Tea and Cookies (5 page)

2.
Discard the water in the teapot. Add the tea to the teapot. Pour in the contents of the saucepan, including the mint. Cover and steep for 3 to 4 minutes. Pour through a tea strainer into two cups and serve hot.

Gingered Green Tea

MAKES
2
SERVINGS

This tea is lovely by itself, but it is also excellent as a beverage with savory Asian food. Gunpowder green tea, which has an assertiveness of its own, is a good match for the ginger flavor. Although I usually pass on sweetening my tea, a bit of honey can be welcome here.

Six ¼-inch-thick slices fresh ginger (no need to peel the ginger)

2 heaping teaspoons Chinese green tea leaves, such as gunpowder

1.
Crush 4 ginger slices under a knife. Combine 1½ cups water and the ginger in a small saucepan. Let the water come to a boil slowly over medium-low heat so the ginger can infuse the water. Meanwhile, fill a small teapot with hot tap water and let stand to heat the pot.

2.
Discard the water in the teapot. Add the tea to the teapot. Remove the ginger from the water and discard. Pour the boiling water into the teapot. Cover and steep for about 3 minutes. Pour through a tea strainer into two cups. Add a whole, uncrushed ginger slice to each serving and serve hot.

Classic Chai

MAKES
2
SERVINGS

In Hindi,
chai
is the generic word for tea. Spiced tea is
masala chai,
although Westerners incorrectly shorten it to chai. While my version of chai has the expected Indian flavors, there is really no single way to prepare this milky drink. You may want to make a double batch, as it will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days and can be reheated or served over ice.

One 3-inch cinnamon stick

8 black peppercorns

3 cardamom pods, crushed

4 whole cloves

1 cup whole milk

2 rounded teaspoons Indian black tea, such as Assam

Sugar (optional)

1.
Combine 1 cup water with the cinnamon, peppercorns, cardamom, and cloves in a small saucepan. Let the water come to a boil slowly over medium-low heat so the spices can infuse the water.

2.
Add the milk and the tea. Heat, stirring constantly, until piping hot but not boiling, about 3 minutes. Strain into mugs and serve hot with sugar, if desired.

“Not” Sun Tea

MAKES
4
SERVINGS

Combine tea and water, stick it in the sun, and let it steep. That’s all there is to sun tea, right? Actually, soaking tea leaves in unboiled water in the sun is the perfect recipe for growing bacteria. Steeping tea in the refrigerator is a much safer plan— sunlight is not a magic ingredient to brew tea in cold water. When the tea is ready to serve, transfer it to your favorite iced tea container to get an old-fashioned look with new-fashioned sensibility.

¼ cup black tea leaves, such as English Breakfast

Fresh mint or lemon verbena sprigs (optional)

Frozen tea cubes (see page 39) for serving

Simple Syrup (page 36) for serving

1.
Combine 1 quart cold water and the tea leaves in a pitcher. Add the mint or lemon verbena sprigs to taste, if using. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

2.
Serve, poured over the frozen tea cubes, with the syrup passed on the side.

Simple Syrup

MAKES ABOUT
1¼
CUPS

Stirring granulated sugar into a tall glass of iced tea is an exercise in frustration—the sugar just won’t dissolve. Bartenders’ (also called superfine) sugar, which dissolves instantly in iced beverages, works, but there is a much more elegant way. It’s called simple syrup.

Simple syrup is just sugar boiled with water to make a liquid perfect for sweetening up iced beverages. It will keep in the refrigerator for a few weeks. At my house during the summer, the syrup is stored in a tall bottle with a pouring spout, and it finds its way into the obvious iced tea and coffee. It also makes a great quick lemonade, mixed with fresh lemon juice and water.

For flavored syrup, add 1/3 cup packed fresh mint or lemon verbena leaves to the syrup when it comes off the stove. When cooled, strain out the leaves.

1 cup granulated sugar

1.
Combine the sugar and 1 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring often to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and let cool completely.

