice, horchata and various sweeteners. “We want to disassociate ourselves from traditional tea. People have associated tea when they are sick or what their grandmother drank and it is not like that! Currently, the consumption of iced tea is a worldwide trend. Anything goes, drink it on its own with ice or mix it with fruit and enjoy it in a different way – says Maggie Bianchi, Inside team. We mix it with super fresh seasonal ingredients and it’s ultra healthy. It’s a real mocktail.”
An important fact about this drink is that it contains approximately 70% tea. It is a sine qua non condition that is infused hot so that the strands release all their properties and flavors. Once the tea is obtained, it must be cooled. This will be the base of the concoction. For complete success, Maggie clarifies that, since ice is going to be added to the preparation, it is necessary for the tea to be a little more concentrated than if it is going to be consumed at the moment, so that its flavor is not diluted. . Fact: a gram of tea gives flavor to 100 cc of water, but if we are going to make iced tea the dose should reach 1.5 grams.
Although it can be prepared with any variety of tea (it is absolutely a matter of taste), each style of tea has its infusion time and temperature: green tea is prepared with water at 85° and left to infuse for two minutes while the The temperature of the red and black water rises 10° reaching 9°, and the contact time of the strands with the water should be four minutes. What happens if we spend time or use water at a higher temperature than indicated? The tea becomes astringent and gives a rough feeling in the mouth.
This drink is so versatile that it can accompany us at all times of the day. Breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner. A good tip is to prepare it ahead of time and leave the jar in the fridge. It is kept for 24 hours.
You have the whole weekend ahead of you and the temperature does not let up. Become a bartender and make iced tea for the whole family with recipes from Inside Tea Connection. A good way to cool off.
Coco Bongo
Super refreshing, Coco Bongo has pineapple and coconut milk
Ingredients (for a large bottle)
Orange Oolong Tea Strands (combines Taiwan red tea strands with orange curls). 180cc
Freshly squeezed orange juice. 30cc
Syrup to sweeten. 30cc
Coconut milk. 15cc
Pineapple cut into cubes. 80 grams
Ice. 8 blocks
Preparation
Infuse 1.7 grams of tea in threads in 180 cc.
Let stand, strain and chill In a blender to make frozen drinks mix all the ingredients.
Cut ¼ slice of pineapple with skin. Make a small groove with a knife in the bottom, to be able to decorate the mouth of the jar.
Cut two pineapple pineapples and decorate with them facing up.
berry honey
Berry Honey, a specialty of Inside Tea Connection
Ingredients (for a large bottle)
Blueberry loose tea (combines loose black tea with blueberries from Patagonia and orange zest). 180cc
Red fruit juice (blackberries, raspberries and blueberries). 90cc
Orange juice. 1 tablespoon
lime juice. ½ tablespoon
Homemade honey syrup. (In a saucepan, over low heat, mix equal parts water and organic honey.) 75cc
Ice. 8 blocks
Preparation:
Infuse 1.7 grams of loose tea per 180 cc of water.
In a blender to make frozen drinks mix all the ingredients.
Decorate with some red berries and a fresh sprig of baby blue eucalyptus.
LimeThai
Lima thai, the most requested iced tea.
Ingredients (for a large bottle)
Almond Toffee loose tea (A very mild black tea, combined with almond flakes, toasted pistachio seeds and marigold petals). 240cc
Freshly squeezed orange juice. 45cc
Neutral syrup to sweeten. (Mix over low heat, in a saucepan, equal parts of water and organic sugar). 45cc
lime juice. 30cc
Passion fruit pulp, with seeds! (Don’t worry, when you blend you will have some spectacular pints until the final drink). 30cc
Ice. 8 blocks
Preparation
Infuse 3.6 grams of loose tea in 240 cc of water.
In a blender to make frozen drinks mix all the ingredients.
Cut a slice of lime and decorate the jar or glass.
Using a grater, grate the lime zest and create lines in various directions.
Use a wooden stick to hold the segment in the mouth of the jar.