2.
Transfer to a covered container or a bottle with a pouring spout and refrigerate. (The syrup can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.)

Rooibos Hot Cocoa

MAKES
1
SERVING

Rooibos has a warm flavor that reminds some drinkers of cinnamon, making it the perfect choice for blending with hot cocoa. If you have a rooibos tea bag, use it instead of the loose leaf to skip the straining—just remove the bag from the milk after steeping.

1½ teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons sugar

1 cup whole milk

1 heaping teaspoon rooibos

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.
Bring about ¼ cup water to a boil in a small saucepan over high heat. Combine the cocoa and sugar in a mug. Add enough of the boiling water (about 1 tablespoon) to make a thin paste. Discard the remaining water.

2.
Combine the milk and rooibos in the saucepan, and bring to a simmer over high heat. Remove from the heat, cover, and let steep for 5 minutes. Add the vanilla. Strain through a fine-mesh wire sieve into a liquid measuring cup (the same one you used for the milk).

3.
Pour the hot milk mixture into the mug and stir well. Serve hot.

Mango Tea Slush

MAKES
2
SERVINGS

With frozen tea cubes in the freezer, you can make this incredibly refreshing drink in a few minutes. Mango brings its exotic fragrance and tropical flavor to the proceedings. Try it with other fruits, such as raspberries or peaches.

1 ripe mango

1 cup (8 cubes, about 2 tablespoons each)

frozen black tea cubes (see opposite page)

1/3 cup orange juice, preferably fresh

2 tablespoons honey

1.
Place the mango on a work surface. The pit, which is about ½ inch thick, will run horizontally through the center of the fruit. Use a sharp knife to cut off the top of the fruit, coming just above the top of the pit. Turn the mango over and cut off the other side of the fruit. Using a large metal serving spoon, scoop the mango flesh out of each portion in one piece. The pit portion can be pared with a small knife, and the flesh nibbled from the pit as the cook’s treat.

2.
Combine the mango, frozen tea cubes, orange juice, and honey in a blender. Process, stopping the machine and stirring the mixture as needed, until smooth and slushy. Pour into two tall glasses and serve immediately.

Frozen Tea Cubes

One of the great pleasures of summertime, iced tea can be as refreshing as a dip in a cool stream. But like anything that stands in the hot summer sun, iced tea can quickly become heated. Load up the glass with more ice cubes, and the tea just becomes diluted beyond recognition.

Instead of using cubes of frozen water, use frozen tea cubes. They will chill your tea just as well as the water cubes, but when they melt, the drink won’t get watered down.

Make the tea cubes from the same tea that you usually use for iced tea. Just brew a batch, let it cool, and pour into ice cube trays. After the cubes are frozen, pop them out of the trays and store in zippered plastic storage bags.

For a fancy summertime tea party, make decorative tea cubes.

Fill each cube halfway with tea (or water) and freeze until solid. Place a blueberry or raspberry in each cube mold, fill with more tea, and freeze until the top layer is solid. You can also make floral ice cubes with edible blossoms, substituting johnny-jump-ups or marigold petals for the berries.

Beyond their main job of icing cold drinks, plain iced tea cubes can also be tossed in the blender with fruit or juices to make cooling slushes. As there is no standard size for capacity of ice cube molds, you may have to adjust the amount of cubes needed to get the consistency you want. (Each mold in my ice cube tray holds about 2 tablespoons.)

Peachy Iced Tea Cooler

MAKES
2
SERVINGS

When peaches are in season, I look to use them in as many ways as possible. This drink was created as a nonalcoholic version of the Bellini, the beloved peach-and-Prosecco cocktail that hails from Venice. For the best results, use a high-quality ginger ale or imported ginger beer, as these have a stronger flavor than the typical supermarket soda.

1 ripe white or yellow peach

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon superfine or granulated sugar

Frozen tea cubes (see page 39) for serving